A. I’m reading Robert Anton Wilson’s classic play Wilhelm Reich In Hell which Hilaritas Press has kindly reissued. (I interviewed RAW in 1995 for Perth’s former REVelation Magazine which is now a film festival.) In his introduction RAW talks about the New Inquisition that arose in the 1980s in the United States from a range of ideologically motivated stances. This often involves absolutistic (Milton Rokeach) and totalistic (Robert Jay Lifton) forms or structures of cognition. Here is a 1999 video-taped performance of Wilhelm Reich In Hell:
B. The renowned primatologist Jane Goodall has passed away. Here is a National Geographic documentary on her environmental activism:
Here is also a TED talk by Goodall:
C. Ransomware attacks are growing in many industry sectors - driving the reciprocal, dyadic need for cybersecurity experts and information security knowledge. Max Smeets’ recent book Ransomware: How Cyber Crime Became a Threat to National Security (London: Hurst Publishers, 2025) is a very good overview of why malign actors undertake ransomware. Here is Smeets talking with the Hague’s International Program on Cybersecurity:
Also a related Smeets talk with the Global Initiative Against Transnational Organized Crime:
D. Today’s MIT OCW free course is on Social and Ethical Responsibilities of Computing.
E. The Astronaut is a new, scary-looking film. Its trailer: