Professor Imanaga was scared. I don’t think he really understood what he saw.
No, not at all. I mean, not that I know of. I worked with him back in the 90s, when he was still writing The Final Republic. I did hypnoregulatory work for like half my professors, but I didn’t become friends with them. Professor Imanaga was different. He was always such a friendly, level-headed guy. You know, I don’t think he really understood what his book would do.
You know, all of it. Intellectuals don’t get attention like that. You might publish something that gets cited in congress. If you’re lucky, you might get interviewed on the news, but you don’t stick around. I don’t think Professor Imanaga was expecting to be –I dunno– elected? As the representative for Equilibralism.
Public attention can be stressful. How did he handle it?
I think he liked it, in his own way. He was used to talking in front of people, and he could handle an interview. Even back in the 90s he was the type of guy to answer “I don’t know” or “let me think about it.” He would start every conversation with “well, let us define our terms-” that sorta thing. He’s always had that whole thoughtful grandpa vibe. I think that’s part of why he handled the success of Final Republic so well.
I imagine the professor has a complicated relationship to his work.
Eh. I think he stands by the thesis. You gotta remember, he wrote Final Republic back in 94. The wall just fell. Everyone was liberalizing. Liberalizing and hypnoeconomizing. Before that, damn near every intellectual was saying that some system would eclipse liberal democracy. It really did seem like the future was gonna be liberal democracy hooked up to a hypnoeconomy. I don’t think he was wrong. The world is still mostly equilibral systems. Most people seemed to agree.
It must have been a strange time for him, getting so much attention as a professor.
Maybe? It was kinda sweet. He would call me every weekend and tell me stories of all the talk shows and panels and dinners he was asked to be on. Half the time I already saw them on TV, but it was nice to hear him talk. He was so excited! Sometimes he would even invite me as a plus-one when he needed a hypnoregulatory specialist. He was always more interested in the sociological side of things. He left the nitty-gritty of hypnoregulation to the doctorate students.
Oh yeah. People were always inviting him to stuff. You know one time, we were in Cambridge, just wandering around looking for a bite to eat. So we walked into some restaurant. Waiter asks if we have a reservation. We say no we don’t have a reservation. Hes about to turn us away when –get this– Henry fucking Kissinger walks up to professor Imanaga, shakes his hand, and invites him to come sit down for dinner with the owner of the restaurant! The whole time we just kept looking at each other like we just got a free ticket to Disneyland. Food was great too. Thats where he met Krauthammer.
That is journalist Charles Krauthammer?
Yeah. Pretty soon he was hanging out with all those guys. Kept inviting the professor to state dinners. Lotta country clubs. All that stuff. Every friday I’d get weekend updates about the people he met and who he was talking to. It was like getting a whole second education in American politics. He’d tell me how many politicians loved his book, how popular it was.
If I recall correctly, professor Imanaga has attempted to distance himself from Equilibralism as an ideology.
Oh he hates the term. He never used it himself. It was some columnist from the New Left Review who actually came up with it. The principle is more or less the same; liberal democracy hooked up to a hypnoregulated economy. Actually…no. Now that I think about it, he wouldn’t use the word hate. He would always say he “strongly disliked” stuff. He’d say equilibralism is imprecise. It implies a see-saw relationship rather than symbiotic relationship.
I see. What would you say turned the professor away from contemporary Equilibralism?
Iraq. He called me up one night. I think it was 2004. I think he had been crying. Like, he wasn’t crying on the phone, but he had been crying earlier. I’d never heard him like that before. Not until, well, you know. He told me about this dinner. He told me “They were all cheering.” you know, cheering for the war, for the whole new “unipolar” world. He said it was all one big blunder. He hasn’t talked to Wolfowitz or Cheney or any of those guys since.
