What these women do when they meet is, basically, goof off.

* * *

One difference is that the Red Hat Society is based on humor and camaraderie, without stridency and anger. It's also inclusive, with none of the usual subculture hierarchies based on who is authentic and who is a poseur. Women who are not yet 50 can become Pink Hatters— getting in on the scene as they wait to cross the threshold to full membership. This may be the most subversive aspect of the Red Hat Society—it's a subculture that does not lose power or meaning as its membership grows, but rather gains even more. "The whole idea," [founder and Exalted Queen Mother Sue Ellen] Cooper says, "is, O.K, so it's a little silly, but it's for us, and we're not hurting anybody—and don't you wish you could be one of us?"

Now, strictly speaking, who is responsible for that initial idea? Was it me or the software? It sounds like a facetious question, but I mean it seriously. Obviously, the computer wasn't conscious of the idea taking shape, and I supplied the conceptual glue that linked the London sewers to cell metabolism. But I'm not at all confident I would have made the initial connection without the help of the software