OVO

I mean by ‘historicism’ an approach to the social sciences which assumes that historical prediction is their aim, and which assumes that this aim is attainable by discovering the ‘rhythms’ or the ‘patterns,’ the ‘laws or the ‘trends’ that underlie the evolution of history.

I propose to give here, in a few words, an outline refutation of historicism. The argument may be summed up in five statements, as follows.

1. The course of human history is strongly influenced by the growth of human knowledge. The truth of this premise must be admitted even by those who see in our ideas, including scientific ideas, merely the by-products of material developments of some kind or another.
2. We cannot predict, by rational or scientific methods, the future growth of our knowledge.
3. We cannot, therefore, predict the future course of human history.
4. This means that we must reject the possibility of a theoretical history; that is to say, of a historical social science that would correspond to theoretical physics. There can be no scientific theory of historical development serving as a basis for historical prediction.
5. The fundamental aim of historicist methods is therefore misconceived; and historicism collapses.

The decisive step in this argument is 2.  I think that it is convincing in itself: if there is such a thing as growing human knowledge, then we cannot anticipate today what we shall know only tomorrow.

From The Poverty of Historicism. Routledge 2002.

How Fatima Started Islam: Mohammad’s Daughter Tells All by Noor Barack
2009 Camel Flea Press
ISBN 978-0-578-03290-0
[Amazon]

No matter what his followers might be up to these days, Mohammad was a fight-starting, raisin-thieving, child-raping, lie-telling, Jew-killing, Christian-hating, nonsense-spouting sort of a One True Prophet of Allah.  Allah being an invisible monster that lives in the sky, the theocracy of Islam is a sacred fantasy.  And what better to deflate a sacred fantasy than a profane fantasy?

How Fatima Started Islam: Mohammad’s Daughter Tells All by Noor Barack  is a revisionist fiction on the origins of Islam, told from the perspective of one of Mohammad’s daughters.    Mr. Barack demonstrates a knowledge of Islam’s history in what he chooses to mock and re-interpret.  He also freely invents scandal upon scandal, heresy upon heresy, if it moves the story forward or evokes a shriek from the faithful.    Readers will laugh as blasphemy and narrative collide.  How Fatima Started Islam purposefully insults Islam and Muslims.  It’s personal.  And yet as rough and base as the book may be, it is still better than how things are done by the target of Mr. Barack’s scorn.  It’s how things are done in the West.  Don’t like something?  Write a book about it, perhaps even a mean-spirited and funny book.  How things are done in the Muslim world is quite different.  Don’t like something?  Then you go killing, killing, killing, killing, killing, killing, killing, until your enemies are either dead or cowed.  Faced with this distinction, I prefer my fantasies profane.

Poking fun at a bully won’t always make them stop, and it doesn’t lead to knowing what you and the bully should do once the bullying has ended.  But words will never hurt you.  The worst outcome this book could ever possibly generate is that after reading it a person might feel insulted, or bored.  That’s the very worst thing that could happen when you read a book.  Not so bad, is it?  And that’s part of the point of winding up bullies – it’s an opportunity for them to join the laughter, if they will only take it.  When it comes time for the fingers to be pointed at me I do my best to muddle through and move on.  Taking satire and inquiry “too far” is how the darkness is dispelled, even if not everyone cares to venture to the edge.  Heresy and not orthodoxy is the guardian of truth, for only heresy can reveal errors in thought and action.  One of the heresies of How Fatima Started Islam is found on the back cover, a photograph of Mohammad.  It seems like a nontroversy to me, but people are being threatened with death all over the world for publishing images said to be Mohammad.  Let me join the fun: the image above is the back cover of How Fatima Started Islam.

From a letter accompanying my (signed!) copy of How Fatima Started Islam:

As all warriors against the Islamification of the West have observed, the Imans, Mullahs, and Terrorists want it both ways. The West must kowtow to them while they can trash any other religion or culture with impunity. They hate ridicule and my little effort is what they hate, to be laughed at and denigrated.

