From e0ed69abf271f5603a5aa24d6240f3a2639de79c Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001
From: grr <grr@lo2.org>
Date: Sun, 2 Jun 2024 20:19:28 -0400
Subject: fixes to r.o.u.

---
 extra/radicalism_of_unbelief.tex | 145 ++++++++++++++++++---------------------
 1 file changed, 67 insertions(+), 78 deletions(-)

(limited to 'extra/radicalism_of_unbelief.tex')

diff --git a/extra/radicalism_of_unbelief.tex b/extra/radicalism_of_unbelief.tex
index e69d33c..e89f99b 100644
--- a/extra/radicalism_of_unbelief.tex
+++ b/extra/radicalism_of_unbelief.tex
@@ -1,4 +1,6 @@
-\chapter{The Radicalism of Unbelief (1982)}
+\chapter[The Radicalism of Unbelief (1982)][The Radicalism of Unbelief]{The Radicalism of Unbelief (1982)}
+
+{\raggedleft \itshape Originally published in Ikon Series 2, Vol. 1\par\vskip 2em}
 
 If we are going to talk about enlightenment and deliverance, I do not see that 
 enlightenment and deliverance can come from anything as straightforward as an 
@@ -14,35 +16,35 @@ capabilities are, by and large, a fragment of a culture. The most worthy capabil
 in the culture become possible capabilities of mine. The most profound dilemmas 
 or failures in the culture, in the interpersonal arena, become my personal dilemmas. 
 
-What I have just said is not the same as the idolatry of "society." I do not accept 
+What I have just said is not the same as the idolatry of \enquote{society.} I do not accept 
 the sociologists' notion of reality, or conformism as a goal, or the obligation to pay 
 homage to societal abstractions like The Nation. Indeed, one of our culture's 
 extreme dilemmas and failures is its idolatry of society, an idolatry which aggressively 
 underestimates and devalues both the scope of the self and also the interpersonal 
 arena. One of the most far-reaching questions posed by our contemporary 
-era is whether inter-subjectivity (community) will evolve beyond "society" as it is 
+era is whether inter-subjectivity (community) will evolve beyond \enquote{society} as it is 
 defined by sociology (a sort of statistical mechanics applied to bodies). Here is an 
 outstanding reason why I do not see how enlightenment and deliverance can come 
 from an individualistic hygiene of happiness. The modalities necessary for enlightenment 
 are novel and uncommon; and they are outside the scope of the ordinary 
 person's struggle for happiness in everyday existence. The necessary modalities 
 have to be achieved by dealing with dilemmas which arise from the culture as a 
-totality: enlightenment requires a "rotation" (transformation) of the entire culture. 
+totality: enlightenment requires a \enquote{rotation} (transformation) of the entire culture. 
 Life is worthless unless I can inject whatever personal vision I have into the 
 ostensible, interpersonal arena, and seek to influence that arena so that it becomes 
 conducive to my sincerity and concern. 
 
 In order to express whatever sincerity and concern I have in the ostensible, 
 interpersonal arena, I must engage with the ostensible world; I must incur the risk 
-of realized choices; and I must "grant other people's right to exist." 
+of realized choices; and I must \enquote{grant other people's right to exist.} 
 
 \visbreak
 
 \emt{What I seek is a transformation of the ostensible world and of the shared basis of life.}
 This is to be accomplished on the basis of two enterprises which will eventually be 
 fused: a theory of palpable interrelations of the entirety of immediate constituents 
-of "my world" called "the personhood theory"; and a new instrumental modality 
-called "meta-technology." In this introduction, I will focus on meta-technology 
+of \enquote{my world} called \enquote{the personhood theory}; and a new instrumental modality 
+called \enquote{meta-technology.} In this introduction, I will focus on meta-technology 
 without bringing in the dimensions added to it by the personhood theory---largely 
 because the latter is as yet tentative. But I have another reason as well for 
 underlining the contribution of meta-technology. \textit{There can be no genuine transformation 
@@ -55,7 +57,7 @@ technology.}
 
