R. U. Sirius
Encyclopedia
R. U. Sirius is an American
writer, editor, talk show host, musician and cyberculture
celebrity. He is best known as co-founder and original Editor-In-Chief of Mondo 2000
magazine from 1989–1993. Sirius was also chairman and candidate in the 2000 U.S. presidential election for The Revolution Party. The party's 20-point platform was a hybrid of libertarianism
and liberalism
.
At one time, he was a regular columnist for Wired News
and San Francisco Examiner, and contributing writer for Wired and Artforum International. He's also written for Rolling Stone
, Time
, Esquire
and other publications. Sirius has written several hundred articles and essays for mainstream and subculture publications. He was Editor-in-Chief of Axcess magazine in 1998, and GettingIt.com from 1999-2000.
to be a contributing editor for Mondo 2000 and has taught an online course in Leary's philosophy for the Maybe Logic Academy. He co-authored Leary's last book, Design for Dying (1998), and wrote the introduction for a 1998 edition of Leary's 1968 book The Politics of Ecstasy.
Sirius appeared in the films Synthetic Pleasures
(1995) and Conceiving Ada
(1997). His mid-90s techno-rock band Mondo Vanilli recorded an unreleased CD titled IOU Babe for Trent Reznor
's Nothing Records. The music was available on the internet for several years and is currently available on bandcamp http://mondovanilli.bandcamp.com/.
Sirius has been a speaker at many events, such as the Starwood Festival
http://www.subgenius.com/bigfist/FIST2003-1/2002_Devivals/X0008_Back_from_Starwood_X. He delivered the Keynote address for the Virtual Reality conference, Oslo VR, in 1994.
s, the RU Sirius Show and NeoFiles Both went on unannounced hiatus in August 2007 because their financial backer withdrew his support. In September 2006 he helped launch the webzine 10 Zen Monkeys with fellow GettingIt.com alumni Jeff Diehl and Lou Cabron. All these projects were part of a media network named MondoGlobo
.
In October 2008 the first issue of a transhumanist
magazine, H+ Magazine, appeared with Sirius as head editor. It went on hiatus in May 2010, when Sirius turned his attention to a project documenting the history of Mondo 2000.
On June 7, 2011 R.U. Sirius launched Acceler8or a counter-culture, Singularitarian/Transhumanist web-site.
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
writer, editor, talk show host, musician and cyberculture
Cyberculture
Cyberculture is the culture that has emerged, or is emerging, from the use of computer networks for communication, entertainment and business. It is also the study of various social phenomena associated with the Internet and other new forms of network communication, such as online communities,...
celebrity. He is best known as co-founder and original Editor-In-Chief of Mondo 2000
Mondo 2000
Mondo 2000 was a glossy cyberculture magazine published in California during the 1980s and 1990s. It covered cyberpunk topics such as virtual reality and smart drugs. It was a more anarchic and subversive prototype for the later-founded Wired magazine....
magazine from 1989–1993. Sirius was also chairman and candidate in the 2000 U.S. presidential election for The Revolution Party. The party's 20-point platform was a hybrid of libertarianism
Libertarianism
Libertarianism, in the strictest sense, is the political philosophy that holds individual liberty as the basic moral principle of society. In the broadest sense, it is any political philosophy which approximates this view...
and liberalism
Liberalism
Liberalism is the belief in the importance of liberty and equal rights. Liberals espouse a wide array of views depending on their understanding of these principles, but generally, liberals support ideas such as constitutionalism, liberal democracy, free and fair elections, human rights,...
.
At one time, he was a regular columnist for Wired News
Wired News
Wired News is an online technology news website, formerly known as HotWired, that split off from Wired magazine when the magazine was purchased by Condé Nast Publishing in the 1990s. Wired News was owned by Lycos not long after the split, until Condé Nast purchased Wired News on July 11, 2006...
and San Francisco Examiner, and contributing writer for Wired and Artforum International. He's also written for Rolling Stone
Rolling Stone
Rolling Stone is a US-based magazine devoted to music, liberal politics, and popular culture that is published every two weeks. Rolling Stone was founded in San Francisco in 1967 by Jann Wenner and music critic Ralph J...