From the introduction:

I have broadly tried to humorously poke fun at some people who are not known for being fun loving, and to make less serious the tenets of a belief.  I believe we have to fearlessly show that all faiths, people, cultures, religions and ideas are on an equal footing in the market place of human endeavor, and that no one person or group is above anyone else.  [...] In an odd way, things like this little book will eventually help achieve mutual understanding and respect when people can look at themselves and others on an equal footing.

From Chapter Three

The first pillar of Islam, in a sense the key to the very beginning of the religion, is the camel. It was actually one specific camel named Old Mama, but she was a representation of all the camels needed for the rapid, bloody spread of Islam.

For those fortunate enough to have no personal knowledge of the beasts let me give some brief background. Camels are large, ugly animals who were genetically engineered for deserts. They have a tough skin that smells really bad, an evil, foul breath that can kill small animals and children, a stubborn nature that a mule could envy, and all this is coupled with a colossal stupidity. In short, the camel is a metaphor for the land of Arabia. Among the locals there is a constant argument on whether the camel was made for Arabia or Arabia made for the camel.

But many of our men, and even some women, seem to love these flatulent stinkpots. When the wind is right a caravan, and even sometimes a single camel, can be smelled before it can be seen. Needless to say, those associated with the animals retain an unfortunate aura of camelness about their person. Add this to the general lack of rain and water of the region and you have many persons seriously questioning why people were born with noses. The vast majority of the population never gets totally used to it: and pity the few who do, and become walking plagues of stink. My father Mohammad seemed to relish in camel-stink. It added one more assault upon me on my night that I was raped into womanhood.

Now like many camelmen, the old sot had a favorite camel, which was his bimmy. A bimmy was a pet camel that shared a special relationship with her master. Old Mama was Mohammad’s bimmy for many years and he seemed to love this obstinate, moody, and gaggingly foul smelling animal. The main reason for the affection was that Old Mama when commanded would lower and angle herself whenever Mohammad wanted to fuck her. As he got older his sexual liaisons with the beast lessened and she did die before he did. But he was famous for getting blind drunk and humping Old Mama in every public place in Mecca. The citizens of Mecca do not have high standards for anything, but even among that crowd his drunken behavior with Old Mama was considered bush league and a cause of public derision as well as constant off color jokes.

The way Islam was actually started was like this. One night as I was approaching thirteen, and in total unhappiness with my horrible life, my father was out and about and got into his usual state of stupor. For whatever reason he decided to come home and sleep it off at the complex. He managed to get on Old Mama with no problem and she put it into automatic and headed toward home as she had done a thousand times before. When the pathway diverged into a fork with one branch going left and other right, Old Mama headed right the way to our quarters. Dear old dad in his fog was confused and sure that the way to go was left. He steers Old Mama to the left but she still wanted to go right. He got pissed, both literaraly and figuratively, and started kicking and hitting her with a stick. Old Mama angrily stopped and purposely bucked with Mohammad being thrown off. This had all happened before and was no big deal, but this time he landed head first on a rock. He lay there for about fifteen minutes before he was discovered and carried back to the complex unconscious.

He lay like that until the middle of the second day when he awoke, his body had detoxed all the booze, he ate some food, talked normally and went immediately back into a state of unconsciousness for another 24 hours. Mohammad again awoke, ate heartily and communicated quite normally. About five hours later he went into a trancelike state and began to talk in total gibberish. This was absolutely unlike his drunken slurred and nearly impossible to comprehend ramblings, which we were all used to, but a sober sounding, even authoritative clear speech of absolute nonsense.

