timothy-leary-chaos-cyber-culture

Ridley Scott, Nelson Lyon, and David Lynchhave learned their craft by making commercialsor MTV clips, from which havecome the new communication rhythms.Filmmakers are learning the lessonof quantum physics and digital neurology:much more data in much smallerItpackages. turns out that the brain Ukes tohave digital signals jamming the synapses.CUSTOM-SIZED MOVIESIn response to this obvious fact,some innovative filmmakers are beginningto experiment with customized movies,sized for length. The idea is this. Ifyou goto a good restaurant, you don't want to sittrapped at a table for 150 minutes eatingthe same Italian dish. No matter how delicious.No matter how many Oscars the chefhas won, most younger film buff's are notgonna sit still during a 2V2-hour spaghettifilm by moody, self-absorbed auteur-directorsfrom the operatic traditions.But if long, slow flicks are what youwant, if you really prefer to absorb electronicinformation like a python ingests apig, if you want to stuff yourself and slowlyno problem!You arrive at the cineplex and youmake your menu selection when you buyyour ticket If you want the super-giant 150-minute version of Last Temptation of Christyou pay $15, visit the rest room, pack alunch, cancel a few meetings, walk to thelong-distance room, settle in, and letScorcese leisurely paddle you down hiscerebral canals. As a television person,your attention appetite at the visual banquettable probably gets satiated after anhour. So you'll tend to select the regularsizeepic: Christ, $5 for 50 minutes.But cyberpilots and brain jocks,with an eternity of digitized info-worlds atfingertip, tend to go for the nouvelle cuisine,gourmet bufl'et. You pay $5 and watchfive 10-minute "best-of," haiku compressionsof five films. Rve "high lights"essence-teasers. Tastes great! Less filling!If you are really taken by one ofthese specialite de maison and want more,you either go to the box ofllce for a ticket oryou stick your credit card in the dispensercabinet, dial your choice, and out pops acustom-sized rental video to take home andscan at your convenience.digest a 150-minute film why,.DO-lT-YOURSELF CYBERWEAR OFFERS PERSONAL ELECTRONIC REALITIESSo far you have been a busy consumerwith many passive selective options.But, suppose you want to move intothe active mode? Cliange the film? Scriptand direct your own version? Put your personalspin on the great director's viewpoint?Heresy!Suppose, for example, that you're a 14-year-old African or Asian girland you dislikethe movie Rambo, which cost $40 million,minimum, to make. You rent the videofor S1 and scan it. Then you select themost offensive section. Maybe the onewhere Sly Stallone comes crashing throughthe jungle into the natwe village, naked tothe waist, brandishing a machine gun withwhich he kills several hundred Asian men,women, and children.To present your version, you digitizethis 30-second scene, copyit into your$100 Nin-Sega-Mac computer, and use theDirector software program to re-edit. Youdigitize the torso of a stupid-looking gorilla,you scan a wilted celery stalk or thelimp penis of an elephant, you loop in thevoice of Minnie Mouse in the helium modescreaming the Stallone line: "You gonna letus win this time?"You paste your version into the rentedtape, pop h:back in the box, and retairn Kto the video store. The next person rentingRambo will be in for a laugh and a halflWithin weeks this sort of viral contagion ofindividual choice could sweep your town.In the cybernetic age now dawning,"Digital Power to the People" provideseveryone the inexpensive option to cast,script, direct, produce, and distribute hisor her own movie. Custom-made, tailorized,in the convenient sizes mammoth,giant, regular, and byte-sized mini.i6 TIMOTHY lEARY CHAOS l CyBER CUITUHE