, Time
Time (magazine)
Time is an American news magazine. A European edition is published from London. Time Europe covers the Middle East, Africa and, since 2003, Latin America. An Asian edition is based in Hong Kong...
, Esquire
Esquire (magazine)
Esquire is a men's magazine, published in the U.S. by the Hearst Corporation. Founded in 1932, it flourished during the Great Depression under the guidance of founder and editor Arnold Gingrich.-History:...
and other publications. Sirius has written several hundred articles and essays for mainstream and subculture publications. He was Editor-in-Chief of Axcess magazine in 1998, and GettingIt.com from 1999-2000.
1970s-80s
Sirius was a teenage Yippie activist in the early 1970s. He was the lead singer for Rochester, New York-based punk band Party Dogs from 1979-81.1990s
Sirius recruited Timothy LearyTimothy Leary
Timothy Francis Leary was an American psychologist and writer, known for his advocacy of psychedelic drugs. During a time when drugs like LSD and psilocybin were legal, Leary conducted experiments at Harvard University under the Harvard Psilocybin Project, resulting in the Concord Prison...
to be a contributing editor for Mondo 2000 and has taught an online course in Leary's philosophy for the Maybe Logic Academy. He co-authored Leary's last book, Design for Dying (1998), and wrote the introduction for a 1998 edition of Leary's 1968 book The Politics of Ecstasy.
Sirius appeared in the films Synthetic Pleasures
Synthetic Pleasures
Synthetic Pleasures is a documentary film by Iara Lee that explores the idea of pleasure and futurism.-Awards and nominations:*1996 Sundance Film Festival - Nominated for the Grand Jury Prize in the Documentary category...
(1995) and Conceiving Ada
Conceiving Ada
Conceiving Ada is a 1997 movie produced, written, and directed by Lynn Hershman Leeson. Produced by Lynn Hershman Leeson and Henry S. Rosenthal. Directors of Photography: Hiro Narita, Bill Zarchy-Synopsis:...
(1997). His mid-90s techno-rock band Mondo Vanilli recorded an unreleased CD titled IOU Babe for Trent Reznor
Trent Reznor
Michael Trent Reznor is an American multi-instrumentalist, composer, record producer, and leader of industrial rock band Nine Inch Nails. Reznor is also a member of How to Destroy Angels alongside his wife, Mariqueen Maandig, and Atticus Ross. He was previously associated with bands Option 30,...
's Nothing Records. The music was available on the internet for several years and is currently available on bandcamp http://mondovanilli.bandcamp.com/.
Sirius has been a speaker at many events, such as the Starwood Festival
Starwood Festival
The Starwood Festival is a seven-day Neo-Pagan, New Age, multi-cultural and world music festival presented in mid- to late July. Approximately 1,500 people attend including staff, speakers and entertainers. The Starwood Festival is a camping event which holds workshops on a variety of subjects...
http://www.subgenius.com/bigfist/FIST2003-1/2002_Devivals/X0008_Back_from_Starwood_X. He delivered the Keynote address for the Virtual Reality conference, Oslo VR, in 1994.
2000s
Sirius shifted his media focus in 2005, becoming a show host for two ongoing weekly podcastPodcast
A podcast is a series of digital media files that are released episodically and often downloaded through web syndication...
s, the RU Sirius Show and NeoFiles Both went on unannounced hiatus in August 2007 because their financial backer withdrew his support. In September 2006 he helped launch the webzine 10 Zen Monkeys with fellow GettingIt.com alumni Jeff Diehl and Lou Cabron. All these projects were part of a media network named MondoGlobo
MondoGlobo
MondoGlobo was a website and Internet network that hosts blogs, podcasts and forums. It was a community of anti-authoritarian citizens, each one with a blog....
.
In October 2008 the first issue of a transhumanist
Transhumanism
Transhumanism, often abbreviated as H+ or h+, is an international intellectual and cultural movement that affirms the possibility and desirability of fundamentally transforming the human condition by developing and making widely available technologies to eliminate aging and to greatly enhance human...
magazine, H+ Magazine, appeared with Sirius as head editor. It went on hiatus in May 2010, when Sirius turned his attention to a project documenting the history of Mondo 2000.
On June 7, 2011 R.U. Sirius launched Acceler8or a counter-culture, Singularitarian/Transhumanist web-site.
