TIMOTHY LEARY

ganize in old-tirne political graups or get involvrd in
camp~gns for political office You don't get involved in
ehe old seruggle for or against Big Brorher. You pilot
Out to the fronrier and navigate a new life. Cy~er comes
from ehe Greek word for "pilor" Once you declare
your independence in your rnind, you're home free.

	As more and more people become free agents, or
~ber pilots, it's gonna m~ke an enorrnour, d~Cerence.
When we get just ren percent of rhe people operating
this way, it will change the system, berause they are the
smartest ten percent Star Wars, for example, carmot
operate if ten percent of ehe computer eechies think for
ehemselves To run a modern sonety you depend u?on
sLilled"nnovative quantum intelligence. These are ex-
actly the p~ople who are not go-
ing tO become vassals eo an eco-
nomic or polincal organ~rion.

	In his book Nn~crrr4=cer' Gib
Son spells out a sociology for ehe
rwenty-first century ehat rnakes a
lor of sense. The world is con-
trolled by international global
combtnes based in Japan' Ger-
many, Switzerland Nationalism
is down. The multinationals
won't allow war to break out;
~ey can'r let the Russians bornb
Arnerica, because they ow~n most
of Amenc~ And ie's an amanng-
ly free world. The internation~
combines don't care about your
lifestyle They jost want us all
to be consumers wieh individual
option~ They're nor like the Is-
iamic fundamentalists or the
Reagan rlght-wingers or the
communist moralists. They
don'r care whar vour sex life is.
They don'r care what drugs you
take, as long as you consume.
So there are geing to be enor-
mous free markers operating
according to the laws of supply
and demand - the basic form of democracy.

Who is .,nost ffrre~d 6'r ~s idea?

	The nationalists and the religious poople. Their
power will be grearly dLminished~ ~

Ar~l wAat wi~l h~ppe71 in ~e poli~cal arerm?

	Politics are goirtg co change in the nexr two to six
years, when rhe baby-boom generation comes of ag~
The baby boomers, bom 15~46 eo 1964, are now be-
rween the ages of forty-one and twenty-three. The
19~ eleccion is che firsc in which every baby boomer
will be ouer twenty-one. The older ones are going to be
ruuning for o]5ic& That means in 19~, and certair~y
in 1992, rhe baby boomers, the Surnmer of L~ve kids,
wil1 take over. This generanon is 76 million strong.
They'll be tn the position of the shark in the swirrIrni~
pool, the polar bear in the small igbo~ They can do
whatever they filScin' want.

Yet y~ng people tc~y se~rn mo?e conserva~r~e ~an mer.

	I don't thinlc rhe old terrns like /iberal or comer~
rnake much sens& l~y are individualists - skeptical,
even cynicaL abour parosan politiCs. They've seen their
ideals dashed with Viernam, Watergate, Iranscam.
These vererans of the S~xoes are taugh coohes.

	But fx~ fong w~l] i~ ~alre to get 47u ~cl7no~ mto 5k
fx2n~ pf mo7e peopfe?

Good paint. I con on~y repeat that the personaliza-

tion and populareation of high technology is the key.
Populartzation means cybeenetic appliances in che
hands of the people. It is not just the personal com-
puter. It's any electronic technology tbat allows you
to change your sereen. With che new tape-editing
appliances, you can become the director and produc-
er of what you and your family see. You can com-
bine educational programs with entertainrnent, cre-
ate collages with your own X-rated home movies and
bits you taped off CNN news.

	So we wan't be detenler~ on outrsde progran~r~s for ad
our o~t ~znd rg~onna~rL

	Exactly. Don't forget these media programmers
want absolute control over our minds. When it's on my
screen, I'll decide how it plays.
The first cime I goc tumed on tO
the new cyber-pilor idea was in a
video areade. I watched my
grandchildren moving rockets
around on rhe screens. Well, if
you can do that wirh blips, you
can do it with ideas.

	Peeple lik Jerr~r Fa~ell and Ed
Meese pro~ty ~ou~'t k too ~
py 7~ your cyber-pilol c~ - Are
you concerned about t~e regreSsl'
tr~ls represen~d by Fa~eif and ~e
Meese conur~us~on?

	They must be scorned and
ridiculed. Still, wLen you think
about it, the Meese commission
doesn't really hurt self-directed
Americans very much Ir stirs up
a lot of excitement. If 7-Eleven
won'c seL me PL~y, F11 just go
to another store down the bloc~
The poverty thing is what hurts:
people in che underclass deprrved
of inforrnation, tlscouraged from
karTiing cybemetic skil~

	Ho~v do you propose ~ corr~t
tbat?

	My company, Futique - that's
the opposite of ~ue - has joined up with Activision
to prodace sof~vare programs that are so inexpensive
and attracuve tkat ghetto kids can quick~y pick up the
new language of screens and icons. More and more of
the cybemetic equipment will become available. It will
filter into all hames evenmally, jusr like the television.

