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@@ -875,196 +875,74 @@ You have by now no doubt become aware that I have been making a rather unsubtle
 
 METARAP: WHO YOU ARE IS HOW YOU CHANGE 
 
+\chap {\caps\rm Metarap: Who You Are is How You Change} (An essay on Temporal Stratification and/or the Cybernation of Transcendence) 
 
-(An essay on Temporal Stratification and/or the 
-Cybernation of Transcendence) 
+\sec Rap I 
 
 
-Rap I 
+\secc A. N. Whitehead, 1938.
 
+The planets, the stones, the living things all witness to the wide preservation of identity. But equally, they witness to the partiality of such preservation. Nothing in realized matter of fact returns complete identity with its antecedent self. This self-identity in the sphere of realized fact is only partial. It holds for certain purposes. It dominates certain kinds of process. But in other parts of process, the differences are important and self-identity is an interesting fable. For the purposes of inheriting real estate, the identity of the man of thirty years of age with the former baby of 10 months is dominant.  For the purposes of navigating a yacht, the differences between man and child are essential. The identity then sinks into metaphysical irrelevancy. In so far as identities are preserved, there are orderly laws of nature. In so far as identities decay, these laws are subject to modification. But the modification itself may be lawful. The change in the individual may exhibit a law of change, as for example the change from baby to full grown animal. And yet such laws of change are themselves liable to change. For example, species flourish and decay; civilizations rise and fall; heavenly bodies gradually form, and pass through sequences of stages. 
 
-1. A.N. WHITEHEAD, 1938 
+\secc Margaret Mead, 1970.
 
-The planets, the stones, the living things all witness to the wide 
-preservation of identity. But equally, they witness to the partiality of 
-such preservation. Nothing in realized matter of fact returns 
-complete identity with its antecedent self. This self-identity in the 
-sphere of realized fact is only partial. It holds for certain purposes. It 
-dominates certain kinds of process. But in other parts of process, the 
-differences are important and self-identity is an interesting fable. For 
-the purposes of inheriting real estate, the identity of the man of 
-thirty years of age with the former baby of 10 months is dominant. 
-For the purposes of navigating a yacht, the differences between man 
-and child are essential. The identity then sinks into metaphysical 
-irrelevancy. In so far as identities are preserved, there are orderly 
-laws of nature. In so far as identities decay, these laws are subject to 
-modification. But the modification itself may be lawful. The change 
-in the individual may exhibit a law of change, as for example the 
-change from baby to full grown animal. And yet such laws of change 
-are themselves liable to change. For example, species flourish and 
-decay; civilizations rise and fall; heavenly bodies gradually form, and 
-pass through sequences of stages. 
+Today, suddenly, because all the peoples of the world are part of one electronically based, intercommunicating network, young people everywhere share a kind of experience that none of the elders ever have had or will have. Conversely, the older generation will never see repeated in the lives of young people their own unprecedented experience of sequentially emerging change. This break between the generations is wholly new: it is planetary and universal. 
 
+\secc Buckminster Fuller, 1970.
 
-2. MARGARET MEAD, 1970. 
+Is the human an accidental theatergoer who happened in the play of life ---to like it or not---or does humanity perform an essential function in Universe. We find the latter to be true... In 1951 I published my conclusion that man is the antientropy of Universe. Norbert Weiner published the same statement at the same time. 
 
-Today, suddenly, because all the peoples of the world are part 
-of one electronically based, intercommunicating network, young 
-people everywhere share a kind of experience that none of the elders 
+\secc Buckminster Fuller, 1970.
 
+Within decades we will know whether man is going to be a physical success around earth, able to function in ever greater patterns of local universe or whether he is going to frustrate his own success with his negatively conditioned reflexes of yesterday and will bring about his own extinction around planet earth. My intuitions foresee his success despite his negative inertias. This means things are going to move fast. 
 
+\secc The Beatles --- In Abbey Road
 
+``And in the end\nl
+the love you take\nl
+is equal to the love\nl
+you make.''\nl
 
-ever have had or will have. Conversely, the older generation will 
-never see repeated in the lives of young people their own 
-unprecedented experience of sequentially emerging change. This 
-break between the generations is wholly new: it is planetary and 
-universal. 
+\sec Rap II
 
+Wouldn't it be a groove if we could sit back now and breathe a satisfied sigh of relief now that the sixties are over, and say, well, we made it through. It certainly was a freaky 10 years. Computers, acid, rock. Whew. 
 
