web.scan

The human capacity for self-delusion never ceases to amaze me. And one of the most stunning examples I've seen in recent weeks has to be "The Right To Know", Rkkody's personal web site.

Rkkody is a follower of the Higher Source Christian UFO cult. Yes, the same cult that inspired 39 people to commit mass suicide at Rancho Santa Fe, near San Diego, earlier this year.

It was bound to be a big story, particularly once it was revealed that the cultists had made a living designing web pages. Many newspapers and magazines were only too eager to smear the Internet as a haven for cult leaders, stalkers and child pornographers. The story was headline news across the globe, and video footage of the scene at Rancho Santa Fe was watched by millions.

One of those millions was Chuck Humphreys, a computer consultant from Colorado who had been given the name 'Rkkody' by the cult. He had left the San Diego group some time previously; but when he saw the news, he knew that he had to join them. He and Wayne Cooke, another believer, tried to follow their leader's example and kill themselves. Wayne died; Chuck was found in a coma. He eventually recovered, much to his annoyance. And now, he has a web site.

Chuck is quite matter-of-fact in describing how he attempted to kill himself. He also seems pretty angry about the fact that he was committed to the San Diego mental health facility and kept under suicide watch, when all he wanted to do was 'exit his human vehicle', as the cult terms it.

One thing the mainstream media don't seem to want to draw too much attention to, is that Heaven's Gate is basically a Christian cult. Sure, they're a millennialist UFO cult, but their beliefs are pretty mainstream once you translate their terminology:

Heaven's Gate	Christian
The Representative	Jesus
The Next Level	The Kingdom of God
Deposit	Soul
Creator	God
The message was given to us by The Representative 2000 years ago. The Earth is in its final days. Soon those who are chosen by The Creator will leave their human bodies as the Earth is recycled. Their deposits will rise up into The Next Level.	The message was given to us by Jesus 2000 years ago. These are the end times. Soon those who are judged worthy by God will rise up in The Rapture. Their bodies will be left empty as their souls rise up into the Kingdom of Heaven.

OK, so the Heaven's Gate cultists differ from the Christians regarding exactly what form of transport we'll use to get to Heaven. But to me, that's a minor quibble.

Does Rkkody honestly believe, still? Even now that comet Hale-Bopp has passed, and no UFO was seen? Perhaps he thinks that the true evidence was covered up. If so, he's sadly not alone; a number of UFOlogists seem to think there's something odd about Hale-Bopp -- perhaps even a canister of chemicals designed to kill off all plant life on earth in 1998. Even the well-known SF author Whitley Streiber weighed in with his opinion earlier this year.

Perhaps Chuck has realised what a colossal blunder he made, and has decided to make the best of it by at least getting rich and famous. Other cultists have signed movie deals, so perhaps it's not too surprising to see Chuck selling memorabilia and hoping for a book deal.

I've got a pretty warped sense of humor, but even I'd balk at wearing a Heaven's Gate Away Team patch. (And not just because Chuck wants fifteen bucks each for them.) Remember, 39 people died, 40 if you add in Wayne's death later on. I can't quite bring myself to be as callous as media mogul (and Atlanta Braves owner) Ted Turner, who commented:

People like Rkkody pose all kinds of ethical and philosophical questions. Sure, I think he's completely deluded and likely insane; but he probably thinks the same about me. With suicidal depression there are physical symptoms, there's a chemical imbalance in the brain; a delusional mindset isn't as straightforward to detect. To put it bluntly, how do I really know that Chuck is wrong and I am right? If he makes a reasoned decision to end his life, do we have the right to stop him? How does his case differ from that of a terminally ill patient who (quite rationally) decides to die?

I did notice in passing that Rkkody is enthusiastic about the film "Contact", based on the novel by Carl Sagan. Ironic, as the film is about as scientific and skeptical as anything you're likely to see coming out of Hollywood. Even the SETI Institute seem to quite like it.

I liked the movie too. It did feel, though, as if the story they wanted to tell was the part which took up the first three quarters of the movie. After that, the rest felt like a desperate struggle to bring things to some sort of conclusion without it all being a hopeless let-down. I gather that the book has a very different ending. As far as scientific accuracy goes, read the SETI Institute's comments.

I've been a vague follower of SETI projects for quite a while; it seems like a comparatively cheap way to maybe answer some very important questions. It may be a long shot, but hey, that's the way with many scientific experiments. I'm almost certain there must be life out there somewhere; the only question is whether we have any hope of finding it.

(Exercise for the reader: using The Atheism Web's list of fallacies, compare how many logical flaws there are in the two arguments.)

Another web site I was pointed at recently is Big Science, home of the SETI@home project. It's an ambitious plan to use thousands of Internet-connected desktop PCs to help analyze data from the UC Berkeley project SERENDIP. The idea is that instead of a screen saver, you run the SETI@home software, which uses your computer's spare CPU cycles to crunch numbers for SERENDIP. Rather like the Bovine RC5 project, but with loftier goals. SETI@home isn't active yet, but I look forward to participating when it does start.

Well, that's it for this web.scan. See you again towards the end of the month. Oh, and in case you were wondering: my nickname 'meta' wasn't inspired by the Harvard SETI group's META project; that was just a lucky coincidence.

Internet Infidels: Web.Scan: 1997: November