Robert Anton Wilson

Robert Anton Wilson or RAW (born January 18, 1932) is a futurologist, libertarian, and novelist.

His best-known work, The Illuminatus! Trilogy (1975) co-authored with Robert Shea, humorously examined American paranoia about conspiracies. These books mix true information with imaginative fiction to engage the reader in what Wilson called "Operation Mindfuck". (Much of the odder material derived from letters sent to Playboy magazine while Shea and Wilson worked as editors of the Playboy Forum.) It was advertised as "A fairy tale for paranoids." Although Shea and Wilson never partnered on such a scale again, Wilson has continued to expand upon the themes of the Illuminatus! books throughout his writing career.

In Cosmic Trigger I: Final Secret of the Illuminati (1977), he made Discordianism, Sufism, Futurology, the Illuminati and other esoteric or counter-culture philosophies accessible to larger audiences. He is also a proponent of Timothy Leary's eight-circuit brain model and neurosomatic/lingustic engineering, which he writes about in Prometheus Rising (1983, revised 1997) and Quantum Psychology (1990), books of practical techniques to break free of one's "reality tunnels". With Leary he helped promote the futurist ideas of space migration, life extension, and intelligence enhancement technologies (SMI2LE); he is arguably a more cogent and persuasive exponent of Leary's "imprinting circuit" theory of psychological development than Leary himself.

Ironically, considering Wilson has long lampooned and criticized new age beliefs, his books can often be found in bookstores specializing in new age material.

In a 2003 interview with High Times magazine, RAW described himself as a "Model Agnostic" which he says "consists of never regarding any model or map of Universe with total 100% belief or total 100% denial. Following Korzybski, I put things in probabilities, not absolutes... My only originality lies in applying this zetetic attitude outside the hardest of the hard sciences, physics, to softer sciences and then to non-sciences like politics, ideology, jury verdicts and, of course, conspiracy theory."

RAW holds the post of American director of the Committee for Surrealist Investigation of Claims of the Normal (CSICON).

You can watch R.A.W interviews here (http://www.rinf.com/articles/infinity-factory.html).

Bibliography

• Playboy's Book of Forbidden Words (1972)
• Sex and Drugs: A Journey Beyond Limits (1973)
• The Sex Magicians (1973)
• The Book of the Breast (1974)
• Illuminatus! trilogy (1975) (with Robert Shea)
  • The Eye in the Pyramid
  • The Golden Apple
  • Leviathan
• Cosmic Trigger I: Final Secret of the Illuminati (1977)
• Neuropolitics (1978) (with Timothy Leary and George Koopman)
• The Game of Life (1979) (with Timothy Leary)
• The Illuminati Papers (1980)
• Schrödinger's Cat trilogy (1980-1981)
  • The Universe Next Door
  • The Trick Top Hat
  • The Homing Pigeon
• Masks of the Illuminati (1981)
• The Historical Illuminatus Chronicles:
  • The Earth Will Shake (1982)
  • The Widow's Son (1985)
  • Nature's God (1991)
• Right Where You Are Sitting Now (1983)
• Prometheus Rising (1983)
• The New Inquisition (1986)
• Wilhelm Reich in Hell (1987)
• Natural Law, or Don't Put a Rubber on Your Willy (1987)
• Coincidance (1988)
• Neuropolitique (1988) (with Leary & Koopman) [revision of Neuropolitics]
• Ishtar Rising (1989) [revision of The Book of the Breast]
• Semiotext(e) SF (1989) (editor, with Rudy Rucker and Peter Lamborn Wilson)
• Quantum Psychology (1990)
• Cosmic Trigger II: Down to Earth (1991)
• Reality Is What You Can Get Away With: An Illustrated Screenplay (1992)
• Chaos and Beyond (1994) (editor and primary author)
• Cosmic Trigger III: My Life After Death (1995)
• The Walls Came Tumbling Down (1997)
• Everything Is Under Control (1998)
• TSOG: The Thing That Ate the Constitution (2002)
• email to the universe (2005)

See also

• Patapsychology
• Discordianism
• Fnord

External links and references

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• Wilson maintains his own website (http://www.rawilson.com/main.shtml), which includes thoughts of the month, jokes, and many links to obscure and informative Internet sites.
• Documentary movie about Robert Anton Wilson maybe logic - The Lives and Ideas of Robert Anton Wilson (http://www.maybelogic.com/)
• Maybe Logic Academy (http://www.maybelogic.org) offers online courses and a forum with regular posts from Bob himself!
• Robert Anton Wilson fan site (http://www.rawilsonfans.com) has a bio, comprehensive bibliography, interviews, writing, a forum, book cover galeries, and mp3s of his punk rock record, comedy record, and more.
• Robert Anton Wilson's political party (http://www.gunsanddope.com/)
• Robert Anton Wilson Online Library (http://www.deepleafproductions.com/wilsonlibrary/index.htm) - has several RAW interview and texts on the web. The library also includes material from people who influenced RAW.
• BlackCrayon.com: People: Robert Anton Wilson (http://www.BlackCrayon.com/people/RAW/)
• Smoley, Richard and Jay Kinney, "Doubt!: The Gnosis Interview with Robert Anton Wilson", Gnosis No. 50 (Winter 1999).
• Krassner, Paul, A Paul Krassner Interview With R. A. W (http://www.newfalcon.com/author_articles/wilson_interview_pk_a.htm) - High Times, 2003.
• Wilson, Robert Anton booklist from New Falcon Publications (http://www.newfalcon.com/alpha_by_author.htm#Wilson)
• Robert Anton Wilson Multimedia, Video & Audio (http://www.rinf.com/articles/robert-anton-wilson.html) Hundreds of media files including interviews and links.de:Robert Anton Wilson

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