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 Forum index » Archive » Archive: General » ARG: Geist
References
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legioninfinity
Boot


Joined: 20 Jan 2007
Posts: 50

 		 References
Virtual Intertextuality
Hey, I know this is kind of a long post but I've been noodling around with word anyway today (and going crazy waiting for Jediwannabe's video to appear) so I glanced through my notes and rattled together this little list of out-of-game concepts, individuals and culture referenced during Geist.

Mainly I'm posting it in case anybody, including myself, has missed something on the way. I'm aware it may not actually lead anywhere but I like to know all the atmosphere-setting stuff too Very Happy I haven't exactly been systematic in my selection and, while trying to avoid anything that seemed too tangential or obscure I have probably ignored some Very Important Things as usual, but I've tried to include whatever seemed the consensus along the way.

For lack of a better idea I've catalogued them by in-game source.

Through Eva:

Wizard of Oz:
The 1939 film version specifically (well I guess they are film-makers) - Lots of Oz imagery on Eva's site. Ruby Slippers, Password, Front page quote, Scarecrow song quote that never made it into the final film. Anywhere else?

Alice in Wonderland:
Eva gives blog entry title "Through the Web" – riff on "Through the Looking Glass" (thanks mgelles), Transformation through eating something suspect. Red pill/green lozenge – and Erwin disappears down the ubiquitous rabbit hole.

The Prisoner:
Eva's sign-off line, "Be seeing you" is a homage to the surreal 1960's sci-fi TV series whose hero is a secret agent trying to escape his evil government masters.
Wiki Quote:
Quote:
Citizens use the phrase "Be seeing you" as a farewell, accompanied by a waving gesture consisting of thumb and forefinger forming a circle over the eye, then tipped forward in a salute. This may be a reminder that … you are under constant surveillance

Random geek trivia: This was later referenced by the creators of Babylon 5 as the salute for the Psi-Corps

Kurt Vonnegut:
Mentioned indirectly in Eva's blog. Virtuoso American sci-fi writer. Best known for Slaughterhouse 5, a hallucinatory anti-war book whose hero comes "unstuck in time" as a result of wartime trauma. The only theme that really binds Vonnegut to Heller (as well as the Springs connection) that I can think of is anti-military. I didn't think that was going anywhere until hey! up popped Montauk. Come to think of it, Spares is also pretty anti-mil.

Joseph Heller:
Also obliquely referenced in Eva's blog. American writer who gave us the frighteningly hilarious and phenomenally successful Catch-22. "If you want to fly (combat missions), you're crazy and you don't have to; but if you don't want to fly then you must be sane so you do have to." Trippy book. Also wrote a couple of other books, if any of you are among the few dozen people who have actually read them, maybe you can tell us more.

Michael Marshall Smith:
The last book Eva read was Spares, dark and funny take on a mass-cloning future through the eyes of a traumatised war veteran which has some stuff about intelligent cats – for more info see the fruits of Sylvia's fine research here
MMS writes that kind of hallucinatory style too, lots of issues of identity explored in his books and dreams, always the dreams… I'm surprised they didn't cram Jeff Noon onto the reading list, but I guess he's from Manchester.

Erwin Schrodinger:
Apart from the link in the cat's name, his birthday (12/08/87) is a number anagram of Eva's (18/02/87) Important quantum physicist who devised a thought experiment about poisoning a cat in a box that draws attention to problems of probability, perception vs existence and how a single being can simultaneously exist in two different states.

Through Wilson/SRI

Pierre Teilhard de Chardin:
Jesuit priest turned rogue philosopher, 2 of his ideas that seem particularly relevant to us are: The Omega Point – A future evolutionary convergence point where final unity of consciousness is achieved. The Noosphere is his name for the "sphere of consciousness" (Sphere Research anybody?) which is approaching the critical mass that will culminate in the Omega point.
NB: I'm speculating that the day of the live event, "Cover yourself in grass" and the subsequent blog post by Eva may indicate this critical mass is being reached.

Ted Nelson:
American philosopher and internet pioneer. Real smart but may not be much fun at parties:
Quote:
"most people are fools, most authority is malignant, God does not exist, and everything is wrong"

Very angry because the orderly, well-managed garden with parallel flowerbeds and topiary that would have been his worldwide web got overgrown and eaten up by the html jungle. Occassionally gives off a "mad scientist determined to make them regret it" kind of a vibe.

Neuro-Linguistic Programming (NLP)
(spec - As in NLPEXP) Therapy/personal development discipline based around theories of communication and perception. Strong stuff.
Wiki Quote:
Quote:
NLP is based on the idea that with our senses we are only able to perceive a small part of the world. Our view of the world is filtered by our experience, beliefs, values and assumptions. We act and feel based on our perception of the world rather than the real world.


