Address from the Director

Tuesday, May 6, 2008

For your information and diversion, we present this transcript of the address given on all open communications frequencies throughout the Narcolepsy region, on the day of the opening of the new MadScience Laboratories facility, but its Director of Research, Rev Eponym, ARDC.

Of course, the obvious rhetorical question is, "Why Mad Science?" To which the appropriate response is, "Shut up, you hydrocephalic degenerate, rhetorical questions go unanswered!" But let us address such forgivably obvious inquiry with the respect it deserves, as a request for information. We are, after all, researchers, those who quest after knowledge, and the insight it brings.

The 'science' component should be self-evident. As evolving beings, we must continue to push toward a more sophisticated existence, toward improving the living human state. Science is the study of the mechanics of our existence, that which gives it both means and motivation. We ask why, so that we may understand, and live more productively by that understanding. We observe, so that we will see things never before seen. And when confident, we experience, so that we may partake in the expression of that which we seek.

So, for the 'mad'. The madness, the insanity. What genius of history has not been labeled insane by those less enlightened? To quest for understanding is to ask questions never asked, witness events never observed, experience phenomena never experienced by those too fearful, or too ignorant. Science bears its aegis of knowledge to defend us against calamity, but its champions must hold fast and brave the unknown, that it may be known, and comprehension may reign. Many would name this bravery 'foolishness', or even 'insanity'. But this is the madness that defies fear, and lands on the far shore with new knowledge, with clarity and insight never possible in a deranged mind. We drive onward across chaotic landscapes, sometimes plagued by the doubt and fear of ignorance. But in the end, we summit the peaks of incomprehension to gain new levels of sanity. This is the work we do, shunned by so many, and in our tireless honesty, we give it the name it has earned. Mad Science.

But of course, the path of science is merely the road we choose to travel. The thing we pursue down that road is the human sexual response, and its inscrutable nature. The magus Crowley said, "Our method is science, our aim is religion." Our paraphrasal of that famous line would be, "Our method is science, our aim is hedonism." Sexuality, made of passion and emotional ardor, can yet be qualified and quantified by scientific observation. The human brain exhibits definitive reactions to different stimuli and sensual experience. Our goal is to categorize these, to examine their origin, and their biological and psychiatric expression. If we must bore deep into the darkest areas of sexuality, then so be it. Technology is our primary tool, along with willing experimental subjects. The darkness of the human libido is a kaleidoscopic vista, holding lifetimes of information to be discovered, catalogued, and if we achieve our ultimate goals, we can understand their role in the continuity of human evolution.

The willful abandoning of the rational mind to uninhibited exploration is the long and twisting path we have chosen to explore, and explore it we shall, in freedom from fear of the judgments of outsiders. One day, they will benefit from what we have learned and done. And then, the name of Mad Science will be praised.

Excelsior, my friends.

Rev Eponym
Director of Research
MadScience Laboratories