"Orson [Welles] facing the press after the War of the Worlds broadcast, incredibly hard photo." Source. But Jesse Walker comments, "The man is having fun."
This is apparently from the same Oct. 31, 1938, press conference depicted in the Wikipedia article on the broadcast.
It would have been interesting to know, if he had lived longer, what Robert Anton Wilson would have made of new developments in the world. I am particularly wondering what he would have thought of the boom in artificial intelligence, in the light of SMI2LE.
If RAW were still around, would he be doing experiments with artificial intelligence, like the one Tyler Cowen has done with his new project?
Cowen has just written a book, Who is the Greatest Economist of all Time and Why Does it Matter? Tyler calls it a "generative book."
Cowen wrote all of the book himself (not using an AI) and anyone can download a copy from the website for the project. But in addition, if I understand the concept, readers can ask four different AIs at the site to answer questions raised in your mind as you read the book.
Tyler has his own chatbot at the site. Sample questions are offered, but I tried one of my own: "How does Paul Krugman rank in the GOAT contest?" (Krugman is not just an influential New York Times columnist. He won the Nobel Prize for economics). Here is the answer I got:
"Paul Krugman does not feature in the main content of Tyler's GOAT analysis in "GOAT: Who is the Greatest Economist of all Time and Why Does it Matter?". That said, he pops up in the book's discussion about Google Trends rankings where he appears well-rated, implying he's familiar to the public. Yet, consider that popularity doesn't necessarily reflect the greatest economic mind or influence.
"Krugman's notable contributions, specifically his work on international trade and economic geography, won him the 2008 Nobel Prize in Economic Sciences. He's also made his mark as a New York Times columnist and an author, bringing economic perspectives to wider audiences. However, when lining him up with colossal figures like Adam Smith, John Maynard Keynes, or Milton Friedman, it becomes more challenging to single him out as the GOAT. Moreover, the GOAT, as per Tyler, isn't just about high-level academic contribution, but also the ability to influence public opinion, policy-making, and the course of economics as a discipline, both directly and indirectly.
"A minor point, but if the GOAT contest had an awards gala, Paul Krugman would certainly be invited Mardi Gras bead style, but not likely to be crowned king."
Tyler could have simply published the book, but instead he is giving it away, for now, for the sake of trying a new approach to publishing.
Here is a blog post by Ben Yeoh discussing the book.
Doctor Richard Waterloo has been hard at work on his book about reality tunnels. He's been teasing it with posts on X. Above is a self-portrait he posted this weekend, presumably showing himself hard at work on the manuscript.
It looks like the book will become available next year. I recently asked him for an update and he said, "Still working on the second revision, first good draft. Then I'll need artists to work up the inside graphics/diagrams/images.
"Looking at 2024 sometime. Winter will give me time to get it straightened out."
Rasa runs the Robert Anton Wilson Trust and also runs Hilaritas Press. In his earlier days, he was a rock musician, playing for a band called Sweet Smoke. He recently posted on Facebook about his rock music days:
"I played rhythm guitar and sitar for Sweet Smoke in the early 70's when the band was living in Germany, and touring in Holland, Germany and France. It was through Sweet Smoke that I met Marlis Jermutus, and through her, Robert Anton Wilson's European agent, Tom Sperlich, which eventually led to my friendship with RAW... but that's another story.
"Someone put this bootlegged audio from a Sweet Smoke concert in Heidelberg on YouTube years ago. I recently gave the recording to RAW aficionado Oz Fritz (read his essay in the new Lion of Light). Oz is a professional recording engineer, and he was gracious enough to fix up the audio quality. Oz called the tweaking he did, "sweetening." It's still a pretty rough recording, but much better than the original bootleg, which I imagine was from some fan sitting in the concert hall with a mic with a decent portable German tape recorder.
"If you want an audio engineer's perspective, check out the EMI album where we played some of the same songs as in this bootleg recording, only we had EMI's professional recording team: https://youtu.be/YUOdBF6luio
"I have a bit of sadness in posting this video, as dear friend and amazing guitarist, Marvin Kaminovitz died earlier this year. Marvin's stunning and inventive lead guitar playing shines throughout this recording."
The video Rasa refers to is above.
Am I the the only one who thinks it's funny that Rasa was in a band called Sweet Smoke, and he now lives in Weed, California?