He went in and out of this trancelike state. Of course, when he was appearing normal, he was asked about the odd behavior and speech. He stated that he had no idea he was doing anything and no memory of acting at all unusually. He was a little scared and he kept to himself more and drank less. The alcohol did not seem to affect the weird gibberish states one way or the other. So, after another few days, things were pretty normal as I am still keeping the cash accounts and screwing every horny moron who could beg, borrow, or steal two shekels. I had briefly talked to my father about raising the rates in the brothel because I was very sure that we would make more money, also at the same time we would have slightly less volume with me off my back a little more. I figured that if we raised the rates 50% we would only lose about 10% of the tricks for an increased profit of 35%. Naturally he dismissed the idea off hand.

After the evening meal break, when only the slave whores were available, I decided that the time was approaching. Mohammad was slurping over a roasted camel neck when he went into the trance and started babbling incomprehensible foolishness in a deliberative way. It was as if he were expounding on an important point in an intelligent way if you did not know him and know that the syllables coming out were pure nonsense. It was the third time that day that he had began to speak gibberish so the awe and wonder had faded a little bit.

I rose and went right next to him. Everyone was looking at me and all was quiet as I waited a few seconds and then announced, “I can understand what he is saying.”

See also: Mashed in Plastic.

Three Catholic women’s communities in Washington state are being investigated by the Vatican. They were chosen for review as part of an extensive investigation into American nuns. The Vatican says it’s following up on complaints of feminism and activism. The Archdiocese of Seattle says the Adrian Dominicans in Woodway, the Renton Sisters of Providence and the Tacoma Dominicans are on the list. Sister Joyce Cox is the Archbishop’s Delegate for Religious. She says it’s not clear what this latest development — or the entire investigation — means.  Cox: “Ordinarily visitations are made because there is something of great concern, or some place of scandal or not having integrity to the origins of our life.”  But Cox says none of that applies.  Cox: “Not one of our religious communities in our leadership whom we’ve elected has stood out to speak against the Church. The leadership has never spoken out in negative ways.” [...]

It’s not clear why the local orders are being singled out. The Renton Sisters of Providence run a women’s transition house. The Tacoma Dominicans call themselves risk takers. They work to end human trafficking. The Vatican questionnaire also asks about the age of current members and the state of their housing. The Adrian Dominicans in Woodway are down to about 30 elderly members. Church investigators say they’ll report to Rome next year.

Article continues.  Thank heaven that the Vatican is starting to get serious about the scandals surrounding the Roman Catholic Church.  What better way to route out the sheltering of child rapists on orders of the Pope than by sending surveys to obedient nuns in Washington State?  The Pope has a history of getting his priorities straight and acting accordingly.  Franciscan monk Leonardo Boff authored a book in which he said “A cardinal like J. Ratzinger, who publishes an official paper stating that the only true Church is the Catholic Church, and the others aren’t even churches, that the only legitimate religion is Catholicism and the others don’t even possess a faith, being just beliefs, perpetrates religious terrorism, besides being a grave theological error.” For this and his human rights activism, Cardinal Ratzinger – now Pope Benedict – silenced Brother Boff for a year.  According to Wikipedia, theological formation schools were forbidden from using the Catholic Church’s organization and grounds to teach Liberation Theology under Cardinal Ratzinger’s influence.  I’m no fan of Marx or Jesus, but the good works of religious secularists remain good works.  Feed the hungry and visit those in prison for the worship of the Lord or for the furtherance of historical materialism, or maybe because it’s a decent thing to do, just make sure you lighten the load of others when you can.