-3. BUCKMINSTER FULLER, 1970. 
-
-Is the human an accidental theatergoer who happened in the 
-play of life ---to like it or not---or does humanity perform an 
-essential function in Universe. We find the latter to be true.. .In 
-1951 I published my conclusion that man is the antientropy of 
-Universe. Norbert Weiner published the same statement at the same 
-time. 
-
-
-4. BUCKMINSTER FULLER, 1970. 
-
-Within decades we will know whether man is going to be a 
-physical success around earth, able to function in ever greater 
-patterns of local universe or whether he is going to frustrate his own 
-success with his negatively conditioned reflexes of yesterday and will 
-bring about his own extinction around planet earth. My intuitions 
-foresee his success despite his negative inertias. This means things are 
-going to move fast. 
-
-
-5. THE BEATLES --- IN ABBEY ROAD. 
-'And in the end 
-the love you take 
-is equal to the love 
-you make." 
-
-
-Rap II 
-Wouldn't it be a groove if we could sit back now and breathe a 
-satisfied sigh of relief now that the sixties are over, and say, well, we 
-
-
-made it through. It certainly was a freaky 10 years. Computers, acid, 
-rock. Whew. 
-
-
-Of course, we can't. Now world ecology has to be done, or no 
-
-
-
-
-more man. Tempting as it might be to rest a while, we know we 
-either put the planet together in a new way or we're finished. Done. 
-
+Of course, we can't. Now world ecology has to be done, or no more man. Tempting as it might be to rest a while, we know we either put the planet together in a new way or we're finished. Done. 
 
 There seem to be a number of approaches. 
 
 
-1. SOME SAY: 
-
-We'd better hurry up and industrialize the "developing" nations 
-or they'll gang up and wipe us out. Spread the wealth. Sure, 
-capitalism isn't a perfect system, but what is. Industrialization would 
-at least feed 'em and clothe 'em, right? 
-
-
-2. OTHERS SAY: 
-
-Listen, that capitalist rap is thirty years dead, man. Haven't you 
-heard about electronics and the second industrial revolution. We 
-don't process matter (energy) anymore --- we process information. 
-People don't have to work, pulling levers any more. Any repetitive 
-process can be programmed, electronically. Automated, man. 
-
+\secc Some say: 
 
-3. OTHERS: 
+We'd better hurry up and industrialize the "developing" nations or they'll gang up and wipe us out. Spread the wealth. Sure, capitalism isn't a perfect system, but what is. Industrialization would at least feed 'em and clothe 'em, right? 
 
-What are you guys talking about. Don't you realize that we're in 
-the mess we're in because nobody paid any attention to the systems 
-those automated processes are part of, so now we have a polluted 
-planet. From now on, we have to figure how automation relates to 
-the ecosystem. Haven't you ever heard of feedback. You know, 
-where the "effect" loops back to influence the "cause". From now 
-on, we either plan for how our machines feed back on our life styles, 
-or, like Leary said, all the metal back underground. I'm not for 
-electronic laissez-faire either, man. 
+\secc Others say:
 
+Listen, that capitalist rap is thirty years dead, man. Haven't you heard about electronics and the \e{second} industrial revolution. We don't process matter (energy) anymore --- we process information.  People don't have to work, pulling levers any more. Any repetitive process can be programmed, electronically. Automated, man. 
 
-4. STILL OTHERS: 
+\secc Others:
 
-I find it hard to get into your progress metaphors. They all seem 
-to ignore the terrible pain we're all in. I mean, how can you dream of 
-rosy futures while Vietnam is tearing the skins off hundreds of 
-thousands of young guys like us, while the pigs are practicing 
-genocide on the panthers, while the trial is screaming that justice is 
-only for the silent majority. Not to mention what they're doing to 
-us. 
+What are you guys talking about. Don't you realize that we're in the mess we're in because nobody paid any attention to the \e{systems} those automated processes are part of, so now we have a polluted planet. From now on, we have to figure how automation relates to the ecosystem. Haven't you ever heard of feedback. You know, where the "effect" loops back to influence the "cause". From now on, we either plan for how our machines feed back on our life styles, or, like Leary said, all the metal back underground. I'm not for electronic laissez-faire \e{either,} man. 
 
+\secc Still others:
 
+I find it hard to get into your progress metaphors. They all seem to ignore the terrible pain we're all in. I mean, how can you dream of rosy futures while Vietnam is tearing the skins off hundreds of thousands of young guys like us, while the pigs are practicing genocide on the panthers, while the trial is screaming that justice is only for the silent majority. Not to mention what they're doing to us. 
 
+My scene is to let it bleed. I don't wanna fix it. It's broke, man.  We need a new one. So, some of us got our shit together, built a dome out in New Mexico, and we live close to the land. No more mine-yours games, no more technology. Just getting into each other, man, finding that quiet still center within ourselves. 
 
