Lunatic Fringe 1
LUNATIC FRINGE * Monday, April 15, 1991 * ISSUE 1 * LF1
GENERAL INFORMATION 1
Lunatic Fringe (LF) has no opinions. It just observes. Any "views" expressed herein belong entirely to the "reality" of the article's author(s). If you really feel like complaining, please feel free. All information is important in some way.
Cash contributions are accepted and are neither discouraged or encouraged. If you would like to receive back issues of LF, please include sufficient postage (and envelope) or the monetary equivalent, along with some place to send it, and a good reason why you deserve it. Please allow 4 to 6 random units of time for delivery.
Any written contributions to LF will be processed and output to printed form as time, money, and good taste permits. Feel free to ask questions, or make comments on anything in the Universe. Information is (or should be, at least) free, as far as LF is concerned.
Nothing really matters that much. Take it easy. Enjoy life as much as possible. Infringe on others' enjoyment as little as possible. Think freely, open-mindedly, and as much as possible--at least until it hurts. Observe; don't miss out. And, of course, Reality is (i.e., is equivalent to) Information. Live it.
Information on addresses, etc. are inside the back cover.
INTRODUCTION
In today's day and age, life, technology, and just about everything else moves so fast, one misses at least 99.99% of what goes on around one's self. What is there to do about this dilemma, you ask? Well, don't come looking to Lunatic Fringe for answers, or you just might find them. LF does not claim to have the answers--or for that matter, claim to know anything. We don't claim to know nothing, either; however, this is probably closer to the truth.
Information. That is what this is all about. Transfer of information. Retrieval. Access. Storage. Availability. Format. Life. All we really are is information. The world around us is there, sure (I think?)...but we are talking about reality here, folks. Information is reality. And reality is information. (You might want to see the stuff about Virtual Reality, Cyberspace, and so on, that is scattered throughout this issue.) People spend so much time worrying about things that don't really matter. Lost and useless information. Why do we tend to miss so much of what goes on around us? Just trained that way, I suppose. Maybe the Zen-like "awareness of all around you" is on the right track. The information is there. It is your environment, virtual or otherwise.
Ahem. Back to the topic at hand... Technology only enhances all of this chaos. Oh, sure it is infinitely (well, actually, "finitely, but very big" would be more correct) helpful in our lives. That can't be argued. Well, it can, but it is pointless. Anyway, the network that exists is overwhelming. By "network" we are talking about all the systems and computers and cables, wires, communication lines, satellites, lasers, and circuits. Hey, we are even talking about the time you got a floppy disk from some weird guy you once knew. We are including even the Postal Service. Yes, the network--THE Network--all the information moving around. Being cut up and spit out all over. Being changed and molded. Little switches flipping everywhere. The buzz almost hurts one's ears. This information is never really "entered" or "inputed". Or "outputed" for that matter. It just IS. The human brain is just one (albeit important) part of it. In one ear and out the other--or, out the computer. Or in one eye out the phone line. Fingers to fax to modem to mailroom to thinwire to screen to printer to satellite to cable to ear to circuit to lightbulb to airwaves to fiber optic to hell and back again.
Lunatic Fringe is only here to be one measly node in the network. Just to sit back and observe. Re-route some of this chaos. Clean it up perhaps; perhaps make a bigger mess. Just like so much of the information out there, in the vast majority of the cases, to the vast majority of the people, the vast majority of the information just doesn't matter. That is why LF is here- -because it just doesn't matter. We could be here, or we could not. Maybe the one person-node who needs LF will find it. Who cares. Maybe, actually, LF does care. But that, in itself, probably doesn't matter. Regardless, presented before you--its use is up to you (or someone or something that influences you)--is this babble from the edge. This information.
Observations of things that just are. Maybe only to a select few. Maybe only to me. Maybe, only to the network. Don't argue with these views--there is no reason to. Don't say "...right" or "...wrong". Process. Filter. That is all you need to do. Read and hate. Or read and think. But, above all, think freely. So much of that information is out there, it tends to confuse ("brainwash") people-nodes and make them unable to think freely. Just remember, some of the best information out there is laughter and fun...and thought. Life is information; make the most of it. Enjoy it. Process it the way you want.
