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@@ -5674,9 +5674,7 @@ February 22, 1963
(foto by Jack Smith)
-\end{document}
-
-14. Mock Risk Games
+\chapter{Mock Risk Games}
Suppose you stand in front of a swinging door with a nail sticking out of it
@@ -5716,11 +5714,6 @@ to evade. The point is not to hallucinate the misfortunes, or even to fear
them, but rather to be prepared to evade them. First you work with each
misfortune separately. For example, you walk across a room, prepared to
react self-protectingly if you are suddenly upside down, resting on the top of
-
-
-153
-
-
your head on the floor. In preparing for this risk, you should clear the path
of objects that might hurt you if you fell on them; you should wear clothes
suitable for falling; and you should try standing on your head, taking your
@@ -5735,63 +5728,62 @@ triples of misfortunes, and so forth.
The principal games are for a large room with no animals or distracting
sounds present.
-A. Walk across the lighted room from one corner to the diagonally
+\textbf{A.}Walk across the lighted room from one corner to the diagonally
opposite one, breathing normally, with your eyes open.
-
-1. You are suddenly upside down, resting on the top of your head on the
+\begin{enumerate}
+\item You are suddenly upside down, resting on the top of your head on the
floor. You must get down without breaking your neck.
-2. Although the floor looks unbroken and solid, beyond a certain point
-nothing is there. !f you step onto that area, you will take a fatal fall. Thus, as
+\item Although the floor looks unbroken and solid, beyond a certain point
+nothing is there. If you step onto that area, you will take a fatal fall. Thus, as
you walk, you must not shift your weight to your forward foot until you are
sure it will hold. Put the ball of the forward foot down before the heel.
-3. Something happens to the cohesive forces in your neck so that if your
+\item Something happens to the cohesive forces in your neck so that if your
head tips in any direction, it will come right off your body, killing you
immediately. Otherwise everything remains normal. Thus, as you walk, you
must "balance" your head on your neck. When you reach the other side of
the room, your neck will be restored to normal. (Prepare beforehand by
walking with a book balanced on your head.)
-4. Invisible conical weights fall around you with their points down, each
+\item Invisible conical weights fall around you with their points down, each
whistling as it falls. You must evade them by ear in order not to be stabbed.
Walk softly and fast.
-5. The room is suddenly filled with water. You have to contro! your lungs
+\item The room is suddenly filled with water. You have to contro! your lungs
and swim to the top. Wear clothes suitable for swimming.
+\end{enumerate}
-A. Play game A while on a long walk on an uncrowded street. The floor
+\textbf{A'.} Play game A while on a long walk on an uncrowded street. The floor
is replaced by the sidewalk. The fifth misfortune becomes for space suddenly
to be filled with water to a height of fifteen feet above the street.
-B. Lie on your back on a pallet in the dimly lit room, hands at your
-
+\textbf{B.} Lie on your back on a pallet in the dimly lit room, hands at your
sides, with a pillow on your face so that it is slightly difficult to breathe, for
thirty seconds at a time.
-1. The pillow suddenly hardens and becomes hundreds of pounds heavier. !t
+\begin{enumerate}
+\item The pillow suddenly hardens and becomes hundreds of pounds heavier. !t
remains suspended on your face for a split second and then "falls," bears
down with full weight. You must jerk your head out from under it in that
split second.
-
-154
-
-
-2. The pillow adheres to your skin with a force greater than your skin's
+\item The pillow adheres to your skin with a force greater than your skin's
cohesion, and begins to rise. You must rise with it in such a way that your
skin is not torn.
+\end{enumerate}
-C. Lie on your back on the pallet in the dimly lit room.
+\textbf{C.} Lie on your back on the pallet in the dimly lit room.
-1. Gravity suddenly disappears completely, so that nothing is held down by
+\begin{enumerate}
+\item Gravity suddenly disappears completely, so that nothing is held down by
it; and the ceiling becomes red-hot. You must avoid drifting up against the
ceiling.
-2. The surface you are lying on becomes a vast lighted open plane. From the
+\item The surface you are lying on becomes a vast lighted open plane. From the
distance, giant steel spheres come rolling in your direction. You must evade
them.
-3. Your body is split in half just above the waist by an indefinitely long,
+\item Your body is split in half just above the waist by an indefinitely long,
rather high, foot-thick wall. Your legs and lower torso are on one side, and
your upper torso, arms, and head are on the other side. Matter normally
exchanged between the two halves of your body continues to be exchanged
@@ -5801,20 +5793,22 @@ bent way forward. There are depressions in the wall on the same side as your
feet. You have to climb the wall, putting your feet in the depressions and
balancing yourself. You will be reunited when you reach the top and your
waist passes above the wall.
+\end{enumerate}
-D. Sit in a plain, small, straight chair, on the edge of the seat, hands
+\textbf{D.} Sit in a plain, small, straight chair, on the edge of the seat, hands
hanging at the sides of the seat, feet together in front of the chair, in the
lighted room, for about thirty seconds at a time.
-1. The chair is suddenly out from under you and sitting on you with Its legs
+\begin{enumerate}
+\item The chair is suddenly out from under you and sitting on you with Its legs
straddling your lap and legs. You have to get your weight over your feet so
you won't take a hard fall.
-2. The direction of gravity reverses and the chair remains anchored to the
+\item The direction of gravity reverses and the chair remains anchored to the
floor. You have to grab the seat and hold on in order not to fall on the
ceiling.
-3. You are suddenly in a contra-terrene universe, in which the atmosphere is
+\item You are suddenly in a contra-terrene universe, in which the atmosphere is
unbreathable and prolonged contact with either the atmosphere or the
ground will disintegrate you. The seat and back of the chair become a
penetrable hyperspatial sheet between the alien universe and your own. As
@@ -5823,14 +5817,18 @@ ground and deliberately sink or p!unge through the seat and back of the chair
in the best way that you can. You will end up on the floor under the chair in
your universe.
-4. You are suddenly in dark empty space in a three-dimensional lattice of
+\item You are suddenly in dark empty space in a three-dimensional lattice of
gleaming wires. Segments of the lattice alternately burst into flame and cool
off. You adhere to the chair as if it were part of you. With your hands
holding onto the seat, you can move yourself and the chair forward by
+\end{enumerate}
-155
+\plainbreak{2}
+
+\textbf{[NOTE: TWO PAGES MISSING HERE IN SCAN]}
+\plainbreak{2}
from blundering into a radiation beam, you have to communicate
pre-verbally to the other mind by every means from vocal cries to
@@ -5846,23 +5844,24 @@ that neither player prepares for the possibility that he will be surrounded by
radiation. Each player prepares for the same role in an asymmetrical pas de
deux.)
-Asymmetry: The two of you play a given duo game, but each prepares
+\emph{Asymmetry:} The two of you play a given duo game, but each prepares
to evade a different misfortune.
