Voice From the Past Claims to Have a Vision for Future
He’s back (was he ever really gone?), with a new gig but an old message: An unexpanded mind is a terrible thing.
Timothy Leary, psychedelic guru turned cyberspace pioneer, comes to San Diego on Tuesday to give a lecture-demonstration for the Learning Annex: “Telepresence: Flash Back to the Future: A Stupefying Evening With Timothy Leary.”
(The site is secret; you’ve got to pay a $19 fee first. A crowd of 300 is expected.)
Leary calls me from Ogontz, Pa., where he’s collaborating with a Penn State professor on the project.
I’ve never talked to a guru before. But Leary’s as comfortable to chat with as your next-door neighbor.
He gives me his home phone number in Los Angeles. I’ve never had a guru’s home phone number before.
He explains that his lecture will be about Virtual Reality, an interactive film/computer experience. He figures it’s going to put books and other “passive” forms of communication out of business.
The military, Leary says (half disdainfully, half admiringly), already uses Virtual Reality for flight simulation and video war games like tank battles.
Leary has downscaled the concept for the common man who does not own a $300,000 computer. “Software is the key,” he says.
One demonstration involves a Sherlock Holmes film. You decide which clues the detective will pursue; the film unfolds as you want; there are multiple endings.
“Books are too static, outdated, linear,” Leary says. “Imagine everyone watching ‘Huckleberry Finn’ and then interacting. There won’t be just one ‘Huck Finn,’ you’ll make your own ‘Huck Finn.’ ”
The standard “Huck Finn” always seemed fine to me but no matter. Leary adds: “I know it sounds crazy, but so did Gutenberg at first.”
Leary will turn 71 the day of his San Diego lecture. He likes to stay current, no nostalgia for the 1960s.
Then again, some oldies were indeed goodies, like his fondness for lysergic acid diethylamide. I ask him: Is Virtual Reality the 1990s equivalent of LSD?
“I’ll sue anyone who says that,” Leary says, laughing. “That’s slandering LSD.”
Puppies, Parks, Phones, Etc.
Believe it or not.
* The Board of Supervisors has a citizens’ committee to review the county’s spay and neuter programs. The committee is composed of people who take pet overpopulation seriously.
The committee chairwoman announced recently that her dog just gave birth to a litter of puppies.
Disapproving glances all around.
* The Balboa Park Citizens Action Committee holds a press conference this morning to discuss solutions to Balboa Park’s growing crime and homeless problems.
Not a moment too soon. The park is hurting.
* CNN correspondent Peter Arnett speaks Tuesday at the downtown Pan Pacific Hotel, 5:30 p.m.
There’s a problem: the San Diego Press Club newsletter, The Foghorn, announced that admission is $15 for members, $200 for non-members.
Should have been $20 for non-members. The club is scrambling to correct the Foghorn flub.
* In high-drug neighborhoods in San Diego, owners of private pay phones are ensuring that the phones are of little use to drug dealers: By making the phones unable to receive incoming calls or transmit pager numbers.
Pacific Bell has already done the same thing to some of its phones, in cooperation with the cops.
* Bumper sticker in Escondido, on a GMC Suburban: “I’ve Got PMS. Stay the Hell Out of the Way.”
Yes, the driver was a woman.
Say What?
Press releases I released immediately.
From the Southwest Division, Naval Facilities Engineering Command, San Diego:
“Pursuant to Section 102 (2) (c) of the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) of 1969, Council of Environmental Quality Guidelines (40n CFR, Part 1500), and the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA), the U.S. Navy will prepare an Environmental Impact Statement/Environmental Impact Report (EIS/EIR) for sewage effluent compliance at Marine Corp Base (MCB) Camp Pendleton, California. The EIS/EIR will describe and evaluate the potential environmental effects of the proposed action.”
Will there be pictures?