timothy-leary-chaos-cyber-culture

ANDY FRITHAtlanta) and our dearest, funniest, wonderful friend Joi, whom wehave never met in the flesh (and who is actually standing in hisbackyard m Osaka). Each of us in turn "hits" the platonic golf balland we watch them soar down the fairway. After finishing the firsthole, we can dial-beam to Anita's patio to admire her garden, zapover to the tee of the second hole at SL Andrew's, then zoom to theLouvre to look at that Cezanne painting Joi was talking about.Within ten years, most of us Americans will be spendinghalf our waking hours zapping around in electronic environmentswith our friends. Any spot in the world we can thmk of can be dialedup on our screens with our friends. Any landscape, surrounding,setting, habitat we can think of or imagine can be quickly fabricatedon our screens with our friends.Some thoughtful critics are concerned by the prospect ofhuman beings spending so much time frapped like zombies in theinorganic, plastic-fantastic electronic world. They fear that this willlead to a depersonalization, a dehumanization, a robotization ofhuman nature, a race of screen-addicted nerds. This understandableapprehension is grounded in the horrid fact that today the averageAmerican spends around six hours each day passively recliningin front of the boob tube, and three hours a day peering docilely intoBig Brother's computer screens.The optimistic, human scenario for the future involvesthree common-sense steps:1. Cure the current apathetic, torpid television addiction,il TIMOTHY lEAlY CHAOS I CriEl CUlTUItE.