Frank R. Wallace

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For the gangster, see Frank Wallace.

Dr. Frank R. Wallace (pen name of Dr. Wallace Ward) (1932–2006) was an American scientist, author, philosopher, publisher, entrepreneur, and mail-order magnate[1], best known as the originator of the philosophy of Neo-Tech.

Wallace graduated from Colby College in 1954. In 1957 he earned his doctorate in Inorganic and Analytical Chemistry from the State University of Iowa. He then worked for nine years as a research chemist for DuPont. He then turned to philosophy and started I & O Publishing in 1968 and served as president, publisher, and editor, writing many books and articles under various pen names.[2] (I & O stands for individualism and Objectivism).[3] Wallace also owned Integrated Management Associates publishing company, a spin-off of I & O that publishes books and articles by various writers (including himself) concerning Neo-Tech. Wallace was said to be a member of Sigma Xi, the honorary research society.[4]

Contents

[edit] Neo-Tech

Neo-Tech is held to be a "dynamic" form of Objectivism, in contrast to Ayn Rand's Objectivism which Wallace regards as being "static". Wallace sought, by developing Neo-Tech, to eliminate epistemological mysticism from the world. Wallace said he was driven by the desire for biological immortality. He believed that mysticism is an impediment to science and freedom and that if it is eliminated, economic freedom will prevail, technology will advance, and commercial biological immortality will be achieved. He maintained that this is possible in our lifetimes.

The idea of Neo-Tech was spawned by Wallace's studies in the cognitive aspects of poker, where he saw mysticism being an important part of the dynamics of poker games. His authored the book, Poker: A Guaranteed Income for Life by Using the Advanced Concepts of Poker which was first published in 1968. According to Stan Friedman, this was a "seminal" work that helped bring the idea that one can make a money playing the game for a living to the general public.[5] Among other strategies, Wallace suggests playing "investment odds" rather than "card odds" by multiplying the card odds by the ratio of how much money is in the pot to how much it will cost you to play.[6] The book has also been called "seminal (if not Machiavellian)."[7] He explains how to use psychological techniques to keep bad players playing and betting high while discouraging good players, how to cheat, and how to cheat cheaters. Aaron Brown, executive director at the investment bank Morgan Stanley, says the book helped teach him how poker can be a moral guide for people who choose in a career in finance.[8] In Advanced Concepts, Wallace coins the term "Neocheating" which is the manipulation of mysticism in others to gain income. To Neocheat is to "promote a myth" and "gain unearned values from those who accept the myth."[9] According to Jane Austen, Wallace took this idea beyond poker in later books, and discovered that Neocheating was used by organized religion and government, and some elements of the business world. Austen says Wallace believed that these "value destroyers" keep our "sheep-life selves in line while picking our pockets." However, Wallace believed that individuals can protect themselves from Neocheaters through the use of Neo-Tech or "fully integrated honesty" and free themselves of "parasitical elites."[10] It is claimed that Neo-Tech can make individuals "wealthier, richer, sexier and eventually immortal."[11] Blanche Barton, author of an autobiography of Satanist Anton LaVey, not speaking disparagingly, has suggested that the Neo-Tech "system of thought...offers Satanism in a grey flannel suit."[12] Comic book author Alan Grant wrote a four part Anarky miniseries for DC Comics which was based on Wallace's Neo-Tech philosophy. This was later expanded into a short lived, ongoing series entitled Anarky. Grant explained: "I felt he was the perfect character [to express the Neo-Tech philosophy] because he's human, he has no special powers, the only power he's got is the power of his own rational consciousness."[13]

Late in life, Wallace had speculated that non-supernatural intelligent beings created our universe and wished to prove this. Wallace had planned on building an interactive audio visual walk-through glass model that illustrates the integration of large amounts of raw physical, statistical, and mathematical information. This information would include information concerning space-time distributions, quantities, properties and uses of the elements on quantum, macro and cosmic levels. The project was supposed to have been completed by 2010.[14] [15]

[edit] The Honesty Oath

Wallace said that the term "Neo-Tech" is a actually "a noun or adjective meaning fully integrated honesty."[16] In a court case, Wallace requested to replace the word "truth" with the phrase "fully integrated honesty" in the oath required in U.S. courts before testifying.[17] He was initially refused to allow him to testify, but he appealed this to the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals which then ruled that this form of the oath was permissible.[18] The oath to which he agreed was read to him in court as follows: "Do you affirm to speak with fully integrated Honesty, only with fully integrated Honesty and nothing but fully integrated Honesty?"

