Timothy Leary, an advocate of
psychedelic drug use who became a cult figure of the
hippies in the 1960s, reemerged in the 1980s as a spokesperson of the cyberdelic counterculture, whose adherents called themselves "
cyberpunks", and became one of the most philosophical promoters of personal computers (PC), the Internet, and
immersive virtual reality. Leary proclaimed that the "PC is the
LSD of the 1990s" and admonished
bohemians to "
turn on, boot up, jack in". In contrast to some of the hippies of the 1960s who were
antiscience and
antitechnology, the cyberpunks of the 1980s and 1990s embraced
technophilia and
hacker ethic. They believed that high technology (and
smart drugs) could help human beings overcome limits, that it could
liberate them from authority and even enable them to
transcend space, time, and body. They often expressed their
ethos and
aesthetics through
cyberart and
reality hacking.
R. U. Sirius, co-founder and original editor-in-chief of
Mondo 2000, became a prominent promoter of the
cyberpunk ideology, whose adherents were pioneers in the
IT industry of
Silicon Valley and the
West Coast of the United States. Timothy Leary and other members of the cyberdelic movement were contacted by Idol, and participated in the album's creation. The album was a critical and financial failure, and polarized online
cyberculture communities of the period. Detractors viewed it as an act of
co-optation and opportunistic commercialization. It was also seen as part of a process that saw the overuse of the term "cyberpunk" until the word lost meaning. Alternatively, supporters saw Idol's efforts as harmless and well-intentioned, and were encouraged by his new interest in cyberculture. ==Collapse==