Another in the ongoing series from Terra Cognita.
Behind the Techno Eight Ball
Scientology has always been a decade behind in technology with regards to books, tapes, CDs, film, computers, and database management. For a man who professed to be smarter than anyone else, LRH and his church have failed to keep up.
Year after year, the church rolls out their version of something Microsoft and Sony already perfected and released. Not only is Scientology’s version out-of-date, it’s of lesser quality.
Books
Scientology has always harbored an unnatural fear of the digital world. As if they thought allowing people to read LRH on their Kindle or IPad would lead to catastrophe. Or that SPs would alter Ron’s words and scatter squirrel tech all over the Internet. That Amazon and Apple were stupid for selling digital versions of books.
Meanwhile, a younger generation embraces everything with a screen, preferring computers, tablets, and cell phones to paper and ink.
An inexpensive tablet would easily hold everything LRH ever wrote with bytes left over for dictionaries and search functions. Spreading the word of Scientology would cost pennies. Anyone with a cell phone could literally have the Basics in their back pocket.
Instead, a few years ago Scientology unveiled a “state-of-the-art” printing facility costing millions of dollars. So everyone could buy LRH’s library for thousands of dollars—for their new bookcase covering the south wall of their living room.
You would think the purpose of Bridge—that branch in charge of publishing the written works of Scientology—would be to distribute as much of LRH’s work to as many people as possible in the shortest amount of time. Apparently not. You’d almost think a certified SP was running the show.
Computers and Database Mismanagement
Mike recently posted an article about Scientology’s antiquated filing system. Spending as much time and energy as they do on physical files speaks volumes on how out-of-date the church is.
Even when they’ve tried to go digital, they’ve failed. Year after year, orgs mail out duplicate promo pieces to people—or the same three pieces to all three family members. They repeatedly send mail to people who’ve asked to be taken off their mailing list. They mail promo to tourists who happened to be walking by an org and bought Dianetics, a day before returning home to Greenland in 1976. Orgs consistently cut across each other’s lines, promoting to people outside their zone of influence. And they routinely promote services that don’t apply.
It seems all they know is shotgun marketing. Targeting specific publics seems beyond their scope of expertise. Then again, “outflow equals inflow.”
Years ago, Scientology built their versions of the computer. Instead of employing Windows technology they equipped their keyboards with rows of special buttons. The machines ran agonizingly slowly, were glitch-central, and were outdated before they hit org desks. They were overt products from day one. (Overt product: A product that doesn’t work and nobody wants.)
To think Scientology knows more about computers than Microsoft, Apple, and IBM is spectacular hubris. Then again…they do have “the tech.”
Not that Best Buy is a paragon of all things electronic, but computers and software could have been had for a fraction of what the church was charging its orgs.
Tapes and CDs
Scientology has always been years behind in the way they publish and distribute LRH lectures.
They continued to use reel-to-reel tape well after the invention of the cassette. By the time they finally upgraded to cassettes, the rest of the world had switched to CDs. And they’re still using CDs when everyone else is downloading music and podcasts from the cloud onto their computers, tablets, and cell phones. (The Best Buy nearest me stopped selling CD players over two years ago—I know, I tried buying my spouse one for Christmas. Ended up getting a Kindle Fire instead. Home run!)
Years ago, Bridge spent gobs of money on something called “Clear Sound.” They created ridiculous CD machines that necessitated a separate satchel to carry around all of its components. The system cost hundreds of dollars. They were promoted as “state-of-the-art” sound technology. My Sony Walkman cost $19.95 with no difference in quality. For a picture, click on this link: https://goo.gl/images/9IbZeJ
They created (with the help of Nakamichi) equally costly cassette and CD machines for all the course rooms in all the orgs. They were outrageously expensive, became outdated almost immediately, and the sound quality was hardly an improvement. There were always one or two machines that didn’t work sitting on a shelf gathering dust.
Once again, Scientology thought they knew better than Sony, Samsung, and Panasonic—companies who spend billions on research and discovery. More hubris.
Film
Perhaps the biggest joke—and overt products—have always been Scientology’s “state-of-the-art” films. From e-meter films to the Tone Scale, production value has been so poor as to be laughable.
Sometime in the 80’s, Golden Era Studios switched from reel-to-reel film (eight or sixteen millimeter) to cassettes—though not the kind you’re thinking of. They encased the film inside monstrous, round, foot-wide diameter (literally!) cassettes that had to be played in special, custom-made projectors. The quality was atrocious, Golden Era charged the orgs tens of thousands of dollars for this “state-of-the-art” system. Of course, by then, the rest of the world was transitioning from VHS videocassettes to DVDs and flat screens for a fraction of the price.
Film Rooms
Golden Era Studios decided that all orgs had to have special rooms in which to show their special movies. These rooms had to be soundproof , meet specific specifications, and they cost thousands of dollars. And speaking of the equipment…
At one point, after they’d switched from film to DVD—yes, they finally did—all orgs were ordered to buy their new “state-of-the-art” digital system. If I recall, the flat screen TV cost between twelve and fifteen thousand dollars (One with better definition could have been had at Best Buy for $999); their sound system cost more thousands of dollars (Best Buy was selling great speakers for a couple of hundred bucks); and their super-duper DVD player cost hundreds—maybe thousands (Best Buy had discounted the machines to $69).
Meanwhile, Samsung, Sony, and LG—spending more billions on R & D—had introduced high definition, making Golden Era Studios equipment obsolete.
Scientology Media Productions—SUMP (see Mike’s Feb 19 essay for more)
I expect Scientology’s new “cutting edge” broadcast facilities will follow this same pattern of rolling out yesterday’s technology and calling it “state-of-the-art.” While they embrace radio and “‘over the top’ streaming to computers” as the wave of the future, the rest of the world is no doubt developing a next generation of media that will make SUMP look antiquated.
Two or three years ago, maybe longer, the church spent millions of dollars on a series of TV ads that was supposed to drive in the public like never before. The thing is, these commercials won’t be released until all orgs have become “ideal” (so they’re able to handle the massive traffic this promotion will generate).
Undoubtedly, these ads will be outdated by the time they finally air. The actor’s hairstyles will look slightly out-of-date and their attire somewhat “last year.” The subliminal message will be “so is Scientology.”
Cost to Orgs
Since all orgs are insolvent, they’ve never been able to afford any of this “new” technology, these “new” books, tapes, film, and “state-of-the-art” equipment they’re required to own. Not to worry. Despite LRH writing specific policy against not buying things on credit, Bridge and Golden Era has put everything “on account.” Orgs don’t even have to order any of this; it’s all sent to them automatically—even if they already have rooms full of the stuff.
Unless this debt has been forgiven, every org on the planet owes Bridge and Golden Era hundreds of thousands of dollars. Throw in what ideal orgs owe on their buildings and, with the exception of David Miscavige and the IAS, all Scientology churches are up to their eyeballs in debt.
Ironically, most of these books, CDs, and boxes of promo eventually get thrown out. I have witnessed whole rooms of these things get dumped when “new,” “updated,” “Golden Age of Tech” editions were released. This pattern of waste has been repeated several times throughout the years.
Last Words
All of this church technology reminds me of the movie, Battlefield Earth. None of it should have ever been released.
Still not Declared,
Terra Cognita
Thanks for the interesting article, I’d nearly forgotten about all the rip off AV equipment, how the orgs had those silly lttle clearsound amps atttached to the side of the cd player, Just to prove to my own satisfaction that they were in fact completely pointless I used to plug the headphones directly into the cd/tape deck and listen through there, there is a volume level on the Nakamichi decks so absolutely perfect with out having to use the ugly amateurish product stuck to the side of it. They also used incredibly expensive headphones, when they broke the org couldn’t afford to replace them so solicited donations for some much less expensive replacements.
