I've remarked more than once about the recent upsurge in interest in the Illuminati. The lively tabloid/gossip site Gawker, also taking note of the phenomena, has produced an amusing "Comprehensive Guide to the Illuminati." Kudos to Gawker for dividing the article into two sections, one for believers (and for people who enjoy seeing believers condescended to) and one for skeptics. Mike Read, in his otherwise commendable piece, neglected to mention ILLUMINATUS!, but I noticed that was set right by the commentators.
Wednesday, February 29, 2012
Tuesday, February 28, 2012
Robert Shea on not voting
Want to do something agin the government but too old to refuse to register and unable to resist paying taxes? Refusing to vote is a form of nonviolent resistance to government. That it disturbs governments is underlined by the fact that it's a crime in Australia, punishable by a $5 fine. In totalitarian countries, where over 90 percent of the population is routinely dragooned into voting, not voting is even more of an act of resistance. The use of voting by dictators to legitimize their rule may have been started by Napoleon I, who in 1804 had himself elected hereditary emperor of France by 98 percent of those eligible.
-- Robert Shea (from No Governor #5)
Robert Anton Wilson also often refused to vote.
I've noticed considerable discussion on the Internet about the ethics of voting and nonvoting.
Supergee obviously thinks it's important to vote to support the Democrats and keep the Republicans out of power. He's still angry at Ralph Nader for helping Dubya beat Gore in 2000. I think most people would agree that Bush turned out to be a pretty lousy president, and that the election suggests that it does make a difference who wins.
Anarchist Charles Davis spends a lot of time arguing that there's little difference between the two major parties. He recently tweeted (as @charlesdavis84) "If I were to vote this year, it'd be entirely out of spite and for Ralph Nader."
Davis recently put up a blog post arguing that it makes little difference who wins this fall. Excerpt: "No matter who registered voters in the U.S. select to be the ruling class' spokesman for a four-year term, the coming presidential election will make very little difference to the lives of most Americans -- and non-Americans. Banks will continue to get bailed out, both overtly and by way of the tax code and other more covert means. Bombs will continue to be dropped on poor foreigners, be it in the name of humanitarianism or the fight against terrorism. The state will still serve the interests of the rich, and so on and so on."
And I think there's something in what Davis writes. Democrats in general and Obama in particular have been a big disappointment on peace and civil liberties. I voted for many Democrats in the last couple of elections and got little for my vote.
I've found it hard to give up voting. Usually there's someone to vote for or (more often) someone to vote against. If Gary Johnson gets the Libertarian nomination, I'll likely feel obligated to cast a protest vote for him.
-- Robert Shea (from No Governor #5)
Robert Anton Wilson also often refused to vote.
I've noticed considerable discussion on the Internet about the ethics of voting and nonvoting.
Supergee obviously thinks it's important to vote to support the Democrats and keep the Republicans out of power. He's still angry at Ralph Nader for helping Dubya beat Gore in 2000. I think most people would agree that Bush turned out to be a pretty lousy president, and that the election suggests that it does make a difference who wins.
Anarchist Charles Davis spends a lot of time arguing that there's little difference between the two major parties. He recently tweeted (as @charlesdavis84) "If I were to vote this year, it'd be entirely out of spite and for Ralph Nader."
Davis recently put up a blog post arguing that it makes little difference who wins this fall. Excerpt: "No matter who registered voters in the U.S. select to be the ruling class' spokesman for a four-year term, the coming presidential election will make very little difference to the lives of most Americans -- and non-Americans. Banks will continue to get bailed out, both overtly and by way of the tax code and other more covert means. Bombs will continue to be dropped on poor foreigners, be it in the name of humanitarianism or the fight against terrorism. The state will still serve the interests of the rich, and so on and so on."
And I think there's something in what Davis writes. Democrats in general and Obama in particular have been a big disappointment on peace and civil liberties. I voted for many Democrats in the last couple of elections and got little for my vote.
I've found it hard to give up voting. Usually there's someone to vote for or (more often) someone to vote against. If Gary Johnson gets the Libertarian nomination, I'll likely feel obligated to cast a protest vote for him.
Monday, February 27, 2012
A new "No Governor"
I've just posted issue No. 5 of "No Governor," the anarchist fanzine published by ILLUMINATUS! co-author Robert Shea. There's no material credited to Robert Anton Wilson in that issue. It does include quite a bit of material by Shea himself. There is an essay from one Balthasar Brandon, described as "a character from an unfinished novel," who I think may be Shea himself. The essay, "How to Study Mysticism," is quite good.