Books
- Everybody Must Get Stoned. Rock Stars On Drugs. (2009). Citadel. ISBN 978-0806530734.
- True Mutations. (2007) Pollinator Press. ISBN 978-0977441013.
- Counterculture Through the Ages: From Abraham to Acid House. (2004) Villard Books. ISBN 0-375-50758-2.
- The Revolution: Quotations From Revolution Party Chairman R. U. Sirius. (2000) Feral House. ISBN 0-922915-62-8.
- 21st Century Revolutionary: R.U. Sirius 1984-1998. (1999) Fringecore ISBN 90-76207-51-8.
- Design for Dying. (1998) (with Timothy LearyTimothy LearyTimothy Francis Leary was an American psychologist and writer, known for his advocacy of psychedelic drugs. During a time when drugs like LSD and psilocybin were legal, Leary conducted experiments at Harvard University under the Harvard Psilocybin Project, resulting in the Concord Prison...
) HarperCollinsHarperCollinsHarperCollins is a publishing company owned by News Corporation. It is the combination of the publishers William Collins, Sons and Co Ltd, a British company, and Harper & Row, an American company, itself the result of an earlier merger of Harper & Brothers and Row, Peterson & Company. The worldwide...
. ISBN 0-06-092866-2. - How to Mutate & Take Over the World: an Exploded Post-Novel. (1997) (with St. JudeJude MilhonJude Milhon , in Anderson, Indiana, best known by her pseudonym St. Jude, was a hacker and author in the San Francisco Bay Area....
) Random HouseRandom HouseRandom House, Inc. is the largest general-interest trade book publisher in the world. It has been owned since 1998 by the German private media corporation Bertelsmann and has become the umbrella brand for Bertelsmann book publishing. Random House also has a movie production arm, Random House Films,...
. ISBN 0-517-19832-0. - Cyberpunk Handbook: The Real Cyberpunk Fakebook. (1995) (with St. JudeJude MilhonJude Milhon , in Anderson, Indiana, best known by her pseudonym St. Jude, was a hacker and author in the San Francisco Bay Area....
and Bart Nagel) Random House. ISBN 0-67-976230-2. - Mondo 2000: A User's Guide to the New Edge. (1992) (editor with Rudy RuckerRudy RuckerRudolf von Bitter Rucker is an American mathematician, computer scientist, science fiction author, and philosopher, and is one of the founders of the cyberpunk literary movement. The author of both fiction and non-fiction, he is best known for the novels in the Ware Tetralogy, the first two of...
& Queen Mu) Harperperennial Library. ISBN 0-06-096928-8.
Articles
- Before Mondo 2000, was Reality Hackers, and High Frontiers.
- Steal This Millennium. With Stew Albert. Salon.comSalon.comSalon.com, part of Salon Media Group , often just called Salon, is an online liberal magazine, with content updated each weekday. Salon was founded by David Talbot and launched on November 20, 1995. It was the internet's first online-only commercial publication. The magazine focuses on U.S...
, October 19, 2000. - The RU Sirius Show and NeoFiles. 80-odd podcast interviews, and counting. (With co-hosts including Sherry Miller, Diana Brown, Steve Robles and producer Jeff Diehl.)
Interviews given
- A Sirius Interview About The Revolution. MindJack. C. 2000.
- A Sirius View From the Fringe. Wired News, January 20, 2001.
- "Confusion is Next." New World Disorder Magazine. Mid 2000/June, 2002.
- R.U. Sirius Unplugged. Shift, July 13, 2002.
- VYPH Interview R.U. Sirius! Viking Youth Power HourViking Youth Power HourViking Youth Power Hour is a podcast originating from Chicago, Illinois.As part of the first wave of podcasts to hit the internet, recording their first show shortly after New Years 2004, the Vikings, along with Madge Weinstein's "Yeast Radio" became the Chicago media's focal point illustrating...
November 21, 2005. - R.U. Sirius On The G-Spot Podcast. Alterati, April 5, 2007.
- Future Mutations: An Interview with RU Sirius on Reality Sandwich. February 2008.
- R.U. Sirius interview on the Right Where You Are Sitting Now! podcast. June 2008.