The same mail that brought "Steal This Plot" brought "Errance, Lecture de Jacques Derrida, Une a-theologie postmoderne" (Cerf), the French translation of "Erring, A Postmodern A/theology" (University of Chicago), by Mark C. Taylor.
When asked for reflections on being a scientist, Cerf recommended ignorance as key to understanding ourselves and our universe.
As neuroscience has recently shown, it is now technologically possible to influence people's thoughts, emotions, memories and dreams while in progress, a capability Cerf and others originally believed would prove impossible.
As a DOE consultant, Cerf devised a cockamamie plan to reorganize the NYC school system, and give private companies the responsibility to offer support services for schools, replacing the district superintendents, whose role had been specifically retained in state governance law.
One day, waiting in a hotel lobby, Cerf dreamed up a new computer communications protocol, a gateway between networks, which eventually became known as transmission-control protocol/Internet protocol (TCP/IP).
"What has happened to schools under Mike Bloomberg is one of a kind," Mr. Cerf said in an interview.
"One of my kids saves e-mail for a year then sends it back to you as a kind of flashback to the past," said Vinton G. Cerf, a founder of the Internet and a senior vice president at WorldCom, the communications services company.
Next, we wander through the Passage du Grand Cerf, a thin walkway covered by a high steel and glass roof and lined with small, independent boutiques - the furniture and oriental bric-a-brac in Rickshaw is the highlight.
Vint Cerf, a Google executive known as a father of the Internet, said at the time that he was considering creating a comic book to show lawmakers how the network operated.
Dr. Cerf, a bon vivant who usually wears a three-piece suit, is known for his good-natured pragmatism.
Vinton G. Cerf, a fellow at the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, is a vice president and chief Internet evangelist for Google.