Sunday, February 26, 2012
Antero Alli teaching Eight Circuit Brain Course
Next month, Antero Alli will be teaching an online course in the eight circuit brain model developed by Timothy Leary and Robert Anton Wilson. Details here.
Anyone who doesn't have the $200 for the course or the time to take it presumably could read Mr. Alli's book on the subject. I have not read Alli's The Eight-circuit Brain: Navigational Strategies for the Energetic Body and can't offer an opinion on it.
Anyone who doesn't have the $200 for the course or the time to take it presumably could read Mr. Alli's book on the subject. I have not read Alli's The Eight-circuit Brain: Navigational Strategies for the Energetic Body and can't offer an opinion on it.
Saturday, February 25, 2012
Acceleration of information
Here are the opening sentences of the Wall Street Journal's review of the book Abundance by Peter Diamandis and Steven Kotler:
If every image made and every word written from the earliest stirring of civilization to the year 2003 were converted to digital information, the total would come to five exabytes. An exabyte is one quintillion bytes, or one billion gigabytes—or just think of it as the number one followed by 18 zeros. That's a lot of digital data, but it's nothing compared with what happened from 2003 through 2010: We created five exabytes of digital information every two days. Get ready for what's coming: By next year, we'll be producing five exabytes every 10 minutes. How much information is that? The total for 2010 of 912 exabytes is the equivalent of 18 times the amount of information contained in all the books ever written. The world is not just changing, and the change is not just accelerating; the rate of the acceleration of change is itself accelerating.
It sounds an awful lot like what Robert Anton Wilson used to write about the acceleration of information, does it not? The rest of Michael Shermer's review is here.
If every image made and every word written from the earliest stirring of civilization to the year 2003 were converted to digital information, the total would come to five exabytes. An exabyte is one quintillion bytes, or one billion gigabytes—or just think of it as the number one followed by 18 zeros. That's a lot of digital data, but it's nothing compared with what happened from 2003 through 2010: We created five exabytes of digital information every two days. Get ready for what's coming: By next year, we'll be producing five exabytes every 10 minutes. How much information is that? The total for 2010 of 912 exabytes is the equivalent of 18 times the amount of information contained in all the books ever written. The world is not just changing, and the change is not just accelerating; the rate of the acceleration of change is itself accelerating.
It sounds an awful lot like what Robert Anton Wilson used to write about the acceleration of information, does it not? The rest of Michael Shermer's review is here.
Friday, February 24, 2012
My Gary Johnson interview
I interviewed Gary Johnson, the front runner for the Libertarian Party's nomination. As I assume that at least some of RAW's fans are still libertarians and/or might be interested in Johnson's pro civil-liberties, pro-peace stances, I link to it here.
Thursday, February 23, 2012
Changes afoot at rawilsonfans.com
Changes are coming to the Robert Anton Wilson Fans Web site, which is hosted by Alterati/Hukilau (i.e., Joseph Matheny) and was assembled by Mike Gathers, with help from other folks who contributed material.
It's an excellent collection of Robert Anton Wilson articles, letters, interviews, videos and other good stuff.
Matheny reports that he plans to redesign the site in the next few weeks so that it can be updated more often. Gathers says that when the update is complete, it will look like the Incunabula site. Moreover, once the redesign is complete, Gathers will have editing access to the site, and will be able to add links to more RAW material, including stuff published on this blog and the treasure trove of articles from "The Realist" that has been uncovered.
I'll share more information as it becomes available.
Wednesday, February 22, 2012
Oz Fritz and the Overweening Generalist
Oz Fritz and Michael Johnson continue to explore concepts taken up by Robert Anton Wilson and Timothy Leary in the 1970s.
Oz has weighed in on his The Oz Mix blog with two new postings, one on space migration and one on life extension.
Incidentally, Oz says exploration of inner space doesn't require artificial help:
Also would like to make it very clear that I'm am absolutely not talking about, alluding to, or suggesting using drugs of any kind in any way. Timothy Leary's name and reputation often incurs a reflexive association with LSD advocacy due to a thick fog of media gloss still looming over his name in repressive, conservative circles, yet he clearly had moved on in later life. LSD can act like an atomic explosion on the nervous system and this analogy holds true with potentially lethal radioactive fallout.
Meanwhile, Michael Johnson, who already seems smart enough without any help, writes about his researches into intelligence increase.
Oz has weighed in on his The Oz Mix blog with two new postings, one on space migration and one on life extension.
