Slashdot Mirror
Illumninatus! Author Needs Our Help
Criceratops writes, "Almost every fringe-geek worth their salt has read 'The Illuminatus! Trilogy,' or at least the 'Principia Discordia,' and much of the enlightenment therein came from Robert Anton Wilson. On the eve of 'Xena' being officially named Eris, Douglas Rushkoff's blog reveals that the extremely ill Mr. Wilson can't make his rent. Another testimony to how our society refuses to reward those who enrich it... but not if we can help it!"
[i] Get a job as a stocker at WalMart and stop being an anarchist/conspiracy theorist (hey, that's what it says on the linked Wikipedia page) refusing to do actual work for money in our 'system'.[/i]
Kind of hard to do that when you're housebound and only have a few months to live, y'know.
And where on earth do you get the assumption that he ever refused to work for money?
free experimental electronic music netlabel at www.viablehybrid.com
I bought the Illuminatus! trilogy in college, and it gave me many hours of pleasure--not just from reading the book, but from games, references, in-jokes, cultural bits and bobs and whatnot.
I don't care what he spends his money on, or why he's in trouble, but this is just one of those little bits of culture, like Snow Crash, Neuromancer, Iain Banks' Culture series and any number of other miscellaneous books that contribute to letting me look at life in a more fun way.
I agree with the guy who said "if a bum asks for money, buy him a sandwich". Where this differs is that here's someone who's actually done something cool and worthwhile and inherently nifty.
Cole's Law: Thinly sliced cabbage
Another testimony to how our society refuses to reward those who enrich it... but not if we can help it!"
You posted that on Slashdot, where every third post is a complaint about the tyranny of copyright and payment for the use of intellectual property?
How naive.
Three Squirrels
I haven't read any books by him, so maybe I'm really missing out on something. But instead of sending him money, I'd rather send him a letter advising him on how to live a better life throw a steady income job.
You seem supremely qualified to comment, sir. I told Emily Dickinson practically the same thing: "Shut up with that emo shit. It's not paying the bills, and they're looking for a girl to do needlepoint in the village." Sadly, she didn't listen to me, and she died poor, alone, and unappreciated.
FYI there is an update to this posted on BoingBoing yesterday. They were able to raise enough cash to pay for at least the next 2 months rent. Check it out: http://www.boingboing.net/2006/10/03/robert_anton_ wilson_.html.
Conversion Rate Optimisation French / English consultant
if you would have bothered to research just a little, you would've found out why
..
The general deal is that he's suffering from the more morbid symptoms of post-polio syndrome, can't really walk, has trouble swallowing, and is extremely frail. He has friends serving as fulltime nurses and aids, but doesn't have family capable of providing support. The IRS and medical bills have also worked against his solvency.
Try getting a job with those symptons
If you're looking to do the most good for the most people per dollar, money invested in, say, vaccine distribution or malaria prevention is always going to outweigh helping anybody living in the West. And that includes US Army veterans and sick kiddies (in fact, the treatment of Western children with life-threatening illnesses is arguably the single most overfunded branch of the medical profession). But it's only human to want to help out those who we feel a connection with in some way. And Mr. Wilson's work has made a connection with many Slashdotters. I'm not among them, I haven't read it. But if, for example, Linus Torvalds or Joss Wheedon turned up destitute on my doorstep, I'd help them out (even though in both cases them ending up destitute would indicate some very poor life decisions), to thank them for what they've given me.
Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from a rigged demo
--Andy Finkel (J. Klass?)
My first exposure to RAW was through the Principia Discordia and the Illuminatus! trilogy, but it was his other books that changed the way I think about a lot of things, Cosmic Trigger and Prometheus Rising especially. Quite honestly, I consider him a great influence, and I suspect there are a lot of others like me. That is why this call for help is meaningful here and elsewhere, and why I'm sending a donation.
Those of you who haven't read any of his work and also feel some sort of strange self-righteous lack of human kindness to the point of telling a terminally ill man to "get a job at Wal-Mart" might do well to never grow old, sick, or widowed.
A compassionate conservative sees a man and his family eating grass on the side of the road. The CC pulls over and asks "what are you doing?" the man replies, "we are too poor to eat, and cannot find work because of ethnic and religious discrimination". The CC tells him "thats terrible, hop in my car" so the man and his family joyfully get in the car hoping for a hand-up for a job offer of some kind.
..........
After driving a ways, the man asks the CC "So where are we going? Do you know where I can find work?" to which the CC laughs, and says "Oh no heh, I dont have a lawn mower, and the grass is much taller in my yard."
They never understand.
I'll comment:
Some of the post here state that, there are people who are worse off and less well known and perhaps such support would be better directed toward them.
Other post questioned why he was receiving private care when he could go to a state hospital.
These are valid points, no argument from me...largely because I don't know much more about him other than he needs help.
