Chaos & Cyber Culture

292 Pages·1994·23.97 MB·English

by  Timothy Leary

ABOUT TIMOTHY LEARY
T' Tom Robbins:
"Thebraveneuronautwhom I believeto betheGalileoofoura^e. albeitaGalileopossessedof
considerable Irishblarney, viihich makeshimallthemoreagreeable."
W
WilliamS. Burroughs:
"Atruevisionaryofthepotentialofthehuman mindandspirit."
T" Allen Ginsberg:
"AheroofAmerican consciousness."
W
William Gibson:
"The'90sarehere, andtheDoctor is in!"
T' Mondo2000:
"Thecyberdelicyuru. ...TheMVP(MostValuable Philosopher) ofthe20th Century."
W
Guideto ComputerLiving:
"Oneofthe intellectualgiantsofourtime. ... Nooneelsehaddaredto publiclyexplorethe
metaphysicalandevolutionary implicationsofthehomecomputer."
S"" Creem:
"TheGrandfatherofSlackerProphets."
f"
Exposure:
"Inner-spacepioneer. Outer-spaceadvocate. Computerenthusiast. Writer. Humorist. AWest
Pointman. An ex-Harvardprofessor. Aformerpoliticalprisoner. Aprovocateurextraordinaire.
Ahi^h catwith CaryGrantstyleand;race."
W~ MagicalBlend:
"Dr.Timothyleary: psychologist, iconoclast, prophet, outlaw, historian, andvisionary."
W
Fad:
"In Leary's25-plusbooksandsoftwareonefindsideaspertinenttothepresent, notonlytothe
'new.'Touchingon mediaandculture, politicsandpsychology, mindand chaos, hisideas
open up possibilitiesforthepresent."
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Time:
"Yes, he'sback. At72, theex-Harvardprofessorwhoencoura5[edagenerationto'turn on,tune
in, anddrop out'nowcountshimselfasacyberpunk. 'The PCistheLSDofthe 1990s,' hesays."
5"
R. U. Sirlus:
"He'savisionary, theoretician, fighterforindividualfreedom, advocateoftolerance... but
moreimportantly,TimothyLeary'slustforlifealwayscheersuson."
S' SusanSarandon:
"Hemakesthechaosofoureverydaylivessexy."
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RONIN PUBLISHING, INC.
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BOX 103$, BERKELEY. CALIFORNIA 9^701
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CHAOS I CYBER CULTURE Copyright 1994TimothyLeary
FirstEdition Allrightsreserved.Nopartofthisbookmaybereproducedortransmittedinanyformorby
ISBN:0-914171-77-1 anymeans,electronicormechanicalincludingphotocopying,recording,orbyany
informationstorageandretrievalsystem,withoutwrittenpermissionfromthepublisher,
exceptfortheinclusionofbriefquotationsinareview.
PUBLISHED BY
RoninPublishing,Inc.
PostOfficeBox 1035 PrintedintheUnitedStatesofAmerica
Berkeley,California94701 Firsteditionfirstprinting: 1994
98765432
PROIECT EDITORS SebastianOrfali, BeveriyPotter,Ph.D.
BOOK EDITORS Michael Horowitz, Vicki Marshall
MANUSCRIPT EDITORS Aidan Kelly, GingerAshworth
ART DIRECTOR Carolyn Ferris
COVER DESIGN Brian Groppe
BOOK DESIGN JudyJuly
TYPE-SCANS-PRODUCTION GenericType
COVER ART Carolyn Ferris, Brummbaer,VicKeller, RobertWilliams
lUUSTRATIONS CarolynFerris,VicKeller,AndyFrith,Brummbaer
ThematerialhereinispresentedinthespiritoftheFirstAmendmentforreferenceand
informationalpurposes,andshouldinnowaybeconstruedasadvocatingthebreakingof
laws.
U.S.LibraryofCongressCataloguing-in-PublicationData
Leary,TimothyFrancis, 1920- .
Chaos&CyberCultureIbyTimothyLeary:withguestappearancesby
WilliamS. Burroughs...[etal.]:editorMichaelHorowitz. 1sted.
cm.
p.
Includesbibliographicalreferencesandindex.
ISBN0-914171-77-1:$19.95
1. Popularculture UnitedStates. 2. Subculture UnitedStates.
I. Burroughs,Williams., 1914- . II. Horowitz,Michael, 1938- .
in. Title, rv. Title:Chaosandcyberculture.
E169.04.L463 994
306'.ir0973-dc20 94-29511
CIP
I TESTIMONY OF AFFECTION OR RESPECT =:)
DEDICATIONS DEAREST FRIENDS!
DEFINITIONS: "DEDICATE" Barbara Leary