I’d always wondered why they had been given all this expensive equipment, scientology never gives anything away, but of course Terra has supplied the answer they orgs were in debt for everything they were made to get.
Also great point about the amount of space that the recorded lectures take up, we needed space in our garage which was filled with box upon box of lectures I’d never even unwrapped, the whole lot got trashed, another environmental disaster courtesy of scientology.
Great article Terra as usual, but I wouldn’t doubt at all your declared by now. Probably for the best anyway.
Great article..Love the work that Mike and Leah do….The following is a D.I.Y for all aspiring cult leaders https://youtu.be/EBK5aKOr2Fw
Thank you, for all you do, Mike Rinder! You and Leah Remini are a great team and so looking forward to Season II of Aftermath! Scientology is practising spiritual terrorism, masquerading as a religion! So glad you saw the light and left!
Usually when I think of the little venom-spitting tyrant David Miscavige, the word sociopath comes to mind. But if he keeps doing what he is doing, he will surely drive $cientology into the ground. This crazy organization and its byzantine rules and regulations were hatched from the damaged mind of L. Ron Hubbard. With the incompetent Miscavige running the cult, using the LRH rulebook, it’s only a matter of time before the whole thing implodes (what a happy day that will be). The people in this “church” are already a laughing stock to most of the world, and it would indeed be funny if it wasn’t for all the ruined lives.
“You’d almost think a certified SP was running the show.” That line is just PERFECT!
I wonder if somewhere in the bowels of $cientology , some poor team of saps has been printing off the whole internet since its inception. And if so, they are probably using a dot matrix printer.
Right on the mark. The incompetence on how they handle promotion and marketing to both existing and new people should be a first indicator that there is something awfully wrong. And if they are that incompetent on that aspect of the game, then imagine the state of affairs of everything else under the control of “Management” … I’d want transparency and an audit if I were still in.
Hi, thank you for the article. Very enlightening. If posssible, I was wondering if someone could explain the issue of the Scio’s hacking into email accounts of the SP’s, cell phones, laptops, and IP addressss for the internet or wifi technology. How are they gaining knowledge to do this if the “tech” part of the cult is so outdated? Is there a group “hidden” inside the cult that does this? How is it that computer forensic specialists who are the best in the field, have a hard time finding Scio info on a laptop? I hear specific scios are so good they are able to go into the laptop and embed info on the hard drive that no one can ever find. Is this a lie I’m hearing from other trained forensic specialists? I also have read, not sure if it’s true, the the Advanced Technology Center, (ATC) in Poway, CA, is run by Scios and is somehow connected to Geroge Lucas, who is also Scio.. Thank you for your reply.
They hire outside contractors. The guy who was convicted of hacking me and Tony Ortega was a contractor hired by a PI who was hired by a lawyer…
Yes. So, please answer if possible, is the “contractor” Scio or is he just working “for” the Scio. That’s whee the line starts to get grey for me in understanding this.
Mr Rinker, thank you for your reply. It has been a horrendous 8 months but we are still standing and trusting God for Victory.
NO, the contractors are not normally scientologists. Nor are the PI’s (with one exception — Dave Lubow). Nor are the lawyers (other than Moxon and Helena Kolbran)…
Okay…thank you Mr Rinder! So sorry to misspell your name before. Your information is extremely helpful. It’s amazing to me how much Scio’s are able to influence non Scio’s with the drop of a penny. We are discovering the influence of non Scio’s in the judicial/legal/law enforcement/cps/non profits/neighbors/family members and on and on. I see now even, Gov Abbott of TX being influenced. Amazing how this happens. Thank you again. .
D Perez, there used to be scientologists NOT on church staff that were experts. But I don’t know anymore if there are.
More proof that money can not buy taste, or talent, common sense, realistic goals, useful ideas or concepts, a reprieve from stupidity. It can however buy gourmet food stuffs, expensive suits, fancy shoes and high end stereo equipment, what you play on it is your doing.
Maybe he just has to keep busy. With sociopathology (assumed) boredom is a fate worse than death, literally. I think DM would rather do dumb things than do nothing. That is why he can have heated argument yell fests where he changes his opinion from one side to the other and just keeps arguing all the way through. Also why he sleeps like the dead. No conscience and exhausted from being completely and totally absorbed and busy f*&^ing with every damn thing he can from the moment he is awake till he releases the underlings at 2 AM.
DM is doing this, DM is doing that. What else is he gonna do? If he could change he would have by now!
I gotto go watch the Zags play BYU. Go Bulldogs!
Battlefield Earth: The only film where adding Jar Jar Binks would have been an improvement.
LMFAO!!!
Even Alcoholics Anonymous has been digital for years They are sincere about their primary purpose of helping others At no cost to anyone
LRH reminds me of my Father in Law ..thinks he knows more than anyone else. But in the end. In many ways. Doesn’t
This IS fantastic also and reminds me of something else. And that is the fact that the Church of Scientology has been open to the public since 1954 (63 years) and there is still no sign of even a single clear COMMUNITY on Earth anywhere let alone a clear country or planet as was predicted MINIMUM 1978.
Microsoft (on the other hand) is a household word and managed to become the biggest company in the world in less than 10 years because of its software products sales.
That is quite an impressive line up of products from both organizations but unfortunately only Microsoft’s sell.
Perhaps someone could interest David Miscavige in Windows 10? 🙂
Wow. Unbelievable
Perfectly summery of what its like being in a brainwashed organization. You should have seen the uniforms we all had to wear in about 1990. Not cotton, no spandex. Fitted for Japanese bodys I think. And then after all crew were ordered to Let Hall the get their full set and trunk at 11pm of course, I get a bill for the next FP !!!!! I was well trained. My response was where was the prior approval? Of course there was none. I doubt same with all the equipment and sound rooms. Scientology finance couldn’t follow their own policys. They don’t expect the public to either. The only one DM seems to follow is create a reserve and don’t ever spend it. Any way I refused to approve the bill and suggested it go at the end of the dateline like it should anyway. I see much more clearly why I got kicked out….can’t believe I cried about it for some 15 years.
No, “Battlefield Earth” is a delight to watch and I’m glad that it was released. Ghost Spouse and I still smile whenever I say: “BLOW THE DOME!”
I went into the ideal org in San Francisco and noticed all their computers were using Windows XP. Talk about dated, I don’t think Microsoft even supports that anymore.
Matt if they aren’t on the internet its best for something like the SF org to stay with XP
M$ didn’t support XP when they released it. I had to migrate some of our apps from NT to XP and had some unbelievable problems that took our team several years to solve. Meanwhile, I use Apple at home for just that reason: I’m using a few apps I first ran on the original 1984 Mac OS; more than 30 years later. they work just fine without even a recompile.
One of the best yet Terra.
Great article.
The focus on audio and video productions and now “Ideal Orgs” or the Super Power building or re-editing the books or a television studio is just a glitzy distraction from being unable to sit down in front of someone and listen to their issues with the hope of helping them.
It’s stunning to see the vastness of the distraction which is crazy even without discussing money or Mark VIII e-meter.
Scientology is not about helping anyone. Scientology is about the glorification of LRH and David Miscavage. Everything else is just the side show.
Great article Terra!
“As if they thought allowing people to read LRH on their Kindle or IPad would lead to catastrophe…..”
Well, it was a Kindle (that had Google on it) that led to Ron Miscavige Sr to read entheta on the internet and we all know how that turned out!