-AB. Stay awake with eyes closed for an agreed upon time between one
+\textbf{AB.} Stay awake with eyes closed for an agreed upon time between one
and fifteen minutes. Use a timer with an alarm.
-1. Each suddenly has the other's entire present consciousness in addition to
+\begin{enumerate}
+\item Each suddenly has the other's entire present consciousness in addition to
his own, from perceptions to memories, ideologies, ambitions, and
-everything else--threatening both with psychological shock.
+everything else---threatening both with psychological shock.
The couple must take up positions such that their sensory perceptions
-
are as nearly identical as possible. Beforehand, each must discuss with the
other the aspects of the other's attitude to the world which each must fears
having impused on his consciousness. During the game, each must think
about these aspects and try to prepare for them.
-2. Each suddenly relives the other's most intense past feelings of depression
+
+\item Each suddenly relives the other's most intense past feelings of depression
and suicidal impulses. In other words, if five years ago the other attempted
suicide because he failed out of college, you suddenly have the consciousness
that "you" have just failed out of college, are totally worthless, and should
@@ -5873,12 +5872,9 @@ incongruous with the rest of your consciousness. In summary, both of you
risk shock and suicidal impulses. Beforehand, of course, each must tell the
other of his worst past suicidal or depressed episode; and discuss anything
else that may minimize the risk of shock.
+\end{enumerate}
-
-158
-
-
-Intrusions in Duo Games
+\section*{Intrusions in Duo Games}
As before, distractions and modulations can be openly studied by
consent of the players. As for bogies, it is possible in duo games for one
@@ -5886,35 +5882,24 @@ player to create a bogy without warning, in effect acting as a saboteur. As
soon as a game is sabotaged, though, confidence is lost, and each player just
watches out for the other's bogies. Here are some sample intrusions.
-
-DISTRACTION BOGY MODULATION
-
-
-shout in other's each
-face take
-2, talk and Jaugh stamp hard 2a
-get out of step Ly different
-
-
-}
-
-
-ALB cough gasp
-
-
-talk and laugh silently pass palm back I
-& forth in front of
-other's face
+\begin{tabular}{ r c c c }
+ \textsc{Game} & \textsc{Distraction} & \textsc{Bogy} & \textsc{Modulation} \\
+ AA 1. & cough & shout in other's face & each take a different drug \\
+ 2. & talk and laugh \linebreak get out of step & $\rightarrow$ \linebreak (stomp hard) & & \\
+ 3. & spin around & $\rightarrow$ & \\
+ AB 1. & cough \linebreak talk and laugh & gasp \linebreak silently pass palm back \& forth in front of other's face & \\
+ 2. & & & \\
+\end{tabular}
-15. The Dream Reality
+\chapter{The Dream Reality}
-A. Memo on the Dream Project
+\section{Memo on the Dream Project}
-Original aim: To recreate the effect of e.g. Pran Nath's singing--transcendent
-inner escape--in direct life rather than art. I needed material which could
+Original aim: To recreate the effect of e.g. Pran Nath's singing---transcendent
+inner escape---in direct life rather than art. I needed material which could
function as an alien civilization (since the source of Pran Nath's expression is
an alien civilization relative to me); yet which was encultured in me and not
an affectation or pretense. I decided to use dreams as the material, assuming
@@ -5923,10 +5908,9 @@ Mostly my dreams consist of long periods of tawdry, familiar life interrupted
occasionally by senseless, unmotivated anomalies. In contrast, my original
aim required alluring, psychically gratifying material.
-
The emphasis shifted to redefining reality so that dreams were on the same
level as waking life; so that they were apprehended as what they seem to be:
-literal reality {and not memory, precognition, or symbolism). The project
+literal reality (and not memory, precognition, or symbolism). The project
was still arcane, but in a drastically different way. I was getting into an
alternate reality which was extremely bizarre but not psychically gratifying.
It was boringly frightful and sometimes obscene. I became concerned with
@@ -5935,28 +5919,24 @@ investigation. As I grappled with the rational arguments against treating
dreams as literal reality, the project became a difficult analytical exercise in
the philosophy of science. The original sensuous-esthetic purpose was lost.
-
Now I would like to return to the original aim, but how to do it? Obtain
-other people's dreams--see if they are more suitable? Work only with my
+other people's dreams---see if they are more suitable? Work only with my
very rare dreams which do take me to alien worlds? Try to alter the content
of my raw dreams? Attempt to affect content of dreams by experiment in
which many people sleep in same room and try to communicate in their
sleep? The most uncertain approach to a solution: set up a transformation
on my banal dreams, so that to the first-order activity of raw dreaming is
added a second-order activity. The transformation procedure to somehow
-combine conscious ideational direction--coding of the banal dreams--with
+combine conscious ideational direction---coding of the banal dreams---with
alteration of my experience, my esthesia, my lived experience.
-160
-
-
-B. Dreams and Reality--An Experimental Essay
-
+\section{Dreams and Reality---An Experimental Essay}
Excerpts from my dream diary which are referred-to in the essay that
follows.
-12/11/1973
+
+\dreamdate{12/11/1973}
I notice a state between waking and dreaming: a waking dream. I have
been asleep; I wake up; I close my eyes to sleep again. While not yet asleep, I
@@ -5965,13 +5945,12 @@ background, only a dark void. !n this case, there are two pocket combs, both
with teeth broken. In the waking world, I threw away one of my two pocket
combs because I broke it; the other comb is still in good condition.
-
-12/30/1973
+\dreamdate{12/30/1973}
I am chased by the police for one block west on West Market Street in
Greensboro. I reach the intersection with Eugene Street, and in the north
direction there is a steep hill rather than the street. The surface of the hill is
-bare ground and grass. I run up the hill, sensing that if ! can get over the hill
+bare ground and grass. I run up the hill, sensing that if I can get over the hill
I will find Friendly Road and the general neighborhood of my mother's
houses on the other side. The police start shooting. If I can get a few yards
farther on the top of the hill I will be past the line of fire. I take a headlong
@@ -5981,9 +5960,9 @@ continuously through waking up and through the associated change of
setting.
-1/12/1974
+\dreamdate{1/12/1974}
-Just before ! go to sleep for the night, I am lying in bed drowsy. I think
+Just before I go to sleep for the night, I am lying in bed drowsy. I think
of being, and suddenly am, at the south edge of the Courant Institute plaza,
which is several feet above the sidewalk. The edge of the plaza and the drop
are all I see. It is night; and there is only a void where the peripheral
@@ -5996,26 +5975,22 @@ a waking nightmare and have awakened from being awake. I thought of the
scene, was suddenly in it (except for peripheral reality cues), lost control and
became endangered by it, and then snapped back to my bedroom.
+\dreamdate{1/1-/1974}
-1/1-/1974
One or two nights after 1/12/74 I was lying in bed just before going to
-
-
-161
-
-
sleep. I could see women standing on a sidewalk. The scene was real, but I
was not in it; I was a disembodied spectator. Also, the peripheral
environment was absent. The reality was between that of a waking
visualization and that of the Courant Institute incident of 1/12/74.
-Comment: The differences between this experience and a _ waking
+Comment: The differences between this experience and a waking
visualization are that the latter is less vivid than seeing and is accompanied
by waking reality cues such as cues of bodily location.
-1/16/1974
+\dreamdate{1/16/1974}
-1. I am in an apartment vaguely like the first place in which I lived, at
+\begin{enumerate}
+\item I am in an apartment vaguely like the first place in which I lived, at
1025 Madison Avenue in Greensboro. I am a spy. I am teen-aged and short;
and I am in the apartment with several enemy men, who are middle-aged and
adult-sized. My code sheets look like the sheets of Yiddish I have been
@@ -6026,15 +6001,16 @@ that moment my consciousness jumps from my body and becomes that of a
disembodied spectator watching from an eastward location, as if I were
watching a film.
-2. I am living in a dormitory in a rural setting with other males. At one
+\item I am living in a dormitory in a rural setting with other males. At one
point I walking barefoot in weeds outside the dormitory, and Supt. Toro
tells me I am walking in poison ivy. My feet begin to show the rash, but I
recognize that I am in a dream and think that the rash will not carry over to
the waking state. I then begin to will away the rash in the dream, and I
succeed,
+\end{enumerate}
-1/20/1974
+\dreamdate{1/20/1974}
For some reason the dream associates Simone Forti with flute-like
music. It is shortly before midnight. In the dream I believe that Simone lives
@@ -6044,12 +6020,13 @@ whistle but can only whistle a single high note. I half awaken but continue
whistling, or trying to; the dream action continues into waking. But I cannot
change pitch or whistle clearly because my mouth is taped. As I realize this, I
awaken fully.
+
Comments: I tape my mouth at night so I will sleep with my mouth closed. I
experimented at trying to whistle with the tape on while fully awake. The
breath just hisses against the tape. The pitch of the hiss can be varied.
-2/1/1974
+\dreamdate{2/1/1974}
1. I try to assist a man in counterfeiting ten dollar bills by taking half
of a ten, scotch taping it to half of a one, and then coloring over the one
@@ -6057,7 +6034,7 @@ until it looks like the other half of the ten. The method fails because I bring
old crumpled tens rather than new tens, and the one doilar bills are new.
-Comments: There are no natural anomalies in this dream at ali. What is
+Comments: There are no natural anomalies in this dream at all. What is
anomalous is that this counterfeiting method seems perfectly sensible, and I
only begin to question it when we try to fit the crumpled half-bill to the
crisp half-bill. Why am I so foolish in this dream? I retain my identity as
@@ -6070,70 +6047,65 @@ teen-ager. Thus, I must warn readers who know me only from this diary not
to try to make the image of me here fit my waking life.
-2/3/1974
+\dreamdate{2/3/1974}
3. I have had several dreams that I am taking the last courses of my
student career. (In waking life I have completed all course work.) I am
usually failing them. Tonight I dream that I have gone all semester without
-studying (in a course in English? ). Now I am in the final exam and sinking. I
+studying (in a course in English?). Now I am in the final exam and sinking. I
will have to repeat these courses. Subsequently, I am sitting in a school
-office (of a professor or psychologist? ), giving him a long list (of words, a
-foreign vocabulary? ). {I mention this episode because I remember that while
+office (of a professor or psychologist?), giving him a long list (of words, a
+foreign vocabulary?). (I mention this episode because I remember that while
I retained my nominal identity as Henry Flynt, I had the mind of a different
person. I experienced another person's existence instead of mine. Professor
Nell also appeared somewhere in this dream; as he has in several school
dreams I have had recently.
-2/3/1974 (This is the date I recorded, but it seems that it would have to be
-later.)
+\dreamdatecomment{2/3/1974}{This is the date I recorded, but it seems that it would have to be later.}
-} get up in the morning and decide to have a self-indulgent breakfast
+I get up in the morning and decide to have a self-indulgent breakfast
because of the unpleasantness of working on my income tax the day before.
So I put two slices of pizza in the oven, and also eat two bakery sweets,
-possibly éclairs. Then I think that a Mexican TV dinner would have been
+possibly \'{e}clairs. Then I think that a Mexican TV dinner would have been
better all around, but it is too late; I have to eat what I am already preparing.
Subsequently, I go with John Alten to a Shoreham Cafeteria at Houston and
Mercer Streets. The cafeteria chain is a good one, but this cafeteria is dark
-and extremely dingy upstairs where the serving line is. John coinplains that
+and extremely dingy upstairs where the serving line is. John complains that
there is no ventilation and that he is suffocating, and he stalks out.
-
-163
-
-
Comment: When I awoke, my first thought was that the pizza in the oven
-would be burning. {I assumed that I had arisen, put the pizza in the oven,
+would be burning. (I assumed that I had arisen, put the pizza in the oven,
and gone back to sleep.) But then I realized that the breakfast was a dream. I
got up and prepared the Mexican dinner which I had decided was best in the
-dream, but I also ate one éclair.
+dream, but I also ate one \'{e}clair.
-
-7/8/1974
+\dreamdate{7/8/1974}
I am caught out in a theft of money, and I feel that the rest of my life
-will be ruined. Comments: The quality of the episode depended on my
+will be ruined.
+
+Comment: The quality of the episode depended on my
strong belief in the reality of the social future and in my ability to form
accurate expectations about it. When I awakened, the whole misadventure
vanished.
-End of excerpts from my dream diary. /
-
+End of excerpts from my dream diary.
-".. It is correct to say that the objective world is a synthesis of private views
+\begin{quotation}
+"... It is correct to say that the objective world is a synthesis of private views
or perceptions... But ... inasmuch as it is the common objective world that
renders ... general knowledge possible, it will be this world that the scientist
will identify with the world of reality. Henceforth the private views, though
just as real, will be treated as its perspectives. ... the common objective
world, whether such a thing exists or is a mere convenient fiction, is
-indispensable to science ... ."
+indispensable to science ...
+."\footnote{A. d'Abro, The Evolution of Scientific Thought (New York, Dover, 1950), pp. 176--7}
+\end{quotation}
-A. d'Abro, The Evolution of Scientific Thought (New York, Dover, 1950),
-pp. 176-7
-
-A. We wish to postulate that dreams are exactly what they seem to be
+\textbf{A.} We wish to postulate that dreams are exactly what they seem to be
while we are dreaming, namely, literal reality. Naively, we want to get closer
to literal empiricism than natural science is. But science has worked out a
very comfortable world-view on the assumption that both dreams and
@@ -6143,19 +6115,14 @@ literal reality, then we will have to adopt a cognitive model quite different
from that of natural science. It is of crucial importance that we are not
interested in superstition. We do not wish to adopt a cognitive model which
would simply be defeated in competition with science. We wish to be at least
-as rationa!, as empirical, and as cognitively parsimonious as science is. We
+as rational, as empirical, and as cognitively parsimonious as science is. We
want our cognitive model to be compelling, and not to be a plaything which
is easily taken up and easily discarded.
