Timothy Leary's |
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![]() I love topics the Establishment says are taboo. When I found out I was terminally ill I was thrilled. You've got to approach your dying the way you live your life - with curiosity, with hope, with fascination, with courage and with the help of your friends....Death is life's greatest event. |
"For millenia the fear of
death has depreciated individual confidence and increased dependence on
authority."
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DESIGNER DYING
Dr. Leary originally planned to "choose the moment of his death" and post it as a LIVE broadcast on the internet. But his intended CYBERCIDE never came to fruition, and instead he died in his sleep and in the company of friends at his Beverly Hills home. ![]() When we told him two days ago that we could do this, he was literally jumping up and down in his wheelchair...said longtime friend Carol Rosin. Also in Leary's original plans were intentions to have his head frozen upon his death. Soon before his death, Leary decided against having his head frozen, saying that the cryonics experts had no sense of humor. I was worried I would wake up in 50 years surrounded by people with clipboards. |
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CYBERCULTURE
In the last 10 years of his life adventure, Leary was an outspoken advocate of using technology and the global information highway as a means of mind-expansion. Just as Leary saw LSD as a personal, spiritual and inter-personal journey, he also saw the internet as a vast web, globally connecting people, each on personal journeys into their computers. ![]() The history of human evolution is the record of technological innovation...and the personal electronic-knowledge processor equips the individual to survive and evolve in the age of information. This is the liberating hands on concept. Power to the people means personal technology available to the individual. |
"The time has come to talk cheerfully and joke sassily
about personal responsibility for managing the dying process. For
starters, let's demystify dying and develop alternative metaphors for
consciousness leaving the body.... Let us explore the option of
re-creational dying."
![]() Andy Frith |
METAMORPHOSIS
Leary's transformation into cyber-philosopher launched him into the world of a new generation: the WEBSTOCK generation of twentysomethings who related to Leary's new "trip." Paul Krassner commented when Leary died, He was always described as a drug guru. There was so much more. He's part of a long tradition of philosophers-a cultural philosopher, a spiritual seeker. One of the underplayed notions of psychedelics was that they provided a vehicle for a spiritual revolution. He always made that connection. ![]() was the first time that I have lost someone dear to me when I feel I don't have to mourn...because Timothy believed it was something o.k. to celebrate. ![]()
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MEDIA FRENZY
Leary's death captured the eyes of the international media. Extensive pieces appeared in the New York Times, L A Times, The Washington Post, Time, Newsweek, the San Francisco Chronicle, People, and Boston Magazine. News programs such as the NBC Today Show, 48 Hours and CNN, aired live or taped interviews with Dr. Leary in the months before his death. On the day Leary died, the World Wide Web was flooded with discussions of Leary, and most major news sites posted articles announcing his death. ![]() ![]() ![]() |
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Tim's home in cyberspace |
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