X-Message-Number: 6204
From: 
Subject: Who is "WalkerBill"?
Date: Tue, 14 May 96 14:29:59 PDT

In Message #6188  writes:

[snip]

>  There never has been any upside for any movement associated with 
>Leary (look how much he helped those who tried to develop LSD into a 
>usable psych drug, and his later effects on the L-5 Society), and if 

    I have been too busy to post much on CryoNet, but *this* statement 
rankles so much I felt the need to respond.  Others are likely to 
chime in on the LSD/psych drug, but who the hell is "WalkerBill" to 
make this kind of comment about Dr. Leary's effects on the L5 Society? 

    In the post analysis, L5 never had a chance to direct the 
significant fraction of the GNP into space colonies/solar power 
satellites which would have been required, but it *did* produce major 
accomplishments, such as providing a forum for people such as Eric 
Drexler to meet others of their kind and it provided extensive hands- 
on training in politics. 

    The cryonics world would be a very different place without the 
cascade of effects the L5 Society had on it, and Dr. Leary had 
substantial positive effects on L5, as did Dr. Leary's friends Robert 
Anton Wilson and Robert Shea.  

>anyone is criticizing any cryonic organizations for not somehow 
>turning him into a positive they are being rather unreasonable. The 
>only critical deficiency of today's cryo organizations is that they 
>don't have clients like Bill Gates (who I'm sure would not criticize 
>cryonicists for being "too serious", but rather the reverse); they 
>don't need to scour the asylums and talk shows for Learys. 

    I don't know Bill Gates, but I do know Richard Brody, author of a 
book on memetics, *Viruses of the Mind,* who used to work with Gates.
My bet is that Gates understands that getting "too serious" is a sign 
of something which is developing into a cult.

   I've known Tim Leary for 20 years.  He has always been one of the 
most intelligent and upbeat people I know--even when he is personally 
in dire straights.  I think the real problem Mike Darwin and Charles 
Platt ran into is that Dr. Leary is very good at getting people to 
feel good about themselves--and neither of them can stand that 
feeling.  They bitched that Dr. Leary is hard to influence.  Well, 
that's not news!

    If Dr. Leary did not want 24-hr. nursing care, the sensible thing 
to do would have been to train the people who are living there.  If he 
would not go for TPN, that's *his* decision.  If he won't put up with 
an instruments on him, use a motion detector.  Work *around* the 
problems, don't just throw up your hands in disgust!  If you can't 
deal with the problems, call in people who can and *swap* the standby, 
equipment, don't make a big scene ripping it out.

>  It is too bad Leary won't be around; he would make it a lot easier 
>to explain to our great-grand-robots why it took us so long to get off 
>the planet. 

   You really pique my curiosity as to who is behind the aol account.
Please let us know what *you* have done to further this goal.

>P.S. Does Leary really think anyone will know what a "clipboard" is in 
>fifty years? 
                                                             
    Yeah, it will be the name for a nano based hand held computer used 
by anal retentives. 

Keith Henson


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