Although Pope Benedict only confirmed then inherited the problem of sheltering of child rapists on orders of the Pope, rather than inventing it, he is in a unique position to do something about it.  He could simply renounce the Crimine Solicitaciones. His Holiness recently said sheltering of child rapists on orders of the Pope “is born from the sins within the church,” which comes pretty close to admitting error. Unfortunately for his job security, it also comes close to admitting Papal error. Remember, this is sheltering of child rapists on orders of the Pope – an infallible pope. Here’s what Vatican II had to say about the Pope making mistakes: “[The Pope] enjoys in virtue of his office, when, as the supreme shepherd and teacher of all the faithful, who confirms his brethren in their faith (Luke 22:32), he proclaims by a definitive act some doctrine of faith or morals. Therefore his definitions, of themselves, and not from the consent of the Church, are justly held irreformable, for they are pronounced with the assistance of the Holy Spirit, an assistance promised to him in blessed Peter.”  Never you mind that they’ve changed the rules one or two or three or more times in the past.  The Pope’s definitions of faith or morals are irreformable.  Until they reformable.  Then – it’s a miracle!  A new revelation!  Thank you Jesus!

Whatever it takes to stop sheltering child rapists on orders of the Pope is okay by me.  I use reason and scorn of the Roman Catholic Church.  What do you use?

I suggest that we need a new professional ethics, mainly, but not exclusively, for scientists. I suggest that it be based upon the following twelve principles:

1. Our objective conjectural knowledge goes further and further beyond what any one person can master. So there simply cannot be any ‘authorities’. This holds true also within specialized subjects.
2. It is impossible to avoid all mistakes, or even all those mistakes that are, in themselves, avoidable. All scientists are continually making mistakes. The old idea that one can avoid mistakes and is therefore duty bound to avoid them, must be revised: it is itself mistaken.
3. Of course it remains our duty to avoid mistakes when ever possible. But it is precisely so that we can avoid them, that we must be aware, above all, of how difficult it is to avoid them and that nobody succeeds completely. Not even the most creative scientists who are guided by intuition succeed: intuition may mislead us.
4. Mistakes may be hidden even in those theories which are very well corroborated; and it is the specific task of the scientist to search for such mistakes. The observation that a well-corroborated theory or a technique that has been used successfully is mistaken may be an important discovery.
5. We must therefore revise our attitude to mistakes. It is here that our practical ethical reform must begin. For the attitude of the old professional ethics leads us to cover up our mistakes, to keep them secret and to forget them as soon as possible.
6. The new basic principle is that in order to learn to avoid making mistakes we must learn from our mistakes. To cover up mistakes is, therefore, the greatest intellectual sin.
7. We must be constantly on the look-out for mistakes. When we find them we must be sure to remember them; we must analyse them thoroughly to get to the bottom of things.
8. The maintenance of a self-critical attitude and of personal integrity thus becomes a matter of duty.
9. Since We must learn from our mistakes, we must also learn to accept, indeed accept gratefully, when others draw our attention to our mistakes. When in turn we draw other people’s attention to their mistakes, we should always remember that we have made similar mistakes ourselves. And we should remember that the greatest scientists have made mistakes. I certainly do not want to say that our mistakes are, usually, forgivable: We must never let our attention slacken. But it is humanly impossible to avoid making mistakes time and again.
10. We must be clear in our own minds that we need other people to discover and correct our mistakes (as they need us); especially those people who have grown up with different ideas in a different environment. This too leads to toleration.
11. We must learn that self-criticism is the best criticism; but that criticism by others is a necessity. It is nearly as good as self-criticism.
12. Rational criticism must always be specific: it must give specific reasons why specific statements, specific hypotheses, appear to be false, or specific arguments invalid. It must be guided by the idea of getting nearer to objective truth. In this sense it must be impersonal.

I ask you to regard these points as suggestions. They are meant to demonstrate that, in the field of ethics, too, one can put forward suggestions which are open to discussion and improvement.

Lecture delivered to the University of Tubingen on 26 May 1981.  From In Search of a Better World, Routledge 1984.

Trevor Blake: David. From photograph. Pen. May 2010.

From the 1906 book The Outbursts of Everett True by A. D. Condo and J. W. Raper. With thanks to Barnacle Press.

Art:
Jack Bender: The Hatch Painting.
John Cabrera: Lost on the Subway.

