Sunday, May 04, 2008

ZOMBIE BENTHAM


HI Friends it has been too god damn long. I almost gave up on this blog thing--but sychronicity baby!
Bam 1: I learn about zombie bentham.
Bam 2: I finished my big nasty ass paper for the semester. I can smell summer.
Bam 3: My robot x friend posted one funny ass blog.
Bam 4: Crazy dreams about mortality. Inspired by zombie Bentham? who knows.

Fact: Utilitarians are nuts: "The cabinet contains Bentham's preserved skeleton, dressed in his own clothes, and surmounted by a wax head. Bentham requested that his body be preserved in this way in his will made shortly before his death on 6 June 1832. The cabinet was moved to UCL in 1850.

Not surprisingly, this peculiar relic has given rise to numerous legends and anecdotes. One of the most commonly recounted is that the Auto-Icon regularly attends meetings of the College Council, and that it is solemnly wheeled into the Council Room to take its place among the present-day members. Its presence, it is claimed, is always recorded in the minutes with the words Jeremy Bentham - present but not voting. Another version of the story asserts that the Auto-Icon does vote, but only on occasions when the votes of the other Council members are equally split. In these cases the Auto-Icon invariably votes for the motion.

Bentham had originally intended that his head should be part of the Auto-Icon, and for ten years before his death (so runs another story) carried around in his pocket the glass eyes which were to adorn it. Unfortunately when the time came to preserve it for posterity, the process went disastrously wrong, robbing the head of most of its facial expression, and leaving it decidedly unattractive. The wax head was therefore substituted, and for some years the real head, with its glass eyes, reposed on the floor of the Auto-Icon, between Bentham's legs. However, it proved an irresistible target for students, especially from King's College London, who stole the head in 1975 and demanded a ransome of £100 to be paid to the charity Shelter. UCL finally agreed to pay a ransome of £10 and the head was returned. On another occasion, according to legend, the head, again stolen by students, was eventually found in a luggage locker at a Scottish Station (possibly Aberdeen). The last straw (so runs yet another story) came when it was discovered in the front quadrangle being used for football practice, and the head was henceforth placed in secure storage."

Utilitarian Hedonist=future zombie.
Stick with the Stoa my friends. You can be happy on the rack and when you die you can rot like a man.

6 Comments:

Blogger Josh Krauter said...

Oh yeah, brother. Thanks for the shoutout. Which post were you referring to, pigeon urine or Chocolate Thunder? I want to be preserved just like Bentham, except replace "head" with "wang." Two zombie wangs in a display case, in the Children's Museum.

10:04 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Hi Dan. I AM VERY VERY SORRY for not calling you. Life has been crazy.

My phone broke for the 3rd time in a year. Oy. I just got a new phone today. And guess what: I'm moving to San Fransisco in less than a month. E-mail me at jasonflatowicz@hotmail.com so I can give new my number to you.

Sorry, I don't know any other way to get a hold of you right now except by commenting on your blog.

Go Pistons. Although the Lakers shall certainly rape them.

-Flatoshitz

5:48 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Happy Birthday DAN!!! (09.08.08) It would appear you have changed your phone number again???

Love,
Jason F.

1:41 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

I heard you got married and transferred to Madison.
Congratulations all round.
I smile envisioning your happiness.

I hope you don't remember me too unfavorably.
Mr.Sensitive

6:11 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Hey Everyone
Thanks for the comments
To flatoshitz: keep rockin LA
To Mr.Sensitive: Never a bad thought towards you.

7:46 AM  
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