The question is whether there can be a rational empiricism which
differs from science in placing dreamed episodes on the same level as waking
-
-
-164
-
-
-episodes, but which stops short of the "nihilistic empiricism' of my
-philosophical essay entitled "The Flaws Underlying Beliefs." (In effect, the
+episodes, but which stops short of the "nihilistic empiricism" of my
+philosophical essay entitled \essaytitle{The Flaws Underlying Beliefs}. (In effect, the
latter essay rejects other minds, causality, persistent objective entities, past
time, the possibility of objective categories and significant language, and so
forth, ending up with ungraded immediate experience.)
@@ -6168,7 +6135,7 @@ is not noticeably different from that of the waking world; and in many
dreams our conscious world-view has much in common with waking
common sense or scientific pragmatism. On 2/3/1974 I had a dream in which
a typewriter was featured. I certainly assumed that the typewriter continued
-to exist when my back was turned to it. On 7/8/1974 I dreamed that ! was
+to exist when my back was turned to it. On 7/8/1974 I dreamed that I was
caught out in a theft of money, and I felt my life would be ruined because of
it. I certainly assumed the reality of the social future, and my ability to form
accurate expectations about it. These examples illustrate that we are not
@@ -6196,27 +6163,21 @@ quasi-dreams exhibit some reality cues, but lack other important internal
reality cues. Science handles these experiences easily, by dismissing them
along with dreams as subjective phenomena of individual consciousness.
Suppose we accept that the semi-conscious quasi-dreams are illusory reality.
-But tf they can be illusory reality, how can we exclude the possibility that
-dreams might be aiso? !f, on the other hand, we accept the quasi-dreams as
-
-
-165
-
-
+But if they can be illusory reality, how can we exclude the possibility that
+dreams might be also? If, on the other hand, we accept the quasi-dreams as
literal reality, what about the missing reality cues? Can we justify different
treatment for dreams and quasi-dreams by saying that all reality cues have to
be present before an experience is accepted as non-illusory? If we propose
to do so, the question then becomes whether we should accept the weight
which common sense places on reality cues.
-
Why do we wish to stop short of nihilistic empiricism? Because we do
wish to assert that dreams can be remembered; that they can be described in
permanent records; that they can be compared and studied rationally. We do
-wa..t to cite the past as evidence; we do want to distinguish between actual
+want to cite the past as evidence; we do want to distinguish between actual
dream experience and waking fabrications, waking lies about what we have
dreamed; and we do want to describe what we experience in intersubjective
-language. "
+language.
As easy way out which would offend nobody would be to treat dreams
as simulations of alternate universes. But this approach is a cowardly evasion
@@ -6230,8 +6191,10 @@ interesting observations I have made about connections between adjacent
dreamed and waking episodes in my own experience are noticeable only
because I take both dreamed and waking experience literally.
+\gap
-B. Before we continue our attempt to resolve our methodological
+
+\textbf{B.} Before we continue our attempt to resolve our methodological
problem, we will provide more detail on topics which we have mentioned in
passing. We begin with the purported empiricism of natural science. The
philosopher Hume postulated that experience was the only raw material of
@@ -6247,26 +6210,24 @@ to it. The quotation by d'Abro which heads this essay concedes as much.
What we are investigating is whether experiences can be draped on a
different intellectual framework in which dreamed and waking life come out
as equally real. Some examples of alternate verification conventions follow.
-1. Accept intersubjective confirmation of my experience of the dream world
-which occurs within the dream as confirmation of the reality of the dream
-
-
-166
-
+\begin{enumerate}
+\item Accept intersubjective confirmation of my experience of the dream world
+which occurs within the dream as confirmation of the reality of the dream
world.
-2. Accept intersubjective confirmation of the past of the dream world which
+\item Accept intersubjective confirmation of the past of the dream world which
occurs in the dream itself as confirmation of the reality of the dreamed past.
-3. Recognize that there is no infallible way to tell whether other people are
-lying about their dreamed expefience or their waking experience.
-4. Develop sophisticated interrogation techniques as a limited test of
-whether people are telling the truth about their dreams.
+\item Recognize that there is no infallible way to tell whether other people are
+lying about their dreamed experience or their waking experience.
+\item Develop sophisticated interrogation techniques as a limited test of
+whether people are telling the truth about their dreams.
-5. Accept that a certain category of anomalies occurs in dreams only when
+\item Accept that a certain category of anomalies occurs in dreams only when
several people have reported experiences in that category.
+\end{enumerate}
The principal characteristic of the approach which these conventions
represent is that each dream is treated as a separate world. There is no
@@ -6277,7 +6238,7 @@ discussion proceeds, we will move away from this approach, probably out of
a sense that it is pointless to maintain a strong notion of reality and yet to
forego the notion of the consistency of all portions of reality.
-C. Something that I have learned from a study of my dream records is
+\textbf{C.} Something that I have learned from a study of my dream records is
that while dreams are not chaotic, while they can be compared and
classified, it is not possibie to apply the method of natural science to them in
the sense of discerning a consistent, impersonal natural order in the dream
@@ -6286,41 +6247,38 @@ the waking world; it is that the dream worlds are incommensurate with the
discernment of a natural order in the scientific sense. Here are some specific
observations which relate to this whole question.
-1. Some dreams are not noticeably anomalous. The laws of science are not
+\begin{enumerate}
+ \item Some dreams are not noticeably anomalous. The laws of science are not
violated in them. This observation is important in giving us a normal base for
our investigation. Dreams are not all crazy and chaotic.
-2. In some dreams, it is impossible to abstract an impersonal natural order
+\item In some dreams, it is impossible to abstract an impersonal natural order
from personal experiences and anecdotes. There are no impersonal events.
There is no nature whose order can be defined impersonally. The dreams are
full of personal magic which cannot be generalized to a characteristic of an
impersonal natural order.
-3. As a special case of (2), in some dreams, we jump back in time and move
+\item As a special case of (2), in some dreams, we jump back in time and move
discontinuously in time and space. Chronological personal magic.
-4. In dreams, the distinction between myself and other people is blurred in
-many different ways. Also, ! sometimes become a_ disembodied
+\item In dreams, the distinction between myself and other people is blurred in
+many different ways. Also, I sometimes become a disembodied
consciousness.
