The computer owned by Hagbard Celine (anarchist hero of "Illuminatus!") is called FUCKUP - First Universal Cybernetic- Kinetic-Ultramicro-Programmer. FUCKUP predicts trends by collecting and processing information about current developments in politics, economics, the weather, astrology, astronomy, and technology. And like Celine's
computer, "Illuminatus!" is a wild interpretation of humanity's insane behavior: secret societies, killer viruses, fringe politics, hippy mysticism and the world of high-tech come crashing together in this 900-page ontological onslaught. No group or ideology is spared Shea and Wilson's acerbic wit; left-wing anarchists are slagged as thoroughly as Ayn Rand; mysticism and fundamentalist materialism are revealed to be useful hallucinations; authority is exposed as a parasitic disease.
This seminal trilogy, responsible for creating and inspiring dozens of diverse subcultures ranging from Subgenii to cyberpunks, will leave its readers both wiser
and more confused than ever before.
(M. Frauenfelder)
Links:
Glossary:
(M. Frauenfelder)
Illuminatus!
Robert Shea & Robert Anton Wilson
Dell Books, 1975
Here is the TEXT POPUP for Illuminatus!:
And, behold, thusly was the Law formulated:
Imposition of Order = Escalation of Chaos!
-The Gospel According to Fred
Communication is possible only among equals. The Master Class never abstracts enough information from the servile class to know what is actually going on in the world where the actual productivity of society occurs - Hagbard Celine
The West German hacker who was caught selling secrets to the KGB (as told in astronomer Cliff Stoll's book "The Cuckoo's Egg" and in Hafner and Markoff's "Cyberpunk") called himself Hagbard Celine. Shortly after being caught and convicted, his burned body was found in a German forest.
Hail Eris -- All Hail Discordia --
Kallisti
"Illuminatus!" was originally published in three separate books:
The Eye in the Pyramid
The Golden Apple
Leviathan
They have since been re-published in a single volume.