Criticism:
Klint Finley: Hatch 23.
Jorje Garcia: Dispatches from the Island.
Jason Hunter: A Theory on Time Travel.
Various: Lostpedia.
Various: Lost Media.
Various: Lost Theories.

Video:
BBC Lost Experience.
John Lock and Dr. Pierre Chang Meet for the First Time.
LOST Opening Theme with Original Lyrics.
LOST Friends.
The Final Episode.

From the 1906 book The Outbursts of Everett True by A. D. Condo and J. W. Raper. With thanks to Barnacle Press.

Trevor Blake: Moham(m)ed.  20 May 2010.  Portland Oregon.  Ink.  For “Everybody Draw Mohammed Day.”

The three Muslims charged with attacking gay men in San Francisco by shooting them in the face with a BB gun during a violence spree back in February will be getting off with an apologetic tap on the wrist. A deal put together by the District Attorney’s office has been offered to these Muslim martyrs and will supposedly allow these thugs to walk away free and clear. Despite shooting a dozen gay men in the face and video-taping the attacks, despite deliberately traveling to San Francisco for the expressed purpose of committing a ‘hate’ crime against what used to be San Francisco’s super sacrosanct victim group, these Islamic hooligans will be allowed to perform community service in lieu of jail time.

The judge in the case, Bruce Chan, ordered a delay for the defendants in entering their plea to ‘see if a resolution that would meet all the interests of the communities and the parties involved’ could be reached. So now these Muslim mobsters are just one of the ‘parties’ involved whose ‘interests’ need resolving? Just when did the judicial system declare that defendants who are accused of violent acts are simply parties to unfortunate incidents that need resolution? [...]

Can anyone imagine community service offered to non-Muslim white guys for attacking gay men? Can anyone imagine the media keeping mum if white guys had committed such crimes? We all know the Left-wing media would be crawling all over this story, looking for any connection to a Tea Party group, the Republican Party, Christianity, or any other of their proscribed affiliations.

And don’t expect to find this news story on any of the so-called gay news sites. The Advocate is too busy headlining the anti-gay graffiti found at Oregon University and the next marriage of Liz Taylor to be bothered about a little Muslim mayhem. What the heck, if some of us must be sacrificed for the greater glory of the overarching Left-wing agenda, so what?! If a few gay guys have to take it in the face for us to show our solidarity with the new victors of the victim-hood sweepstakes then, as the song goes: hit me with your best shot!

Article continues.

I got to know the poet Allen Ginsberg towards the end of his life. Not very well, just a nodding acquaintance, but after he died I attended a memorial in his honor at the City University Graduate School. At that service, his personal assistant related a story about Ginsberg’s reaction to the death sentence pronounced on the novelist Salman Rushdie by Ayatollah Khomeini in 1989. Rushdie’s “crime,” you’ll recall, was writing a provocative, perhaps even blasphemous novel inspired by the life of Muhammad called The Satanic Verses.

Though I might be screwing up a few details, the gist of the story was as follows: Soon after news of the fatwa broke, Ginsberg and his assistant climbed into the back seat of a taxi in Manhattan. After a glance at the cab driver’s name, Ginsberg politely inquired if he was a Muslim. When the cabbie replied that he was, Ginsberg asked him what he thought about the death sentence on Rushdie. The cabbie answered that he thought that Rushdie’s book was disrespectful of Islam, and that the Ayatollah had every right to do what he had done. At this point, according to his assistant, Ginsberg, one of the gentlest men ever to walk the planet, flew into a rage, screaming at the cabbie as he continued to drive, “Then I shit on your religion! Do you hear me? I shit on Islam! I shit on Muhammad! Do you hear? I shit on Muhammad!” Ginsberg demanded that the cabbie pull over. The cabbie complied, and, without paying the fare, Ginsberg and his assistant climbed out. He was still screaming at the cabbie as the car drove off.

