Summary
Introductions
Design for Dying opens with two compelling introductions, one penned by Timothy Leary himself and the other by R. U. Sirius. Leary begins by recounting the pivotal moment that sparked the creation of his book: his 1995 diagnosis with prostate cancer. This life-altering revelation drove him to deeply contemplate the manner of his own mortality. "Even if you’ve lived your life like a complete slob," he muses, "you can die with terrific style. I call it ‘Designer Dying.’" Leary challenges readers with a series of questions on sustaining a life of "self-reliance and personal growth," themes he explores throughout the chapters.
Meanwhile, Sirius delves into Leary's audacious original plan to orchestrate his final moments online, spinning a visionary tale of what such a digital farewell might have entailed. He commends Leary for his candidness and relentless challenge to insincere narratives, proclaiming Leary’s final "performance" as a triumph of authenticity.
Chapter 1
Timothy Leary reminisces about a promise he made with his DNA back in 1962, vowing to explore the profound depths of life’s meaning. His discoveries revealed the unpredictable nature of the future and a recursive understanding of existence—where life’s purpose is to seek its own meaning. Leary draws analogies between the human body and computers, suggesting that humanity's ultimate aim should be mutation, an endeavor demanding our active participation. Using the lexicon of physics, he interrogates many questions that have long engaged philosophers and theorists, scrutinizing human identity through the lenses of dualities like time and space, matter and energy. A quintessential Leary query emerges: "Is the universe fundamentally continuous or discrete? One can only answer ‘yes.’"
Chapter 2
This chapter sees Leary weaving connections between the ancient art of alchemy and the modern realm of computer technology, asserting that both operate within symbolic systems largely unfathomable to the uninitiated. He christens the evolving field born from cybernetics as "cybernautics," capturing its exploratory and mystical essence. Leary insists that abstract mathematics, the supreme theoretical framework, increasingly aids humanity in unraveling the mysteries of itself.
Chapter 3–5
Leary ventures into the exploration of what he terms as the "tools of human evolution and self-definition," a recurring theme in his life’s work. These instruments include language, drugs, and psychology. He critiques language as a binding force on human thought, a self-contained system that fails to truly depict the external world. In his discourse on drugs, Leary references Terence McKenna, who postulates that humankind's evolution was significantly driven by the consumption of consciousness-altering flora like psilocybin. The ongoing fascination with consciousness-expanding substances, evidenced by the popularity of LSD, mescaline, marijuana, and others, underscores their enduring role in the evolution of human awareness. In Leary's view, America’s anti-drug stance is essentially an attack on human progress.
Delving into psychology, Leary argues it is a mechanism historically wielded to control and shape societal norms. Drawing on his own experiences with government research at Berkeley and Harvard, he contends that psychology has been used to impose "the industrial age ideology of factory life and factory death" by the military-industrial complex of the twentieth century.
Chapter 6
Leary presents his notion that "evolution is a participatory sport," unveiling stages and "circuits" of his theory with a nod to writer Robert Anton Wilson, who has also expounded on this theory. He speaks of "mutants," individuals who prematurely activate "post-hive, post-modern, post-terrestrial neural circuits," detaching them from contemporary societal concerns and orienting them to the future. Leary labels these individuals "agents" and "evolutionary scouts," facilitators of social transformation, and heralds the rise of the Internet as a triumph for "countercultural mutation." He subtly hints at his own...
(This entire section contains 1175 words.)
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role as one of these agents.
Chapter 7
The narrative shifts into the book's second section, entitled "Dying," with Leary recounting the elation he felt upon learning of his impending death. He seized control over his life, meticulously deciding the extent and nature of media attention he would allow, and crafted a homepage to chronicle his journey towards death. Within this chapter, Leary shares a collection of quotes he provided to journalists from major outlets like the Washington Post and New York Times, detailing his "House Party for Intelligent Dying."
Chapter 8
Leary provides a candid inventory of his daily drug regimen during his final days, addressing society's taboos against "celebratory dying" and its pervasive dread of death. He critiques the government's efforts to strip individuals of their autonomy in their final moments. He concludes the chapter lauding Jack Kevorkian's dedication to dignified death, urging Kevorkian to take greater public pride in his activism.
Chapter 9
In this chapter, Leary devises his own blueprint for death and extends his counsel to fellow travelers on this journey. His proposal includes mastering control over one's nervous system through practices like hypnosis and meditation, immersing oneself in the death rituals of their culture, and "rehearsing" death using substances such as ketamine to mimic near-death experiences (NDEs).
Chapter 10
Leary surveys existing literature on the brain's final frontier—death. He dubs this transition "the ultimate trip," envisioning a return to the intricate web of the nervous system where "We become every form of life that has ever lived and will live."
Chapter 11–12
The final segment of the book, titled "Designer Dying," unfurls with these two chapters, where Leary, referring to humans as "information processes," delves into futuristic alternatives to the inevitability of biological demise. He advocates for cryonics—where the body or brain is preserved through deep-freezing—and explores the preservation of tissues or DNA, alongside ambitious ideas like direct brain-computer transfers and the isomorphic mapping of neural networks onto silicon chips. Leary cites the visionary William Gibson, whose dystopian works like Neuromancer resonate with Leary's fusion of human evolution and technology. Emphasizing that humans are essentially informational entities, Leary posits numerous methods for the postbiological preservation of this essence.
Chapter 13–14
These chapters reveal Leary's fascination with nanotechnology and cyborgization. Nanotechnology, with its promise of manipulating matter at the cellular level through microscopic robots, tantalizes with the potential to repair and reinvent DNA in the foreseeable future. Meanwhile, cyborgization explores the increasingly blurred lines between humanity and machinery. Leary envisions that embracing a more mechanized existence could propel human evolution forward.
Chapter 15
Authored entirely by Sirius, this is the book's most concise chapter. It reflects on the injustices Leary faced throughout his life, such as FBI slander and the unwelcoming critical reception of his groundbreaking ideas. Sirius also sheds light on Leary's decision against cryogenic preservation post-mortem, offering insight into the rationale behind this choice.
Addendum
This section gathers heartfelt tributes from Leary's friends, family, and confidants, thoughtfully curated by Sirius. It serves to reveal the man behind the intellectual legacy, offering a glimpse into Leary as a cherished friend and complex human being, not just the storied public figure. To achieve this, Sirius invited contributors to engage with two poignant questions: "What was the lesson for you of Tim’s performance of the dying process?" and "What’s your favorite memory of Tim from that time?" Sirius sets the tone by sharing his own memorable first encounter with Leary back in 1980.