On the town's website, officials explain, "The City of Weed, California is nestled at the base of Mount Shasta in the Cascade Mountains and half way between San Francisco and Portland. The community is surrounded by natural beauty, breathtaking vistas, and unmatched outdoor recreation. The City is a historic lumber town which has retained much of its early 1900's charm, while transitioning into a tourist destination."
From the New York Times: "For decades, the residents of Weed, a California lumber town an hour from the Oregon border, have felt like the butt of jokes, exasperated from the repetition of the Daily Explanation: No, the town is not named for marijuana but a local 19th-century timber baron, Abner Weed. For years, the town rejected proposals to leverage the name and allow the sale of marijuana."
The 2021 Times story explains that the town has finally embraced the tourist possibilities of the name: "When they see the signs for Weed, carloads of curious travelers veer off the freeway to stop and gawk. They file into gift shops that sell 'Weed Is So Dope' refrigerator magnets and sweatshirts advertising a fictional University of Weed: 'A Place of Higher Learning'.”
H.P. Lovecraft (public domain photo).
(1) From Matt Cardin on X/Twitter:
Topics include:
> Lovecraft
> Thomas Ligotti
> religion & horror
> Cormac McCarthy
> Algernon Blackwood
> vampires & religion
> Stephen King & Robert Louis Stevenson."
I've tried to avoid linking to X posts here, as only people with an X account can read them, but I don't see a way around that here. Of course you can register an account to read the posts and you don't have to otherwise be active.
(2) My wife and I have been listening to the first season of The Lovecraft Investigations podcast, we are really enjoying them; has anyone else tried them besides Rarebit Fiend (who commented on my recent post.) The modern updating of Lovecraft and the references to Aleister Crowley and other figures is a bit reminiscent of Illuminatus!, or so it seems to me. Does anyone know if the show's creator, Julian Simpson, is influenced by RAW?
(3) Richard Karzynski, the author of Perdurabo (the Crowley biography) has a page on his official website devoted to his Halloween pumpkin art. The images are copyrighted and I can't reproduce them, but go check out the page.
The RAW Semantics blog has a new post up, "Hardcore kindness semantics," that discusses the semantics of unfair generalizations about groups, and how to replace those generalizations with kindness.
"Some of the worst cases, for me, of the unfortunate habit of over-generalising on abstract groups (eg “The Media”, “The Establishment”, “The Elite”… or insert your favourite scapegoat group: “shitlibs”, “woketards”, “Tory scum”, etc) ironically came from people whose political views I otherwise agreed with on many issues. Cue the classic Monty Python scene, which illustrates what I’m thinking of here better than any number of long-winded blog posts."
The clip Brian references (from the Life of Brian) is above.
Don Dixon, music producer and musician, and his wife, singer Marti Jones. (Courtesy Don Dixon).
One of the cool things about being a newspaper reporter is that if I am interested in a writer or a musician, I sometimes get to interview that person. Perhaps some of you would be interested in them, too; I should probably mention my Sandusky Register articles a bit more often.
Here is my 2014 interview with novelist Richard Powers (I was prompted by his novel about classical music, Orfeo, but he is probably better known for The Overstory, The Echo Maker and The Gold Bug Variations.)
Here is my 2015 interview with writer Gene Wolfe (The Book of the New Sun, etc.).
Musician Don Dixon co-produced the first two REM albums and has worked with any other musicians; I wrote an article about him this year after a long interview.
I snagged an interview with Chris Frantz (Talking Heads drummer) when he issued his memoir in 2020.
My 2018 piece about Chris Diffords, after his book came out. I picked 10 of my favorite Squeeze songs and asked him to comment on them.
Noah23 has released several albums this year, but he describes this one as his major release.
Prop Anon has revived his podcast series with two new podcasts.
One is an interview with rapper Noah23, the Canadian rapper influenced by Robert Anton Wilson. The interview is about 23 minutes long. Most of the discussion is about music, but I had previously reported that Noah23 has faced legal woes, and in the interview, Noah23 reveals that's behind him, the charges have been dropped. I listened to the podcast and enjoyed it; Prop had turned me on to Noah23's music. After I listened to the podcast, I bought Noah23's Tank Girl album on Bandcamp, the album released on Maybe Day this year (I like the tune "Tiger Cage," featured on the podcast.)