One would think with all of the ‘OTs’ that are being made both in the ‘church’ and in the independent field, someone would use their incredible powers of recall and duplicate some vastly advanced ‘past track’ technology that would be light years ahead of what mere wogs are turning out routinely in the high tech centers of this lousy prison planet. What gives? Maybe it’s like scientology’s worn out excuse, no one would be able to ‘have’ such a reality.
HUbbard claimed to have done that, sort of. He wrote screeds about computerization and “Chug” — though apparently he could not recall how to set up or program the computers, he held forth on how this long gone planet had been run by computers. He described what they should do to enforce compliance and other things. The efforts to implement this were the basis of INCOMM and the results were disastrous. In a familiar flaw of scientology administration it turned into a bureaucratic nightmare. “Non-compliance” would “escalate” to your boss and then to his boss etc. When you were high on the org board, with thousands of orders issued to your subordinates you would end up with HUNDREDS of computer orders/notifications EVERY DAY. Even if you spent your whole day trying to respond to them you could not keep up and would have time to do NOTHING else.
He also did his “Test of Whole Track Recall” (Mission Into Time) to find treasure he had supposedly buried in earlier lifetimes. No treasure was ever found, despite this being almost the exclusive job of the Sea Org in its earliest days.
For what little it’s worth, this article contains a few inaccuracies and generalities regarding INCOMM.
“Years ago, Scientology built their versions of the computer. Instead of employing Windows technology they equipped their keyboards with rows of special buttons. The machines ran agonizingly slowly, were glitch-central, and were outdated before they hit org desks. They were overt products from day one.”
I was on staff at INCOMM at the time and “Windows technology” didn’t really exist at the time when work began on the org computer system; MS-DOS did though. The org computer was built on top of MS-DOS, which was made (licensed) by Microsoft. I could argue that MS-DOS itself was on overt product and should have never been used, but at the time there wasn’t a lot of choice. The first (very crude and unusable) version of Windows wasn’t released until the end of 1985. The first somewhat usable version of Windows wasn’t released until the early 90s (Windows 3.1), and Windows didn’t really catch up with the Mac until around 1995 (Windows 95).
The reason org computers had keyboards with special buttons was because INCOMM’s internal WICAT computers had them, and they were used by Int Management for office automation (Word Processor, Mercury (Email), STATS, and SIR). Most people in Int Management found these computer applications easy to use. Miscavige specifically ordered that the org computer systems have these types of keyboards too and a special manufacturer was found to make them. The keyboards also included a credit card reader. The keyboards themselves weren’t a big problem from what I remember.
What made the org computer systems slow was the networking technology, the database technology, and a lack of performance tuning and optimization by the software development staff. And of course there was a lack of testing which contributed to their bugginess. There was a lot of pressure from above (RTC) to “slam dunk” a computer system into existence, instead of doing the normal testing and piloting. INCOMM routinely tested (and debugged) on a production line in violation of the LRH advice on it.
It might surprise some people that LRH had also advised that INCOMM should spare no expense and “hire a sharp programmer” and keep up with the state of the art computer technology. You have to keep in mind that INCOMM during this whole time period had been managed exclusively by RTC and the only person in RTC to have any computer experience at all was Pascal Julienne (spelling?), who managed INCOMM from 1987-1990. Brian Patrick was the Commanding Officer INCOMM during the same time. Brian Patrick had zero computer training. Marc Yager was senior to Pascal and also had no computer training. It was during the Yager/Julienne/Patrick time period the INCOMM developed a certain penchant for devising alarm clock programs that spit out nudges and chits. They took one LRH advice and took it to an extreme. And of course there was the infamous COB Assitant’s (Shelly Miscavige) “Orders Logging” program.
The technical staff at INCOMM in the 1980’s was for the most part very talented; there were several people with advance computer degrees (one had a PhD from Harvard), and several years of industry experience. THAT wasn’t the problem. INCOMM was very poorly managed by its executive staff and had an extremely high turnover rate. Most of the time “Make it Go Right” means doing a quickie in the Sea Org. There were also several “purges” of “unqualified” staff in the 80’s and 90’s. The final INCOMM purge came in 1995 with the Valentine’s Day Massacre ordered by Miscavige. Ironically, the organization that was supposed to manage International Scientology and catch corrupt staff like Miscavige (real life Duke of CHUG) by the Police Computer (INCOMM’s version of HAL), was decimated by him. Go figure.
“Valentine’s Day Massacre ordered by Miscavige.” – – – wow, that’s actually a thing. The sentence begged further exploration.
Google spat it out for me:
http://www.scientology-cult.com/david-miscavige-valentines-day-massacre.html
Thank you. I was involved with INCOMM routing form implementation at CL V org level, and hence, have interest and experience.
Jethro: Thanks for that. Fascinating! I can only imagine working under such conditions.
I was on staff at the Mission of Winnepeg back in 1973. We would get lengthily telex messages from Fred Harris in Toronto, and ‘burning’ phone calls to get the stats up for Thursday, 2 p.m. Fred would yell his head off! In winter, it would be -25 degrees in the evening, nobody walking the streets of downtown, except us idiots out looking for someone to body route.
Anyway, it was the only telex machine I ever saw, or used… I can still hear the rat-ta-tat. At least you were not being yelled at!
I despised Central files (writing corny letters to unknown people), and later the Birthday Game. I can’t believe that scienmoneyology still has both of these anvils.
Making the sane more sane? More like the gullible more gullible.
On another note, I was Div. 6 registrar, and I think the year was 1974 when I gave Janet Kenyon (Laveau) her Oxford Capacity test results…signed her up for the comm course. Janet was very nice, we became friends. I had supper at her mother’s house one evening, also a very nice lady. I hope that Janet gets out one day, but I fear she is a lifer, especially with kids on staff.
“Spreading the word of Scientology would cost pennies.” Said no one to Davy Miscavage at any time.
Lron required complete control over the contents of the mystery sandwich, and Little Davy knows that if the sandwich ever gets to Quiznos, the end is here.
All the rest of the clampires machinations are done to enhance the bottom line and run the scam like the Amway type MLM that they are. Except that Amway knows better than to use ancient audiovisual equipment and cheap production.
It is all about the money.
I agree zemooo. It’s all about controlling the content and maintaining their trade secrets, the costs be damned (easy to say when you spend OTHER people’s money that you cajole/coerce/threaten out of them). Plus they have to find SOMETHING to spend all of that cash on for tax purposes.
“They have to spend the money..” and therein lies the catch , Mick. If it isn’t real estate, it has to be something else; infrastructure, communications, PR, etc. They can’t have excess cash . Could it be that DM and the rest of ‘upper ma agement’ are dumb like foxes? By continuing to invest in obsolescence, they have a continuing stream of “worthy” ( and tax exempt) projects on which to spend all of that $$$.
One of my pet peeves was the meter drills movie – for years technology has existed to run cameras at higher speeds – doubling the frame rate or more. When you do that, the motion on the screen smooths out and is more realistic – no wagon wheels spinning backwards, no staccato jumpy images of objects in motion, etc. If they had invested in that technology, the reads on the screen would be smooth as glass, instead of being the jumpy mess they currently are. I thought, as a result, the training of auditors would improve. Of course my Things That Shouldn’t Be reports never went anywhere.
Once I upon a time I thought they cared about quality products, and would fix the flat ball bearings. Once upon a time I believed in 1-10 of KSW. But, as in all good fairy tales, there’s a moral to be learned
Mimsey
we had such high hopes and expectations. We believed in the goodness.
Thank you Terra, Another amazing piece with lots of excellent points, all of which I have wondered about at one time or another in Sea Org and after. Those huge old reel to reels were the devil to work properly, but I kept at it and eventually got them to thread. To think. the cult still considers itself full of genuses. Ah delusions!! ?