 As of now, I have assembled many meta-technological elements or procedures. 
 These elements, however, are isolated and limited. What I have accomplished is 
-analogous to Becquerel's discovery that uranium fogs photographic film, My 
+analogous to Becquerel's discovery that uranium fogs photographic film. My 
 procedures are effective as curiosities. But they will not be any more than curiosities 
 until they are subjected to an entire phase of extension and interconnection---an 
 undertaking which requires collaborative effort on a wide scale. 
@@ -72,13 +74,13 @@ overwhelming importance both as a source of possible capabilities and as a sourc
 of dilemmas and limitations. To respond to this state of affairs, the meta-technology 
 must accumulate information which is of more than personal significance. It must 
 address dilemmas which are shared and which are culture-wide. That is why I 
-investigate mathematics, "real-world" logic, etc. It is also why my interest in 
+investigate mathematics, \enquote{real-world} logic, etc. It is also why my interest in 
 dreamed experience relates to a proposal to modify the shared basis of life---rather 
 than to the familiar purposes of divination and psychiatry. 
 
 I disregard all claims of sorcery or miraculous feats which inherently come as 
 reports by a second person about what a third person did (tall tales, fish stories, 
-legends). lam not interested in miracles which are always performed by somebody 
+legends). I am not interested in miracles which are always performed by somebody 
 else somewhere else. Indeed, my objections to occultism go much further than this. 
 But the principle which I want to emphasize now is that every meta-technological 
 procedure is required to be formulated as an instruction to be carried out first-hand. 
@@ -96,7 +98,7 @@ perfect world behind it---a perfect world which can only be known by hypothesis.
 In other words, I do not treat the ostensible world as a facade for something lying 
 behind it, as a front for another world which is unperceivable. And I have little use 
 for the notion of a perfect world which is hypothetical and imaginary. \textit{This present 
-life, which unfolds through ongoing interaction with other people, and w ithin this definite 
+life, which unfolds through ongoing interaction with other people, and within this definite 
 culture, is my arena of concern. Imaginary lives and gratification in fantasy are unimportant 
 to me. I accept the ostensible world as the arena of my concern, and as one of the 
 raw materials of enlightenment and deliverance.}
@@ -112,12 +114,12 @@ perceptions which characterize it are palpably affected and sustained by emotion
 of anticipation, by emotional dependence on other people, by morale, by esteem, 
 by knowing self-deception, etc etc. \textit{Everyday existence is the hallucination produced 
 by the so-called socialization process. Morale, esteem, etc. are co-determinate with 
-"perception."}
+\enquote{perception.}}
 
 Thus, again, the arrival of enlightenment or deliverance has to be demonstrated 
 by a transformation of the ostensible world and of the shared basis of life. But what 
 I propose is not to strip off the ostensible world to reveal a unique perfect world 
-behind it. Rather, I want the ability to consciously "mutate" or plasticize the 
+behind it. Rather, I want the ability to consciously \enquote{mutate} or plasticize the 
 ostensible world itself. 
 
 \visbreak
@@ -136,21 +138,19 @@ in them.
 
 The lesson of this example, properly understood, is the starting point of enlightenment 
 and deliverance for me. If it is obvious that a phenomenon can be 
-abolished by unbelief, then the "reality" of that phenomenon is of a very low order. 
+abolished by unbelief, then the \enquote{reality} of that phenomenon is of a very low order. 
 The phenomenon has only the reality of chimera or fantasy. (On the other hand, it 
-is obvious that a lor of people enjoy their chimeras, and \textit{do not want} to escape 
+is obvious that a lot of people enjoy their chimeras, and \textit{do not want} to escape 
 everything that can be abolished by unbelief.) I make it a principle to disregard 
 phenomena whose existence depends so obviously on credulity. The attitude 
-which is encouraged by all kinds of superstition and propaganda is "How many lies 
-can I (manage to) believe?" The question which I always ask is "How much of what 
-I am expected to believe is a lie?" 
+which is encouraged by all kinds of superstition and propaganda is \enquote{How many lies can I (manage to) believe?} The question which I always ask is \enquote{How much of what I am expected to believe is a lie?} 
 
-On the other hand, the tssue of whether the existence of a phenomenon is 
+On the other hand, the issue of whether the existence of a phenomenon is 
 a product of credulity \textit{is not necessarily straightforward}. In the first place, 
 \textit{we have to distinguish between getting rid of phenomena by unbelief and 
 getting rid of them by suppression or censorship}. I often encounter situations 
 in which scientists refuse the opportunity to experience an anomalous phenomenon.
-Nobody denies that the phenomenon is "real," that is, accessible at first hand. The phenomenon is 
+Nobody denies that the phenomenon is \enquote{real,} that is, accessible at first hand. The phenomenon is 
 disregarded or suppressed because it is a nuisance, because it conflicts with the 
 scientist's ideology. 
 
@@ -163,7 +163,7 @@ hallucinations etc. Unfortunately, the sort of person who relishes reporting suc
 episodes is also prone to inflate them via culturally supplied hyperbole. Reports of 
 abnormal experiences could have serious uses if the reportage did not surround the 
 experiences with chimerical objectivities, and if it took a painstakingly critical 
-attitude toward the "ontological" assumptions built into descriptive language. 
+attitude toward the \enquote{ontological} assumptions built into descriptive language. 
 
 Another consideration is that \textit{a thorough and ruthless effort to repudiate all 
 phenomena whose existence depends on credulity will begin to undermine phenomena which 
@@ -179,30 +179,42 @@ are novel and astonishing relative to the established culture.}
 
 Let me give some examples of meta-technological investigations: 
 
-\term{A priori neurocybernetics}\footnote{Neurocybernetics is an existing branch of neurophysiology which seeks to explain thought by investigating the brain as a "bionic computer."}
-deals most directly with interdependencies between awareness and objectivity. As one example, it uses perceptually multistable figures\footnote{e.g. the Necker Cube. \cubeframe}
-as logical notations. The result is to establish awareness-objectivity interdependencies in language which are tangible and inescapable and can be analyzed 
-and potentiated. The technique can be applied to break the framework of scientific 
-objectivism in many ways. As another example, I note that our "perception of 
-objects" is actually a mental collation of visual and tactile apparitions. There are 
-many cases in which the normal intersensory correlations are disrupted (the perceptual illusions)\footnote{
-An example of an intersensory discorrelation is Aristotle's tactile illusian: touch the tips of crossed forefinger and middle finger at the left hand te a projecting dowel while also looking at the dowel. You see ane dowel and feel two. The perceptions the two fingers are not only disjoined. they are inverted. The subject attributes to the index finger what is touched by the middle finger and \textit{vice versa}, as can be shown by applying two distinct stimuli to the finger---a point and a ball, for example.
-Even better: try the experiment first with eves closed, and then open the eyes. Sight captures touch, and the fingers are switched without any motion taking place. (Adapted from Merleau-Ponty, \booktitle{The Phenomenalagy of Perception, pg. 205.)}}. If we take the illusions as a paradigm and reinterpret "normal" 
+\term{A priori neurocybernetics}\footnote{Neurocybernetics is an existing branch
+of neurophysiology which seeks to explain thought by investigating the brain as a
+\enquote{bionic computer.}} deals most directly with interdependencies between 
+awareness and objectivity. As one example, it uses perceptually multistable 
+figures\footnote{e.g. the Necker Cube. \cubeframe} as logical notations. The 
+result is to establish awareness-objectivity interdependencies in language which 
+are tangible and inescapable and can be analyzed and potentiated. The technique 
+can be applied to break the framework of scientific objectivism in many ways. As 
+another example, I note that our \enquote{perception of objects} is actually a 
+mental collation of visual and tactile apparitions. There are many cases in which 
+the normal intersensory correlations are disrupted (the perceptual illusions)\footnote{
+An example of an intersensory discorrelation is Aristotle's tactile illusion: touch
+the tips of crossed forefinger and middle finger at the left hand to a projecting dowel
+while also looking at the dowel. You see one dowel and feel two. The perceptions of the
+two fingers are not only disjoined, they are inverted. The subject attributes to the
+index finger what is touched by the middle finger and \textit{vice versa}, as can be
+shown by applying two distinct stimuli to the finger---a point and a ball, for example.
+Even better: try the experiment first with eyes closed, and then open the eyes. Sight
+captures touch, and the fingers are switched without any motion taking place. (Adapted
+from Merleau-Ponty, \booktitle{The Phenomenology of Perception,} pg. 205.)}. If we
+take the illusions as a paradigm and reinterpret \enquote{normal} 
 phenomena in accord with that paradigm we are in a different reality, disjoined 
 along the sight-touch frontier. Bode's Law that two material bodies cannot occupy 
 the same position in space at the same time ceases to be usable, because the 
-determination of what is a material bady is seen to involve a vicious circle. 
+determination of what is a material body is seen to involve a vicious circle. 
 