Here is Noah23's Bandcamp page, which has many of his albums. Noah 23 also has many albums on Hoopla Digital, the streaming service which most U.S. citizens can access with a library card from their local library, and you should be able to find him on any of the commercial music streaming services.
Prop also has released a podcast interview with John Crawley. Here is the description: "In this episode I speak with author, John Crawley about his book The Yank: The True Story of a former U.S. Marine in the Irish Republican Army. John joined the IRA in 1980 just as 'the Troubles' was about to enter its 'long war' period."
I've included links to the podcasts, but you should also be able to get them at many podcasting apps; on mine, I had to put in the URL for the RSS feed, which you can get at the links I provided.
UPDATE: I learned about the podcasts from Prop's newsletter. I did not have the URL for the newsletter when I wrote the post, but now I have the link.
The choice of guest for the latest Hilartas podcast seems like a great one: Oberon Zell-Ravenheart, founder of the Church of All Worlds (inspired by Heinlein's Stranger in a Strange Land) and the publisher of Green Egg, the pagan magazine. As usual, the Hilartas podcast page for the episode has useful links and background information, and Mike Gathers returns as host.
It is weird to realize that the Rolling Stones are still around and still have the two core members, Mick Jagger, 80, and Keith Richards, 79; Ron Wood, 76, has been the band's second guitarist since 1975. The Beatles may be long gone, but somehow the Stones, who formed in 1962 and put out their first single in 1963, not only still exist but have issued a new studio album, Hackney Diamonds, which I've been listening to.
It's not a replacement for your favorite Stones album, but it's a pretty decent album. If it gives you an idea of my tastes, Sticky Fingers is probably my favorite; I do like Blue and Lonesome, the 2016 blues cover album; Tattoo You, from back in 1981, was the last previous studio album I liked.
Oz Fritz, in his review of Joanna Harcourt-Smith's memoir, Tripping the Bardo with Timothy Leary, records the couple's fondness for the Stones: "Joanna and Timothy met and got together largely as a result of being separately drawn into the Rolling Stones orbit when the Stones were working in France recording Exile On Main Street. Leary, at that time, was THE exile on main street along with the Stones. The opening lyrics of the first song, Rocks Off go: "I hear you talking when you're on the street, your mouth don't move but I can hear you speak." Leary was known to demonstrate remarkable telepathic abilities at different times several examples of which you'll find in this book."
Below is a "Visionary Portrait of Timothy Leary" I found on X today, from Nuwan Shilka, a psychedelic artist from Sri Lanka.
Source. Hilaritas is coming out soon with a reprint of Chaos and Beyond, which includes other Arlen Wilson poems.
Meme on what RAW called the "Jumping Jesus Phenomenon." (Source).
George Monbiot on observing the rules of war. I try to avoid being too "political" here, but I think a RAW blog can come out against killing civilians. Via RAW Semantics on Twitter.
I'll let Jesse Walker explain this link. "My favorite presidential candidate is in legal trouble for speech, just because he vilified some public servants. No, of course I don't mean Trump." (Jesse's X account.)
The Whole Earth Catalog is available online.
High-ranking Tibetan Buddhist official lives in Ireland.
Will Detroit go Georgist? (As in Henry George, who RAW was interested in).
Roland Griffiths (public domain photo)
Psychedelics research, including its use in "brain change," was taboo for many years in the U.S.; Robert Anton Wilson used to rail about the situation in his writings.
Roland Griffiths, a Johns Hopkins professor whose courageous work revived research into psychedelics, has died of cancer, the New York Times reports.
The Times obituary is full of interesting sentences: "In 1994, Dr. Griffiths began meditating regularly, which led to a transformative experience that, he said, “profoundly shifted my worldview and got me very curious about the nature of spiritual experiences.”
"He told Mr. Pollan that the experience was so profound that he nearly quit science to devote himself to a spiritual practice. But, as it happened, others were working to rehabilitate the study of psychedelics. One was Bob Jesse, a former vice president of the software company Oracle, who had established a nonprofit to encourage research on mystical experiences and whose introduction to Dr. Griffiths became the engine for what would soon change the direction of Dr. Griffiths’s research and reinvigorate the field."
Hat tip, Jesse Walker.