-My scene is to let it bleed. 1 don't wanna fix it. It's broke, man. 
-We need a new one. So, some of us got our shit together, built a 
-dome out in New Mexico, and we live close to the land. No more 
-mine-yours games, no more technology. Just getting into each other, 
-man, finding that quiet still center within ourselves. 
+\secc Others still:
 
+Jesus. You sit out there in the woods all peaceful and groovy but somebody \e{else} has to keep them off your back. You think they're gonna leave you alone, man, with your "sexual communism" and your dope and your "deprived" children. You think you can just concentrate on what's going on inside your head, and make believe you don't hear the whole civilization crashing into ruins all around you. Wake up, man. They're killing your brothers and your sisters right now, and you're next. 
 
-5. OTHERS STILL: 
+\sec Rap III 
 
-Jesus. You sit out there in the woods all peaceful and groovy 
-but somebody else has to keep them off' your back. You think 
-they're gonna leave you alone, man, with your "sexual communism" 
-and your dope and your "deprived" children. You think you can just 
-concentrate on what's going on inside your head, and make believe 
-you don't hear the whole civilization crashing into ruins all around 
-you. Wake up, man. They're killing your brothers and your sisters 
-right now, and you're next. 
+\secc First observer:
 
+Obviously, they're all correct. The electronic industry is probably more aware than they are that national boundaries are obsolete. The synchronous satellites are only the top of the iceberg.  Trans-national conglomerates became necessary as soon as data banks in the computers could handle the complexity of a thousand branch offices. And before that, radio, telephone, jets, and television went beyond national boundaries. 
 
-Rap III 
+The problem is not \e{whether} to spread the wealth, but \e{how.} Right now, we've got three political ecosystems; --- us, the Russians, and the Chinese --- worrying about how to get the Africans and the rest of the "little" countries on their side, like South America, or India, or the Middle East. To borrow a phrase from the kids, the concept "nation" is not where it's at. The problem is, how do we get beyond ideologies and belief systems which define spreading the wealth as imperialism, Communism, Maoism, what have you.  Personally, I think the kids are gonna do it. I mean, kids all over the planet are more like each other than they are national citizens, and I give them a lot of credit. They're gonna do it. I'm confident. 
 
-
-1. FIRST OBSERVER: 
-
-Obviously, they're all correct. The electronic industry is 
-probably more aware than they are that national boundaries are 
-obsolete. The synchronous satellites are only the top of the iceberg. 
-Trans-national conglomerates became necessary as soon as data banks 
-in the computers could handle the complexity of a thousand branch 
-offices. And before that, radio, telephone, jets, and television went 
-beyond national boundaries. 
-
-
-The problem is not whether to spread the wealth, but how. 
-Right now, we've got three political ecosystems; --- us, the Russians, 
-and the Chinese --- worrying about how to get the Africans and the 
-rest of the "little" countries on their side, like South America, or 
-India, or the Middle East. To borrow a phrase from the kids, the 
-concept "nation" is not where it's at. The problem is, how do we get 
-beyond ideologies and belief systems which define spreading the 
-wealth as imperialism, Communism, Maoism, what have you. 
-Personally, I think the kids are gonna do it. I mean, kids all over the 
-
-
-
-
-planet are more like each other than they are national citizens, and I 
-give them a lot of credit. They're gonna do it. I'm confident. 
-
-
-2. SECOND OBSERVER: 
+\secc Second observer:
 
 Sure, sure, the kids are a new post-industrial culture, beyond 
 ideology and all that. Sure they live in an electronic ecosphere 
@@ -1074,332 +952,99 @@ all. Don't you see, though, that that is precisely the problem. They
 have to come up with a new "post cultural" culture so they'll be able 
 to live in their electronic ecosphere, but there's absolutely no 
 precedent for coming up with a new planet-wide post-electronic 
-culture. So how, to borrow your phrase, are they gonna do it. Even 
-the universe didn't do it ex nibilo. 
-
-
-3. THIRD OBSERVER: 
-
-They won't have to. Didn't you hear 'em talking about 
-cybernation and systems theory. Our minds boggle at the thought 
-that each and every last unintended consequence of every little flea 
-bitten automated factory product will have to be reckoned into the 
-bargain, but, fer chrissakes, that's what computers are, don'tcha see, 
-the screw driver that comes with the general systems theory manual. 
-Instead of thinking about the hardware all the time, try to realize 
-that the kids are designing the software. What do you think rock and 
-roll is. What about those costumes. Aren't their communes attempts 
-to get past the wreckage of the nuclear family, that casualty of 
-industrialism? Their whole generation seems marvellously capable of 
-responding to our technosphere with an ecosphere of their own. 
-Don't you think the kids raised on computers and television, the kids 
-now in grammar school, are going to be sufficiently flexible to take 
-the steps they'll have to take. I think, just as the industrial generation 
-came up with liberalism, and the computer generation came up with 
-acidoxy, well, in the same way, the current generatibn is gonna come 
-up with a hip version of cybernetics. They've had their McLuhan to 
-cut their eye teeth on, so their politics is McLuhanesque. Look at 
-Abbie Hoffman. Uses the media like a stick ball bat. He knows about 
-feedback, let me tell you. And his kids are not gonna take any 
-
-
-
-
-nonsense from trans-national conglomerates or the Soviets or the 
-Maoists. They're gonna use the planet's media like Tom Paine used 
-pamphlets. I think technology has met its match in the next 
-generation. They're gonna make it serve them, not serve it, because 
-they're not content to be the software for a hardware they can't 
-control. 
-
-
-Don't tell me about no precedents. They've got plenty, and 
-then some. 
-
-
-4. FOURTH OBSERVER: 
+culture. So \e{how,} to borrow your phrase, are they gonna do it. Even 
+the universe didn't do it \e{ex nibilo.}
 
