The Electronic Revolution

by William S. Burroughs

 

Had I given the complete text I would not only have violated copyright laws, but also given credence to the people who think of William S Burroughs as a certified nutcase. Well he had his eccentricities and a nasty habit to kick, but he also was well educated, intelligent and gifted. Not everything he suggested is bull and cock, and some of his ideas warrant a second look. For instance the idea of the word as a biological organism – since the carrier undoubtedly is a biological organism the actual influence of words follow biochemical pathways. What does this mean for the way we operate with our words? Of course one has to carefully keep apart the word as carrier of information from its function as a trigger happy instigator of emotions. Both aspects add to the word’s semantic potency.

And what about the semantic substrata where various meanings randomly connect and network around hidden variables that represent elements of a spontaneous grammar? It really happens and helps us to downsize the otherwise unwieldy hierarchies of layered meaning which encumber our communication.

We know of the existence of hidden variables since the seventies, when we started to experiment with neural networks. Not two individuals use the same set of hidden variables. Also Burroughs’ strong emphasis on writing as the factor that creates linguistic icons that feed back into our conscience and turn an aware sentience into a self-aware mind seems to me is a genuine insight. Gutenberg’s innovation created a breakthrough in the art of methodical introspection. Electronic media fucking with our minds are even more insidious.

michael sympson

My basic theory is that the written word was literally a virus that led to the proliferation of spoken words. The word has not been recognized as a virus because it has achieved a state of stable symbiosis with the host. I quote from Mechanisms of Virus Infection edited by Mr. Wilson Smith, a scientist who really thinks about his subject instead of merely correlating data.

He thinks, that is, about the ultimate intentions of the viral organism. In an article entitled Virus Adaptibility and Host Resistance by G. Belyavin, speculations as to the biologic goal of the virus species are enlarged: “Viruses are obligatory cellular parasites and are thus wholly dependant upon the integrity of the cellular systems they parasitize for their survival in an active state. It is something of a paradox that many viruses ultimately destroy the cells in which they are living.” And I may add the environment necessary for any cellular structure they could parasitize to survive. Is the virus then simply a time bomb left on this planet to be activated by remote control? An extermination program in fact? In its path from full virulence to its ultimate goal of symbiosis, is it even possible that the human race could survive? Is the white race, which would seem to be more under virus control than the black yellow and brown races, giving any indication of a workable symbiosis? “Taking the virus eye view, the ideal situation would appear to be one in which the virus replicates in cells without in any way disturbing their normal metabolism.” This has been suggested as the ideal biological situation toward which all viruses are slowly evolving. Would you offer violence to a well intentioned virus on its slow road to symbiosis? It is worth noting that if a virus were to attain a state of wholly benign equilibrium with its host cell it is unlikely that its presence would be readily detected or that it would necessarily be recognized as a virus. I suggest that the word is just such a virus.

Doktor Kurt Unruh von Steinplatz has put forth an interesting theory as to the origins and history of this word virus. One reason that apes cant talk is because the structure of their inner throats is simply not designed to formulate words. He postulates that such alteration in inner throat structure was occasioned by a virus illness. This illness may well have had a high rate of mortality but some female apes must have survived to give birth to the wunder kindern.

Having effected alterations in the host's structure that resulted in a new species specially designed to accommodate the virus, the virus [the word] can now replicate without disturbing the metabolism and without being recognized as a virus. A symbiotic relationship has now been established and the virus is now built into the host which sees the virus as a useful part of itself. This successful virus can now sneer at gangster viruses like small pox and turn them over to The Pasteur Institute. The creation of Adam, the Garden of Eden, Adam's fainting spell during which God made Eva from his body, the forbidden fruit which was of course knowledge of the whole stinking thing and might be termed the first Watergate scandal, it all slots neatly into Doc Steinplatz's theory. It was a killer virus once. It could become a killer virus again and rage through cities of the world like a topping forest fire. "It is the beginning of the end."

That was the reaction of a science attaché' to reports that a synthetic gene particle had been produced in the laboratory. "Any small country can now make a virus for which there is no cure. It would only take a small laboratory. Any small country with good biochemists could do it." And presumably any big country could do it quicker and better.