However, I'm having difficulty seeing how it follows that it is "morally wrong" or "hypocritical" to provide assistance to someone when:
1) You know they need the help
2) They have, in some way, help you or otherwise enriched your life in the past
3) Maybe you just simply admire them.
If you are moved to help this guy, do so and don't let anyone here call you a "hypocrite". If you're really curious, perhaps use this to learn more about his particular afflicition. Who knows? Someday there may be a fund in his name for this very purpose.
Lance Armstrong's got the "Livestrong" foundation...I wonder what his would be called?
A goal is a dream with a deadline
$23, darling, $23.
Save 2 dollars, and please him even more by showing that you remembered the number.
Thanks for the info; you've also made me feel infantely better about the NHS, from whom I got anti-epileptic brain surgery absolutely free when I was 15. According to my then conultant only 12 of these particular operations are carried out per year at that hospital (the world renound Great Ormond Street children's hospital). Had we had to pay for it, well I think my parents would still be paying back the debt now, a couple of years short of a decade later.
People continually moan about the state of the NHS, but it's safe to say I'd rather become ill here in the UK than over there in the USA.
If I have nothing to hide, you have no reason to search me
I always find it funny when people try to discourage people from doing good deeds. If you want to start a fund for Robert Jordan I say do it. I won't write a short essay on how I think it's a waste of time and how there may be some hidden agenda to buy drugs with the money.
I understand discouraging people from replying to spam or supporting terrorism, but to discourage people from helping another person just seems like time wasted on everyones part.
Can I bum a sig?
Hello,
>So, I have a job and insurance, because I don't want to be like this guy.
Trust me, there's no risk you'll ever be like that guy.
Hail Eris!
Several things that you supposedly read should have tipped you off.
...But you didn't actually read any of this (you even quoted the article wrong after being called out!!). You skimmed a few things, jumped to conclusions, then rushed to get first post by being about as much of an ass about it as possible - revealing how much you're just a sad, sad, excuse for a human being.
Summary: "the extremely ill Mr. Wilson can't make his rent"
Article: "whose *infirmity* and depleted finances"
Article: "Bob is a human being in a rather painful fleshsuit"
Article: "I refuse for the history books to say he died alone and destitute"
Wikipedia article (which you say you read) depending on when you read it:
Wikipedia: "This author who has changed the lives of many is dying of post polio syndrome"
Wikipedia: "Robert A. Wilson is currently under hospice care at home with friends and family."
RAW himself did not ask for money. A fan of his, however, did. Your high horse died about 2 posts ago, *get off of it*.
Also, you've never once taken a homeless guy into a restaurant. Liar.
This wasn't bad but I think some clarifications might help:
1) It is extremely important to distinguish between employer-provided insurance and privately-purchased insurance. The theoretical purpose of medical insurance is not, as you say, to protect you in case of a large number of bills. It is to pool risk and collect enough money from each insured to cover the cost and a bit of rake-off for the insurer. The purpose of medical insurance *companies* is to make as much money as possible. Therein lies the rub.
Employer-provided insurance tends to be pretty good. Most people work for large companies and these companies use their bulk purchasing power to get something very close to this risk-pooling arrangement. People trying to buy insurance on their own, however, are completely at the mercy of insurance companies. They will face possibly ruinous exclusions, especially the nebulous "pre-existing condition", and a great many hurdles. The insurance companies work hard (which is expensive) to find reasons not to pay the claims of these people.
2) The long-term problem is a bit similar. If you work for a long time for a large company, you are generally well covered until Medicare (*not* Medicaid) kicks in. Increased worker mobility (i.e. decreased job security) makes the insurance problem greater.
3) Medicare hasn't been gutted (though there was a debacle recently with the new PHARMA welfare act, err, new drug benefit) because it is for old people and old people vote. Medicaid has always been pretty crappy because it is for poor people.
4) The US already has a decent program in Medicare and a very good program in the Veteran's Administration Hospitals. However, expanding these programs to universal coverage is politically impossible at the moment.
Even the mediocre NHS is far better (even Canada's crappy system is better though France's system may be best of all) from a coverage per dollar standpoint. The administrative costs associated with the US system are extreme and provide no medical benefit to anyone.
I remain convinced that the US will eventually embrace single-payer under a less corrupt Republican administration (a Nixon-to-China moment if you will) when big business republicans realize they cannot afford it any longer and faux libertarian (that's a bit of snark since I don't believe there are any *real*, i.e. uniformly consistent, libertarians) entrepreneur types realize that the dangers of leaving a job and foregoing insurance can make entrepreneurship far too risky. (I'm not entrepreneurially inclined but if I were, I'd worry a lot less about losing my house since I could always go back to the rat race and rent than losing my insurance since I might get cancer while uninsured and simply die).
Q:How many libertarians does it take to stop a Panzer division? A:None. Obviously market forces will take care of it.