Notes
Notes and asides reflecting the perspectives of various academic disciplines
Remote Control
"When a part of your brain receives a tiny electrical impulse from outside sources, such as vision, hearing, etc., an emotion is produced - anger at the sight of a gang of boys beating an old woman, for example. The same emotions of anger can be created by artificial radio signals sent to your brain [...]
Retinal Rulers
"The moment I close my eyes, there appear on the retina strange geometrical figures and designs, together with vague lights and even more sinister shapes beyond, as of great creatures past the conception of mankind - and the most frightening thing about them is that they are creatures of intelligence - immeasurably alien." - [...]
Retroactive Enchantment
"Changes to the ego or self-image or personality by magic are classed as works of illumination and are mainly accomplished by retroactive enchantment and invocation. Retroactive enchantment in this case consists of rewriting our personal history. As our history largely defines our future, we can change our future by redefining our past. Everybody has some [...]
Reversibility
“Stories of reversibility are always the funniest, like the one about the rat and the psychologist: the rat tells about how he ended up by perfectly conditioning the psychologist to give him a piece of bread every time he lifted the gate of his cage. Based on this story you could imagine, on the level [...]
Revolution in Paradise
"Seen in this light, the 'fall of man' depicts a failed revolution from the victor's standpoint. For attempting to put into practice their slogan 'Our bodies belong to us,' the rebels were sentenced to a life of forced labor… 'Your bodies belong to your Ruler!' - that was the response. (The 'paradise' they were driven [...]
Right Man
A theory of human behavior which originated with science fiction author A.E. Van Vogt and was developed by Colin Wilson in his "Criminal History of Mankind."
In Wilson’s view, the "Right Man" represents a psychological type who is, at the core, brittle, fragile and empty. Lacking a fundamental identity of his own, he is obsessed with [...]