-You're all missing the point, although I agree with what's been 
-said. Using your own cybernetic metaphors, you could arrive at a 
-more general formulation than you have, instead of getting stuck on 
-the particulars, as I think you have. Look. Even Marx recognized that 
-a given technology (or means of production, if you insist) calls forth a 
-given ideology (or culture, with your permission). So, we design an 
-electronic technology and they obligingly come up with hip 
-cybernetics. The point is, can they come up with a new culture 
-before a new hardware system elicits it. In other words, if a new 
-consciousness is always a response to a new technology, how do we 
-know that the technologies now on our drawing boards --- say, 
-Tri-d ---are going to elicit a brand of culture that will get us 
-by --- that is, insure species survival. The problem, it seems to me, Is 
-much more serious than you guys seem to have seen. 
+\secc Third observer:
 
+They won't have to. Didn't you hear 'em talking about cybernation and systems theory. Our minds boggle at the thought that each and every last unintended consequence of every little flea bitten automated factory product will have to be reckoned into the bargain, but, fer chrissakes, that's what computers are, don'tcha see, the screw driver that comes with the general systems theory manual.  Instead of thinking about the hardware all the time, try to realize that the kids \e{are} designing the software. What do you think rock and roll is. What about those costumes. Aren't their communes attempts to get past the wreckage of the nuclear family, that casualty of industrialism? Their whole generation seems marvellously capable of responding to our technosphere with an ecosphere of their own.  Don't you think the kids raised on computers and television, the kids now in grammar school, are going to be sufficiently flexible to take the steps they'll have to take. I think, just as the industrial generation came up with liberalism, and the computer generation came up with acidoxy, well, in the same way, the current generatibn is gonna come up with a hip version of cybernetics. They've had their McLuhan to cut their eye teeth on, so their politics is McLuhanesque. Look at Abbie Hoffman. Uses the media like a stick ball bat. He knows about feedback, let me tell you. And his kids are not gonna take any nonsense from trans-national conglomerates or the Soviets or the Maoists. They're gonna use the planet's media like Tom Paine used pamphlets. I think technology has met its match in the next generation. They're gonna make it serve them, not serve it, because they're not content to be the software for a hardware they can't control. 
 
-Put it this way. What if man is a feedback loop for planetary 
-evolution, that is, man's role is to monitor life on the planet. If so, he 
-may be able to adjust a few things here and there, turn a few dials so 
-the boilers don't blow up, so to speak. But that doesn't give us any 
-guarantee that he can design a better planet, or a better man, for that 
-matter. 
+Don't tell me about no precedents. They've got plenty, and then some. 
 
+\secc Fourth observer:
 
-I'm asking whether the feedback theory of conciousness 
-provides any hope at all. If it's an after-the-fact mechanism, I don't 
-think it offers us any hope at all. More specifically, if you think all 
-those kids out in those communes are doing anything more than 
+You're all missing the point, although I agree with what's been said. Using your own cybernetic metaphors, you could arrive at a more general formulation than you have, instead of getting stuck on the particulars, as I think you have. Look. Even Marx recognized that a given technology (or means of production, if you insist) calls forth a given ideology (or culture, with your permission). So, we design an electronic technology and they obligingly come up with hip cybernetics. The point is, \e{can they come up with a new culture \ul{before} a new hardware system elicits it.} In other words, if a new consciousness is always a response to a new technology, how do we know that the technologies now on our drawing boards --- say, Tri-d ---are going to elicit a brand of culture that will get us by --- that is, insure species survival. The problem, it seems to me, Is much more serious than you guys seem to have seen. 
 
+Put it this way. What if man is a feedback loop for planetary evolution, that is, man's role is to monitor life on the planet. If so, he may be able to adjust a few things here and there, turn a few dials so the boilers don't blow up, so to speak. But that doesn't give us any guarantee that he can design a better planet, or a better man, for that matter. 
 
