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Thursday, October 6, 2022

About "23," the German movie that features RAW


Scene from the movie; RAW has just finished autographing books for fans. 

Thanks to the kind efforts of Martin Wagner, I now know quite a bit about the German movie 23 Nichts ist so wie es scheint (in English, ""23 - Nothing is what it seems,") a 1998 German film about hacker Karl Koch. The film is available at the Internet Archive. 

Martin points out that RAW appears in the movie, playing himself.

At RAW's Wikipedia entry you'll find an actor section, which says

Robert Anton Wilson appeared in the 1998 German film 23 Nichts ist so wie es scheint. He has approximately two minutes featured as himself, with the main actor, portraying hacker Karl Koch, meeting Wilson at the annual German Computer Hackers Convention in 1985. The film is a biographical piece about Germany's infamous computer hackers, and the 1985 meeting in Germany between Wilson and Koch is authentic. Wilson spoke at the 1985 German Computer Hackers Convention, warning of a future in which governments would have total digital control over the citizen. He signed one of his books for Koch. These events are depicted in the film.

RAW can be seen about 13 minutes into the film. There are scenes of the protagonist reading Illuminatus!

A clip which shows RAW speaking has been circulating on Twitter.  Brian Dean (of RAW Semantics) noted it and wrote, "The embedded video here looks well-produced, but since I don't speak German, I don't know what they're saying (it's about RAW/Illuminatus, etc):"

I called Martin's attention to it on Twitter, and he has kindly supplied a translation:

00:08:59,500 --> 00:09:01,980

Something I want to show you...


93

00:09:03,300 --> 00:09:06,500

His associates found it in his desk.


94

00:09:10,500 --> 00:09:12,900

- 'National Research Award'...

 Great haircut!


95

00:09:13,100 --> 00:09:14,900

- I won it when I turned 14.


96

00:09:15,100 --> 00:09:16,500

That's the author...


97

00:09:16,700 --> 00:09:17,900

Robert Anton Wilson


98

00:09:18,100 --> 00:09:19,500

- He looks strange.


99

00:09:19,700 --> 00:09:20,700

- Dad made a mistake...


100

00:09:20,900 --> 00:09:22,100

thought it was a kid's book.


101

00:09:22,300 --> 00:09:25,700

When he knew the truth, he confiscated it.


102

00:09:27,700 --> 00:09:29,700

Now it's all mine again.


103

00:09:30,300 --> 00:09:33,100

- "Nothing is true. Everything's permitted.


104

00:09:33,300 --> 00:09:36,300

World history is war between secret societies."


105

00:09:36,500 --> 00:09:39,100

- Wilson says the world isn't what it seems.


106

00:09:39,300 --> 00:09:41,100

A secret society controls all


107

00:09:41,300 --> 00:09:43,100

the Illuminati.


108

00:09:43,300 --> 00:09:45,300

But Hagbard Celine is a rebel,


109

00:09:45,500 --> 00:09:47,700

an anarchist on a submarine.


110

00:09:47,900 --> 00:09:50,500

From there he fights Illuminati.


111

00:09:55,100 --> 00:09:57,500

He has a computer on the a sub


112

00:09:57,700 --> 00:10:00,500

computing risk of World War III with simulations.


113

00:10:00,700 --> 00:10:01,700

- Mmmhm


114

00:10:01,900 --> 00:10:03,700

- Computer's named, "Fuck Up".


115

00:10:03,900 --> 00:10:04,900

- What?


116

00:10:05,100 --> 00:10:09,300

- Fuckup: First Universal Cybernetic Kinetic Ultra-micro Programmable


117

00:10:09,500 --> 00:10:11,500

If you want, I'll lend it to you.


118

00:10:11,700 --> 00:10:12,900

- I guess.


119

00:10:13,900 --> 00:10:22,100

"Reality at last, Ten bottles of wine, all empty too fast!"


120

00:10:22,500 --> 00:10:26,900

Pizza anyone?


121

00:10:33,820 --> 00:10:36,100

- End this now or I'll call the cops


122

00:10:36,420 --> 00:10:37,700

Alex


123

00:10:37,900 --> 00:10:41,500

- Who pissed on the mailboxes? What a mess!


124

00:10:41,900 --> 00:10:43,300

- Who's that whiner?


125

00:10:43,500 --> 00:10:46,500

- My landlord.


126

00:10:50,500 --> 00:10:54,300

My landlord says he'll call the cops. It's over. Go home.


127

00:11:02,100 --> 00:11:05,300

"Beate didn't take 'Illuminatus,'


128

00:11:05,700 --> 00:11:07,700

Alex only read parts on sex and drugs.


129

00:11:08,300 --> 00:11:10,300

He plain, 'didn't get it.'


130

00:11:11,300 --> 00:11:13,620

What Wilson's wrote about assassinations was riveting.


131

00:11:13,820 --> 00:11:18,100

I repeatedly read it, and sought other believers.


132

00:11:18,380 --> 00:11:21,660

BBS were populated by people like me.


133

00:11:22,220 --> 00:11:24,500

I got a computer and joined my peers.


134

00:11:24,900 --> 00:11:26,500

Just a simple computer.


135

00:11:27,100 --> 00:11:30,100

Only a Commodore, but it served my needs.


136

00:11:46,300 --> 00:11:49,180

I felt I discovered a new continent.


137

00:11:49,380 --> 00:11:54,100

I visited my global neighbors.


138

00:11:55,900 --> 00:11:58,900

It didn't take long to choose a name


139

00:12:21,860 --> 00:12:25,500

On a BBS where 'Illuminatus' was argued,


140

00:12:25,700 --> 00:12:29,900

I read Wilson would visit a Hamburg Chaos Computer Club meeting.


141

00:12:38,500 --> 00:12:40,900

Many computer freaks attended from all over Germany.


142

00:12:41,300 --> 00:12:45,300

Many were inert but some had skills.


143

00:12:45,700 --> 00:12:50,100

It's like converting a harmless child's toy into a bomb.


144

00:12:50,300 --> 00:12:54,500

'Scarabeus' hacked Frankfurt airport's flight arrival board


145

00:12:54,700 --> 00:12:57,700

'Conan' took-over Luxemburg's power grid.


146

00:12:57,500 --> 00:13:01,500

'Fishball' had an illegal mail server at GAC.


147

00:13:02,420 --> 00:13:04,100

Then there was 'David' from Hannover.


148

00:13:04,300 --> 00:13:06,100

His net-name was 'Goliath'.


149

00:13:08,820 --> 00:13:11,100

- We're now discovering that the true source of wealth


150

00:13:11,300 --> 00:13:14,500

is information, and it increases as it's shared.


151

00:13:14,900 --> 00:13:19,700

"Wilson said computers will revolutionize society.


152

00:13:20,300 --> 00:13:23,700

Information will be more important than money.


153

00:13:24,100 --> 00:13:28,500

Knowledge is power and will be controlled by few.



1 comment:

michael said...

I saw this film on the big screen the year it came out, in Hollywood, when there was an "interesting films from Europe this year" festival. Something like that.

When I talked with RAW about Karl Koch he mentioned being in the film and wishing it would show in the US, because he hadn't seen it. I said I saw it and liked it a lot. Good subtitles.

I remember at one point the Koch character - possibly in voice-over - said he'd read Illuminatus! 80 times.

"YOU saw it?"
"Yea. In Hollywood."
"Well it didn't play in Santa Cruz."
(something like this)

He seemed momentarily annoyed about that.

I'm not sure if there's a DVD available formatted for the US. Is there? A while ago I looked at it seemed there wasn't.