SRI exam 01 crossword answers:
Explosion, dialetheism, paraconsistent, Anekantavada, Epimenidus, Graham Priest, Lotfi Zadeh. I believe these all relate to the inconsistent nature of the solution. The Ouroboros is a symbol of self-reference.

Through Pat and Dave:

Quantum Leap:
TV show where hero is 'leaping' through time helping old ladies across roads and unblocking drains, all the while stalked by a priapic, cigar-chomping military hologram.

Crop circles:
Fifteen years ago you couldn't move without stumbling into one of these things, but media interest in the phenomena peaked in the early nineties with the revelations by "Doug and Dave" (hmmm) that they were relatively easy to create overnight by a small group with the right equipment and good planning. However they continue to attract a lot of New Age attention; to get an idea of how developed the industry around them has become, see http://www.cropcircles.org/

ilovebees.com
It has been speculated that welovebeef is heavily influenced by ilovebees which doesn't seem too hard to believe Razz Hmmm… Don't know much about this… Perhaps someone who took part could help out.

Erich von Daniken:
Chariots of the Gods set new standards for crackpot pulp. An investigation into contact between aliens and various ancient pre-industrial societies supported by sketchy evidence provided by a convicted fraudster (himself) and breathless flights of epic space opera fantasy. As far as I know most of its conclusions have been comprehensively discredited although that hasn't stopped EvD from shifting over 30mil units worldwide.

Through Keir:

Francis Bacon:
Cypher, Quote,"Knowledge is Power." Bacon painted several Triptychs.

The Ipcress File:
First novel by Len Deighton, made into film with Michael Caine (you can see his face in the logo on Keir's blog) as Harry Palmer –Name invented for movie. Novel's hero remains nameless. Again, an individual agent battles against the bureaucratic weight of the government machine.

Through Dr Frankie Francis:

Alanis Morrisette: Well she really looks like her.

Through Kenkon and Youkin:

Reprogenetics:
The near-future (theoretical) fusion of reproductive and genetic technology that will throw up some sticky ethical choices, but only for ethical people.

Microbics:
No such discipline as 'microbics' although that name is used by a US company also known as 'bugs'
http://www.bugsatwork.com/
But they seem to be into using micro-organisms for waste management, not levitation.

Amino Acids:
Molecules in proteins.The so-called building blocks of life. Disputed.

VALIS:
Vast Active Living Intelligence System from the Philip K. Dick sci-fi novel of the same name. Giant A.I from outer space/Supreme Consciousness/God.
PKD as a writer is also known, wait for it, for his hallucinatory, nightmarish prose style.
ALISDAIRPARK had an exchange with Yuki (back when it was still giving interesting answers) during which VALIS came up, see here
Having said that, Yuki also referenced: The Matrix, 2001:A Space Odyssey and Star Wars. Jediwannabe spec'd that these may just be left over easter eggs from the original ALICEBOT program from which Yuki was derived.

Kenkon:
A Japanese character representing the unity of Heaven (Ken) and Earth (Kon)
*thanks carmenmiranda

so what did I miss? (don't say Lost)

PostPosted: Mon Feb 19, 2007 11:18 pm
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Sylvia
I Have No Life

Joined: 21 Apr 2006
Posts: 2062

 		Wow, thanks legioninfinity for bringing all that together in one place and refreshing our memories and making the picture clearer.

PostPosted: Tue Feb 20, 2007 1:27 am
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tim7168
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Joined: 27 May 2006
Posts: 92
Location: Birmingham, UK

 		Impressive!

PostPosted: Tue Feb 20, 2007 8:57 am
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daemon666
Boot

Joined: 13 Feb 2007
Posts: 32

 		OMG! Surprised

I have to say, I've been a fan of MMS since I read Only Forward, and have read every book of his I can get my hands on. (Shameless plug for fave author - go out and buy some of his stuff... NOW!! Very Happy )

I noticed the Spares entry on Eva's app for SRI and someone mentioned in another thread that it was concerned with clones etc so thought nothing more. But I never made the connection with Only Forward and Cat Neighbourhood. Embarassed

Nice post as well legioninfinity, nice to see all that put down instead of it floating in various parts of the brain.

PostPosted: Tue Feb 20, 2007 9:36 am
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Rekidk
Entrenched


Joined: 19 Dec 2006
Posts: 992
Location: Indiana, USA

 		Great job! It's nice to have all of this in one place! Smile
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PostPosted: Tue Feb 20, 2007 5:41 pm
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carmenmiranda
Decorated

Joined: 08 Feb 2007
Posts: 226

 		Excellent! I've been thinking about putting together something with all of the references to duality and internet/people networks that is found on the websites, etc., as well.

But, darn it, for some reason they keep expecting me to accomplish things at work.

The nerve!

This job is really starting to interfere with my play time....