 The \term{evaluational processing of experience} studies, as one example, the circumstance 
 that different levels of reality are attributed to waking experience and dreamed 
 experience even though both are equally vivid, equally palpable. What is at issue 
-here is the fabrication of an "impersonal order of nature"; the inter-subjective 
+here is the fabrication of an \enquote{impersonal order of nature}; the inter-subjective 
 character of reality; and the choice of rules for testing the objectivity of phenomena. 
 Again, once these elements are understood consciously, they can be consciously 
 altered. 
 
 The \term{logic of contradictions} is a wide-ranging, umbrella discipline. The unifying 
-theme of the discipline is the recognition that inconsistent conceptualizations, sa 
+theme of the discipline is the recognition that inconsistent conceptualizations, so 
 far from being vacuous mistakes which can be eliminated from thought, are 
 pervasive and inescapable in thought as we know it. Conscious control of this state 
 of affairs is an extremely powerful achievement. The investigation begins with the 
@@ -210,47 +222,47 @@ interdependency between traditional logic and perceptual habits in the real-worl
 logic of consistency. It then considers perceptions or events which are faithfully 
 described by inconsistent descriptions, such as illusions and dreams. I characterize 
 these apparitions as contradictory because that is the characterization given them 
-by shared language and paradigmatic real-world logic---as all the perceptual psy- 
-chology textbooks agree. Then, I study contradictions which are cognitively im- 
-plicit in our most authoritative or obligatory propositional thought. (Paradoxes of 
+by shared language and paradigmatic real-world logic---as all the perceptual 
+psychology textbooks agree. Then, I study contradictions which are cognitively 
+implicit in our most authoritative or obligatory propositional thought. (Paradoxes of 
 common sense; the meta-theoretic inconsistency of arithmetic and set theory.) 
 Finally, I study how the communal milieu and its influence on esteem enables 
 people to assent to openly inconsistent doctrine. (Mathematics' co-optation of its 
 own inconsistencies; etc.) This research yields a very wide-ranging capacity to 
 produce anomalies or uncanny world-states. 
 
-My recent investigations into personhood have shown that meta-technology can 
+{\sloppy My recent investigations into personhood have shown that meta-technology can 
 be significantly widened and deepened by studying not only linkages of perception 
 and descriptive language, but their co-determination by morale, esteem, etc. 
-Studying the entire "vertical" organization of self or self-image could result in the 
-realm of perception being transformed. 
+Studying the entire \enquote{vertical} organization of self or self-image could result in the 
+realm of perception being transformed.\par}
 
 \visbreak
 
 Our civilization has long been characterized by the way it molds human faculties 
 to produce a cleavage between scientific functioning, on the one hand, and poetic, 
-emotional "human" functioning on the other. Meta-technology is beyond this 
+emotional \enquote{human} functioning on the other. Meta-technology is beyond this 
 cleavage of faculties. Also, it is worth repeating that meta-technology does not 
 consist of the sort of magic tricks attributed to pre-scientific religious figures. What 
 is a religious miracle like changing water into wine? It is---purportedly---an objectively 
 consequential manipulation of the thing-world, a type of cause-and-effect 
-technology. It takes place "out there," replacing a thing with another thing. 
+technology. It takes place \enquote{out there,} replacing a thing with another thing. 
 
 Meta-technology does not appear as hearsay; and it does not make any special 
 appeal to credulity. Rather the contrary. Its primitive procedures are given as 
 instructions to be carried out at first-hand. Presupposing a conventionally 
 indoctrinated individual, it achieves anomalies by a decrease of the conventional level of 
-credulity. It is not centered on thing-to-thing relationships or causation "out there." 
+credulity. It is not centered on thing-to-thing relationships or causation \enquote{out there.} 
 It is centered on the interdependencies between subjectivity (awareness, self-image) and things. 
 
 In addition, there is a third constituent important enough to be mentioned 
 separately: \textit{the communal milieu, and especially its influence on esteem}---as when 
 intimidation by community authorities maintains the legitimacy of ridiculous 
-beliefs. It is at the juncture I have just sketched that "the world" is synthesized, that 
+beliefs. It is at the juncture I have just sketched that \enquote{the world} is synthesized, that 
 the determination of reality occurs. \textit{Meta-technology attacks the credulities which are 
-elements of this juncture. It works with the linkages among "perception," descriptive 
+elements of this juncture. It works with the linkages among \enquote{perception,} descriptive 
 language, and abstract cognition (logic, mathematics.)} Currently I am extending the 
-research to include linkages to personhood---the high integrative level, the "vertical" 
+research to include linkages to personhood---the high integrative level, the \enquote{vertical} 
 organization of self or self-image. 
 