-5. As a generalization of (4), sometimes it becomes impossible to distinguish
+\item As a generalization of (4), sometimes it becomes impossible to distinguish
objects from our sensing and perceiving function. The mediating sensory
function becomes obtrusively anomalous. Stable object gestalts cannot be
-
-
-167
-
-
identified.
-6. Sometimes we experience the logically impossible in dreams. My father
+\item Sometimes we experience the logically impossible in dreams. My father
was both dead and buried, and alive and walking around, in one dream.
-7. The possibility of identifying causal relationships is sometimes lacking in
-dreams. /t is not just that actions have unexpected effects. It is that events
+\item The possibility of identifying causal relationships is sometimes lacking in
+dreams. It is not just that actions have unexpected effects. It is that events
are strung together like beads on a string. There is no sense of willful acting
on the world or manipulation of the world which can be objectified as a
-causal relation between impersonal! events.
+causal relation between impersonal events.
+\end{enumerate}
The possibility arises of using dreams as philosophical experiments in
worlds in which one or more of the preconditions for application of the
@@ -6351,27 +6309,22 @@ Of course, we run the risk that superstitious people will misuse our
theory to justify their folly. But the difference between our theory and
superstition is clear. When the superstitious person says that he
communicates with spirits, he either lies outright; or alse he misinterprets his
-experiences--embedding them in an extraneous pre-scientific belief system,
+experiences---embedding them in an extraneous pre-scientific belief system,
or treating them as controversions of scientific propositions. We, on the
other hand, maintain more literally than science does that the only raw
material of cognition is experience. We differ from science in draping
experiences on a different organizational framework. The "reality" we arrive
at is incommensurate with science; it does not falsify any scientific
proposition. As for science and superstition, we headed this essay with the
-
-
-168
-
-
quotation by d'Abro to emphasize that the scientist himself is superstitious:
he is determined to believe in the common objective world, even though it is
-a fiction, because it is necessa~y to science. The superstitious person wants
+a fiction, because it is necessary to science. The superstitious person wants
you to believe that his communication with spirits is intersubjectively
consequential. Thus our theory, which tends toward the attitude that
nothing is intersubjectively consequential, offers him even less comfort than
science does.
-D. We next turn to semi-conscious quasi-dreams. Referring to my
+\textbf{D.} We next turn to semi-conscious quasi-dreams. Referring to my
experience on the morning of 1/12/1974, I describe the experience by saying
that I was on the Courant Institute plaza. But I cannot conclude that I was
on the Courant Institute plaza. The reason is that important internal reality
@@ -6384,13 +6337,15 @@ When we recognize that we have disallowed falling asleep, awaking, and
anomalous phenomena in dreams as evidence of unreality, a careful analysis
yields only two types of reality cues.
-1. Presence of the peripheral environment.
+\begin{enumerate}
+\item Presence of the peripheral environment.
-2. "Single consciousness." This cue is missing when we see a
+\item "Single consciousness." This cue is missing when we see a
three-dimensional scene and move about in it, and yet have a background
awareness that we are awake in bed; and lose the scene through a mere shift
of attention. Its absence is even more marked if the scene is a momentary
one between two waking periods.
+\end{enumerate}
Let us recall our earlier discussion of the empiricism of science. Science
does not content itself with ungraded experience. it drapes experience on an
@@ -6406,28 +6361,23 @@ one was on the Courant Institute plaza if the peripheral environment was
missing and if one was also aware of being awake in bed at the time. (In
contrast, it is fair to use ordinary descriptive language with respect to
dreamed episodes when our consciousness is singulary, that is, when
-everything seems real and unqualified.) -
+everything seems real and unqualified.)
-For purposes of further comparison !«may mention an experience I
+For purposes of further comparison I may mention an experience I
have had on rare occasions while lying on my back in bed fully awake. It is
-
-
-169
-
-
-as if colored spheres whosé centers are located a few feet or yards in front of
+as if colored spheres whose centers are located a few feet or yards in front of
my chest expand until they press against me, one after the other. I use the
-phrase "as if' because reality cues are missing in this experience, and thus I
+phrase "as if" because reality cues are missing in this experience, and thus I
cannot use the language of stable object gestalts without qualification in
describing it. The colors are not vivid as real colors are. They are like
-visualized colors. The spheres pass through each other, and through me--with
+visualized colors. The spheres pass through each other, and through me---with
only a moderate sensation of pressure. I can turn the experience off by
getting out of bed. The point, again, is that it is inherent in ordinary
language not to use unqualified object descriptions in these circumstances.
Yet the only language I have for such sensory configurations is the language
of stable object gestalts-this is particularly obvious in the example of the
Courant Institute plaza. (Is "ringing in the ears' in the same class of
-phenomena? }
+phenomena?)
An insight that is crucial in elucidating this problem is that when I
describe episodes, the descriptions implicitly convey not only sensations but
@@ -6441,14 +6391,14 @@ helped give the event its quality. As a further example, now that I have
recognized experiences such as that of 1/12/1974, I am willing to entertain
the possibility that they are the basis for claims by superstitious persons to
have projected astrally. But to use the phrase "astral projection" is to embed
-the experiences in a_ pre-scientific belief system extraneous to the
-experiences themselves. !f we learn to report such experiences by using
+the experiences in a pre-scientific belief system extraneous to the
+experiences themselves. If we learn to report such experiences by using
idioms like "ringing in the ears" and blocking any comparison with notions
of objective reality or intersubjective import, we will have flattened out
experience and will have moved in the direction of ungraded experience and
nihilistic empiricism.
-E. We next take up connections between adjacent dreamed and waking
+\textbf{E.} We next take up connections between adjacent dreamed and waking
periods. As a preliminary, we reject conventional notions that dreams are
fabricated from memories of waking reality; or that dreams are precognitions
of waking reality; or that dreams are mental phenomena which symbolize
@@ -6459,11 +6409,6 @@ Connections between dream and waking periods are important in this
study because we may wish to create such connections deliberately, and even
to attribute causal significance to them. Initially, we define the concept of
dream control: it is to conduct one's waking life so that it is supportive of
-
-
-170
-
-
one's dreamed life in some sense. We also define controlled dreaming: it is to
manipulate a person "from outside" before sleep {or during sleep) so as to
influence the content of that person's dreams. (An example would be to give
@@ -6472,64 +6417,62 @@ somebody a psychoactive sleeping pill.)
A careful analysis of connections between dream and waking periods
yields the following classification of such connections.
-1. I walk around the kitchen in a dream, then awaken and walk around the
+\begin{enumerate}
+ \item I walk around the kitchen in a dream, then awaken and walk around the
kitchen. Voluntary continued action.
-2. Given a_ project with causally separate components, voluntarily
+\item Given a project with causally separate components, voluntarily
assembled, I can carry out the project entirely while awake, entirely in
dreams, or partly while awake and partly in dreams.
