What we get for the transporter beam

Ludwig van Beethoven. Earth's bargaining chip? 

Considering that we have been immersing ourselves in Beethoven, I was pretty amused to see this bit (Tyler Cowen is interviewing Paul Krugman for a podcast):

COWEN: Will there ever be interstellar trade in intellectual property? You send your technology to a planet far away. It arrives much later, of course. Or you trade Beethoven to the aliens in return for a transporter beam? Can this work? You’ve written a paper that seems to indicate it can work.

KRUGMAN: I wrote a paper on the theory of interstellar trade when I was an unhappy assistant professor. Are there any happy assistant professors? [laughs] I was just blowing off steam. But it’s an interesting question.

COWEN: It could become your most important paper, right? [laughs]

Source.

The "Conversations with Tyler" podcast is quite good; there's a wide variety of guests. I like Episode 21, the interview with Cowen himself. 

Bobby Campbell's new comic book

Bobby Campbell has released a big new comic book collection, WEIRD COMIX #000.

Bobby says, "Weird Comix #0 is 60 pages of discombobulating chaos! Collecting together a wide array of my short form comix, some dating as far back as 2003, some from as recent as this summer, and some an unholy mutant hybrid of both old & new aesthetics."

It's available now for Bobby's Patreon subscribers. I'm one, so I've already downloaded my copy. The public release will be Tuesday.

I've read the first few comics (I have to work today, so I can't read all of it now) and it's some of Bobby's best stuff.

Adrian Reynolds Kickstarter film

RAW fan and overall good guy Adrian Reynolds and his collaborator Tristan Ofield have a Kickstarter for a new short film, Citrus.

Adrian writes, "Tristan Ofield and I took White Lily from a concept through to an award-winning short that can be seen on Amazon prime and touches on some of RAW's concerns.

Now we're back with another crowdfunder for Citrus, which is a more grounded tale in some ways - set here and now rather than in space - and again chimes with themes you'll find in RAW. It's a darker tale, one tuned to our times."

More here. 

Link to White Lily.  His radio play was pretty good, too. Don't miss Press When Illuminated.

Another MC5 nomination

The MC5 in 2005 (Wikimedia Commons photo).

The MC5, a rock band from Michigan that is part of the mythology of Illuminatus! have once again been nominated for the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

This year's 15 nominees are Def Leppard, Devo, Janet Jackson, John Prine, Kraftwerk, LL Cool J, MC5, Radiohead, Rage Against the Machine, Roxy Music, Rufus featuring Chaka Khan, Stevie Nicks, The Cure, The Zombies and Todd Rundgren. More details on the awards process here.  I happen to be a Roxy Music fan, though I doubt the band will win.

In Illuminatus!, the Illuminati control the record companies, and John Dillinger tells Joe Malik, ""We were ignoring that front until they got the MC-5 to cut a disc called 'Kick Out The Jams' just to taunt us with old bitter memories."

Note that John Sinclair, who has collaborated with Steve Fly, was the band's manager.

'Reality is what you can get away with'

"Reality is what you can get away with," the saying created (or at least popularized) by Robert Anton Wilson pops up in "The Constitution of Knowledge," a piece by Jonathan Rauch in the latest issue of National Affairs. (Rauch's piece is about how well institutions are doing in the search for truth in the Trump era; he likes the performance of the courts and the news media, but college campuses not so much.)

RAW's phrase pops up at the end of the first paragraph. It's also the title of a RAW screenplay published as a book that will be republished by Hilartas Press.

Hat tip: Jesse Walker.

Beethoven string quartets/Kerman reading group, Week Nine

The Modigliani Quartet, sometimes called the Amadeo Modigliani Quartet. For the group's live recording of this week's Opus 59, No. 3, go here. 

Kerman Week 9 – Op. 59, No. 3 – The Second Half of Chapter 5

By Eric Wagner, guest blogger

This week please read sections 4 - 6 of chapter 5 (pg. 134 - 154) and listen to Op. 59, No. 3 over and over again. Please comment on this week’s reading/quartet and continue to comment on previous weeks’ readings/quartets.

I hope all goes well. On page 136 two lines from the bottom of the page it says, “The piercing viola F# (bar 18)”. That should read “violin F#”. The F sharp appears in the second violin part.

Reading the discussion of the key relationships in the slow movement on page 148 I found myself back in the Pale Fire reading group. I expected to turn to notes where Kinbote explained the real meanings of the development section.

The Lovecraftian in me wonders about the “chthonic tone” of Schubert on page 149.

When we finished the Op. 18 quartets, I went back and listened to all six quartets. I’ve just begun listening to the three Op. 59 quartets again. We have come a long way, but we have a wonderful journey ahead of us, even if Kavanaugh gets confirmed.

Beethoven wrote sixteen string quartets. I associate this with the tarot trump the Tower. P. G. Wodehouse’s novel Leave It to Psmith gives an important role to sixteen flowerpots. Of course, the Hebrew letter peh has a value of 80 and corresponds with The Tower. The silent P in Psmith corresponds with peh, so I associate the numbers 16 and 80 with both Leave It to Psmith and the Beethoven quartets. The Hebrew letter feh (similar to peh) also has a value of 80, and I associate that with the flowerpots in the Wodehouse novel. I think of the Beethoven quartets as sixteen flowerpots waiting for us to explore.