Scientology is stuck in the past? Yes, that’s what scientology has always been about. The past.
“Whole track”, that’s where all the answers lie hidden like buried treasure. Notwithstanding all the lip service it gives to “being in present time” it’s the infinite past that has been scientology’s bread and butter.
Well, it’s fitting, isn’t it? that the past should end up consuming scientology and shitting it as history!
This is because everyone in scamology is stuck using what L. Fraud decreed. Else per his edicts you are the worst of criminals and must be dealt with. VERY similar to the Quran and those who actually follow what’s written therein.
In Hubbard’s gradiose mentality, though, if one knew all he wrote, along all avenues, one would notice the lack of WDC INCOMM, and likely the lack of the RTC Rep for INCOMM, either one, who really knew all that Hubbard wrote, and would strategize the “catching up” to society’s technology for storage and computerization.
Two Hubbard references that would be on the “Mini Hat” checksheet I’d write for either WDC INCOMM or the INCOMM Rep RTC would include:
INCOMM Policy Letter
Routing Forms How to Write One
and then ALL of the LRH advices that were the raw Hubbard despatch writings that the two above policies were compiled from.
LRH’s final raw advices, were they available to the movement members (per Hubbard’s “Keeing Scientology Working” point 1, “Having the correct technology” banality) would be to even let the members of Scientology know Hubbard’s ideas!
The movement is so self tripping over the restraints of not even knowing what Hubbard wrote.
Scientology is correctly pegged by outsiders who see it as delusional, from day one, Hubbard’s ideas in the late 1940s and beginning 1950s were correctly pegged as science fictionesque delusional.
They could “catch up” using modern computer devices, but then what would that gain them?
If Scientologists would only put on “soul-flying” Armed Services/Air Show day celebrations, and popularize their successful Scientologists who are exemplary “soul-flyers” with their stellar ESP abilities, then the whole Hubbard harebrained operation would be worthwhile.
No “OTs”.
So, let them be stuck in their paper filing cabinets and paper “routing forms” and their Emeters that still require hand contact (unlike Ralph Hilton’s automatic meter than doesn’t require one touching the TA knob).
No soul-flying.
But if they continue to be wishful soul-flying ESP superpowered people, then per the principles in the INCOMM and Routing Forms policy letters alone, they could extrapolate they need to start using Ipads and make better Emeters like Ralph Hilton did.
The C of S lost control of Hubbards intellectual works through the unavoidable advance in technology just as the C of S lost control over it’s flock by the release of information detailing it’s crimes to it’s own members through the decades.
The -Scientology Culture of Fear- suffers the greatest hit when ever it loses it’s control over the flow of information. When it profits the greatest from restricting the flow of information then you have your major clues of what that game is really all about. There’s an additional “triangle” in Scientology. Money Power Intimidation.
Black $cn is based on the Disconnection-Fair Game-Lies Triangle, which when you increase any of its individual legs results in an overall increase in Evil.
Mike – someone just posted that Marty Rathbun’s Scientology HATE website has been taken down. I verified it and it is gone.
Any idea what is going on with Rathbun?
No clue. Ortega’s is also gone apparently. Maybe someone forgot to pay the bill for the domains…
How would that be possible Mike? Don’t they have state of the art, Hubtard punch card accounting systems to make sure they pay bills on time? 😉
Maybe they forgot to feed the pigeons again.
I’m seeing Marty Rathbun’s. Maybe they just put it back up or maybe I’m on the wrong website (not going to post a link). Never knew Ortega had one, but I’ve stopped looking for that stuff anyway.
The only Ortega website I know of is The Underground Bunker. That is not a ‘hate website’.
Rathbun is up. Tony Ortegas is for sale for $3195.
Scientology’s fear of being current with technology is fear of losing control.
And all of this control is for a very definite purpose:
To hide from the truth that Scientology is not what it says it is.
And this hiding from the truth boils down to one fear:
Fear of criticism.
Because, if critical thought was a virtue taught by Ron, a lot of Ron’s thoughts would be flushed out as bogus.
OSA/GO was set up to destroy seeing Scientology for what it is.
But more exactly, they were set up to be a fire wall against seeing who Ron was.
Ron’s pathological fear of being seen and criticized is the ideological building materials for Scientology’s cult bubble. And this fear alienates Scientology from the latest technology in society.
Scientology’s prison bubble is the projection of Ron’s paranoid persecution complex.
Hating SPs and criticism IS THE VERY NATURE OFCTHE BUBBLE.
L Ron Hubbard poked out our eyes of reason by selling us his mental problems as wisdom and truth.
Scientology is constantly in hiding from being seen.
Constantly fighting SPs to stop from being seen.
Constantly dead agenting so they will not be seen
Constantly putting out Ron PR media so Ron won’t be seen.
As a group, Scientology is in hiding.
Ron was always hiding and running
David Miscavige is now virtually in hiding
And why all of this hiding?
Well……….
Why does anyone hide?
People hide and deflect because there is something they do not want you to see.
For Ron, Scientology and David Miscavige the most dangerous thing is TRUTH.
What is being protected by hiding and destroying critics?
FALSE CLAIMS
False claims is what brings in the green. Therefore scrutinizing and seeing those false claims becomes the enemy. An enemy to cash flow and the imaginary bubble of Ron’s unique messiaship.
Ron said the enemy of Scientology is SPs.
That is not true. The enemy of Scientology is the truth about Scientology.
Isn’t that interesting that truth about Scientology is the enemy of Scientology.
There is another group of people where truth is the enemy:
CONMEN.
In time, the internet will desolve Scientology with truth. It may already be happening.
And the one unstoppable power that the internet has unleashed against Scientology?
The one demon that causes the church to lurch and convulse like the wicked witch of the west being dosed with water:
TRUTH………….. the great equalizer!
This is a great comment! thank you. Hubbard failed utterly in all aspects of his life: as a writer, husband, father, friend … he even failed as a liar because as he said once “truth is the only thing 8″ armour plate cannot stop” we believed his lies once but now the truth is out for whoever wants to look at it. Scientology is like a person with cancer at the final stage artificially kept in life. the x47 stats is the level of decomposition.
I think Hubbard’s crap is not worth anyone’s time.
With that said, I did spend (waste) my Sea Org career reading a whole lot of Hubbard’s writings.
In the “routing forms” orders, is one that talks about an Ipad like device, Hubbard wrote this in 1982, pre-Hand-held pads.
Hubbard, in the context of the INCOMM “Chug” past millions of years ago super advanced space civilzation that utilized a central computer system that “did work” and maintain and assist that advanced space civilization to keep itself going (the today INCOMM Policy Letter in the Management Series 3 volume set even mentions this millions of years ago ancient civilization that “ran” itself with the aid of their computer system, the point being that the Scientology INCOMM computer system would likewise be today’s “solution” for Scientology management and maintainence), the point is that this “Ipad” device for the “routing forms” project was a comment, a laughing comment that we didn’t have such a device, and that would be something that a person’s records would be included in the device, plus it would point by point tell the holder of the device where to go and what to do in the bureaucratic organization that the carrier of the device was walking himself/herself through.
So, on the principle of this tiniest of Hubbard comments (and when I was on the Routing Forms Project, a lady named Renate Tinner Wilmshurt) spend weeks and several months mulling over HOW “we” on the routing forms project might conceivably “use” this Ipad like suggestion from Hubbard, incorporating that into the “routing forms” stuff.
The “routing forms” policy letter itself, is the theoretical basis for a whole change longrange, of absolutely running and maintaining official Scientology with the use of computer devices.
if I were a believer, I would know what to do with Hubbard’s INCOMM and routing forms orders, and that would include doing the pragmatic realistic programming of Apple Ipad gear to put ALL of the fiddle faddle paperwork, and Emeter nuttiness details, into some Ipads.
