“Now how did he get an account on my machine?,” I joke to myself at this ready-made sight gag for eggheads. I think the outline of a human head and shoulders, silhouetted against a blue field, illuminated by a starry network, is a pretty good icon for the Other. Especially here where it stands for anyone who doesn’t have an account on the system for which this is the login screen.

I also find some existential relief in the thought that, unlike Rimbaud (who famously said “je est un autre” [sic.]), I am/is decidedly not an other, at least not here on my desktop, in my system, at my cockpit on the world. Of course, some days, it feels more like a ball turret, but that’s another story.