+I'm asking whether the feedback theory of conciousness provides any hope at all. If it's an after-the-fact mechanism, I don't think it offers us any hope at all. More specifically, if you think all those kids out in those communes are doing anything more than becoming conscious of their condition \e{after} they're in it, I'd like to be told about it. 
 
+\secc Fifth observer:
 
-becoming conscious of their condition after they're in it, I'd like to 
-be told about it. 
+You don't understand feedback, or some other other things I'm gonna tell you. Let me start with an example. You know what happens after a forest fire. The forest goes into a condition of positive feed, proliferates like mad, changes its rate of growth, not because it wants to, as the teleologists would have us believe, but because the surrounding systems it interfaces with no longer maintain it through their feedback on it. Its growth becomes unchecked for a while, like a computer programmed to scan without any limits put on it. It becomes a temporary runaway, you might say. 
 
+Now, very similar processes occur in human populations. You can see it in demographic systems, and even more generally, you can see it in norm systems, that is, in whole cultures. You can even see it in psychological terms, when kids "blow their minds" with some chemical or other, which removes the nice neat negative feedbacks imposed on them by their surrounding ecosystems, let's say, families and/or schools. 
 
-5. FIFTH OBSERVER: 
+Similarly, when a new technology is introduced, you don't just get a response to \e{it} --- you temporarily release the culture from its priorly programmed equilibrium with its peer cultures so that, for a while, its inhabitants are freed up to grow wild for a time, before a new set of negative feedbacks lock in. 
 
-You don't understand feedback, or some other other things I'm 
-gonna tell you. Let me start with an example. You know what 
-happens after a forest fire. The forest goes into a condition of 
-positive feed, proliferates like mad, changes its rate of growth, not 
-because it wants to, as the teleologists would have us believe, but 
-because the surrounding systems it interfaces with no longer 
-maintain it through their feedback on it. Its growth becomes 
-unchecked for a while, like a computer programmed to scan without 
-any limits put on it. It becomes a temporary runaway, you might 
+I see it as a kind of breathing, a kind of rhythm characteristic of any system. Call it cybernetic music, if you want. So, if I'm right, what this means is that the whole electronic revolution did not just spawn a bunch of hairy rock and roll respondents, although it certainly did that. But not \e{just} that. It cut loose a generation of kids from a set of obsolete (i.e., no longer enough) norms that were locking them in, asking them to live in the post-industrial ecosphere with feedback loops still hooked into the old Newtonian mechanics. 
 
+The point is, when electricity turned 'em on (by turning mechanical feedback \e{off}), they proliferated, not just like a forest, with more of the same \e{kind} of trees, but came up with something \e{new,} that wasn't there before. \e{That's} how this planetary consciousness came about. But, beyond that, the point is that feedback, both positive and negative, does not simply maintain systems in equilibrium. Somehow it combines to create things that weren't there before. \e{Ex nihilo.} Whether they're new forms of consciousness on a given planet, or new planets in a given galaxy, human consciousness is not unique in creating, not just responding: The whole universe seems to do it. And I think the kids are catching on to that fact. 
 