I’ve had a couple of weeks now to think about Ginsberg cursing out that cabbie, and cursing out Islam and Muhammad. You see, I live in Manhattan, three blocks from Times Square. As near as I can determine, I was walking with a friend about thirty feet from the car bomb on May 1st right around the time it was supposed to detonate. Except for the technical incompetence of a Muslim dirtbag named Faisal Shahzad, I and my friend would likely be dead now. Note the phrase: “Muslim dirtbag.” Neither term by itself accounts for the terrorist act he attempted to perpetrate; both terms, however, are equally complicit in it. It might have been a crapshoot of nature and nurture that wrought a specimen like Shahzad, but it was Islam that inspired him, that gave his fecal stain of a life its depth and its justification. Why is that so difficult to admit?

Article continues.

From the 1906 book The Outbursts of Everett True by A. D. Condo and J. W. Raper. With thanks to Barnacle Press.

Jed worked at Landis Music back in the early 80s. He sold pianos, and increasingly synthesisers. Jed was the man who found me a whole KORG MS modular system for $250. That immediately places him in Master of the Universe status.

Up on the wall was a picture of Jed in white tuxedo with a white bow tie, sitting at a piano. I seem to remember there were balloons in the background but that might be confabulation from the grog. The photo was from when he played the piano on cruise ships. I like to think that many pretty ladies swooned to hear him play and would drift to his cabin after all night tinkling. But then I know a guy that DJ’ed on a cruise ship years later and he said that most of the ladies tended to be rolled up and down the decks in wheelbarrows by their husbands.

I would buy just about anything Jed pointed at. I bought a whole host of Electroharmonix drum pads – Crash Pads, Syndrums and a thing called a Clockworks which was the ‘brain’ of the pads, if by brain you mean something that could count to 12. I still have that. The rest of it I hit too hard and broke. Jed said it was as if somebody had dropped bricks on them.

I was looking at synthesisers one time and it was a big decision between this and that – back then you’d get a new synthesiser maybe once a year, not like virtual instruments. I asked Jed about it and he said – people spend their life learning how to play the piano.

Article continues.

“I think that what is common to art, myth, science and even pseudo-science is that they all belong to something like a creative phase which allows us to see things in a new light, and seeks to explain the everyday world by reference to hidden worlds [...] These hypothetical worlds are, as in art, products of our imagination, our intuition. But in science they are controlled by criticism; scientific criticism, rational criticism, is guided by the regulative idea of truth. We can never justify our scientific theories, for we can never know whether they will not turn out to be false. But we can subject them to critical examination: rational criticism replaces justification. Criticism curbs the imagination, but does not put it in chains.” – Sir Karl Popper, In Search of a Better World

UniSci: Bacterium Can Alter Evolution Of Another Species

Scientists have found the most convincing evidence yet that a parasite can contribute to splitting a species in two, thanks to a phenomenon in which a wasp’s damaged sperm can be “rescued” or fixed only by mating with particular females.

Chemical & Engineering News: Chemotaxis

The droplet, composed of 2-hexyldecanoic acid in either dichloromethane or mineral oil, travels several centimeters through a maze with a pH gradient. The pH is high at the maze entrance and low at its exit. Once in the maze, the droplet travels toward the lower pH, and in doing so, Grzybowski notes, it always finds the shortest path through the maze.

BBC News: Sushi May ‘Transfer Genes’ to Gut

By eating sushi wrapped in the seaweed, people probably ingested these bacteria along with the genes coding for that digestive enzyme.

BBC News: Neanderthal Genes ‘Survive in Us’

The genomes of 1% to 4% of people in Eurasia come from Neanderthals.

The Guardian: Gene-Swap Plan to Thwart Diseases

Researchers from Newcastle University say their breakthrough will help women whose children are at risk of a range of mitochondrial diseases. These disorders can be mild or very severe, and can cause muscle weakness, blindness, heart and liver failure, diabetes and learning disabilities. They affect one child in every 6,500.