Incidentally, Oz says exploration of inner space doesn't require artificial help:
Also would like to make it very clear that I'm am absolutely not talking about, alluding to, or suggesting using drugs of any kind in any way. Timothy Leary's name and reputation often incurs a reflexive association with LSD advocacy due to a thick fog of media gloss still looming over his name in repressive, conservative circles, yet he clearly had moved on in later life. LSD can act like an atomic explosion on the nervous system and this analogy holds true with potentially lethal radioactive fallout.
Meanwhile, Michael Johnson, who already seems smart enough without any help, writes about his researches into intelligence increase.
Tuesday, February 21, 2012
The Beatles and ILLUMINATUS!
This morning as I drove to work, I listened to the Beatles' "Revolver" album. Sgt. Pepper is often described as the group's best album, but I've always felt that true Beatles fans would pick "Revolver."
"Revolver" is the album that includes "Yellow Submarine," and Hagbard Celine of course has a golden submarine that he deploys against the Illuminati. "Revolver" also includes "Tomorrow Never Knows," whoae lyrics, according to Wikipedia, are "adapted from the book The Psychedelic Experience: A Manual Based on the Tibetan Book of the Dead by Timothy Leary, Richard Alpert, and Ralph Metzner, which in turn was adapted from the Tibetan Book of the Dead."
Robert Anton Wilson never seemed particularly interested in pop music, but Robert Shea may be another story. When I wrote to Shea's son, Mike Shea, and asked if his father was interested in the Beatles, Mike replied, "My dad was a HUGE beatles fan. One of his happiest days was when I left for camp listening to Michael Jackson and came back home listening to Sgt. Pepper."
"Revolver" is the album that includes "Yellow Submarine," and Hagbard Celine of course has a golden submarine that he deploys against the Illuminati. "Revolver" also includes "Tomorrow Never Knows," whoae lyrics, according to Wikipedia, are "adapted from the book The Psychedelic Experience: A Manual Based on the Tibetan Book of the Dead by Timothy Leary, Richard Alpert, and Ralph Metzner, which in turn was adapted from the Tibetan Book of the Dead."
Robert Anton Wilson never seemed particularly interested in pop music, but Robert Shea may be another story. When I wrote to Shea's son, Mike Shea, and asked if his father was interested in the Beatles, Mike replied, "My dad was a HUGE beatles fan. One of his happiest days was when I left for camp listening to Michael Jackson and came back home listening to Sgt. Pepper."
Monday, February 20, 2012
Finnegans Wake reference in 'Cat'
Gary Acord (@gacord on Twitter) wrote to me a pointed out a reference in The Universe Next Door, the first book of Robert Anton Wilson's Schroedinger's Cat trilogy, to the opening of James Joyce's Finnegans Wake.
Joyce: "riverrun, past Eve and Adam's, from swerve of shore to bend of bay, brings us by a commodious vicus of recirculation back to Howth Castle and Environs."
Wilson: "Elverun, past Nova's atoms," the hairy Moon read on to his small circle of admirers, "from mayan baldurs to monads of goo, brings us by a divinely karmic Tao-Jones leverage back past tallchief tactics and aztlantean tooltechs to Louses in the Skidrow Dimehaunts. This way to Humptytheatre."
Moon is Simon Moon, reading from a manuscript "at one of Epicene Wildeblood's wild, wild parties" in the chapter "Louses in the Skidrow Dimehaunts" of The Universe Next Door. Gary tells me it's on page 47 of the one volume omnibus of Schroedinger's Cat. In the original Pocket Books paperback, copyright 1979, it's on page 66.
Joyce: "riverrun, past Eve and Adam's, from swerve of shore to bend of bay, brings us by a commodious vicus of recirculation back to Howth Castle and Environs."
Wilson: "Elverun, past Nova's atoms," the hairy Moon read on to his small circle of admirers, "from mayan baldurs to monads of goo, brings us by a divinely karmic Tao-Jones leverage back past tallchief tactics and aztlantean tooltechs to Louses in the Skidrow Dimehaunts. This way to Humptytheatre."
Moon is Simon Moon, reading from a manuscript "at one of Epicene Wildeblood's wild, wild parties" in the chapter "Louses in the Skidrow Dimehaunts" of The Universe Next Door. Gary tells me it's on page 47 of the one volume omnibus of Schroedinger's Cat. In the original Pocket Books paperback, copyright 1979, it's on page 66.