[edit] History

Wallace opposed income tax on principle. According to Wallace, IRS agents raided the "Neo-Tech writing, research, and publishing facilities" on November 3, 1986, and seized records, documents, cash, and other materials.[19] According to a book entitled Laws of Evidence by Thomas Buckles, Ward was indicted for tax evasion and failure to file income tax returns on March 29, 1990.

Ward decided to represented himself in trial. He filed a "Motion to Challenge the Oath," which was denied by Magistrate Lawrence R. Leavitt, who said "the oath or affirmation which as been administered in courts of law throughout the United States to millions of witnesses for hundreds of years should not be required to give way to the defendant's idiosyncratic distinctions between truth and honesty." On February 11, a three-day trial began with Wallace making a lengthy opening statement and cross-examining government witnesses. At one point Wallace offered a compromise by proposing to speak both the standard oath and his honesty oath, but the judge refused to allow it. Therefore, Wallace did not testify.

A jury found him guilty without hearing his testimony or hearing presenting witnesses. Ward appealed the case and was granted a new trial with the appeals court ruling that he must be allowed to testify under the honesty oath.[20] In the 1993 trial after the appeal, Wallace was convicted of tax evasion for not filing income tax returns for the years 1983, 1984, and 1985 and served a prison sentence.[21]

On January 26, 2006 while Wallace was jogging in Henderson, Nevada, he was struck and killed by a car. He was 73 years old.[22]

[edit] References

  1. ^ Daily News of Los Angeles (August 20, 1992). Tax-Evasion Conviction Reversed.
  2. ^ Colby Magazine, Summer 2006, Vol 95, No 2
  3. ^ Glass, Ira; Jane Austen (2003). A Friendly Game of Poker. Chicago Review Press. p. 210
  4. ^ Ellis, Drew (1986). Neo-Tech Pleasures. The Neo-Tech Research and Writing Center.
  5. ^ Friedman, Stan (2006). Dogs Playing Poker: Poker Kit. Sterling Publishing Company, Inc. ISBN 1402734484. p. 8
  6. ^ "Busted." Forbes. On the Cover/Top Stories. Stephanie Fitch. 10/04/04. Retrieved from Forbes.com. [1]
  7. ^ Schreiber, Lee Robert (2005). Poker as Life: 101 Lessons from the World's Greatest Game. Hearst Books. ISBN 1588164616. p. 102
  8. ^ Brown, Aaron (2006). The Poker Face of Wall Street. John Wiley and Sons. ISBN 0471793957. pp. 184-185
  9. ^ Glass, Ira; Jane Austen (2003). A Friendly Game of Poker. Chicago Review Press. p. 210
  10. ^ Glass, Ira; Jane Austen (2003). A Friendly Game of Poker. Chicago Review Press. p. 211
  11. ^ Glass, Ira; Jane Austen (2003). A Friendly Game of Poker. Chicago Review Press. p. 211
  12. ^ Barton, Blanche (1992). The Secret Life of a Satanist: The Authorized Biography of Anton LaVey. Feral House; New Ed edition. p. 200
  13. ^ Holy Penis Collapsor Batman! DC Publishes The First Zonpower Comic Book!?!?!. gocomics.com. Accessed February 18, 1998
  14. ^ Hope, Tony: Hart, Markus; Wilson, Vicki (2005). Fresh Wisdom: Breakthough to Enlightenment. BookSurge Publishing. ISBN 1419618555. p. 109
  15. ^ Wallace, Frank R. Pax Neo-Tech. [2]
  16. ^ Wallace, Frank R. (1986). Neo-Tech Discovery. I & O Publishing
  17. ^ Associated Press (1992, August 23). "Court Rules 'Honesty' Oath Merits New Trial". New York Times Late Edition - Final, Section 1, Page 29, Column 1 [3]
  18. ^ Koerner, Brendan I. How Did We Get Our Oath?, Slate.com, April 30, 2004.
  19. ^ Wallace, Frank R, Neo-Tech Protection Kit, Volume II [4].
  20. ^ Buckles, Thomas, Laws of Evidence, p. 186-189, "Can 'Truth' By Replaced with 'Fully Integrated Honesty?'" (Thomson Delmar Learning 2002).
  21. ^ U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, I & O PUBLISHING CO INC V IRS, Case no. 96-70117, filed 12/16/97
  22. ^ Henderson man accident victim, Las Vegas Review-Journal, January 28, 2006.

[edit] See also

[edit] External links

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