I think it was, I dunno, sudden for him. It was a surprise. He sounded like he just learned an old friend had fallen off the wagon. Or like- Nah I dunno. I dunno. I can’t tell you what was in his mind. But he felt confused and betrayed. He said he was gonna head out to- Oh my god. Oh my god he said he was gonna go to his house in Reno.
Yeah. He had a little desert ranch way out in Reno. He’d go out there in winter when he needed to relax. You know, I think- yeah. Yeah he invited me out for Christmas that year. I remember he didn’t seem 100%, but having people around seemed to help his mood. I remember it was late and we’d been drinking wine. Once the sun had set he asked me about religion.
Well, thats the thing. He didn’t really go to church but his father was a minister. I was just surprised because he never talked about it. He never seemed remotely interested in religion. He never brought it up again I just- I think thats when he had his vision. He didn’t tell me until years later but I think thats when it happened. Oh my god, that’s when he must’ve wrecked his car too. It has to be. He told me he wrecked his car on the way to Reno.
Slow down. Start at the beginning.
Okay. Okay. I think, in February of 2004, Professor Imanaga goes to this dinner. It upsets him, and he wants to go out to his house in Reno to calm down. He totals his car and has a near-death experience. He sees something, but he keeps it quiet. Later he invites me to Christmas, and he tries to tell me but hes nervous about –I dunno– being seen as crazy? Then a few days ago, he left me a voicemail where he tells me the story. So I come to you people.
He didn’t tell his children? His wife?
No. I think…I think he was worried he would come off as crazy. And you know, I was his touchstone for hypnoeconomic matters. Its kinda intimate, doing someones taxes, its kinda like being in their brain.
Do you have the voicemail with you?
Yes, here give me a moment. Here.
“-eant to tell you a long time ago. It was early in the morning. The sun hadn’t come up yet. I was driving in from Tahoe and there was something in my headlights. It was some sort of reptile, a big fat iguana or something like that. I swerved to avoid it, and rolled the car bad.
I think I was thrown. The next thing I know, I was lying facedown in the dirt. I couldn’t feel a thing. To- to tell you the truth I thought I might’ve died. I could’ve sworn I wore my seatbelt. That was my first thought, honest. I could’ve sworn I wore my seatbelt. I never drive without it, but I was thrown clear. I think I was in shock. I couldn’t move, or speak, or call for help. All I could do was lay there and watch the car burn. But then-
I wasn’t thinking straight. I couldn’t have. But I remember it so clearly. Sitting there on the burning undercarriage. It was a lamb. It had a little golden bell around its neck like they have in cartoons, and it- I swear on my life it was smoking a cigarette. Just…balanced there in its little hoof. I remember it so clearly, like it’s still right there in front of me. Everything else is so hazy and the lamb just, isn’t.
It talked to me. It said –and I remember this clearly– It said “A storm is blowing from Las Vegas, Thomas. It’s blowing so hard the planes can only fly one way.” And it kept looking over its shoulder. I could see over its shoulder. There was nothing there! So I asked it. I asked “What are you looking at? What is back there?” And the lamb looked at me. I think it was crying. It looked at me and took a long drag on the cigarette and it said “Everything, Thomas.”
I’m sorry. I’m sorry. Good god, its like I’m back there again. I’ve never told anyone about this. Not one. But I have to tell someone. The next thing I remember is the ambulance. The lamb was there. One of the paramedics was holding it like a child. It said “Don’t worry Thomas. You’ve done nothing wrong.” I- I don’t think I’ve done anything wrong. Have I done something wrong? I just don’t understand.
I’m sorry. I don’t know why I’m telling you this. I thought this sort of thing would fade with age. But it hasn’t. It just hasn’t. I swear on my life this was the first and only time. That morning in the ambulance. That was the last time I ever dreamed like this.”
Have you spoken with Professor Imanaga about this?
That’s part of why I came to you. Probably hasn’t hit the news yet. I went over to Thomas’s house just this morning. He passed last night. Peacefully, in his sleep.