PostPosted: Tue Feb 20, 2007 7:33 pm
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WolfHawk
Entrenched


Joined: 15 Nov 2006
Posts: 1247
Location: St. Louis
carmenmiranda wrote:
But, darn it, for some reason they keep expecting me to accomplish things at work.

The nerve!

This job is really starting to interfere with my play time....


Work? Whazzat?
(Heh, me too!)

PostPosted: Tue Feb 20, 2007 9:45 pm
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carmenmiranda
Decorated

Joined: 08 Feb 2007
Posts: 226

 		OK, I don't know where else to put this, but this seems like an appropriate thread for it.

We're busy trying to put together a video for Eva, which I think is a good thing, as it's the only concrete lead we have on her whereabouts, and how to reach her.

But what's bugging me--we've "met" Keir, Frankie, Pat and Dave, and Professor Wilson...who's the bad guy? I can't quite believe that everyone we've met is "good." It just doesn't work that way. You don't only meet good guys. The bad guys seem to be pretty hooked in, and so they should know we're up to something. So where is the opposition?

If there isn't any, it seems like the opposition is being done by someone pretending to be an ally.

The Subject180287 site says "Deception sites online," which indicates that something we've been shown is deliberately misleading.

Am I the only one feeling uneasy about all of this?

PostPosted: Mon Feb 26, 2007 11:47 am
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Jediwannabe
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Joined: 11 May 2006
Posts: 282
Location: Lincoln, UK
carmenmiranda wrote:

But what's bugging me--we've "met" Keir, Frankie, Pat and Dave, and Professor Wilson...who's the bad guy?

Melvin Geist of course!

PostPosted: Mon Feb 26, 2007 12:54 pm
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legioninfinity
Boot


Joined: 20 Jan 2007
Posts: 50
carmenmiranda wrote:
Am I the only one feeling uneasy about all of this?


Nope Very Happy I had similar thoughts myself...

I fully agree about the "deception sites online" and what that means.

I just can't bring myself to think of the lovable Pat and Dave on any other side than the angels' so for me the questions are:

Are Wilson and Frankie working together to manipulate us to their own ends or is one of them playing the other (and all of us) ?

It seems the US military/KenKon have Eva (back) in their clutches now, so which of our protagonists are they working through?

Or are the nutty professor and Dr Ironic each plotting to divert Eva's destiny towards their own nefarious new-age ends?

We know (from him) that Wilson has worked for both KenKon and the US military in the past but perhaps that's almost too obvious an indicator. About Frankie we know next to nothing - or am I wrong?

I am still curious about the connection between the two of them. Did either of them ever acknowledge that they had made contact prior to the SRI chat with Wilson? During the live event for example?

Suddenly he says they're working together on getting through to her. Has anyone had any email contact with Dr Francis that would confirm this?

When was the last time anyone heard from her?

carmenmiranda - you're definitely not the only one feeling uneasy Confused

EDIT: Jediwannabe - agreed. But Geist is purely an offstage presence so far... Surely one of the main players is working as his agent?

PostPosted: Mon Feb 26, 2007 1:11 pm
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Pied Piper
Unfettered


Joined: 28 Jan 2007
Posts: 362

 		Personally, I don't trust Frankie. How did she find Eva? Dr. Wilson said that he was working with her, but they've never explained how they got into contact with each other. It's suspicious that she has been living in Eva's childhood home. I'm thinking that the house is owned by KenKon, and the psychological experiments were run by them, especially considering how close the house is to Montauk. Seems to me that Frankie admitting that she doesn't own the house but has been living in it gives credence to this view.

Plus, if you look at all of the stuff in Frankie's office, doesn't it all look a little "corporate" to you? I realize that she's running psivolution, but everything there--the manual on top of the desk, the "organizational chart," whether or not it is the GeistGrid as I suggested, even the kind of desk she's got, all scream "major corporation." The desk she's got looks suspiciously like the "veal-fattening pens" (to quote Generation X--I think that's the book) that are used in large corporate offices.

I don't know about Dr. Wilson--I'm getting the impression that he's kind of a dupe. Either that, or he's really in with the bad guys.

I also keep wondering if the Core is really one or both of Eva's parents. Since Eva seems to have been swallowed up by a computer virus, it would make sense that this was the "bad thing" that happened to the parents to which Dr. Wilson refers. Doesn't necessarily mean the Core is a "good guy"--if something bad did happen to her parents, it could be that they became an evil virus, or were swallowed up by one. Especially with that voice in the reclaim video that sounds like it is saying "We're trying to help you."

I'm also wondering about the Yellow Brick Road reference from Eva's blog. Do we know from whence that originates? Who wants us to follow the path?

And I keep wondering if Geist is a red herring. Something to make us think that he is the real villain, while the real villains take us to the cleaners.

PostPosted: Mon Feb 26, 2007 3:46 pm
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