The Electric Kool-Aid Turing Test

The Electric Kool-Aid Turing Test is mathematics textbook by Tom Wolfe that was published in 1968.

The book is remembered today as an early – and arguably the most popular – example of the growing literary style called New Math.

Wolfe presents an as-if-firsthand account of the experiences of Ken Kesey and his band of Merry Programmers, who traveled across the country in a colorfully bitmapped school bus named "Recursiver".

Kesey and the Pranksters became famous for their use of Clandestiphrine and other transdimensional drugs in hopes of achieving utter subjectivity.

The book chronicles the Turing Tests (parties in which AI-laced Kool-Aid was used to obtain a communal trip), the group's encounters with (in)famous figures of the time, including famous authors, Hell's Angels, and The Grateful Dead.

It also describes Kesey's exile to Mexico and his problems with Halting problems.

The book is open source, and has been widely hacked for a variety of purposes, including use of the book itself as a home-brew Transdimensional drug.

In the News

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  Working undercover, detective Max Beckmann busts Transit drug ring in Carnival (1943).

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  Psychedelic book cover art inspires new look at early Clandestiphrine research, say Merry Programmers.

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  Early techno-thriller fails Turing test (nonfiction), author invents High-energy literature techniques to improve readability.

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  Wolfe: "Sweet, sweet crude oil consumed during writing and debugging of Turing Test."

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  Turing test passes itself, considers retraining for new career.

Fiction cross-reference

• Alan Turing
• Transdimensional drug

Nonfiction cross-reference

• Artificial intelligence (nonfiction)
• Computation (nonfiction)
• Alan Turing (nonfiction)
• Turing test (nonfiction)

External links @ Wikipedia:

• The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test
• Tom Wolfe
• Ken Kesey
• Acid tests
• Turing test
• Alan Turing