Sunday links

See item No. 7.

Introduction to Magick podcast by Jason Louv. 

Is this what Timothy Leary really meant? 

Reclassification suggested for 'magic mushrooms'

The asteroid 996 Hilaritas. Hat tip, Charles Faris.

Right vs. left in the U.S. 

Edmund Burke vs. Twitter.

Physicist's "inappropriate music video" resurfaces after he wins Nobel Prize. 

Buddy Holly's Peggy Sue has died.  

RAW on Max Stirner

Another find by Martin Wagner: A RAW review of The Ego an His Own by Max Stirner, an edition put out by the Libertarian Book Club.

"This is probably the most disturbing, shocking and generally infuriating book in the whole history of political philosophy," Wilson writes.

From the pages of Jaguar, apparently a vintage men's magazine.

Last few 'Pigspurt' dates coming up soon

The golden apple doesn't fall far from the tree, and it also wears feathers, sometimes. Publicity photo for Daisy Eris Campbell, with theatre legend Ken Campbell. 

If you live in the United Kingdom and you've missed Daisy Campbell's "Pigspurt's Daughter" show, you are down to your last three chances.

The three final dates are The Cockpit, London, Oct. 6; The Old Barn, Bath, Oct. 19, and "unknown final performance," about which, more information likely available soon.

More details here, with links to buy tickets, etc.

Follow Daisy on Twitter.

RAW cover art, the evolution

Scott McPherson, the wonderful Scottish cover artist for the new Hilaritas Press editions of RAW's work, recently posted some rejected early covers for three titles on his Twitter account, @amoebadesign. Here they are, with the final covers for comparison: 

Prometheus Rising

Earlier proposed version of Prometheus Rising cover

Final Prometheus Rising cover for Hilaritas Press

Cosmic Trigger

Early cover concept for Cosmic Trigger

Final Cosmic Trigger cover

Quantum Psychology

Early Quantum Psychology cover

Final Quantum Psychology cover 

I guess he probably made the right call (I have no information on the possible back and forth with Rasa, who obviously also is a talented artist). But I really like that early Prometheus Rising cover! 

The covers, including the alternate versions, would make a pretty cool art exhibition, and also might work as prints. 

RAW on Kerouac's 'Dharma Bums'

I can't say I was a big fan of Jack Kerouac's On the Road. But now I kind of want to read Dharma Bums, not just because it has Buddhism and interesting Beats in it, but also because of Robert Anton Wilson's interesting review, another great Martin Wagner discovery. Excerpt:

"If you are looking for a story to fill your hours with gimmicks and surprises, go elsewhere (TV will even save you the trouble of turning pages), but if you are looking for a poetic (i.e., simple; i.e., holy) truth about the universe, then read Kerouac, read him slowly, and re-read him carefully. If the word 'God' means anything, every great poem is a partial revelation of the nature of God; and Kerouac has here written a great poem."

Martin, by the way, published the review on Oct. 2, the 60th anniversary of the book's first publication.

A 'long conversation' about RAW?

Kevin Kelly (Twitter account photo) 

I subscribe to the weekly Recomendo newsletter, put out by Mark Frauenfelder and others, that has recommendations on cool things to make your life more productive or interesting. The latest issue had an item by Kevin Kelly about "long conversations":

"A 'long conversation' is a new format for a conference. Two speakers begin a conversation on stage. After 15 minutes one of the two speakers is replaced by a new speaker and the conversation continues, and every 15 minutes for the next 8 hours a speaker is swapped out. (Each speaker converses for 30 minutes.) The day is engaging, unpredictable, passionate, diverse, informative, and entertaining. It’s a format invented by Long Now Foundation that is worth stealing. For an example, here are highlights from a long conversation held at the Smithsonian. "— KK

The item caught my imagination. It seems to me that such conversations don't have to last for eight hours, but that the idea could be adapted for a podcast lasting maybe an hour or an hour and a half. Topics could include single RAW works such as Masks of the Illuminati or single themes such as "RAW and Magick" or "RAW the libertarian." I don't have a lot of spare time these days, but I'm going to try to organize something within a reasonable time and see if it works.

Kevin Kelly was a co-founder of "Wired" magazine and has various cool interests.

Kerman/Beethoven reading group, Week Eight

The Borromeo String Quartet. For a live recording by them of this week's piece, go here. Photo by Richard Bowditch.

Kerman Week 8 – Op. 59, No. 2 – The First Half of Chapter 5

By Eric Wagner, special guest blogger

This week please read sections 1 - 3 of chapter 5 (pg. 117 - 134) and listen to Op. 59, No. 2 over and over again. Please comment on this week’s reading/quartet and continue to comment on previous weeks’ readings/quartets.

I hope all goes well. I just attended a talk by a master guitar builder from Fender. I wonder about the whole musical process – the building of instruments, the training of musicians, the recording of music with producers like Oz Fritz, the work of musicologists like Joseph Kerman, etc. I wonder how changes in the world will change the world of music, especially how the wild politcal world of America in 2018 will shape the world of the future. I have listened to this quartet a lot this week, but I have run out of time to write. I hope to write more next week. Please keep listening, reading, and commenting.