 There is a big gap between the primitive meta-technological procedures which I 
@@ -261,7 +273,7 @@ that level they are, in a sense, only curiosities. \textit{The whole point is th
 acts on the cultural determination of reality as such. Unlike a miracle or magic trick, 
 which wants to remain a one-shot event in an otherwise lawful everyday world, 
 meta-technology must be extended through a community and a culture to realize its promise.} It 
-is not a one-shot event but a "rotation" of an entire culture. 
+is not a one-shot event but a \enquote{rotation} of an entire culture. 
 
 What is more, to reach its full potential, meta-technology will probably have to be 
 tied into existing natural science. But meta-technology would give a shock to 
@@ -270,37 +282,14 @@ shattered, and reorganized so drastically as to become unrecognizable.
 
 \visbreak
 
-If meta-technology were implemented at the level of an entire community, 
-that community would have the power to consciously modulate what is now 
-thought of as the objective world. To speak of walking through walls would not be a 
-mere joke, Both the physical universe and mental acts as its antithesis would 
-disappear, in the sense of becoming inapplicable concepts. It would be possible to 
-achieve sustained, composed uncanniness, to live in a state of consciously modulated 
-enchantment. In this regard, the impulse underlying meta-technolgy is an 
-impulse toward an ecstatic form of life. (It must be understood, however, that the 
-rational mentality produced by modern Western civilization might experience the 
-enchanted community as a nightmare.) 
-
-When meta-technology shifts the focus from the thing-world to the interdepencies 
-between subjectivity and things, it leads us to our whole humanness. It 
-carries out a takeover of technology by the psyche or by personhood. For a 
-community to attain a consciously modulated uncanniness would tend toward an 
-ecstatic form of life---an achievement which the prevailing culture would classify as 
-esthetic or spiritual, not scientific. That is what must be conveyed: acceding to 
-one's whole humanness is neither science nor poetry because it is beyond both. 
-
-\vfill
-
-Postscript: The foregoing is not meant to promise a salvation which is blind 
-to economics and politics. The present article is limited to giving a few rudiments 
-of the meta-technology: my proposed extension or replacement for the physical 
-and exact sciences. My views on the social context are at least as unusual as my 
-views on science and form an entire line of argument in their own right. The 
-transformation I speak of would clearly be in conflict with the capitalist formation. 
-On the other hand, I hold that historical experience has obsolesced Marx's original 
-timetable and game plan for the supersession of capitalism. 
-
-Readers seeking more information or exchange of ideas are invited to write the 
-author care of Ikon Magazine. 
+If meta-technology were implemented at the level of an entire community, that community would have the power to consciously modulate what is now thought of as the objective world. To speak of walking through walls would not be a mere joke. Both the physical universe and mental acts as its antithesis would disappear, in the sense of becoming inapplicable concepts. It would be possible to achieve sustained, composed uncanniness, to live in a state of consciously modulated enchantment. In this regard, the impulse underlying meta-technolgy is an impulse toward an ecstatic form of life. (It must be understood, however, that the rational mentality produced by modern Western civilization might experience the enchanted community as a nightmare.) 
+
+When meta-technology shifts the focus from the thing-world to the interdepencies between subjectivity and things, it leads us to our whole humanness. It carries out a takeover of technology by the psyche or by personhood. For a community to attain a consciously modulated uncanniness would tend toward an ecstatic form of life---an achievement which the prevailing culture would classify as esthetic or spiritual, not scientific. That is what must be conveyed: acceding to one's whole humanness is neither science nor poetry because it is beyond both. 
+
+\clearpage
+
+\null\vfill
 
+{\itshape [Postscript: The foregoing is not meant to promise a salvation which is blind to economics and politics. The present article is limited to giving a few rudiments of the meta-technology: my proposed extension or replacement for the physical and exact sciences. My views on the social context are at least as unusual as my views on science and form an entire line of argument in their own right. The transformation I speak of would clearly be in conflict with the capitalist formation. On the other hand, I hold that historical experience has obsolesced Marx's original timetable and game plan for the supersession of capitalism. 
 
+Readers seeking more information or exchange of ideas are invited to write the author care of Ikon Magazine.]}
-- 
cgit v1.2.3