REALITY, or WHAT IS VIRTUAL?
A big deal these days (for some people, anyway) is Virtual Reality (VR). Yeah, you know what this is...you play a big video game all hooked up to wires and feedback stuff and computers and it is really neat. Whoever-it-is uses this for training pilots and some-other-people use it for experimentation. Most places use it for fun. But, what is in it for you?
First, we must take a meta-look at reality. Reality in general, that is. The "environment" (i.e., everything around you and within you) throws all this junk (i.e., information) at you (i.e., your eyes, ears, touch, sense of gravity, etc.) and you live it (i.e., process it) as reality.--somehow (i.e., go read some philosophy books, or better yet, think up your own reasons). Anyway, this reality thing seems a little weird, in that most people think some things just gotta be the way they are. This is why people's realities get all freaked out when they see a ghost or meet a nice person or don't get screwed over by bureaucracy. So, some weirdos (i.e., philosophers = computer scientist = science-fiction writers = people) got the ideas that, basically, the one cog in the reality-machine, known as "environment" can be tinkered with. They talked of manipulating the junk/information thrown at you. Just for fun, or whatever their excuses are/were. Sometimes this process gets compared to, or even confused with, another kind of tampering, where the processing cog is manipulated. LSD does a good job of this, for example. For fun, or whatever their excuses are/were. Whichever cog you mess with, however, the end result is that the machine (reality) gets a little more twisted (i.e., different).
One thing to note here is that people hate different. Why? Good question. Maybe because they are scared. Or taught that way. Or just plain dumb. However, there are the few and the proud (privately) who do the different. Whose realities are constantly being twisted this way and that. The others laugh at them or say they are stupid or odd. (See "weirdos" above.) Nonetheless, these are the people-nodes who have more efficient use of the information in the network, so it is them we talk about here. It is them who make new cogs. And get the "interesting" results.
So, anyway, back to our story. You make your own junk/information-producing cog. Your own environment. This makes for a pseudo-reality. Or, to be more polite, or perhaps more marketable, a Virtual Reality. Ooooo. Of course, there are bugs at this stage. It gets kinda tricky to fool Mother Nature. You strap on some almost-3D image-producing goggles and some earphones. Plug in some feedback machines that keep track of movement and location. Crank up your computer and hope for the best. And, apparently, this does a pretty good job. In your cranked-up computer you have the magic algorithms for your VR. Put in something boring like the "normal gravity" or "normal size" or "normal colors" and things get, well, pretty boring (i.e., normal). However, when, after a few beers (or sleepless nights or LSD hits or other inspirations), you start putting in things like "make me twice as big as him" or "make everything look backwards" or "put extra hands on everyone" or "make me plummet forever, faster and faster", the fun begins. As does, perhaps, the vomiting. These puking geniuses are the people we have to admire. Laugh at and be afraid of, maybe, but admire as well. Just remember, without them, and people like them, we wouldn't have the fun-filled, chaotic, confusing reality/lives we have now. Hey, you might not even be reading this without the likes of them. Sigh. The great twisters of reality. Great manipulators of information. How do you think God (i.e., Whoever) started out? After all, isn't He/She/It/Them the greatest VR programmer of all? Pretty good with math, too, I imagine.
