A biography of Josh Harris

Josh Harris is ‘the greatest internet pioneer you’ve never heard of.’ This is the description given in the movie “We Live in Public” directed by Ondi Timoner. The movie won the Grand Jury Prize. Josh Harris is not to be mistaken with American Pastor Joshua Harris, who is the author of best selling Harris books including ‘I Kissed Dating Goodbye.”

'Quiet, We Live in Public'

Josh Harris born in 1960, made it big through his internet website Pseudo.com. He was almost a billionaire but lost everything in the year 2000 Dot.com bust. In 1999, he started the greatest reality show of them all, which was called “Quiet, We Live in Public.” Hundred participants signed on for a life of partying and free living, but the catch was everything that they did was going to be broadcast live on the internet.

The Warhol of web TV

Everything was live on the internet through hundreds of cameras placed all over the underground experiment bunker located below New York City. That included going to the bathroom and making love. The residence for the hundred people was built like a Japanese capsule hotel. He told the eager worldwide exhibitionists that ‘everything’s free except your image. That we own.’ The constant partying lifestyle earned him the name of “the Warhol of Web TV.”

The ultimate reality show

The project was a success. Josh Harris admitted that he got the idea from a Jim Carrey movie “The Truman Show.” Eventually, things got out of control with people bringing in guns and having violent fights. New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani finally had the venture shut down for security reasons. That did not stop Josh Harris. He hatched up another scandalous endeavour. He made himself and his girlfriend the subject of a reality show.

Web lion in hiding

He furnished a New York apartment with cameras in each room and broadcast everything both of them did onto the internet. Every moment of their private lives was televised. It lasted only six months because his girlfriend could not cope with the stressful scenario. His personal life came crashing down with the loss of all his money and he disappeared to an apple farm near New York, a victim of the World Wide Web. In a way, it was a successful experiment because it corroborated his prediction that the internet would eventually take over our lives in a negative way. He has predicted the making of electronic replica brains and the subservience of humans to machines fitted with these brains by the year 2050. In one of his interviews, he feels sorry for lions and tigers now languishing in zoos. Unfortunately, this Web lion is a victim of his own prediction and was last seen hiding in Ethiopia.