It’d save on their paperwork storage.
CST, who had orders to do the research and discovery stuff, to long range accomplish Hubbard’s orders, ought to be wholehog be wasting their budget money on this same INCOMM orders from Hubbard.
No, if everyone out here all had all of Hubbard’s writings to read, and fully think like Hubbard’s science fiction overwhelmingly delusional mindset was thinking, they’d just use what the society around us has developed, and get OFF of the paper trail crap, and go Ipad Pro programming, LOL.
And a person could put all of Hubbard’s WHOLE archival load of crap, onto an Ipad Pro also, and still have room for all their PC Folders and Emeter mechanics, LOL.
Chuck, do you know if John Busby is still in the SO and still working on computers or perhaps full time RPF or Hole? Hopefully he has left by now.
In 2004 I think he was still at Golden Era Productions.
Chuck, hand held tablet like computer devices were used in the 1960’s Star Trek TV show.
And they were called “pads”. I heard that the iPad is named after them.
Great article. What you said reminds me of the old mail order Columbia House record club. Their slogan was something like 10 CD’s for a penny! Once you were enrolled, they automatically sent you crappy ones at outrageously inflated prices forever. And you could never opt out or you’d get collection notices.
When we were little, we’d sign up people who pissed us off.
Negative option billing, though still legal in the U.S., is outlawed in Canada and other places. The sketchy concept of “getting records for free!” scammed customers and recording artists alike. Eventually Columbia and its other Indiana-based competitor went out of business in a flurry of lawsuits. They were kind of obsolete not long after they started. .
There is also another aspect you described that reminds me of the movie Pleasantville, where people enter a TV set to live back in the past in a black-and-white version of reality. Some other religions have this problem as well, making in-house marketing collateral and recruiting videos that look and feel like something from at least a decade earlier. But it’s not something you’d expect from a place that brags about being so close to the real entertainment industry.
I can see where LRH would have been out of touch. Living an isolated Howard Hughes kind of life freezes you in time like a bug in amber while the world outside progresses beyond you. But the fact that DM is so incredibly anachronistic is pretty pitiful. He seems like an example of the hothouse variety of second generation members that grow up in that environment. A leader that drinks his own Kool-Aid (and charges others outrageous prices for the privilege).
Keeping with the movie theme, it also feels like a of a gloomy rendition of Blast from the Past, that film about a kid, played by Brendon Fraser, who grows up in a nuclear bomb shelter and suddenly pops out into the modern world still talking and acting like it’s the 60’s. (A movie already outdated because it came out in the 90’s. ) Christopher Walken playing the father gives it a hilariously creepy vibe. Which is the same thing I think people get that have never been in. There is a rather frenetic, manic quality to all the happy claims and clever acronyms this belief system promises, but certainly an icky underbelly all about disconnection and slave labor and megalomaniacal leaders that contrasts terribly with the 1960’s quality PR it exudes. Rather like a movie set itself when you pan up the camera and see the edge of the backdrop and all the lights and equipment.
A bit like state-sponsored films of Castro’s Cuba with all those late model cars lining the streets but with a voice-over that made claims about it being so modern. If that was your intention, you did a perfect job capturing that sort of analogy. Reality constructed from someone else’s flashback is what it made me feel. I can only imagine the jarring sense of disconnection it brings to people trying to live in and reconcile both worlds at once.
The dupes provide the hope-fuel,
Free dupe-hope-fuel keeps the dupes plowing through Hubbard’s administrative and Hubbard’s antiquated wisdom distribution technology.
Hubbard just keeps that “OT” carrot always just ahead, trigger the dupes’ hope-fuel to keep the dupes going.
Cecybeans: Great imagery!
Don’t worry Miscavige can be counted on to help the orgs with there debt. When the new Sandcastle delivery building was opened, all advanced orgs were strong armed to send 3 NOTS auditors to Flag to become efficient in the Golden Age of Squirreling. They were run by the RTC reps to create Advanced Tech VSD (valuable service delivered) which is the stat of Miscavige. Of course these auditors could not be sent back to their orgs without crashing the stat. Miscavige decided these auditors would become Flag auditors and thus rip off the advanced orgs of their best auditors. For decades all orgs have been sending their staff to Flag for training. They have run up huge paper debt to Flag against which nothing is ever paid. The reason nothing is ever paid is that all orgs have a long line of non Scientology creditors to which they owe money. Per policy orgs can not pay bills owed to other orgs while they still owe for their rent, electric, water, phones, food, printing, etc, etc. Miscavige ordered that for every auditor ripped off to Flag, a million dollars worth of paper debt should be deducted from the orgs “bill” to Flag. In the deluded mind of Miscavige a million dollars was exchanged for each auditor making it a good deal for all involved. In the mind of everyone else, every Advanced org had just been raped of their most valuable assets which they count on to survive. For Miscavige he was able to show “booming stats” at Flag and say it was because he was over seeing things at Flag and introducing his Golden Age of BS. I’m sure he went back to Hemet and pronounced his greatness to all the ex-executives he was torturing in “The Hole” in an effort to convince them that they were the SPs and losers while he was the greatest stat pusher, I mean executive of all time!
“…. They were run by the RTC reps to create Advanced Tech VSD (valuable service delivered) which is the stat of Miscavige….”
Wow, that means Miscavige has been doing unusual solutions (the Crime of creating solutions that become problems), well almost anyone will be forced into doing unusual solutions, I’ve concluded, due to no “OT” soul-flying Scientologists ever being produced, Hubbard neither on the Apollo did even Ron get “OT” soul-flying Scientologists as he falsely claimed his “L Rundowns” would invariably produce.
Hubbard’s false claims for “OT” soul-hood have never been attained.
Were it possible to produce “OT” supersoul people, then the whole Scientology operation, or even the splinter mini Scientology Indie offshoots, have some validity in their very existence.
The Golden Age of BS started in 1948-49, by Hubbard, properly. Hubbard ought not to have ventured into non-fiction, really.
Hubbard’s fiction mind just could not be prevented from invading Hubbard’s “non-fiction” “serious” subjects of Dianetics and Scientology.
All that happened, is Hubbard was a chronic mis-user of words’ meanings, and false claims of “OT” abilities that no one ever was able to repeat demonstrate.
True that the stat of RTC is Advanced Tech VSD.
But the REAL stat that the “head of scientology” is judged on is TOTAL RESERVES.
It has ALWAYS been that way. It was the stat of WDC Chairman before RTC was created.
MONEY has always been the senior measure of success and competence in scientology. As you know Chuck it was also how Author Services was measured.
Then it makes perfect sense to send Scientology a 2million$ bill for taking my children.
Well, the Scn Management system you have described as an obsolete state of the art films, CDs, DVD Players, etc has produced millions of dollars for the leaders of this cult and, additionally, it helps to keep the flock under their control as far as what the blind indoctrinated follower should think, buy, use, do and so on.
Now, here is a joke for you Terra Cognita – do you know why you have not been declared?
Very simple, Scn has run out of Golden Rod Paper after having used 1,000s of reams to declare others before you!!!!
Silvia: ha, ha!
Just some details to fill in:
My experience only extends to 2004, but as far as I know the Tech and Public films were never replaced by DVD. The new digital film rooms with the expensive DLP projectors used ordinary PCs. There were DVD players in the Public areas to show short promotional ads to new public, but that is the only DVD use that I ever heard about.
What TC says about the Super 8 mm Technicolor cassette projectors is quite true. Hubbard was shooting in 16mm which was reduced to Super 8mm for release. Later films up to the late 80s were shot in 16mm for 16mm release on reels.
