1899) Perhaps we ought not to assume that the scientific enlightenment will continue indefinitely; for all we know, like the Hellenic civilization, it may be overwhelmed by irrationalism, subjectivism, and obscurantism. Perhaps antiscientific and pseudoscientific irrationalism is only a passing fashion; yet one of the best ways to deal with it is for the scientific and educational community to respond - in a responsible manner - to its alarming growth.

Paul Kurtz
statement, signed by "many distinguished
scientists, scholars and skeptics",
announcing the formation of the Committee
to Scientifically Investigate Paranormal
and Other Phenomenon (later changed to
the Committee for the Scientific Investigation
of Claims of the Paranormal [CSICOP]) (April 30, 1976)
quoted by Paul Kurtz in
"From The Chairman: CSICOP at Twenty" in
Skeptical Inquirer (July/August 1996)

1900) In no small measure, the epidemic of paranormal beliefs is due to the rapid emergence of the mass media on a global scale. These media have virtually replaced the schools, colleges,and universities as the chief conveyers of information. The days of the lone scientist conducting research in the lab or of the isolated scholar writing a paper or a book for a limited audience have been bypassed. Today new ideas are popularized - whether half- or fully baked - and they are broadcast far and wide even if they have not been sufficiently tested. Apparently the chief interests of most media conglomerates are entertainment rather than truth, selling products rather than contributing to the sum of human knowledge. Accordingly, paranormal ideas are pandered to a gullible public and the line between fiction and reality is blurred.

Paul Kurtz
"From The Chairman: CSICOP at Twenty" in
Skeptical Inquirer (July/August 1996)

1901) Belief in the paranormal is the poetic equivalent of religion. We live in a culture where any criticism of the uncorroborated claims of religion are generally considered to be ill-advised or in bad taste. [...] The popularity of the paranormal worldview, I submit, is a manifestation of what I call the transcendental temptation, the tendency of human beings to wish to penetrate the hidden depths of an alleged transcendental reality that cannot be known by using the methods of scientific inquiry. In my view this is a reversion to primitive forms of magical thinking. That is why it is often so difficult to cope with paranormal beliefs, for we are dealing with faith and conviction, not testable theories or hypotheses. This perhaps explains why there is often so much animosity toward science in large sectors of the population, and why antiscientific irrationalism at times overwhelms the dispassionate standards of scientific inquiry. Too many people find the scientific attitude too demanding and rigorous; they want something easier to ingest.

Paul Kurtz
"From The Chairman: CSICOP at Twenty" in
Skeptical Inquirer (July/August 1996)

1893) [P]unk was so new that its formal ideas remain fruitful to this day. It distilled from the heedless drive and abrasive electric guitars of the "just rock-and-roll" of the 50's and 60's a bravely imagined popular response - angry hilarious, incisive, any two, all three, and more - to post-industrial desperation. That desperation was enough to drive some of its creators to self-destruction. Others merely bulled or romped or joked or muddled or suffered through. But every one was possessed by a musical intuition. And the product of that intuition was and remains an antidote to desperation for all of us with ears to hear it.

Robert Christgau
"All The Young Punks" in
New York Times Book Review (7/28/1996)
[review of Please Kill Me (1996) by
Legs McNeill and Gilliam McCain]

1894) I felt negatively about what seemed to me to be the political implications [of a performance of Glenn Branca's piece for 9 heavily amplified guitars and drums, ["Indeterminate Activity of Resultant Masses"]. I wouldn't want to live in a society like that, in which someone would be requiring other people to do such an intense thing together. [...] I don't think that the image of that power and intention and determination would make a society that I would want to continue living in. [...] If it was something political, it would resemble fascism. [...] I much prefer the thinking of Thoreau, of anarchy, of freedom from such intention.

John Cage
quoted by Cole Gagne in
Sonic Transports - New Frontiers in Our Music (1990)
posted by David Beardsley [AMB] (8/4/1996)

[Note: An interesting comment from Cage, if rather misguided. The Branca piece is, after all, a musical composition intended as a sonic experience and not a blueprint for a new society, and the musicians participating in it are no more compelled to perform it than any other musician hired to play their instruments. Cage might as well complain that if Branca's composition was a food it would be steak and potatoes, and he doesn't like steak and potatoes. See also #1672 Cage.]

1895) The worlds through which Philip Dick's characters move are subject to cancellation or revision without notice. Reality is approximately as dependable as a politician's promise.

Roger Zelazny
in Philip Dick: Electric Shepherd (1975)
Bruce Gillespie, ed.
"sig" (signature) Andrew R Toft [PKD] (7/28/1996)