Terence McKenna on "the free individual."

Among other things, as many of you know, Terence McKenna is famed for his work in "Novelty theory." As long ago as the 1970s, his Timewave Zero software algorithm predected a kind of "peak novelty" in the year 2012.

McKenna delt with plenty of other subjects as well. The following is a rough transcript from portion of a lecture that deals with the topic of individialism. He speculates on and questions how individualism will ultimately respond to the rapid emergence of the Internet and other forms of new networks.

McKenna spoke the following words in 1998 in a lecture series called "In the Valley of Novelty." Twelve years later, how important or valid do you find this perspective?

"...Yeah, the great cultural accomplishment of Western civilisation is this thing called the free individual. But now that we’re on the brink of, you know, the electronic dispensation, exactly what we’re going to do with the free individual, and how that’s going to look, in an era where consciousness flows through a thousand portals, it’s not at all clear.

It’s not clear whether we can somehow now carry the idea of the free individual to an even higher level, where each of us will become a kind of god – lord over our own creation, as vast in time and space, but virtual, as the cosmos in which we find ourselves embedded; or whether the free individual is going to turn out to be the problem all along, and we’re going to abandon it and become some kind of socialist gas, or some collectivist swarm, a hive mind, a world where intelligence flows where needed and identity is provisional and fleeting, and unanchored to place or body; I mean, much of this goes on on the Internet, you know....You can build your avatar and present yourself in many guises. It’s much more like a shifting fantasy-land than it is like the good old world of positivist rock’n’roll."

-Terence McKenna, In the Valley of Novelty (lecture), 1998

[edit on 6/19/10 by silent thunder]

reply to post by silent thunder


I love Mckenna.

reply to post by Ahmose


Yikes! Spelling error noted and corrected, thanks.

I like listening to his funny little voice even if I don't agree with everything he says...he's was a brilliant mind and is sorely missed. He's like the Stephen Hawking of the fringe world.

TM is in my opinion as humble as it may be one of the most prolific free thinkers of the last thousand years..

his life experiences and hands on approach to his lifes work is inspiring as it is mindbloggling.

And i have to agree his mild tenor voice is mesmerizing i find myself staring off into space letting his words paint pictures in my mind every time i have heard him speak. he just has a way of speaking so clearly and eloquently his thoughts,thoughts that most people would find to obtuse to visualize let alone describe.every word is a calculated effort to be as forthright and transparent with his ideas as possible .

thanks for the post OP

we truelly lost a great man when TM took his final trip to the stars


~meathead

edit for sp an grammar
[edit on 19-6-2010 by Mike Stivic]

[edit on 19-6-2010 by Mike Stivic]

I love listening to Terence. No matter what he is talking about, he says things in a delightful way that grabs my attention.

Only the good die young.

g