	You sprak to ~r~ college ~nces. Wh~t rlo ~u find
o~ there?

	We are dealing with the best-edurated generation ir.
history. They are a hundred rirnes better educated tllan
their granparents, and ten times tuore sophisticated.
There has never been such an open-rtunded group.
The problern is ~at no one is givulg than an~ fresh
~eytu' gat a brain dr~d up with nowLere tl} goL

What do ~ expec~ *hen t~ carr~ to see Tim Leary?

	The average college student doesn't know who 1
an~ They weren't even born in !n~ arar~ . But wort
gets around The rumor is that Em someone vaguely
counterculasre and hy~ly controversiaL

Wh~ ~e yvu ~ng to corn~cate ro ~m?

	Th~s is the golden age of in:elligence. Instead of
E = mc2, ir's I = mc', where I is information. Accord-

zzre

dea~'g w~ fhe 6e~-

e3~generation

~ h~tory. B~

t~rnego~c~ 6rafr~

3~ wi~ -'

nowLere ta po.

ung to rtus tormu4 rhe a~m IS ro actlvate your mmd,
awaken new idras, improve your corruTlunicarion
skills. Pilor your life. Srnarten up.

And are 47e college kid~ msp~ g?

	I sense tRat a lor of college kids envy the Sixcies.
They feel they have rnissed someth~ ToHay there's
not rhe excitemene and the feeling of changc, the ftel-
ing of engagement, that exist~ed then. So they rend to
respond with enthusiasm to cornrnon-sense proposals
for personal change.

	It~s ir~ d~ t/' Six~es are newed so fan`~) 7~n 17 - r
ern~gedfrom ~pe~t corrtp~$ ~

	It depends on your viewpoint. The so called Sixries
acnJally star~d in 1967, when the oldest baby boomer
becarne twenty-one. The Sunu;~er of L~e was a com-
ing-of-age party. It was triggered syrnbolica31y eJy the
13eades' Sgt P~per alLum, which changed rock & roll
into a new and powerful C~tu~ form. There ~ been
preparations for it in jaz, in the beatn~ks, in Elvis Pres-
ley, in rhe rhythm 8c blues stuff, people like Ray
Charles. And the early elitist drug stuff, Ken Kesey
and our group at Harvard But the signa3 went glob-
al with Sgt. Pe~r. Every year after 1967 produced
another public erupTion: the 1968 Chicago riots;
WooUstock in 1969; Kent State in 15?70. I think the
Sixties peaked in I'ų76 when we elected a hippie-
dippy, [iEowdy DoocEy guy nameJ Jimmy Grter as
president. Grter was quotung Bob ~ylan and ~hng
about peace and love and civil rights and human
rights. How strange thae seems toHayl

	The spirit of the Summer of Love in America
ended with a thud in 1980 wLen we elecred Nancy
Reagan as commander in chief But it rippled out
globally It surfaces whenever young people get r~d
of the oEd World War II generals. Spain after Fran-
co started its summer of freedom. Portugal. Brazil
when the colonels gOT the boor. ArgenTina. Thc
Philippines. Wllat's happen~ng in Sourh Korea right
now looks farolliar, doesn't it? College kids and civil-
ians in shirt siceves standing up to the heltneted na-
nona] guard? Shades of Kent State. And now, ezact-
ly rwenty years later, the Sumsner of Love is himng
Kussia. Gl~mostl Openness! Punk-rock clubs in
Moscow' Gorby singing "Give Pcare a Chance"'
Mrs. Gorby quoring Lennan - John, nor Vladimir
Ilyich - ro Yoko Ono!

Im't ff)e Reagan adrr~str~bon out ~?fs~p ~7 all ~ns?

	It docsn't rrme~r. Ie cann~x stop tk eu~tianary wam
When it is time for ~c h~nan spe~es to arovatc d~eir
new bram armies, it's gcnna happerL Nc~ng is gomg eo
stop ir! Ihere is no way ~u can p~s5 lsws against the re-
lentless increase in lu~nan mtelEgencc Tk emlution of
precise teHmology is so seducu~ There's no way 5~U
can stop in~ fiorn e~orirlg their bra;ins and usng
the ~w C!j~-kDU~ aF~i~s

In ~ men7lhme?

	The old garnc goes orL It is the genetic doty of the
power holders to in evesy way discourage change in the
gene pooL This mtans thar those of us who are wued
to change have to k really smart and reaUy taugtL If
we can't prevail over rurkeys like Meese and Falwell,
then fuck it, we don't deserve to get tnto the future.
If we can't outrnaneuver vacuous four-letter roLots
like Bush and Bork and Kemp and Dole, then we
better go back ro school ro smarren up. We are
dealing with moral-mental pygmies here. We can
navigare araund Ollie Nord~'s 600-ship navy [smiles
b70ad~. They don't have a chance.

I N T E R V I E ~ 8 Y

DA VID SHEFF

aus dem "Rolling Stone',