The first 16mm films had sound on a magnetic stripe, which had a tendency to fall off. So later in the 90s I developed a way to sync a CD soundtrack to the film. Then during the 90s the computer based system was developed. Two of the first systems were delivered to Johannesburg Org for their “Ideal Org” opening. This was in 2003.
In my Suppressive Person declare it says I developed a system that did not work, but I have never bothered to find out which one that is. I developed dozens of systems. Maybe they replaced the PC based system with DVD after 2004? I can’t believe that would happen because it would be a significant reduction in quality, but who knows. Somebody who has more recent experience can set me straight on this.
On the Incomm system with the “keyboards with rows of special buttons”, to be fair there were no PCs with Windows at the time that was being developed (early 80s). The Apple computers of that time were not much better and the IBM PC was in the future. Of course that gives them no excuse to go on using their ancient systems for decades after.
The classic “Incomm computer” is actually not a computer at all. It is a “dumb terminal” that communicates to a larger bank of computers in the Incomm computer room using a serial communications link. When you type or press a button the information goes back to the computer that actually does the work, then it sends a result to your screen. Later real PCs were used to act as dumb terminals, running a program called an “emulation program” that makes it look like a green screen dumb terminal even though inside it is a real PC. But in either case the real work is being done by a bank of (I think) Wang computers.
“Clearsound” is a real thing, and I often hear questions about it so here is what I know: At Gold there is a standard for all sound production. Basically the frequency response has to be flat to plus or minus one dB, the transient response has to have an overshoot within certain limits and the distortion has to be as low or lower than comparable equipment. And it has to pass a listening “AB” test where you can’t hear the difference on a recorded sample between the processed sound and the original. If it passes all the tests and Dave Miscavige has reviewed the tests and agrees, it can be labeled “Clearsound”.
All this was developed mostly by John McCormick (now working at Applied Scholastics International with his wife Carlynn). John is also the one who mostly developed the Hubbard Electrometer (American, not British) MK V, MK VI and MK VII. He was consulted on the VIII but his ideas were largely rejected. At Gold you read impressive looking issues about sound work signed by “LRH assisted by John McCormick”. Lots of other folks worked on these things but Hubbard gets the credit. I don’t think Hubbard could have tuned up a tape recorder if his life depended on it.
Your “Clearsound Listening Kit” has passed all the tests. And it does have a special headphone amplifier that cross mixes the sound a bit between the ears, out of phase. That makes it sound a bit less like “Hubbard is inside your head dead center”. Spreads out the sound a bit, more like a hall or listening with speakers. If you are going to listen to Hubbard for hundreds of hours on headphones that probably helps. They also do some simulated stereo processing in the mix so it is not dead center monophonic.
That it is really better than an iPod is very unlikely. We are talking about CDs here. But that is the idea.
You mention that DM had to ensure the sound production passed the “Clearsound” test. So, DM has better hearing and can determine the quality of the sound better than electronic testing equipment? What makes him so fucking clever?
To me it is just part of the mystic of his super power, special, above everyone else senses he has. I’m sure he has an unbelievable sense of smell, taste, feel etc. LRH acted out the same way. DM’s sense of height kind of fell short though.
I vaguely remember hearing some story about a sound person who “changed” something that DM wanted (without really changing it), and DM exclaimed that it was now perfect (although it was still the same). Can’t recall off the top of my head who said something like that though. I’ve been reading so much stuff from over the years since before I got heavily interested in this subject a few months ago, so stories are starting to run together…..maybe it was something Ron Miscavige said?
Anyway, that goes to Gary’s point. DM is basically full of shit.
I could tell a lot of stories like that, Mick. Dave, like Hubbard before him, is a self-proclaimed expert on lots of fields that he actually knows little about.
He is a great film director, cameraman, audio specialist, pubic speaker, author, the list goes on and on. He even had a vanity patent made out and approved that makes him an inventor. https://www.google.com/patents/US5455869
The real reason Dave is so good at everything is the reason Hubbard could smell “rose perfume” in clothes that had been hand washed with unscented detergent and hand rinsed 20 times. He makes stuff up.
It is the “Emperor’s New Clothes” every day at the Int Base but there are no little boys to call him out. So it goes on, and folks are nervously asking each other what the illusion is supposed to be today so they don’t blow it and compliment Dave on the wrong outfit.
But all that is actually critical to the scam. If Hubbard, and now Dave, are not superheroes then nobody ever will be. Scientology says that you can remember your past lives when you were a super expert at just about anything. You were once a space ship captain, a galactic rock star, a scientist who invented faster-than-light space travel, on and on. So if you’re high on the Bridge your knowledge exceeds any mere mortal of today.
To point out that this isn’t true, that Hubbard’s photography, art, music, screenplays and fiction are all worthless dreck, is exactly the same as saying Scientology does not work. It hurts the poor true believer’s head too much to even think that, the cognitive dissonance makes a firestorm of neurons too dreadful to endure. So he twists reality to match the illusion. Fortunately this can’t go on forever.
Thanks Bruce. Further evidence that both LRH and DM have a combination of pathological narcissism mixed with grandiose delusions (with extreme paranoia thrown in there too). Also, you stated:
“But all that is actually critical to the scam. If Hubbard, and now Dave, are not superheroes then nobody ever will be.”
I asked the folks on Ortega’s site a few weeks ago about whether or not DM was OT VIII and Tony chimed in himself and told me, if I recall correctly, that he thinks DM only got up to OT IV (pretty sure he said it level 4). So if Miscavige is a superhero as only an OT IV, then why does anyone else even need to go through OT 5-8? Just get to OT IV, and apparently that’s all you need to do to reach this “superhero” status. Forgoing levels 5-8 would be much cheaper and less time-consuming that way.
“So he twists reality to match the illusion. Fortunately this can’t go on forever.”
Yes, fortunately it can’t. The sooner this illusion is finally recognized by his followers and they have their own epiphany, the sooner they can start truly gaining control over their own lives. To me, it just can’t happen soon enough.
Miscavige was “on OT VII” in 2006. Who knows if he ever finished it. He certainly read the OT VIII materials. Who knows if he ever bothered auditing it.
He was a Class 4 auditor (Level 4).
Thanks for the clarification Mike. Maybe Tony was referring to his auditor level and I misunderstood.
Either way, he was the Chairman of the Board of RTC for numerous years (at least 2 decades) and he wasn’t even at the higher levels, yet apparently considered himself better and more qualified than the higher level OT VIII’s when he conducted his coup.
Additionally, from my understanding, no one is supposed to be able to even access a new OT level until they’ve completed their current level. Yet he accessed OT VIII in spite of this policy (and supposedly two more levels above that, although it seems doubtful they even exist).
Makes me wonder if there’s a PC folder somewhere out there on him with all of his own inner-most secrets that were recorded. Would imagine it’s been destroyed if so.
I know I don’t fully understand everything about Scientology, so I may be wrong on some of this. But if I’m correct, all of this is just more proof that he thinks that the rules (LRH policy) don’t apply to him. I’m not really sure how current Scientologists are able to mentally rationalize this level of hypocrisy from their own leader.
Mick, my guess is that Miscavige considers himself such a “big being” that he doesn’t think he really needs auditing and training, and has leeway to bend the rules as he sees fit.