Mark Changizi: Turning Vision Into A Programmable Computer

Might it be possible to harness our visual computational powers for other tasks, perhaps for tasks cognition finds difficult?

BBC News: Singing ‘Rewires’ Damaged Brain

By singing, patients use a different area of the brain from the area involved in speech. If a person’s “speech centre” is damaged by a stroke, they can learn to use their “singing centre” instead.

Science Daily: Hand Gestures Linked To Better Speaking

New research at the University of Alberta suggests that gesturing while you talk may improve your access to language.

Maths.org: Maths and Hallucinations

So common are geometric hallucinations, that in the last century scientists began asking themselves if they couldn’t tell us something fundamental about how our brains are wired up. And it seems that they can.

Science Now: Researchers Turn Mosquitoes Into Flying Vaccinators

A group of Japanese researchers has developed a mosquito that spreads vaccine instead of disease. Even the researchers admit, however, that regulatory and ethical problems will prevent the critters from ever taking wing—at least for the delivery of human vaccines.

Washington Post: Somali Islamist Rebels Ban English, Science Lessons

Somalia’s hardline Islamists have banned English and science studies in schools in the southern Afmadow town after the education centers there ignored the rebels’ call for fighters, residents and teachers say.

First of a series that could end at any moment.

From the 1906 book The Outbursts of Everett True by A. D. Condo and J. W. Raper. With thanks to Barnacle Press.

The Dharma Initiative. Red herring or consequential? Once one of the biggest mysteries of “Lost,” much of what it was about was revealed in season five. A short refresher course: Dharma (Department of Heuristics And Research on Material Applications) was founded in the 1970s by a couple of scientists named the DeGroots, who were greatly influenced by the work of psychologist and inventor B.F. Skinner. They were given funding by one Alvar Hanso, which allowed them to send a large team to the island to conduct research in meteorology, psychology, parapsychology, zoology, electromagnetism and Utopian social engineering. [...]

One person who has thought about this quite a bit is blogger Klint “Klintron” Finley, who has written about the concept of “real-life Dharma initiatives” extensively at Hatch23.com. “I think it stems from various trends and movements from the ’60s and ’70s,” he said. “More specifically, anywhere that two or more of the following intersected: Eastern spirituality, fringe science, defense spending, disturbing psychological research, experiments in utopian/communal living and experiments social control.” He points to many possible influences for the Dharma concept but thinks there is one in particular that shares a lot with Dharma: the Esalen Institute. Made famous in a 1967 New York Times article, the institute began as a place where one could, as its website says, have “the intellectual freedom to consider systems of thought and feeling that lie beyond the current constraints of mainstream academia.” It still serves as a retreat center at the beautiful Big Sur mountains to this day and, according to the website, has been devoted to the exploration of human potential since the 1960s. It’s here that the “Physics Consciousness Research Group” was allegedly co-founded in 1975 by theoretical physicist Jack Sarfatti. Sarfatti is the author of such works as “Progress in Post-Quantum Physics and Unified Field Theory” and “Super Cosmos: Through Studies Through the Stars.”

And what about Dharma’s benefactor, Hanso? Aside from maybe Richard Alpert and Charles Widmore, no one character has fascinated and mystified fans more. … In fact, much of the online “Lost Experience” a few years ago revolved around him. (According to Finley, Hanso may have been modeled after people like inventor Charles F. Kettering, who died in 1958.) In ABC’s game “The Lost Experience,” players found out that a main reason for his interest in the Dharma Initiative was the “Valenzetti Equation.” In “Lost” lore, this is a calculation of the exact date on which humankind would wipe itself out, consisting of the familiar “numbers” from the hatch, Hurley’s lottery ticket and, we now know, Jacob’s candidates. Dharma was trying to change these numbers in order to save the world.

Article continues. Congratulations to Klint Finley for this interview at CNN. Disclosure: I am an ‘advising scholar’ for Hatch 23.