-say. 
-
-
-Now, very similar processes occur in human populations. You 
-can see it in demographic systems, and even more generally, you can 
-see it in norm systems, that is, in whole cultures. You can even see it 
-in psychological terms, when kids "blow their minds" with some 
-chemical or other, which removes the nice neat negative feedbacks 
-imposed on them by their surrounding ecosystems, let's say, families 
-and/or schools. 
-
-
-Similarly, when a new technology is introduced, you don't just 
-get a response to it --- you temporarily release the culture from its 
-priorly programmed equilibrium with its peer cultures so that, for a 
-while, its inhabitants are freed up to grow wild for a time, before a 
-new set of negative feedbacks lock in. 
-
-
-I see it as a kind of breathing, a kind of rhythm characteristic of 
-any system. Call it cybernetic music, if you want. So, if I'm right, 
-what this means is that the whole electronic revolution did not just 
-spawn a bunch of hairy rock and roll respondents, although it 
-certainly did that. But not just that. It cut loose a generation of kids 
-from a set of obsolete (i.c., no longer enough) norms that were 
-locking them in, asking them to live in the post-industrial ecosphere 
-with feedback loops still hooked into the old Newtonian mechanics. 
-
-
-
-
-The point is, when electricity turned 'em on (by turning 
-mechanical feedback off), they proliferated, not just like a forest, 
-with more of the same kind of trees, but came up with something 
-new, that wasn't there before. That's how this planetary consciousness came about. But, beyond that, the point is that feedback, both 
-positive and negative, does not simply maintain systems in equilibrium. Somehow it combines to create things that weren't there 
-before. Ex nibilo. Whether they're new forms of consciousness on a 
-given planet, or new planets in a given galaxy, human consciousness 
-is not unique in creating, not just responding: The whole universe 
-seems to do it. And I think the kids are catching on to that fact. 
-
-
-One final illustration. One afternoon, we were sitting around in 
-the office, and somebody asked whether I thought the universe was 
-running down, you know, the entropy form of the second law, and if 
-it was, how did I account for evolution. And did we think the 
-universe was running down because our society was, or was our 
-society coming apart because the universe was. 
-
-
-So I trotted out my Fuller memory and tried to explain that 
-there seemed to be two aspects of Universe that were not 
-customarily seen together, that. just as there is radiant, or dissociative, energy, so also is there emergent, or associative, power, which 
-Fuller calls synergy. So that things don't just come apart, they also 
-come together. In other words, it's a mistake to talk about receding 
-galaxies without also talking about gravitation, just as it's a mistake 
-to talk about cultural disintegration without also talking about new 
-forms of cultural (or post-cultural) integration. 
-
-
-Now don't get me wrong. I'm not saying that there seem to be 
-nice neat forces at work in the universe which we can ride like surfers 
-so we have nothing to worry about. That's sort of like saying isn't it 
-nice our legs just reach the ground. I see nothing in these 
-generalizations to guarantee that man the species has to make it. 
-Maybe we're dinosaurs and maybe there's a new environment 
-growing that we can't live in. 
-
-
-
-
-But I don't think so. I think what's happening is that we're 
-gradually beginning to use more and more of those neurons the 
-shrinks are always telling us we're only using 5% of, that we're giving 
-ourselves challenges now that force us to become the creators, rather 
-than the creatures, of evolution. It may be, and I think it is, that the 
-time has come for us to think of "consciousness" and "culture" as 
-only 2 of a larger set of parameters, and that they're not particularly 
-cordial ones at that, locked as they always have been, till now, in a 
-series of feedback loops we don't particularly care for anymore. And 
-the guys who say there are no ways out haven't got a shred more 
-evidence than the guys who say there are. 
-
-
-I dunno. Wasn't it James who said there are forms of 
-consciousness as different from what we call normal waking 
-consciousness as that is from sleep. Seems like there oughta be. I'd 
-hate to think we're the most advanced life forms in the universe. 
-
-
-Metarap I 
-Critias: How is the century proceeding? 
-
-
-Timaios: Not bad. Not bad at all. Mathematicians recovered quickly 
-when Godel showed them no postulate system can remain 
-perfectly consistent if carried far enough. Reimann took them 
-beyond Euclidean space. Einstein of course opened the way for 
-new theories of time, but they're still a little wary. It's hard for 
-them to think without simultaneity --- makes them feel the 
-universe isn't there, you know. Still, they've developed the 
-calculus. Made some moon shots already. 
-
-
-Critias: That's promising. How about their music? 
-
-
-Timaios: Same there. Looks good. They went atonal a while ago. 
-The young have a form they call rock which unites poetry, 
-folklore, protest, etc. Electronic sounds are strangely beautiful, 
-in their primitive way. Some of the abstract ballet is magnificent too. 
-
-
-
-
-Critias: Art? 
-Timaios: Earthworks. Holograms. Light. Fine. Very fine. 
-Critias: Physics? 
-
-
-Timaios: Wonderful. They're just crossing the bridge between 
-sub-atomic "particles" and sub-nuclear fields. Fellow named 
-Gellmann looks very promising, and another named Feinberg 
-may just have a way for them to generalize Einstein. A few of 
-them are trying to detect gravity waves. Shouldn't be long 
-before they master them. Also, some pretty interesting things 
-happening with lasers, communications hardware, and the like. 
-More interesting, some are beginning to wonder why some life 
-forms (populations of bacteria, for example) seem to "obey the 
-same laws", as they say, that populations of gas molecules do. 
-Shouldn't be long before they find that the rate of negentropy 
-is very slow at the gas level, and gets faster as you go up the 
-evolutionary scale. 
-
-
-Critias: What about war technology. Are they still constructing 
-those deadly systems? 
-
-
-Timaios: Yes, but the young seem to be withdrawing from all that. 
-Culture lag. There are still a large number of "neutral" 
-technicians employed in war industries but I think it'll phase 
-itself out as the young mature. 
-
+\brk
 
-Critias: How about their therapists. How far have they gotten? 
+One final illustration. One afternoon, we were sitting around in the office, and somebody asked whether I thought the universe was running down, you know, the entropy form of the second law, and if it was, how did I account for evolution. And did we think the universe was running down because our society was, or was our society coming apart because the universe was. 
 