AT 1. Tosetapartand consecratetoa deityortoasacred purpose. RosemaryWoodruff
S" 2. To devotewhollyand earnestly, asto sonfie person orpurpose. DenisBerry
S~ 3. To inscribe(a book, pieceofmusic, etc.)toa person, causeorthe like. Aileen Getty
AngelaJanklow
Siobhan Cyr
Momoko
Ito
DESIGN TEAMi THE CHILDREN!
: Joi Ito
Mimi Ito
Sebastian Orfali Susan Martino DonnaWilson
Carolyn Ferris Jack Leary Barbara Fouch
Mike Horowitz Zach Chase
Camella Grace
Vicki Marshall Dieadra Martino
Betsy Berg
Brummbaer AshleyMartino JaniceGardner
VicKeller BrettLeary Louise Schwartz
AndyFrith Annie Leary Susan Sarandon
Howard Hallis Sarah Brown
DianaWalstrom
GingerAshworth Davina Suzanne
JoeyCavallo
JudyJuly Sunyata Palmer Vincede Franco
Jubal Palmer
Don, Holly& Kenny
Noni Horowitz
GreaterTalent
Uri Horowitz
Network
Marianne Leary
Anita Hoffman
dementia
JackArmstrong
JerryHarrington
J. R Barlow
AlJourgenson
TonyScott
John Roseboro
ChrisGraves
ScottFisher
Joel Fredericks
EricGardner
Alan Schwartz
Tim Robbins
George Milman
JasMorgan
Mondo 2000
Dave&Andy
Ron Lawrence
Michael Shields
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
I. PHOTO CREDITS PeterBooth Lee
CindyHorowitz
Michael Shields
JeremyBigwood
Hi Leitz
Dana Gluckstein
HerbRitts
II. PHOTOS USED TO RENDER
PAINTINGS AND DRAWINGS. Morgan Russell:WilliamGibson
AllenGinsberg:WilliamS. Burroughs
Yvette Roman: David Byrne
III. ILLUSTRATIONS. Carolyn Ferris
VicKeller
AndyFrith
Brummbaer
RobertWilliams
Keith Haring
MattGouig
Howard Hallis
IV. COMPUTER ART AND
COLLECTION ARCHIVES. MichaelWitte
Michael Horowitz
Ronin Publishing, Inc.
Paul Kagan
Vicki Marshall
MikeSaenz
Mark
Franklyn
RickGriffin
V. SPECIAL THANKS. Specialthanksfortheirhelptothefollowing:
Robin Kay
Ron Lawrence
KennThomas
Joe Ranno
Flash Photo (SanAnselmo, California)
Theauthorhasmadeeveryefforttotracetheownershipofallcopyrightandquoted
materialpresented.Intheeventofanyquestionarisingastotheuseofaselection,he
offershisapologiesforanyerrorsandomissionsandwillmakethenecessarycorrections
infutureprintings.
We aie mutating into another species-liom Aquaiia to the Teriaiium, and now we'ie moving into Cybeiia.
We aie cieatuies to the centei of the woild. But are the stuff of which the
crawling cybernetic cybernetics
world is made. Matter is simply frozen information. ... The critics of the information a^e see everything
in the negative, as if the quantity of information can lead to a loss of meaning. They said the same thin^
about Gutenberg. . . . Never before has the individual been so empowered. But in the information a^e you
do have to ^et the signals out. Popularization means making it available to the people. Today the role of
the philosopher is to personalize, popularize, and humanize computer ideas so that people can feel
comfortable with them. ... The fact is that a few of us saw what was happening and we wrestled the
power of LSD away from the CIA, and now the power of computers away from IBM, just as we rescued
psycholo^ away from the doctors and analysts. In every generation I've been part of a ^roup of people
who. like Prometheus, have wrestled with the power in order to hand it back to the individual."
-TIMOTHY LEARY. PATAPHYSICS MAGAZINE (1990)
Give meTimothy Leary's
humourous, humane, enter-
taining challenge to our
sluggish perspectives any
I day. This book isa romp
through historyfrom
Aquaria to Cyberia.
' I feel my neurons perk-
ing up and snapping to
attention asthe fog of
mass-media disinformation
turnsto high-definition
He makesthe chaos
clarity.
ofoureveryday lives sexy.
Susan Sarandon
O
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