Here is Bishop Luanda burning sacred books. To give you an idea as to what is happening, imagine our civilization invaded by louts from outer space. "Get some bulldozers in here. Clear out all this crap." The formulae of all natural sciences, books, paintings, the lot, swept into a vast pile and burned. And that's it. No one ever heard of it. Three codices survived the vandalism of Bishop Landa and these are burned around the edges. No way to know if we have here the sonnets, the Mona Lisa or the remnants of a Sears Roebuck catalogue after the old out-house burned down in a brush fire. A whole civilization gone up in smoke. When the Spaniards arrived, they found the Mayan aristocrats lolling in hammocks. Well, time to show them what is what. Five workers are captured, bound and stripped and then castrated on a tree stump. The bleeding sobbing, screaming bodies thrown into a pile. "And now get this through your gook nuts. We want to see a big pile of gold and we want to see it pronto. The White God has spoken." A weapon can be forged from a new language. I notice the Chinese, wherever they are, retain the written and spoken language, while other immigrant peoples are losing their language in two generations.

The aim of this project is to build up a language in which certain falsifications inherent in all existing western languages will be made incapable of formulating it. The falsifications been deleted from the proposed language.

The 'is' of identity.

You are an animal. You are a body. Now whatever you may be you are not an "animal," you are not a "body", because these are mere labels. The ‘is’ of identity always carries the assignment of a permanent condition. To stay that way. All name calling presupposes the ‘is’ of identity. No need to say the sun ‘is’ in the sky, sun in sky suffices. The verb ‘to be’ can easily be omitted from any language, however, it is difficult to tidy up the English language by arbitrary exclusion of concepts which remain in force so long as the unchanged language is spoken.

The definite article 'the.'

‘The’ contains the implication of one and only: the God, the universe, the way, the right, the wrong. If there is another, then that universe, that way it is no longer the universe, the way. The definite article 'the' will be deleted and the indefinite article 'a' will take it's place.

The whole concept of 'either / or.' Right or wrong, physical or mental, true or false, the whole concept of 'or' will be deleted from the language and replaced by juxtaposition, by 'and.' This is done to some extent in any pictorial language where two concepts stand literally side by side. These falsifications inherent in the English and other western alphabetical languages give to the reactive mind commands, imposing their overwhelming force in these languages.

Consider the 'is' of identity. When I say to be me, to be you, to be myself, to be others – whatever I may be called upon to be or to say that I am – I am not the verbal label "myself." The word to 'be' in the English language contains, as a virus contains, its pre-coded message, the categorical imperative of permanent condition. To be a body, to be an animal. If you see the relation of a pilot to his ship, you see the crippling force of a reactive mind commanded to be a body. The 'is' of identity, assigning a rigid and permanent status, was greatly reinforced by the customs and passport control which came after World War I. Whatever you may be, you are not the verbal labels in your passport any more than you are the word "self." So you must be prepared to prove at all times that you are what you are not.

Much of the falsification inherent in the categorical definite 'the.'

The now, the past, the time, the space, the energy, the matter, the universe. Definite article 'the' contains the implications of no other. 'The' universe locks you in 'the,' and denies the possibility of any other. If other universes are possible, then the universe is no longer the, it becomes a. The definite article ‘the’ is deleted and replaced by ‘a.’ Many of the RM commands are in point of fact contradictory commands and a contradictory command gains its force from the Aristotelian concept of ‘either / or.’ To do everything, to do nothing, to have everything, to have nothing, to do it all, to do not any, to stay up, to stay down, to stay in, to stay out, to stay present, to stay absent. These are in point of fact either / or propositions. To do nothing or everything, to have it all, or not any, to stay present or to stay absent.

The whole reactive mind can be in fact reduced to three little words – to be "the." That is to “be” what you are not, a verbal formula. I have frequently spoken of word and image as viruses or of them as acting as viruses, and this is not an allegorical comparison. It will be seen that western languages in point of fact are actual virus mechanisms. The 'is' of identity resembles the purpose of a virus to survive. To survive at any expense to the host invaded. The categorical 'the' is also a virus mechanism, locking you in into the virus universe.

'Either / or' is another virus formula. It is always you or the virus. 'Either / or.' This is in point of fact the conflict formula which is seen to be an archetypical virus mechanism.

William S. Burroughs

© – 5/5/2009 – edited by michael sympson, 1,975 words, all rights reserved

Proprietary Notice: © – 04/10/2003 – by michael sympson. Text may be downloaded for personal use, provided all copies retain the copyright and proprietary notices. No material may be modified, edited or taken out of context. Any commercial use in advertising or publicity requires permission in writing by the author’s estate.