Preface
It should be noted that all of the characters that appear in Outlaw Technology are real people, and their observations apply to actual events, as best as can be determined by the author. However, it should also be noted that while this text began life as a manual for artists on the use and application of subtle energy vis-a-vis alternative radionic and psychotronic technology, it subsequently lost much of that modus operandi and became something quite different.
Originally over 400 pages, Outlaw Technology delved into the history and application of mind based technology as it has been applied to the diagnosis and treatment of disease. Many parallels were found between the application of these techniques and those of the creative process, which says much about why healing and art are so closely connected in ancient and aboriginal societies. The book also presented much original research into the mysterious world of plant consciousness and communication. The resulting copy was a very cryptic collection of historical facts about subtle energy research, interspersed with practical experiments in plant communications that gradually became a form of sonic bio-art.
This large and complex manuscript had been completed prior to the dialogue that forms the substance of the current book. Putting all together in one volume in the end proved an impossibly cumbersome task. As a result, much of the early writing that formed the original substance of the book was set aside for later consideration. As a consequence of this editorial decision, I began to view the new Outlaw Technology as an afterthought to the earlier effort. However, these new conversations supported a scientifically theoretical context for a later discussion of the role of subtle energy in the creative process.
Consequently, much of the present book focuses on the ideas of John Norseen, an engineer and semiotitian employed for many years by the Lockheed Martin Co. and various U.S. intelligence agencies. Norseen's stated work was to explore the weaponization of the mind. As such, we began our discussion from diametrically opposite directions, my background being fine art. Our discussions provided me with a fascinating glimpse into military black box technology and the mindset of its creators. Through Norseen I began to see how defense industry engineers struggled to incorporate consciousness into practical design applications, how they went about quantifying and systematizing an approach to mind physics generally considered impossible by mainstream science.
My conversations with Norseen shifted the book's focus more towards examining the vulnerability of the mind to outside technical manipulation . It was the logical result of an extended dialogue with a weapons designer. While I hoped his technical insights into mind technology would enable me to make a better case for applying similar techniques to art, they also added a surreal component to my investigation. Norseen's world of semiotics became, in and of itself, a fascinating literary digression.
Duncan Laurie