-3. I walk around the kitchen while awake, then sleep. I may then walk
+\item I walk around the kitchen while awake, then sleep. I may then walk
around the kitchen in a dream. Also, I draw a glass of water while awake. I
may have the glass of water to use in the dream. We could postulate that
such connections are not mere coincidences, if they occur. However, we
certainly cannot produce such connections at will. We call these connections
echoes of waking actions in dreams. Note the case in which I taped my
mouth shut before sleeping, and could not whistle in the subsequent dream.
-4. We next have connections from dreamed to waking periods which can be
+
+\item We next have connections from dreamed to waking periods which can be
postulated to have causal significance. First, misfortune or danger in dreams
is regularly followed by immediate awaking. Secondly, I! have had
experiences in which a headlong dive or an attempt to whistle continued
from dream to waking, right through waking up. These experiences are
causally continuous actions. However, I cannot bring them about at will.
-5. We can manipulate a person "from outside" before sleep (or during sleep)
+\item We can manipulate a person "from outside" before sleep (or during sleep)
so as to influence the content of that person's dreams. The dream is not an
echo of the waking action; the causal relationship is manipulative. Examples
are to give someone a psychoactive sleeping drug or to create a special
environment for sleep. The case in which I taped my mouth shut before
sleeping was a remarkable borderline case between an echo and a
manipulation.
+\end{enumerate}
in conclusion, dream control is any of the connections described in
-(1)-(4). Controlled dreaming is (5). We have analyzed these concepts
+(1)--(4). Controlled dreaming is (5). We have analyzed these concepts
meticulously because we want to exclude all attempts at magic, all
superstition from the project of placing dreamed and waking life on the same
level. There must be no rain dancing, no false causality, in this project.
-F. Until now, we have analyzed our experience episode by episode. We
+\textbf{F.} Until now, we have analyzed our experience episode by episode. We
could make this approach into a principle by assuming that each episode is a
separate and complete world, which has its reality confirmed internally. In
particular, the notion of objective location in space and time would be
maintained if it appeared in a dream and was intersubjectively confirmed in
-
-
-171
-
-
the dream, but the notion would be purely internal to each episode. The
objection to these assumptions, as we mentioned at the end of (B), is that
they propose to maintain the notion of objective location, and yet they
forego the notion of the consistency of all portions of reality. if we adopt
these assumptions and then compare all the reports of our dreamed and
waking periods, we may find that we have experienced different events
-attributed to the same location--and indeed, that is exactly what we do
+attributed to the same location---and indeed, that is exactly what we do
experience.
One of the main discoveries of this essay has been that dreamed and
waking periods are more symmetrical than our scientific-pragmatic
indoctrination would have us suppose. The reality of the dream world is
-intersubjectively confirmed--within the dream. Anecdotal anomalies can be
+intersubjectively confirmed---within the dream. Anecdotal anomalies can be
found in waking periods as well as in dreams. Entities which resemble
common object gestalts but which lack some of the reality cues of object
gestalts can be encountered whicle we are fully awake. Now we can
@@ -6560,11 +6503,6 @@ of other minds. The notion of the existence of many minds, none of which
can experience any other, is difficult to assimilate to the cognitive model of
science. On the other hand, to deny the existence of any mind, as
behaviorists do, is to repudiate the scientist's observations of his own mental
-
-
-172
-
-
life. And if the scientist's observations of his own mental life are repudiated,
then there is no good reason not to repudiate the scientist's observations of
his budily sensations and of external phenomena also; that is, to repudiate
@@ -6575,7 +6513,7 @@ the fiction of consciousness? Who benefits from perpetuating this fiction,
and how does he benefit?
We must emphasize that the above critique is not applicable to every
-philosophical outlook. It applies specifically to science-- because the scientist
+philosophical outlook. It applies specifically to science---because the scientist
wants to have the benefits of two incompatible conceptual frameworks.
Some of the common sense about other minds is necessary in the operational
preliminaries to formal science; and the scientist's role as observer is
@@ -6608,28 +6546,18 @@ should strive for. And if ve cease to be stable object gestalts for others,
maybe our stable object gestalts will not even appear in their dreams.
-Note on how to remember dreams
+\section*{Note on how to remember dreams}
The trick in remembering a dream is to fix in your mind one incident or
theme in the dream immediately upon awaking from it. You will then be
able to remember the whole dream well enough to write a description of it
the next day, and you will probably find that for weeks afterwards you can
-
-
add to the description and correct it.
-174
-
-
-SOCIAL PHILOSOPHY
-
-
-ey
-
-
-16. On Social Recognition
+\part{Social Philosophy}
+\chapter{On Social Recognition}
The most important tasks which the individual can undertake arise not
from personal considerations but from the general conditions of society. The
@@ -6668,15 +6596,10 @@ preclude social approval for his activities.
Quite apart from the fundamental tasks which are posed by general
social conditions, the ruling class needs a continual supply of new talent at
-
-
-177
-
-
-al! levels of society. At the lower levels, this supply is assured by the
+all levels of society. At the lower levels, this supply is assured by the
necessity of selling one's labor power in order to eat. At the higher levels of
accomplishment, the ruling class assures itself of a continual supply of new
-talent by offering publicity or fame--social recognition--as a reward for
+talent by offering publicity or fame---social recognition---as a reward for
accomplishing the tasks specified by the ruling class. Famous men such as
Einstein are held up to children as examples of the proper relationship
between the talented individual and society; and an internationa! institution,
@@ -6700,8 +6623,8 @@ to serve its purposes. The desire for publicity, far more than the desire for
money, is establishment-serving more than self-serving. (We suggest that the
principal reason why Vautier seeks publicity is not instinct, but economics.
Vautier has no inherited source of income, and has never been trained for a
-profession. For him, the alternative to the art/publicity racket would be
-common labor. !f he had the opportunity for a life of leisure, he might feel
+profession. For him, the alternative to the art\slash publicity racket would be
+common labor. If he had the opportunity for a life of leisure, he might feel
differently about publicity.)
The issues which are raised here are extremely important for the person
@@ -6716,11 +6639,6 @@ probably be persecuted or ignored. Given these circumstances, the doctrine
that the individual has a duty to benefit society is a hypocritical fraud, an
obscenity. For the individual to commit himself to a fundamental task tends
to preclude social recognition for his activities; or, to reverse the remark,
-
-
-178
-
-
social recognition is not a reward to accomplishment of a fundamental task
(just as military honors are not a reward to pacifism). Thus, it is not rational
for the individual to undertake a fundamental task in order to gain fame.
