Maybe Logic

December 22, 2004 12:49 AM

The Maybe Logic Academy is an online learning center and community whose mission is to "create a learning and community environment where alternative models, philosophies and methodologies can be discussed and explored at length with the guidance of an expert in the field." Instructors include Alan Clements, Douglas Rushkoff, R.U. Sirius, and Robert Anton Wilson. The Maybe Quarterly is the Academy's student-produced journal of twenty-first century metaphysical illuminism. The folks behind the Academy also offer some nice online libraries for the whole family. [Via Vortex Egg and LVX23.]
posted by homunculus (12 comments total)

thank goddess i came upon r.a. wilson's "prometheus rising" when i was but a wee sprout. had it not been for wilson's mindf*ck, i'd be at a loss in this life. i'm really excited about this as well; great post.
posted by moonbird at 4:16 AM on December 22, 2004

Looks like a lot of ragtag sci-fi hocus pocus mumbo jumbo. Quantum consciousness? Crowley 101? Counterculture through the ages? Please.
posted by painquale at 4:44 AM on December 22, 2004

I'm not sure about how to feel about RAW. I like some of the stuff he's written (Cosmic Trigger especially), but other books leave me cold and confused. I can't decide whether he genuinely cares about the freedom of man or if it's an empowering trip for geeks who have no real power in the world. I'm sure RAW would agree.
posted by Panfilo at 5:49 AM on December 22, 2004

Wow. This is somewhat the bomb. Thanks, homonculus.

It looks like RAW is the anchor of the whole thing, which is appropriate. Is it just me, or is he looking ever more and more like a demented Santa Claus?

I loved the Philip K. Dick quote: "Wilson managed to reverse every mental polarity in me, as if I had been pulled through infinity." Well, sure Phil, he may have done that to you, but so did the breaking of each new day.

And it's good to see RAW pushing the Historical Illuminatus Chronicles as course texts. While the Illuminatus! and Schrodinger's Cat trilogies were terrific fun, they were little more than brain-teasing candy stuffed with cut-up gimmickry. "The Earth Will Shake" and "The Widow's Son" (and even more so, "Nature's God," though he doesn't seem to be assigning that) really have something to say about the history of our country and each of our role in discerning/debunking it. Panfilo, don't know if you've tried those, but if you're on the fence about RAW, they might tip you over. painquale, on the other hand, seems to be a lost cause.
posted by soyjoy at 7:28 AM on December 22, 2004

This has the potential to be really cool. I'll admit they sound pretty "out-there" sound sometimes, but these guys usually have really good ideas. You need to actually read it and try to understand what they're saying, though; there's a definite tendency for poetic license.
posted by nTeleKy at 8:09 AM on December 22, 2004

I actually think that Dick had jiggered his own mental polarities by living on a diet of coffee, bourbon, and amphetamines.

On the one hand, I think this stuff looks fun and engaging. On the other hand, I shudder to think that it will inspire people feel more confident in blathering on at me about how the science establishment is stupid because it doesn't recognize the reality of morphogenetic fields.

Maybe I just need to mail everyone a grain of salt.
posted by Sidhedevil at 8:12 AM on December 22, 2004

Just came across this in an interview with R.U. Serius:

S: Do you have any favourite blogs or porn sites?
RU: It’s been a while since I’ve been on the blogs...
S: So you don’t keep up with them?
RU: Well, I used to, but I’ve sort of fallen off now. I can’t remember the names now, but there were some people I really liked. MetaFilter? I think was it MetaFilter? I thought that was good.
posted by nTeleKy at 8:36 AM on December 22, 2004

I'm definitely a lost cause if you want me to take this stuff seriously, but I can appreciate it as fiction! I love Phillip K. Dick, but his paranoid musings about past lives and anamnesis were off-the-wall crazy.

I've never read RAW, but I can appreciate that he's probably a great sci-fi author. Maybe I'll pick him up some time. But when he claims to know things about reality that the scientists and philosophers are missing, and then allies himself with 'Zen Punkist manifestoes', Alistair Crowley, and wistful pseudoscience, I can't treat him as anything more serious than a wild and creative imagination.
posted by painquale at 9:13 PM on December 22, 2004

And it's good to see RAW pushing the Historical Illuminatus Chronicles as course texts.

Maybe (heh) this will even be a prelude to finally finishing the damn series...
posted by PinkStainlessTail at 9:18 PM on December 22, 2004

The concept of Maybe Logic grew out of these interviews, and as such, Maybe Logic is a successful departure from the dualism that has a stranglehold on today’s world. All throughout the world of today, we are surrounded by statements such as: “You are either with us, or you are against us.” Here in this following statement, is another way of expressing this same sentiment: “You are either with us, or you are with the terrorists.” Other ways in which this dualism appears in our world is in the ‘right vs. left’ political paradigm, where all people must either be completely liberal or totally conservative.--from here
Great aim--don't know how doable it really is tho.

I wish all of it was free. It looks really interesting. thanks!
posted by amberglow at 9:27 PM on December 22, 2004

Great post! I'd like to know if any mefi folks end up actually taking any of these classes. I'm considering the Quantum Psychology or Spiritually Incorrect...
posted by J-Garr at 1:05 PM on December 23, 2004

fnord 23 skidoo....Love RAW and his psychonaut explorations.
posted by alteredcarbon at 2:05 PM on December 26, 2004