+So I trotted out my Fuller memory and tried to explain that there seemed to be two aspects of Universe that were not customarily seen together, that. just as there is radiant, or dissociative, energy, so also is there emergent, or associative, power, which Fuller calls synergy. So that things don't just come apart, they also come together. In other words, it's a mistake to talk about receding galaxies without also talking about gravitation, just as it's a mistake to talk about cultural \e{dis}integration without also talking about new forms of cultural (or post-cultural) \e{in}tegration. 
 
-Timaios: That's a bit more complex. Some overlap with the social 
-scientists, but they're all so stuck in their craft unions. The 
-medieval thing. Psychiatrists either clung to biochemistry or 
-psychoanalysis for a while. Then they found groups, then 
-families, etc. Some of them are going quite far, actually. 
-Systems approaches, communication contexts, ecology. Beginning to see' that any level below can be programmed by the next 
+Now don't get me wrong. I'm not saying that there seem to be nice neat forces at work in the universe which we can ride like surfers so we have nothing to worry about. That's sort of like saying isn't it nice our legs just reach the ground. I see nothing in these generalizations to guarantee that man the species has to make it.  Maybe we're dinosaurs and maybe there's a new environment growing that we can't live in. 
 
+But I don't think so. I think what's happening is that we're gradually beginning to use more and more of those neurons the shrinks are always telling us we're only using 5\% of, that we're giving ourselves challenges now that force us to become the creators, rather than the creatures, of evolution. It may be, and I think it is, that the time has come for us to think of "consciousness" and "culture" as only 2 of a larger set of parameters, and that they're not particularly cordial ones at that, locked as they always have been, till now, in a series of feedback loops we don't particularly care for anymore. And the guys who say there are no ways out haven't got a shred more evidence than the guys who say there are. 
 
+I dunno. Wasn't it James who said there are forms of consciousness as different from what we call normal waking consciousness as that is from sleep. Seems like there oughta be. I'd hate to think we're the most advanced life forms in the universe. 
 
+\sec Metarap I 
 
-level up. Like the physicists. Too bad they don't talk to each 
-other very often. Social Psychiatry looks good, if they can 
-figure out a way around the so-called community mental health 
-centers, which got coopted by all that money. But the 
-communities themselves are forcing an evolution. The Blacks 
-and the Puerto Ricans. Magnificent people. Great dignity. 
+{\narrower
+\def\Cr{\hskip-\parindent Critias:}
+\def\Ti{\hskip-\parindent Timaios:}
 
+\Cr\ How is the century proceeding? 
 
-Critias: An old story. The people grow beyond their chains. Tell 
-me --- is there joy? 
+\Ti\ Not bad. Not bad at all. Mathematicians recovered quickly when Godel showed them no postulate system can remain perfectly consistent if carried far enough. Reimann took them beyond Euclidean space. Einstein of course opened the way for new theories of time, but they're still a little wary. It's hard for them to think without simultaneity --- makes them feel the universe isn't \e{there,} you know. Still, they've developed the calculus. Made some moon shots already. 
 
+\Cr\ That's promising. How about their music? 
 
-Timaios: Among the youth. They are the only ones. They found 
-certain chemicals, much like the Hindi used to use, and released 
-themselves from the self-prisons which mirrored their machines. 
-It wasn't long before they found that transcendence could be 
-facilitated if one had enough friends of like mind. At first, they 
-used them mainly as aphrodisiacs, but they soon found the 
-experience of awe was a door to higher realms. Very hard for 
-them to do, since their whole culture was going the other way, 
-so to speak. But they are doing it. They rear their children 
-differently, they revere each other, stare gently into each 
-other's eyes for long periods. What is most promising is that 
-they now experience time dilation, in which, as you know, 
-minutes seem like hours, hours seem like days, and days seem 
-like weeks. During such experiences, when the veils of illusion 
-fall from their eyes, they probe new depths, ascend new heights, 
-widen their vistas, but most important, they do so together. 
-Hence, they begin to build the foundations for the next era. 
+\Ti\ Same there. Looks good. They went atonal a while ago.  The young have a form they call rock which unites poetry, folklore, protest, etc. Electronic sounds are strangely beautiful, in their primitive way. Some of the abstract ballet is magnificent too. 
 
+\Cr\ Art? 
 
-Critias: What do you think is next for them? 
+\Ti\ Earthworks. Holograms. Light. Fine. Very fine. 
 
+\Cr\ Physics? 
 