@@ -6766,11 +6684,6 @@ Then, what does it mean to the individual who solves a fundamental
problem to have his name publicized in the mass media, to be a celebrity
among people who cannot possibly understand what he has done? Even
more important, we must recognize that publicity carries a definte risk for
-
-
-179
-
-
the individual committed to a fundamental task. The solution of such a
problem must usually be expressed in categories which are incommensurate
and incompatible with the categories of thought which are common coin at
@@ -6782,11 +6695,11 @@ class. One encounters an immense pressure which tends to harness one to
goals which have nothing to do with objective value. More precisely, when an
individual who has solved a fundamental problem is publicized in the mass
media, a process of mutual subversion takes place as between the
-establishment/media and the individual. In the process, the establishment is
+establishment\slash media and the individual. In the process, the establishment is
likely to come out far ahead.
There are two other reasons why it is actually advantageous to the
-individual who undertakes a fundamental! task to avoid publicity. Since one's
+individual who undertakes a fundamental task to avoid publicity. Since one's
activity is likely to be treated as a threat by society, one can minimize the
energy required to defend it, and can carry the activity further, if one
receives no publicity. Then, there will unavoidably be false starts made in
@@ -6815,15 +6728,10 @@ are those which the establishment is to some extent aware of, and which if
accomplished would immediately be rewarded with social approval. (In the
natural sciences, there literally may be a race to solve a well-known problem).
But if our motives are genuinely self-serving, and have to do with the
-
-
-180
-
-
development of our potentiality for its own sake, then there is no reason to
limit ourselves to widely understood problems. We can undertake to discover
-timeless results--permanent answers to questions which will be important
-indefinitely--without concerning ourselves with whether society can adopt
+timeless results---permanent answers to questions which will be important
+indefinitely---without concerning ourselves with whether society can adopt
the results institutionally. We can pose problems of which neither the
establishment, the media, nor public opinion are aware. We can undertake
tasks which draw on our unique abilities, so that our personal contribution is
@@ -6836,7 +6744,7 @@ individual will have an inherited source of income. In order to pursue a
fundamental task, he will have to pursue a legitimate occupation at the same
time. It may be extremely difficult to lead such a double life, because to do
so requires precisely the self-assurance. that comes from accomplishing the
-fundamenta! task. Leading a double life is not a game for the person who is
+fundamental task. Leading a double life is not a game for the person who is
unsure about his real abilities or his vocation. If the individual is capable of
leading a double life, our suggestion is to obtain the means of subsistence by
the most efficient swindle available. Do not hesitate to practice outward
@@ -6861,11 +6769,7 @@ are talking about individuals whose vocation is to do the seemingly
impossible. Thus, we conclude by leaving this unsolved fundamental problem
for the reader to ponder.
-
-181
-
-
-17. Creep
+\chapter{Creep}
When Helen Lefkowitz said I was "such a creep" at Interlochen in
@@ -6895,31 +6799,27 @@ During the period when I developed the creep theory, I was spending almost
all of my time alone in my room, thinking and writing. This fact should
make the positive creep values more understandable.
-1. Because of his isolation, the creep has a qualitatively higher sense of
+\begin{enumerate}
+\item Because of his isolation, the creep has a qualitatively higher sense of
identity. He has a sense of the boundaries of his personality, and a control of
what goes on within those boundaries. In contrast, the mature adult, who
spends all his time with his marriage partner or in groups of people, is a mere
channel into which thoughts flow from outside; he lives in a state of
conformist anonymity.
-2. The creep is emotionally autonomous, independent, or
+\item The creep is emotionally autonomous, independent, or
self-contained. He develops an elaborate world of feelings which remain
-
-
-182
-
-
within himself, or which are directed toward inanimate objects. The creep
may cooperate with other people in work situations, but he does not develop
emotional attachments to other people.
-3. Although the creep's intellectual abilities develop with education,
+\item Although the creep's intellectual abilities develop with education,
the creep lives in a sexually neutral world and a child's world throughout his
life. He is thus able to play like a child. He retains the child's capacity for
make-believe. He retains the child's lyrical creativity in regard to
self-originated, self-justifying activities.
-4. There is enormous room in the creep's life for the development of
+\item There is enormous room in the creep's life for the development of
every aspect of the inner world or the inner life. The creep can devote
himself to thought, fantasy, imagination, imaging, variegated mental states,
dreams, internal emotions and feelings towards inanimate objects. The creep
@@ -6930,6 +6830,7 @@ he any use for those drug experiences which adolescents undertake to prove
how grown-up they are, and whose content is supplied by fashion. The
creep's development of his inner life is the summation of all the positive
creep values.
+\end{enumerate}
After describing these values, the creep theory returned to the problem
of the creep's involuntary celibacy. For physical reasons, the creep remains a
@@ -6956,11 +6857,6 @@ was required.
My problem actually has to do with the enormous discrepancy between
the ways I can relate to males and the ways I can relate to females. The
-
-
-183
-
-
essence of the problem has to do with the social values of females, which are
completely different from my own. The principal occupation of my life has
been certain self-originated activities which are embodied in "writings." Now
@@ -6988,7 +6884,7 @@ tries to prevent everybody from being a Galileo or Galois. To be a Galileo is
really a matter of choosing sides, of choosing to take a certain stand.)
Let me be specific about my own experiences. When I distributed the
-prospectus for The Journal of Indeterminate Mathematical Investigations to
+prospectus for \journaltitle{The Journal of Indeterminate Mathematical Investigations} to
graduate students at the Courant Institute in the fall of 1967, the most
negative reactions came from the females. The mere fact that I wanted to
invent a mathematics outside of academic mathematics was in and of itself
@@ -7005,24 +6901,19 @@ their attitude is. They believe that they are courageously defending modern
art against a philistine. They consider me to be a crank who needs a "modern
museum art appreciation course." The more they are pressed, the more
proudiy do they defend "Great Art." Now the objective validity of my
-
-
-184
-
-
opposition to art is absolutely beyond question. To defend modern art is
precisely what a hopeless mediocrity would consider courageous. Again, it is
clear that the opposition between myself and females is in the area where
one must choose one's values.
I have found that what I really have to do to make a favorable
-impression on females is to conceal or suspend my activities--the most
+impression on females is to conceal or suspend my activities----the most
important part of my life; and to adopt a facade of conformity. Thus, I
perceive females as persons who cannot function in my occupation. I
perceive them as being like an employment agency, like an institution to
which you have to present a conformist facade. Females can he counted on to
represent the most "social, human" point of view, a point of view which, as I
-have explained, is distant from my own. {In March 1970, at the Institute for
+have explained, is distant from my own. (In March 1970, at the Institute for
Advanced Study, the mathematician Dennis Johnson said to me that he
would murder his own mother, and murder all his friends, if by doing so he
could get the aliens to take him to another star and show him a higher
@@ -7049,20 +6940,15 @@ values I described. They may not have the talent to get anything positive out
of their involuntary situation; or their aspirations may be so conformist that
they do not see their involuntary situation as a positive opportunity. Many
creeps are female, but all the evidence indicates that they have the same
-values I have attributed to other females--values which are hard to reconcile
+values I have attributed to other females---values which are hard to reconcile
with the deeper creep values.