Sunday, February 19, 2012
Prometheus Hall of Fame finalists announced
The Libertarian Futurist Society has announced the four finalists for the Prometheus Hall of Fame Award -- the only literary award, so far as I know, that was ever given to ILLUMINATUS!
The four finalists are Falling Free by Lois McMaster Bujold, " 'Repent Harlequin' said the Ticktockman" by Harlan Ellison, "The Machine Stops" by E.M. Forster and "As Easy As A.B.C." by Rudyard Kipling. (I sit on the judging committee that picked the four finalists. I nominated the Harlan Ellison story.)
Official press release follows. Robert Shea's acceptance speech when he received the award is here.
[official press release]
The Libertarian Futurist Society has chosen four finalists for this year's Hall of Fame Award. The Award will be presented at the 70th World Science Fiction Convention, to be held in Chicago over Labor Day weekend.
The nominees are Falling Free, a novel by Lois McMaster Bujold, first published in 1988. An exploration of the legal and ethical implications of human genetic engineering.
"'Repent, Harlequin!' Said the Ticktockman", by Harlan Ellison, first published in 1965. A satirical dystopia set in an authoritarian society dedicated to punctuality, where a lone absurdist rebel attempts to disrupt everyone else's schedules.
"The Machine Stops,” by E.M. Forster, first published in 1909. Described by the author as a reaction to H.G. Wells's fiction, it portrays a decaying future of human beings incapable of independent existence or first-hand contact.
"As Easy as A.B.C.," a short story by Rudyard Kipling, first published in 1912. An ambiguously utopian future that has reacted against the mass society that was beginning to emerge when it was written, in favor of privacy and freedom of movement.
The winner will be chosen by ranked choices voting by the members of the Libertarian Futurist Society.
Eleven other works were nominated: Sam Hall, by Poul Anderson; The End of Eternity, by Isaac Asimov; Courtship Rite, by Donald M. Kingsbury; That Hideous Strength, by C. S. Lewis; A Mirror for Observers, by Edgar Pangborn; 2112, by Rush; A Time of Changes, by Robert Silverberg; Cryptonomicon, by Neal Stephenson; A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court, by Mark Twain; Emphyrio, by Jack Vance; and The Book of Merlyn, by T. H. White.
First awarded in 1983 to Robert Heinlein's The Moon Is a Harsh Mistress and Ayn Rand's Atlas Shrugged, the Hall of Fame Award honors classic works of science fiction and fantasy that celebrate freedom, show paths to its enhancement, or warn against abuses of political power.
Since 2000, it has been open to short stories, films, television episodes or series, graphic novels, musical works, and other narrative and dramatic forms.
LFS President William H. Stoddard chairs the Hall of Fame Committee. All members of the Libertarian Futurist Society are eligible to serve on it and to nominate classic works for its consideration.
The four finalists are Falling Free by Lois McMaster Bujold, " 'Repent Harlequin' said the Ticktockman" by Harlan Ellison, "The Machine Stops" by E.M. Forster and "As Easy As A.B.C." by Rudyard Kipling. (I sit on the judging committee that picked the four finalists. I nominated the Harlan Ellison story.)
Official press release follows. Robert Shea's acceptance speech when he received the award is here.
[official press release]
The Libertarian Futurist Society has chosen four finalists for this year's Hall of Fame Award. The Award will be presented at the 70th World Science Fiction Convention, to be held in Chicago over Labor Day weekend.
The nominees are Falling Free, a novel by Lois McMaster Bujold, first published in 1988. An exploration of the legal and ethical implications of human genetic engineering.
"'Repent, Harlequin!' Said the Ticktockman", by Harlan Ellison, first published in 1965. A satirical dystopia set in an authoritarian society dedicated to punctuality, where a lone absurdist rebel attempts to disrupt everyone else's schedules.
"The Machine Stops,” by E.M. Forster, first published in 1909. Described by the author as a reaction to H.G. Wells's fiction, it portrays a decaying future of human beings incapable of independent existence or first-hand contact.
"As Easy as A.B.C.," a short story by Rudyard Kipling, first published in 1912. An ambiguously utopian future that has reacted against the mass society that was beginning to emerge when it was written, in favor of privacy and freedom of movement.
The winner will be chosen by ranked choices voting by the members of the Libertarian Futurist Society.
Eleven other works were nominated: Sam Hall, by Poul Anderson; The End of Eternity, by Isaac Asimov; Courtship Rite, by Donald M. Kingsbury; That Hideous Strength, by C. S. Lewis; A Mirror for Observers, by Edgar Pangborn; 2112, by Rush; A Time of Changes, by Robert Silverberg; Cryptonomicon, by Neal Stephenson; A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court, by Mark Twain; Emphyrio, by Jack Vance; and The Book of Merlyn, by T. H. White.