HOW YOU CAN DO YOUR PART TO HELP VR
Getting bored with Mario Bros. XII? Like to play Dungeons & Dragons for real (well, virtual-real)? Want to go to (virtual-)Rome? If you can't wait for these and other more trivial benefits of VR (like research, space travel, simulation, instruction, help for handicapped, etc), below are some ideas you can throw around in your head. If you have any other good ones (or bad ones) send them in. LF would have you fax them, but technology does cost money, although it is all the same (technology/money/life). If you have nothing better to do on you weekend, try tinkering (i.e., researching) the following areas. Get out some wires. Run to Radio Shack. Do some experiments. Above all, don't hold LF responsible when you fry your brain. So, here it is, Lunatic Fringe's First List of Topics to Explore to Improve Virtual Reality Technology (LFFLTEIVRT):
- Direct-connection to brain for input: Forget better graphics and such. Admit it, it is only the natural step. Cut out the middle man (i.e., eyes, ears, touch...). Besides, goggles and earphones might do for some aspects of VR, but what about when you want to feel the cold wind rush by you as you plummet to your death, or taste that 300-meter pizza you ordered, or smell those foreign countries you visit. Give it up. Who needs a body in a VR, anyway?
- Standardization: This has always been the key to technology. What fun would it be if you had to order a Sears Model# 1432-A-X453 Lawnmower Screw# 14536-B, when, as it is, you can just go take the standardized equivalent from your neighbors folding picnic table. In the case of VR, we need standardization of information. "Protocols", the weirdos like to call it. Of course, we are going to want to send information through the network to share our VRs. This requires standardization of all aspects of input: smell, sights, orientation, gravity, sounds, and many other parameters. Why talk to someone on a phone (yuk), when you can share a moment with them on a sunny Rio beach. A few moments during the 30% discount hours. Gives "Reach out and touch someone" new meaning, eh? Quite a job ahead of you on this one. Of course, I pity those of you who take on the brain direct-connection stuff, too.
- Better feedback mechanisms: Sensors keeping track of spatial orientation of one's body is all fine and dandy, but kind of clumsy and more than likely inefficient in large numbers. Besides, what about other types of feedback, like when you want to start flying or want all the trees to turn a different shade of purple. Where do you put the sensors for these "outputs"? Again, I have to say screw the middle man. These people should get in touch with (no pun intended) the brain-connection people. Who cares where your real (i.e., Normal Reality (NR)) hands are or what angle your NR head is at? When your brain says "jump!" you (VR-you) jump. ..."Fly!" you fly. ..."Show up in Mexico in the year 1210" you show up in Mexico in the year 1210. Who needs a body in VR, anyway, Part II.
- Access to neural memories: What good is it being V-Rome, if you don't speak Italian? Or, what fun is it watching a V-symphony, if all you keep remembering is how your are deaf and blind? These things tend to be a "nuisance". Memories that cannot be manipulated along with your reality tend to just get in the way. Consider: V-college degree (and the whole "V-college experience") uploaded in seconds. Sounds a lot more worthwhile now, huh? Besides, a few different attachments and another software package (these add-on gadgets purchase separately, of course...) and you can save yourself (well, not your body, but who needs that anyway? ...in any reality, come to think of it.) on a floppy (or optical or neural or whatever the case may be) disk (sphere, cube, etc.) or two to be passed on to your grand-kids. "New from UnderWorld Realities, for your VR system: Immortality Upgrade Kit. Save up to three (3) loved ones per upgrade kit. Does not store the physical body, which is often considered pointless anyway."
GENERAL INFORMATION 2
LUNATIC FRINGE (LF) is a publication made possible by the vastness of the Informational Universe, technology, math, realities everywhere, and a bit of craziness and luck.
LF is "part" of UnderWorld Industries (UWI) and can be contacted at the following UWI address: P.O. Box 4060 Ann Arbor, MI 48106-4060
UnderWorld Industries isn't so much a business or corporation, as an idea. It tries not to be so uptight with copyrights and secrecy and so on. Better known and in use, than hidden, copyrighted, and patented. Of course, the world is full of slime that will exploit everything for money or power or whatever, so this is not a very feasible idea. But it is an idea--part of what makes up the concept of UnderWorld Industries. UWI is no single person, and is made up of parts of nearly every person. It exists mostly as a common "reference" or "title" for the idea. It is growing and changing and accepts ideas that seem to be worthwhile. Those of you who are part of UWI know it. If you are curious about UWI, write to the above, or any UWI address and hopefully some things will be cleared up.
