Podcast
Behind the Bastards
It was described as a very strange piece of fiction, with a premise that all conspiracy theories, even conflicting ones, are true and a secret war is waged between the Illuminati and Discordians.
In 1975, Robert Anton Wilson and Robert Shea, his fellow editor at Playboy, start to publish a series of three novels eventually known as the Illuminatus Trilogy.
— Episode: Part Six: A Complete History of the Illu...
Episode: Part Six: A Complete History of the Illuminati
It was described as a very strange piece of fiction, with a premise that all conspiracy theories, even conflicting ones, are true and a secret war is waged between the Illuminati and Discordians.
In 1975, Robert Anton Wilson and Robert Shea, his fellow editor at Playboy, start to publish a series of three novels eventually known as the Illuminatus Trilogy.
The book is a very weird piece of fiction. One of the things they're doing during this is like every chapter, basically, they switch off. And so they were kind of trying to write each other every chapter into a corner that the other couldn't get out of.
The foundational premise is that all conspiracy theories, even the conflicting ones, are true. And the history of the world is largely determined by a secret war being waged between the all controlling Illuminati and the Discordians, who are like the insurgents fighting against the Illuminati and also are part of the Illuminati.
It's a very... It's that kind of book. And again, one of the things actually, because like everyone is a double agent, right? And like the the Discordians are actually deeply enmeshed in the Illuminati.
So for just like working for like mainstream publications, you're critiquing capitalism or participating in capitalism. And I don't actually think that's like bad, obviously. But it's messy. And I could leave you with that sort of sense of... Yeah. And it's a very messy book.