timothy-leary-chaos-cyber-culture

Underground; so they wanted me to testifyin their defense. They actually wentto trial, ifyou remember, and got convicted,and were pardoned by Carter.Well, they put me in the worstlockup that rve ever been in, and Tdbeen in solitary confinement for over ayear and a half. This was just a clean boxwith nothing but a mattress. The onlycontact I had with human bemgs was,five tunes a day,I could hear somebodywith Gravity's Rainbow.WG: It's got eight billion times more stuff init than Neuromancer does. It's an encyclopedicnovel.TL But there's a tremendous relationship,as you well know, between Neuromancerand Pynchon. Because Pynchonis mto psychology. The shit he knowsabout! It's all about psychology. Butyou've taken the next step, becauseBruce said (in laconic Southern drawl),It's"beta-phenethylamine." in the book.Beta-P. Actually, some people have calledme on how 1spelled this in the book. 1never checked iL So Imay have misspelledthe name of the real brain chemical. Abouta month aJler I fmished the book, there wasan article in Esquire.I think it was called,"The Chemistry of Desire." And they talkedabout beta-phenethylamine, which is struchirallysimilar to amphetamine.And it'slead who beats the shit out oi everybody.coming down the hall to open the "swinetrough" and pass me my food. And Tdsay, "Hey, can I have something to read?"And they'd say, "No." One of the guardswas this black guy and, this one night, hecame back. I could hear him walkingjmgle, jmgle, jinglewalkmg down themetal hall. He opens up the trough andsays, "Here, man," and throws m a book.A new pocketbook. And it's dark, so Iwaited til dawn and pickeditup. And itwas Gravity's Rainbow.WG: Perfect! Of all the books you could get,that'll last you a while.TL' You should only read that book underthose chcumstances. It is not a book youcould . . .WG: Itstopped mylife cold for threemonths. My university career went to pot, Ijust sort of laid around and read this thing.TL What I didfirst of all, I just read it. Iread it allday until dark when theyturned the Ughts ouL I woke up the nextmorning and read it. For three days, I didnothing but read that book. Then I wentback and I started it. Iannotatmg did thesame thing to yours. Yours is the onlybook Fve done that with since. The fihnindustry's never been able to do anythingyou've done that whole thmg to computers.You don't have any new drugs inNeuromancer.WG: I've got the beta-phenethylamine.When that hits the street, watch out!TL That's the one that makes your teethrattle the nerves.WG: Yeah. That's actually a brain chemical.We all have a little bit, as we sit around thetable. But you'd have to get it out of fortymillion people. Sort of Uke the HunterThompson story about adrenochrome. Ifyou could eat somebody's pineal gland, orsomething . . .TL That's a very powerful drug experiencethat you describe, where he can feelit in his teeth.WG: Yeah. I had a lot of fun writing that.(Laughs)TL I know you did. Iappreciate the disclpUnedwork that went into that!WG: Beta-phenethylamineis the chemicalthat the brain manufactures; when youfallin love the level rises. I didn't know thiswhen I wrote the book. 1 called BruceSterUng in Texas, and Isaid, "This guy'sbeen modified; so he can't do traditionalstimulants. So, what can he get off on?" Andalso present in chocolate. So there's somepossibility . . .TL Ohhh! I'm a chocolate addict. Noticelast night, how the waiter automaticallybrought me an extra plate duringdessert? They know my weakness.Double-dose Tim.WG: Japanese kids get high on big candybars that are just sucrose and caffeine.They eat five or six of these things and go toconcerts on this massive sucrose-and-caffeinehigh.TL One of the things that's wonderfulabout Neuromancer is that there is thisglorious comradeship between Molly andCase. And he smgs to her whUe she rubsher nipple and she's talking to him andteUing him.WG: How they gonna do that in the movie?There's no Neuromancer Part II.TL Case and Molly have children?WG: Son of Neuromancer. People have childrenin Count Zero, which was a realbreakthroughfor me. was 1trying to up theante. I like Count Zero better. Neuromancer,for me, is like my adolescent book. It's myteenage book the one I couldn't have writtenwhen I was a teenager.SECTION II. CYlEtNETICS CONVERSATION WITH WIlllAM CIISON 27