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"The other day I saw a film called The Edge, which I regarded as the best thing to come out of Hollywood since The Silence of the Lambs. Perhaps not coincidentally, this flick also starred Anthony Hopkins. In one scene, Hopkins and his co-star, Alec Baldwin, seem in an absolutely hopeless situation, lost in the Arctic, stalked by a hungry bear, without weapons, seemingly doomed. Baldwin collapses, and Hopkins has a magnificent monologue, talking Baldwin out of his despair. The speech runs, roughly, like this: "Did you know you can make fire out of ice? You can, you know. Fire out of ice. Think about it. Fire out of ice. Think. Think."

This riddle has both a pragmatic and symbolic (alchemical) answer. The pragmatic answer you can find in the film, explicitly; and it might prove useful if you ever get lost in the north woods; and the alchemical, or Zen Buddhist, answer is also in the film, implicitly, and only perceptible to those who understand the dense character Hopkins plays in the story. It might prove useful whenever despair seems to overwhelm you. So, to those who at the end of this book still can't understand or sympathize with my Nietzschean yea-saying, I quote again: "Fire out of ice. Think. Think."

Who was that Prometheus guy and why did he give us fire in the first place?"

~Robert Anton Wilson

Epistemological issues seem so central to everything. Within the libertarian devotion to reason that Chomsky has praised, two camps seem to be at odds with one another, in a kind of in-house brawl.
One camp holds the empiricist skeptics who also happen to favor scientific materialism (like Penn Jillette and James Randi and some others you may not have heard about, or maybe you have) and the other camp holds the natural law axiomatic-deductive philosophers who don't outright dismiss homeopathic medicine, for example, and who question flouride in the water.
We can broadly see at least seven different positions. One writer I enjoyed a bit in college, Robert Anton Wilson, seems to have accepted empiricism in conjunction with intuitive-mysticism as valid sources of knowledge but not axiomatic-deductive reasoning. He wrote a short piece on his opposition to natural law in "Natural Law and Don't Put a Rubber on Your Willy." I don't think he developed his opposition thoroughly. He devoted more to his writing to oppose scientism (like double-bind dogmatic empiricism) with a whole book, "The New Inquisition."
Another position is that of Ayn Rand and her Objectivist followers who accepted neither intuitive-mystical knowledge nor much empiricism, but only (or mostly) axiomatic-deductive reasoning.
In my opinion, a stronger view accepts all three and tests theories against all three.

*dupeof http://videosift.com/video/Maybe-Logic-The-Life-and-Ideas-of-Robert-Anton-Wilson

Love Robert Anton Wilson for the *science and the *magic

Tags for this video have been changed from 'robert anton wilson, language, reason, reality, eprime, english, philosophy' to 'robert anton wilson, language, reason, reality, eprime, english, philosophy, is, maybe' - edited by dystopianfuturetoday

Why thank you, I'm very proud of... oh, the video.

>> ^schmawy:
It's long!

http://www.videosift.com/video/Robert-Anton-Wilson-Language-Reason-and-Reality

Thanks! Glad you liked it!

In reply to this comment by paul4dirt:
first vid on the list of recommendations by siftbot and i like it! *promote

This is more of a 'top five of the books I can actually see on the shelves over there'.

The Silmarillion, J. R. R. Tolkien - Most authors tell a story, Tolkien built a world.

The Illuminatus! Trilogy, Robert Shea and Robert Anton Wilson - Guaranteed to impact your life. This book is packed so full of ideas, you can't read it without finding a new perspective on something, whoever you are.

Men at Arms, Terry Pratchett - or just the Discworld series generally, of which I have read the first 31 books.

Various rulebooks, sourcebooks, novels and short stories of the Warhammer 40,000 universe, Rick Priestley, Andy Chambers, et al. - For its sheer scope, and provided you disavow everything after about 1998, this is the greatest fantasy setting since Tolkien.

Orgy of the Blood Parasites, Jack Yeovil - If you don't want to read this just on the strength of that title then I can't help you.

What's the first thing you would do if elected president?
"Resign"
-Robert Anton Wilson

A recurring character in Robert Anton Wilson's novel, "The Illuminatus Trilogy" has a character who places such signage in diverse places to cause the spark of utter chaos afforded to expand where it will filtered through the lens of the reader....great tactic-fight back with your own brand of subversive and enlightening signage....But please.....don't fuck with my gasoline....

The film includes interviews by top experts and thinkers on the subject worldwide, including Marvin Minsky, Terence McKenna, Hans Moravec, Bruce Sterling, Robert Anton Wilson, Richard Seed, Margareth Wertheim, Kirkpatrick Sale, Ralph C. Merkle, Mark Pesce, Ray Kurzweil, Rabbi Youssouf Kazen, Rael and many others.

Part 1: Transhuman
Part 1 gives an overview of recent technological developments (biogenetics, artificial intelligence, robotics, implants, nanotechnology,…) and prognoses made by leading scientists about the impact of these developments in the near future.

Part 2: Preparing for the Singularity
In this part advocates and opponents of a transhuman future are weighed against each other; prognoses are done when we can expect the transhuman revolution and how people are preparing for it already now.

Part 3: The Metaphysics of Technology
This part covers the metaphysical consequences of the new technological revolution. On the one hand scientist start to use metaphysical concepts to describe the impact of their research, on the other hand, a surprisingly large number of scientific projects is inspired by religious aspirations and more and more theologians from any religious or spiritual belief are getting interested in these aspirations of new technology, making the discussion inextricable complex.

>> ^Johnald_Chaffinch:
Great until just before the end, the concept of 'reality tunnels' is a bit too new age-y.
Someone's perception doesn't change what's actually in this universe in front of them (don't forget the other physics).


To a great extent, yes it does.

Our perception of the universe is in fact all that we know of the universe.

Our eyes aren't the only eyes in this world, nor the best.

When RAW noted that when we measure light as a particle, it is a particle, yet when we measure it as a wave, it is a wave, that was a pretty good example of that paradox.

I think Anais Nin said it best: "We don't see things as they are, we see them as we are."

Yes.

In reply to this comment by AceOfKidneys:
Aw fuck, now i get it again.

OMG I had soo many theorys and im starting to remember them all because of this. This is as good at acid (and minus the voices), its funny but its things ive though of since i was about 8. Everything comes around full circle.