There a couple of possible different ways that could be construed, but one is that Miscavige has decided that Scientology and its OT levels are really just a “game” (a term with a history and particular nuances of meanings in Scientology) that Hubbard created to play for the purpose of fame and fortune. And he might actually be right about that, there is a good bit of evidence for it in Hubbard’s own words and Miscavige might be privy to even more. If that or something similar is the case, then Misavige would see himself as above the game and its rules, except to the extent that he needs to keep the “pieces” – all the Scientology believers – following the rules and playing Hubbard’s game that creates the power and money. And he could still believe in some of the general concepts, such as thetans and even body thetans, just not necessarily the specifics of Hubbard’s “space opera” cosmology and account of man’s history.
Hubbard was, and Miscavige is, pretty good at using control tools such as compartmentalization of information, and at exploiting human weaknesses like cognitive dissonance, so that most of the followers can’t see or can’t confront the big picture of what is actually going on.
PeaceMaker, remember that DM knows everything that WE know about Hubbard and that scientologists DON’T know. I highly doubt if he is a scientologist himself now. I mean he knows the whole OT thing is a scam. Why would he continue with auditing? It would be illogical.
I suggest we all send Miscavige letters or cards with no return address simply asking him What are his crimes? When last was he audited? When last was he sec checked? A campaign of sorts.
PeaceMaker, that’s what I can’t seem to figure out.
On the one hand, I think that people like him are almost so fanatical that on most levels, he pretty much has to believe in all of LRH’s and his own BS.
On the other hand, you would think that he just has to know that it’s all just one big con but that he’s so addicted to the power and lifestyle (i.e., money) that he’s accustomed to, he has to keep the “game” going (what the hell else is the guy going to do to make a living, especially as he approaches retirement age?)
Perhaps the truth lies somewhere in the middle, and he believes some of the core concepts, knowing that some of it is made-up BS that Hubbard just pulled out of his ass, but he also knows that overall, in order to keep the money flowing and his power intact, he has to continue to play the part of a true believer in every single word that LRH ever wrote.
Mike W., I doubt that Miscavige is a Scientologist in the way that CofS members view it. But there are several convincing accounts that he was originally a Hubbard loyalist, and there are also a couple of reliable reports that he at least believes in body thetans (BTs) – those points need to be logically explained, or convincingly dismissed.
I think that Hubbard self-audited because he believed that it did help increase his personal freedom from limitations, and his freedom to act, though that he practiced something different from what he taught – quite typically (though he also seems to have allowed himself to be audited, at points where he felt the need for others’ help). I also suspect that he may have known that the space-opera “incidents” were really his own “case” (as many Scientologists seem to conclude) though he played it out otherwise, and ended up auditing his BTs (which may have been just artifacts of his drug abuse and/or psychosis) until he was actually worse off. And I think it’s likely that Miscavige does something similar, self-auditing in some private style for “big beings” different from the auditing that Scientologists receive in the CofS, and he might well not have the interest in running “space opera” incidents that Hubbard did. If, for instance, L. Ron “Nibs” Hubbard, Jr., was at all correct in what he said about how his father trained him, Miscavige might either have been trained that way, picked it up from observing Hubbard, or deduced it (or at least thinks he did) from reading materials that Hubbard left behind.
I think that at least the general notions that Miscavige believes Scientology to be a game, but also believes in some of the tech and maybe even still reveres Hubbard, are consistent with a lot of the evidence and explain the things that otherwise seem illogical. And that’s the makings of a good theory.
Peace, I didn’t mean to make it seem like he never was a true believer. Yes, he did at one time believe in BT’s. But that probably washed away after he found out about Hubbard never being able to finish 7 and how psycho he was at the end. He knows OT 8 was a complete bust. He knows LRH lied about any higher OT levels. He himself doesn’t want any more bridge. So, the current evidence is that he doesn’t believe it is worth the time & effort to do the Bridge. Either side of it even though Hubbard said training is at least 50% of the gains
Pretty damning evidence since he could get auditing and training if he wanted it for free.
I just think David Miscavige lives in his own little world/bubble, and is probable that he is just as delusional as Hubbard. He lives within the confines of how Scientology has been set up by both Hubbard and himself. Either way he’s in his own prison whether he realizes it or not. And it creates hell for others. To the point, where a person just can’t take it anymore and leaves. It’s harder for Miscavige to get out. Even if he knows the truth or not, or knows of partial truths, he’s stuck. And he’ll drag everyone with him until they have had enough and leave, or stay out of fear of the unknown, losing family and friends, or fear of being duped and having to admit it. Add in the fact DM has all the perks power has to offer. Why give that up? I think he’s damned either way. Admit it’s all been a lie and gets thrown into jail. Or keeps up the charade until it all falls apart, and still ends up in jail. Worse case scenario in each. Either way he’s going to do what he can just to KSW.
Mike W., Tom Devocht was one of those who reported Miscavige believing in BTs, so that’s relatively recent. I still think it’s plausible, and possible, that Miscavige believes that some elements of the “tech” apply and are useful to “big beings” like him, and in keeping with that does some self-auditing on a basis probably quite different than what is delivered to others.
The whole basis of Scientology, and of the OTO that Hubbard obviously borrowed from liberally, is that its teachings and practices are revealed in levels or gradients, and what is trained on one level may be treated quite differently or even essentially dismissed on a higher one. This goes against our accepted norms that religious leaders have the same faith as their followers, and reveal what they actually believe and practice.
It’s virtually impossible to gauge just what Miscavige believes. Regardless, I think it is important to realize that he’s probably completely invested in the CofS on one level or another and in keeping the game going, and not just an opportunist who’s going to take the money and run if the going gets tough.
I don’t know for sure Peacemaker. I can only draw conclusions based on his KNOWN activities. That tells me he doesn’t take it seriously enough to take any time or effort doing the bridge. I HIGHLY doubt that he would let it slip to someone like Tom that he doesn’t believe in the scam. Frankly, that would be a stupid move on his part.
That would be the senior piece of evidence.
Bruce,
The best thing about those INCOMM not-a-computers and funky keyboards at INT was that the computer generated nudges and ethics gradients could actually be DELETED and disappear from the system. This kept the Director of Communications (Dir of Comm) and Ethics out of the loop. Tightly held secret used to maintain sanity at the time. LOL
Thank you for your very informative comments, Bruce.
It broke my heart at the time to literally throw our once expensive set of encyclopedias in the trash when we moved. But they weren’t worth a dime and too damn heavy. But boy, the replacement of it with the “information super highway” and all at your fingertips, wow! In fact you don’t even need fingers anymore, just ask your computer and it shows or tells you what you want to know or offers to get you in contact with someone who does. Truly magic.
Scientology and common sense – what a fucking joke! Hubbard sure misread it or never saw the future coming and didn’t set it up so someone in it could actually be self-determined (despite his promises). That includes Miscavige, he’s just a greedy little sadistic robot unable to alter his programming. The evidence that Scientologists can’t observe or think is overwhelming. They are truly stuck in a time bubble of their own making.
The digital age alone will cause the demise of Scientology as we know it. Nicely explained Terra.
My father’s father used to sell the Encyclopedia Britannica, long, long ago, as a traveling salesman. Picture him on sales trips in the sun or the rain, in a suit and tie, lugging a sample case with a couple of heavy volumes. He died away from their home town, on yet another long sales trip.
My father lived long enough to hear from me, and to refuse to believe, that the entire Britannica was now contained on a single CD smaller than an old 45 record. Until I showed him. Now the CD is gone too. I’ve got a full set of the final printed edition of the old warhorse encyclopedia, that I will always keep for old time’s sake. Do I even look at it? No.
It’s just astonishing how willfully backward CoS is about everything technical, even when it could have boomed the church and made them more money. (I don’t think anything could do that now.)
Great article Terra.
