Stewart Brand facts for kids

Quick facts for kids Stewart Brand
Brand in 2020
Born	(1938-12-14) December 14, 1938 (age 86) Rockford, Illinois, United States
Alma mater	Stanford University
Occupation	Writer editor entrepreneur
Known for	Whole Earth Catalog The WELL Long Now Foundation
Spouse(s)	Lois Jennings (1966–1973) Ryan Phelan (1983–present)

Stewart Brand (born December 14, 1938) is an American writer and project creator. He is most famous for starting and editing the Whole Earth Catalog. He also helped create other important groups like the WELL, the Global Business Network, and the Long Now Foundation. Stewart Brand has written several books, including Whole Earth Discipline: An Ecopragmatist Manifesto.

About Stewart Brand's Life

Stewart Brand was born in Rockford, Illinois. He went to Phillips Exeter Academy and later studied biology at Stanford University, graduating in 1960. He served in the U.S. Army as a parachutist. He felt his time in the military helped him learn how to organize things well.

Since the 1960s, Brand has lived in California. He and his wife live on a 64-foot (20 m)-long working tugboat named Mirene. This boat was built in 1912 and is docked in Sausalito, California. He works nearby in a grounded fishing boat called Mary Heartline.

Early Projects and Festivals

In the mid-1960s, Stewart Brand worked with a group called USCO and author Ken Kesey. Brand helped put together the 1966 Trips Festival. This event mixed rock music with cool light shows. It was one of the first times the Grateful Dead band played in San Francisco. About 10,000 hippies attended. This festival helped the Haight-Ashbury area become a center for the new counterculture. The famous Summer of Love happened there in 1967.

Seeing Earth from Space

Earth from space, taken by the ATS-3 satellite in 1967.

Earthrise, taken by William Anders during Apollo 8 in 1968.

Stewart Brand wanted NASA to share pictures of the whole Earth from space. He sold buttons that asked, "Why haven't we seen a photograph of the whole Earth yet?"

In 1967, a satellite called ATS-3 took a picture of Earth. Brand believed this image would be a very strong symbol. This picture was on the cover of the first Whole Earth Catalog in 1968. Later, in 1968, astronaut Bill Anders took the famous Earthrise photo from the Moon. This picture was on the cover of the 1969 Catalog.

Brand explained that the image made people feel that "Earth's an island, surrounded by a lot of inhospitable space." He said it looked like a "little blue, white, green and brown jewel-like icon."

Working with Computers

In 1968, Brand helped electrical engineer Douglas Engelbart with a special presentation. It was called the Mother of All Demos. During this event, Engelbart showed off many new computer ideas. These included hypertext (like links on the internet), email, and the computer mouse.

Brand believed that if people had the right ideas, information, and tools, they could make the world a better place. He thought they could make it more friendly to the environment and to people.

The Whole Earth Catalog

In the late 1960s, many Americans were trying to live together in communal groups. In 1968, Stewart Brand and his friends created the first Whole Earth Catalog. Its subtitle was "access to tools."

The Catalog showed a wide variety of useful "tools." These included books, maps, garden tools, special clothes, and even early computers. Brand asked experts to write reviews of the best items. The Catalog also told people where to find or buy these things. It became very popular during a time when many people wanted to try new ways of living and do things themselves.

The Whole Earth Catalog greatly influenced the "back-to-the-land movement" in the 1970s. The 1972 edition sold 1.5 million copies. It even won a National Book Award.

Steve Jobs, the co-founder of Apple, mentioned the Whole Earth Catalog in his 2005 speech at Stanford University. He quoted its famous farewell message: "Stay hungry. Stay foolish."

CoEvolution Quarterly and Other Works

To continue sharing ideas, Brand started CoEvolution Quarterly in 1974. This magazine published longer articles on science, art, and society. Brand wanted to give space to new writers and also featured articles by well-known thinkers.

Brand also created the Whole Earth Software Review in 1984. This was a guide for computer software. It later combined with CoEvolution Quarterly to become the Whole Earth Review in 1985.

The WELL Online Community

In 1985, Stewart Brand and Larry Brilliant started the WELL. This was an early online community where people from all over the world could connect and share ideas. The WELL won an award in 1990 for being the Best Online Publication.

Global Business Network

Brand speaking at the Frontiers Conference in 2010.

Brand in 2020.

In 1988, Brand helped start the Global Business Network. This group helped companies think about different possible futures. For many years, Brand was also on the board of the Santa Fe Institute. This organization focuses on new scientific research. He also continued to support protecting wild natural areas.

Whole Earth Discipline

The Whole Earth Catalog suggested that human progress came from simple, personal technology. However, in 2005, Brand began to question some environmental ideas. He wrote an article called "Environmental Heresies." In it, he suggested that environmentalists should consider using nuclear power and genetically modified organisms. He thought these technologies might have more benefits than risks.

Brand later wrote a book about these ideas called Whole Earth Discipline: An Ecopragmatist Manifesto (2009). The book looks at how things like cities growing, nuclear power, genetic engineering, and restoring wildlife can help fight global warming.

Brand describes his environmental view as "eco-pragmatist." This means he focuses on practical solutions that work.

Long Now Foundation

Stewart Brand is a leader at the Long Now Foundation. This foundation focuses on very long-term thinking, like for the next 10,000 years. He leads a series of talks called "Seminars About Long-term Thinking." Many interesting speakers have shared their ideas there.

The Long Now Foundation has worked with Jeff Bezos to build a special clock. It is designed to run for 10,000 years and is called the Clock of the Long Now.

Stewart Brand is also the subject of a 2021 documentary film called We Are As Gods.

Stewart Brand's Works and Projects

Stewart Brand started or was involved with these projects:

• Whole Earth Catalog (1968)
• CoEvolution Quarterly (1974)
• Whole Earth Software Catalog and Review (1984)
• Whole Earth Review (1985)
• Point Foundation
• Global Business Network (co-founder)
• The WELL (1985), with Larry Brilliant
• The Hackers Conference (1984)
• Long Now Foundation (1996), with computer scientist Danny Hillis. One of its projects is the Clock of the Long Now.
• An Ecomodernist Manifesto (2015), which he co-authored with other scholars.

See also

• Bright green environmentalism