Ralph Abraham, a California math professor interested in hip culture, has died at age 88. He wrote books on mathematics and philosophy and was interested in psychedelics and lectured on chaos theroy. Many people in the Robert Anton Wilson community have been mourning his death, here are quotes taken from X.com:
R.U. Sirius: "Ralph Abraham RIP ... the brilliant mathematician and friend to Mondo 2000 et. al. (my recollection is that he wrote for Reality Hackers) master of chaos theory in performance, music, collabs w Terence McKenna he left us at 70. In my limited experience, he was exceptionally kind."
Bobby Campbell: "Ralph Abraham - Dove Sta Memoria. He was the coolest and nicest mathematical genius imaginable. He always answered my silly questions in such an uplifting way that broadened my horizons. May the trialogues never end :)))"
Ted Hand: "RIP Ralph Abraham. I had the pleasure of getting lunch with him, William Sarill, and the late Juan Acosta-Urquidi in Santa Cruz a decade or so back. He told us about a book club he had going with Terence McKenna reading PKD novels. I had been meaning to interview him about that."
Joseph Matheny: "RIP Ralph Abraham. One of my most influential mentors and friends...I worked with Raph on several projects, including going to the Ross School in 2000 and showing students how to author a then-emerging tech video format, DVD. I also often invoked his books (especially "Chaos, Gaia, Eros," a formative book for me) and his concept of The Spiral Curriculum, embodied in his creation for The Ross Academy." (Follow the link thread for a photo and caption and a link to a video).
Here is Professor Abraham's official website.
1 comment:
Ralph always seemed way above my head - the guy in the Trialogues that I couldn't make traction with. I had him on my celebrity wish list as a podcast guest, but hadn't really pursued it.
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