I remember at INT in ’77/78 or so I was the Deputy LRH EXT Comm (LEC) Aide. I was basically in charge of all of the INT base telexes and mail courier system. At the time we were using Siemen Telex machines. We had recently upgraded from 5 bit telex tape to 8 bit (5 holes to form characters upgraded to 8 possible holes). We were probably way behind on that upgrade. At the time PCs were just starting to come out.
I was lucky in that LEC had somehow recruited a computer genius by the name of John Busby who had recently joined the Sea Org. We decided to purchase a HeathKit single floppy disk computer system. We had to buy it in kit form and assembled them ourselves. We were actually quite advanced as the IBM PC wasn’t launched until 1981.
The Heathkit was a CPM based machine with 64KB of RAM and a single floppy drive, green screen and keyboard. Software wasn’t really available for it and it was mainly produced for hobbyist to do their own programing. Busby, being the genius that he was, wrote a simple but effective word processing software and then a transmission software. He wrote the software in Assembly Language which is basically 1’s and 0’s or what he called “machine code”. So we typed all of our telexes on the 5 or so PCs and were able to transfer them over a phone line to either LEC Clearwater or LEC PAC for further routing.
Busby was brilliant and could have been making millions in the real world. He never talked much about his past but while at INT he had enough money to import a brand new Jaguar sports car from England.
This system was advanced. When I left LEC in ’81 or so, they were still in use. The problem though, I would bet that they are still using them.
clearlypissed, in ’77 this was the PC to buy. Color even.
http://netdna.webdesignerdepot.com/uploads/2009/01/apple-ii2.jpg
Nice! Knowing the Sea Org, we no doubt went the cheapest route possible by assembling our own computers. We had to get it approved thru Financial Planning. Apple was probably $50 to $100 more without their color screen. After leaving the SO I ended up working at an Apple Dealer in Oceanside, CA that sold the Apple II range, in 1986 or so and somewhere in my computer career sold the Mac II PCs but that was in Johannesburg.
I believe I spoke in error above after checking a website, the Heathkit was a Z80 chip rather than CPM, not that anyone cares. I wasn’t very technical at the time so wouldn’t know a Z80 from a CPM unit either way. I would think though that my calculator on my desk is more powerful than those old things were.
Warning: alphabet soup ahead.
CPM (Control Program Micro) from Cromemco could run on Z80 or 8080 chips. The Z80 was just an “improved version”.
Thanks Bruce for the clarification. I was in the computer industry from when a 20MB hard drive was the size of a shoebox. I then sold the Pentium I thru I think Pentium IV. I got out of that business in 1998. I’m not even sure what they call these new processors now or how big a terabyte is compared to gigabytes….Oh well, I can use a mouse and type though.
Intel has stopped giving names to their chips.
When they get a new quad-core model out it comes in 3 sub-categories i3, i5 and i7, i3 being the least performant version, i7 the most powerful. Someone interested in these things can then find out, using the chip’s number, which architecture it’s based on, and the transistor window size (which has reached 14 nm nowadays).
They also still make their 6 / 12 core xeon chips for servers.
I think AMD still gives names to their chips, but I haven’t bought AMD in years, since their chips tend to have heating problems, and have a little bit less performance for certain operations.
Assembly isn’t exactly machine language. It’s one level above it, but machine-specific (meaning, it is different from processor to processor).
One assembly instruction stands for a group of microassembly instructions – ones and zeros (actual machine language). How many depends on the type of instruction and on the philosophy of the chip maker (CISC vs RISC).
Here’s an example of x86 (Intel architecture chip) assembly instruction :
MOV 3 AEX
This moves the integer “3” into the AEX register (values have to be moved to registers before any operation can be done by the processor). To give you an idea of the work needed to program something using assembly, you might need 5 or 6 such instructions just to copy a value from one variable to another. But, as each assembly instruction often stands for 10 to 20 machine language microinstructions, that is still a step up from straight machine language (which no one sane would use except to write their own custom assembly instructions).
Because assembly is machine-specific, one had to learn a new version of it for each machine they’d code on, which was a real pain in the posterior. So some clever people invented things called compilers – programs that turn a common higher level language into the specific assembly of your chip. This reduces the number of lines you have to write in a program to do something, makes code more human-readable, and allows to automatically optimize certain things so that programs are faster.
kemist there was one language that was about as fast as assembler. It was called Forth: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Forth_(programming_language)
An amazing language. In the 70’s it was used for real time industrial controls. Although you could make anything with it.
Clearypissedoff: OMG! Telex machines! I’d forgotten all about those monsters! Thanks for the memories.
The videos I’ve seen of CoS’s work (the few I’ve seen that have been shown at events) certainly look outdated. But mostly, it all looks really “cheesy” to an outsider like me. Not just the technology, but the presentation itself (which I know DM has total control over). One thing though, to be fair…..in all honesty, I do have to concede that the chorus of “We Stand Tall” is a bit catchy….at least to me.
It’s difficult for me to believe all of this is stupidity. Cause if you look at the end result, it’s significant additional cash flow to the administrative (maybe not the right word?) body of the organization. IMO it also indicates a pretty high level of distrust towards actual technology advancements and a fundamental expression of control. It just feels like there must be purposeful intent here rather than entirely delusional, at least on the part of the highest up. But I’ve never inhabited the culture so my take may be quite flawed.
Interesting article. Thx.
That’s why the bookkeeper and the ledgers of Al Capone were so valuable. It was his record of “purposeful intent’ and it was kept as secret as possible. Modern systems or change are regarded with extreme suspicion or fear by the criminally motivated unless they see a way of it assisting in their enterprises. Computerization of the Scientology product greatly reduces if not threatens to nullify the profitability of the scam or a large chunk of it. Your thinking isn’t flawed, but your difficulty in believing it is stupidity is better explained when you do the math. The billion plus dollars and all that real estate under the control of one man and his goon squad of legal henchman (plus Muffins) should tell you something. Check out Ortega’s latest post on his blog, look at all that money simply handed over to Miscavige… it’s mind blowing! It’s neither stupid or an accident. It’s simply a light is now being shone into the dark recesses of a successful & criminally insane dipstick and his organisation! It’s quite the spectacle isn’t it?
More of those Whales will leave and sue for fraud….
It would be fun to compare back lists and see the ones dropping off year by year. And the ones missing from the patrons and down which wasn’t listed.
Yes, a long trending danger I would imagine if one was to refer it to Scio terms. Big Non-e just around the corner and then, slip it eee, a doo dah – down the chute it all goes and a bunch of very, and mean, an extremely happy bunch of lawyers with the biggest crocodile tears you will ever see, start waltzing around, strutting their stuff. Miscavige will be busy in Columbia checking out the local real estate.
Having and using good technology (real technology, that is) will not help if your management system is stupid. Or in other words: digitizing crap gets you digitized crap.
John P. Capitalist already explained it here: you also have to rationalize your management system.
E.g.: as long as removing duplicates from the database you send your promo to will get you RPF’d or whatever, instead of Kha Khan’d (or whatever 🙂 ) because you are saving cost, the system is not viable.
Too true, a polished turd is still a polished turd no matter how shinny it looks.
And a cleared cannibal is still a cannibal.
No matter how bad tasting or out PR eating the neighbor turned out to be.
A CL8 Hannibal Lecter would be a worry…
No one in their right mind can work on central files and not wonder why they don’t use today’s or even yesterday’s technology. It must be, like a lot of things in Scientology, simply a belief that something magical will happen if you do this or that… like bow to the east or not step on a crack or you’ll break your mother’s back. Every year that passes Scientology gets more and more disconnected from the world. They expect failure. It is simply an expected condition in promotion, recruiting new staff, getting new people, etc…
To fail is to win, Scientology’s technical response to living.
Rober, they’re addicted to pieces of paper.