-Timaios: As I said, the young are now aware of time dilation. It will 
-not be long before they find ways to guide the rates of any 
-process, be it space flight, planetary ecology, cultural integration, psychological maturation, or anything else they desire. 
+\Ti\ Wonderful. They're just crossing the bridge between sub-atomic "particles" and sub-nuclear fields. Fellow named Gellmann looks very promising, and another named Feinberg may just have a way for them to generalize Einstein. A few of them are trying to detect gravity waves. Shouldn't be long before they master them. Also, some pretty interesting things happening with lasers, communications hardware, and the like.  More interesting, some are beginning to wonder why some life forms (populations of bacteria, for example) seem to "obey the same laws", as they say, that populations of gas molecules do.  Shouldn't be long before they find that the \e{rate} of negentropy is very slow at the gas level, and gets faster as you go up the evolutionary scale. 
 
+\Cr\ What about war technology. Are they still constructing those deadly systems? 
 
-Critias: Have they begun temporal design? 
 
+\Ti\ Yes, but the young seem to be withdrawing from all that.  Culture lag. There are still a large number of "neutral" technicians employed in war industries but I think it'll phase itself out as the young mature. 
 
+\Cr\ How about their therapists. How far have they gotten? 
 
+\Ti\ That's a bit more complex. Some overlap with the social scientists, but they're all so stuck in their craft unions. The medieval thing. Psychiatrists either clung to biochemistry or psychoanalysis for a while. Then they found groups, then families, etc. Some of them are going quite far, actually.  Systems approaches, communication contexts, ecology. Beginning to see that \e{any} level below can be programmed by the next level up. Like the physicists. Too bad they don't talk to each other very often. Social Psychiatry looks good, if they can figure out a way around the so-called community mental health centers, which got coopted by all that money. But the communities themselves are forcing an evolution. The Blacks and the Puerto Ricans. Magnificent people. Great dignity. 
 
-Timaios: Not yet. But, as I say, they're beginning to rear their young 
-differently, as citizens of the planet who.cannot bear to see any 
-starve while they have food, any killed while they have life, any 
-lonely while they have mates. They do not tolerate wealth while 
-any need, nor do they honor progress here at the expense of 
-regress there. The most sensitive among them are accustoming 
-themselves to living in continuous change, and are beginning to 
-thrive on it. 
+\Cr\ An old story. The people grow beyond their chains. Tell me --- is there joy? 
 
+\Ti\ Among the youth. They are the only ones. They found certain chemicals, much like the Hindi used to use, and released themselves from the self-prisons which mirrored their machines.  It wasn't long before they found that transcendence could be facilitated if one had enough friends of like mind. At first, they used them mainly as aphrodisiacs, but they soon found the experience of awe was a door to higher realms. Very hard for them to do, since their whole culture was going the other way, so to speak. But they are doing it. They rear their children differently, they revere each other, stare gently into each other's eyes for long periods. What is most promising is that they now experience time dilation, in which, as you know, minutes seem like hours, hours seem like days, and days seem like weeks. During such experiences, when the veils of illusion fall from their eyes, they probe new depths, ascend new heights, widen their vistas, but most important, they do so together.  Hence, they begin to build the foundations for the next era. 
 
-Soon, they will find that even change changes, and will 
-have to accustom themselves to that process as well, whether it 
-changes slowly or rapidly. 
+\Cr\ What do you think is next for them? 
 
+\Ti\ As I said, the young are now aware of time dilation. It will not be long before they find ways to guide the rates of any process, be it space flight, planetary ecology, cultural integration, psychological maturation, or anything else they desire. 
 
-It is difficult, Critias, for me to distinguish my hopes for 
-them from my estimates of their future. They seem to know 
-that joy is the emotion which accompanies transcendence, but 
-they seem reluctant to swim in the oceans of time even while 
-they begin to enter endless space. 
+\Cr\ Have they begun temporal design? 
 
+\Ti\ Not yet. But, as I say, they're beginning to rear their young differently, as citizens of the planet who.cannot bear to see any starve while they have food, any killed while they have life, any lonely while they have mates. They do not tolerate wealth while any need, nor do they honor progress here at the expense of regress there. The most sensitive among them are accustoming themselves to living in continuous change, and are beginning to thrive on it. 
 
-Critias: How old are they? 
-Timaios: About a million years, in their present form. 
+Soon, they will find that even change changes, and will have to accustom themselves to that process as well, whether it changes slowly or rapidly. 
 
+It is difficult, Critias, for me to distinguish my hopes for them from my estimates of their future. They seem to know that joy is the emotion which accompanies transcendence, but they seem reluctant to swim in the oceans of time even while they begin to enter endless space. 
 
-Critias: And you want to hurry them. Let them cling like puppies.to 
-the breasts of their cultures. They will be gone soon enough. 
+\Cr\ How old are they? 
 
+\Ti\ About a million years, in their present form. 
 
+\Cr\ And you want to hurry them. Let them cling like puppies.to the breasts of their cultures. They will be gone soon enough.\par}
 
 
 DRUGS AS CHRONETIC AGENTS