First awarded in 1983 to Robert Heinlein's The Moon Is a Harsh Mistress and Ayn Rand's Atlas Shrugged, the Hall of Fame Award honors classic works of science fiction and fantasy that celebrate freedom, show paths to its enhancement, or warn against abuses of political power.
Since 2000, it has been open to short stories, films, television episodes or series, graphic novels, musical works, and other narrative and dramatic forms.
LFS President William H. Stoddard chairs the Hall of Fame Committee. All members of the Libertarian Futurist Society are eligible to serve on it and to nominate classic works for its consideration.
Saturday, February 18, 2012
Whats up with rawilsonfans.com? UPDATED
Until I saw PQ's comment in yesterday's post, I did not realize that rawilsonfans.com, a wonderful archive of Robert Anton Wilson material, had suddenly become a Joseph Matheny site. Does anyone know what's up?
I will post updates if/when I learn anything.
UPDATE: Joseph Matheny has posted on Twitter that his Alterati Web site was hacked.
UPDATE II: Mike Gathers informs me that Mr. Metheny is redesigning the site. No timetable is available. I will spread the word when the RAW material becomes available again.
UPDATE III: It's back up -- yay!
I will post updates if/when I learn anything.
UPDATE: Joseph Matheny has posted on Twitter that his Alterati Web site was hacked.
UPDATE II: Mike Gathers informs me that Mr. Metheny is redesigning the site. No timetable is available. I will spread the word when the RAW material becomes available again.
UPDATE III: It's back up -- yay!
Friday, February 17, 2012
PQ on The Illuminati Papers
PQ has just put a long, thoughtful review of The Illuminati Papers up at his blog, A Building Roam. He does a really good job, as usual.
A few comments/reactions:
(1) I agree that it's one of RAW's best. I suspect that's because it's the first book that collects many of
RAW's short pieces, and he had a lot of good material to draw on at that point. Email to the Universe, RAW's last book, apparently is strong for much the same reason -- Mike Gathers and Company had gathered a lot of good pieces on rawilsonfans.com, which the book apparently drew on.
(2) PQ says this is a "perfect companion text to Prometheus Rising." That's true, although I've always thought of The Illuminati Papers as an extension of the appendix in ILLUMINATUS!
(3) PQ remarks, "Many of the essays have bylines showing the name of characters from the Illuminatus! novels but, the more one learns about RAW, the more clear it becomes that these are all written by him. Again, I wouldn't be surprised if those bylines were a late addition. (They seem pretty convoluted if you ask me.)"
I can confirm that's true in at least once case; the essay published as "Neuroeconomics" by Hagbard Celine was pubbed as "A Few Blunt Statements About Neuro-Economics" by Robert Anton Wilson in "No Governor 4."
On the other hand, ILLUMINATUS! has material in the appendix attributed to Hagbard Celine. Wikipedia says that The Illuminati Papers has new and collected material, so perhaps some of the bylines in TIP were present from the beginning.
Arthur Hlavaty's review of The Illuminati Papers is here.
A few comments/reactions:
(1) I agree that it's one of RAW's best. I suspect that's because it's the first book that collects many of
RAW's short pieces, and he had a lot of good material to draw on at that point. Email to the Universe, RAW's last book, apparently is strong for much the same reason -- Mike Gathers and Company had gathered a lot of good pieces on rawilsonfans.com, which the book apparently drew on.
(2) PQ says this is a "perfect companion text to Prometheus Rising." That's true, although I've always thought of The Illuminati Papers as an extension of the appendix in ILLUMINATUS!
(3) PQ remarks, "Many of the essays have bylines showing the name of characters from the Illuminatus! novels but, the more one learns about RAW, the more clear it becomes that these are all written by him. Again, I wouldn't be surprised if those bylines were a late addition. (They seem pretty convoluted if you ask me.)"
I can confirm that's true in at least once case; the essay published as "Neuroeconomics" by Hagbard Celine was pubbed as "A Few Blunt Statements About Neuro-Economics" by Robert Anton Wilson in "No Governor 4."
On the other hand, ILLUMINATUS! has material in the appendix attributed to Hagbard Celine. Wikipedia says that The Illuminati Papers has new and collected material, so perhaps some of the bylines in TIP were present from the beginning.
Arthur Hlavaty's review of The Illuminati Papers is here.
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