As for the positive creep values, I may have had them even before I
began to care about whether females accepted me. For me, these values may
have been the cause, not the effect, of surface creepiness. They are closely
-
-
-185
-
-
related to the values that underlie my activities. It is not necessary to appear
strangely dressed, childish, unassertive, awkward, and lacking in confidence
-in order to achieve the positive creep values. (1 probably emphasized surface
+in order to achieve the positive creep values. (I probably emphasized surface
creep traits during my youth in order to dissociate myself from conformist
opinion at a time when I hadn't yet had the chance to make a full
substantive critique of it.) Even sex, in and of itself, might not be
@@ -7070,7 +6956,6 @@ incompatible with the creep inner life; what makes it incompatible is the
female personality and female social values, which in real life cannot be
separated from sex and are the predominant aspect of it.
-
Having cast off the surface traits of the creep, I can now see that
whether I make a favorable impression on females really depends on whether
I conceal my occupation. Celibacy is an effect of my occupation; it does not
@@ -7092,16 +6977,18 @@ favor of building entities which are actially superior to humans, and which
avoid the whole fabric of human biosocial defects, not just one or two of
them.
-
-186
-
+\clearpage
+{
+
2/22/1963
Henry Flynt and Jack Smith demonstrate against Lincoln Center, February 22, 1963
(photo by Tony Conrad)
+}
+\clearpage
-18. The Three Levels of Politics
+\chapter{The Three Levels of Politics}
Political activity and its results can occur on three levels. The first level
@@ -7133,7 +7020,7 @@ Reconstruction to an end, it was clear that the position of blacks in
American society was where it had always been: at the bottom. The Civil
War changed American society, but is did not make the society any more
utopian. On the contrary, it brought into prominence still another violent
-social conflict--the conflict between labor and capital.
+social conflict---the conflict between labor and capital.
The third level of politics has to do with the utopian aspect of modern
political ideologies, the aspect which calls not only for society to change, but
@@ -7142,10 +7029,6 @@ of war, the abolition of the oligarchic structure of society, and the abolition
of economic institutions which value human lives in terms of money. in all
of human history, society has never changed on this third level.
-
-188
-
-
The successful Communist revolutionists of the twentieth century (in
the underdeveloped countries) have repeatedly claimed to have accomplished
third-level change in their societies. However, these claims of third-level
@@ -7154,7 +7037,7 @@ capitalist development. Communist revolutions are typical examples of real
second-level change which is accomplished under the cover of claims of
third-level change, claims which are pure and simple frauds.
-By -introducing the concept of levels of politics, we can resolve the
+By introducing the concept of levels of politics, we can resolve the
apparent paradox that society certainly changes, but that it really does not
change. It is important to understand that empirical evidence on the
question of the levels of politics can only be drawn from the past, the
@@ -7184,18 +7067,13 @@ ideologies do not even favor third-level change; they are opposed to it.
One example will serve to demonstrate this contention. In my capacity
as a professional economist, I have become familiar with the official
-economic policies--the doctrines of the professional economists--of the
+economic policies---the doctrines of the professional economists---of the
various socialist governments and leftist movements throughout the world. It
should be mentioned that most of the followers of leftism are not familiar
with these technical economic policies; they are aware only of vague,
meaningless promises of future bliss coming from leftist political
speechmakers. When we turn to technical economic realities, we find that
virtually every leftist tendency in the world today accepts economic
-
-
-189
-
-
principles which in the parlance of the layman are referred to as
"capitalism." The most important principle is stated by Ernest Mandel: "the
economy continues to be fundamentally a money economy, with the
@@ -7225,7 +7103,7 @@ be against the third-level aspects of human society is by adopting a different
attitude to the human species as such.
This attitude is the one you would adopt if you were suddenly thrown
-into a society of apes-apes which perpetually preyed within their own
+into a society of apes---apes which perpetually preyed within their own
ecological niche. It is clear that if you proposed to be "against" such a
situation, and to do something about it, then politics as it is normally
conceived would be out of the question. To anticipate our later discussion,
@@ -7240,17 +7118,11 @@ Transfer your invisible enclave to whatever Establishment is available. But all
this is an external, defensive tactic which has nothing to do with the primary
goals of our strategy.
-
-190
-
-
We will finish our critique of third-level politics, and then continue the
description of the substitute which we propose. In addition to making vague
promises of third-level change, leftism encourages indignation at social
conditions which are beyond anyone's power to affect. Leftism attributes
great ethical merit to such indignation and morally condemns anyone who
-
-
does not share it. But this attitude is totally irrational and dishonest. In
philosophy and mathematics, it is possible for a proposition to be valid even
though it has no chance of institutional acceptance. But in social, economic,
@@ -7290,11 +7162,6 @@ other hand, they have had profoundly disruptive effects on society, effects
which still have not run their course.
Thus, the first part of our strategy is to follow the example of these
-
-
-191
-
-
individuals. Of course, we do not stay within the bounds of present-day
academic research, any more than Galileo or Mendel did in their time. What
we have in mind is activities in the intellectual modality represented by the
@@ -7304,11 +7171,10 @@ It should be clear that such activities do represent a private utopia, and are a
the same time the seeds of disruptive future technologies which lead directly
to the second part of our strategy.
-
It is important to realize that by speaking of inner escape we do not
mean fashionable drug use, or Eastern religions, or occultism. These
threadbare superstitions are embraced by the cosmopolitan middle
-classes--intellectually spineless fools who are always grasping for spiritual
+classes---intellectually spineless fools who are always grasping for spiritual
comfort. Superstitious fads are escapism in the worst sense, as they only
serve to further muddle the heads of the fools who embrace them. In
contrast, the inner escape which we propose is origina! and consequential,
@@ -7328,22 +7194,19 @@ the strategy is to participate in the making of artificial superhumans,
possibly by infiltrating the military-scientific establishment and diverting
research in the appropriate direction.
-
+{ \itshape
Note: This essay provides a specific, practical strategy for the present
environment. It also shows that certain types of opposition to the status quo
are meaningless. Subversion Theory, on the other hand, was a general theory
which was not limited to any one environment, but also which failed to
-provide a specific strategy for the present environment.
-
-
-192
+provide a specific strategy for the present environment. \par }
-SCIENCE (LOGIC)
+\part{Science (Logic)}
+\chapter{The Logic of Admissible Contradictions (Work in Progress)}
-19. The Logic of Admissible Contradictions--work in progress
-Chapter [1!. A Provisional Axiomatic Treatment
+\section{Chapter III. A Provisional Axiomatic Treatment}
In the first and second chapters, we developed our intuitions