Reality: Napolis’ claim to bargain with Hopkins is really a sleight-of-hand legal threat. There is no evidence that the computer technology cited above exists; that Carol Hopkins has “tortured” Napolis, her “Buddhist friend” or anyone else; or that “astral souls” have an objective phenomenological reality, apart from metaphysical and religious belief systems, American Book of the Dead excepted. Who “seriously told” Napolis this? Why doesn’t she skeptically question these beliefs, instead of accepting at face value what she is “seriously told”? Has Napolis been listening to too much Fear Factory again?

Reality: There is no evidence that Carol Hopkins has targeted Napolis or is part of a group. There is no evidence that the “events” Napolis describes have actually occurred outside her subjective mind: are these “events” really Napolis’ masochistic fantasies or auditory/visual hallucinations? As noted here and here Napolis makes highly speculative claims and unsupported about computer systems and quantum physics that do not exist (beyond long run conceptual possibilities of action-at-a-distance). Napolis’ addition of Scott Locklin (a physicist/financial quant influenced by Church of Satan founder and magus Anton LaVey, and who engaged in flame-wars on the alt.satanism newsgroup with Setians) reveals her paranoid ideation and continued fixation on skeptics. Locklin is, in fact, a longtime critic of Michael Aquino due to philosophical and initiatory differences which are incommensurable. Thus, how and why would either Aquino or Locklin want to collaborate on targeting her? Napolis also legally threatens to the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency and the U.S. Army.

Are they really all involved in a megalomaniacal vendetta to derail the virtuous Napolis using a brain/computer interface? Or, more plausibly, is Napolis experiencing hallucinations and perspecution delusions?

Reality: This post illustrates how Napolis approaches research: (1) she makes knowledge claims in the logical form of an  inductive hypothesis without any reality-testing; (2) relies on disinformation about others which fits and pre-validates her views (detailed here); (3) gathers ‘data’ that is susceptible to selection bias; and (4) when confronted with new information that falsifies her inductive hypotheses, simply re-edits her blog text to change the publicly available record (comparison here on Napolis’ original and still unverified claim about the FBI’s visit).

H.P. Lovecraft, the American author of cosmological terror, summed up what happens to those who pursue forbidden knowledge such as Aquino: “That is not dead, which can eternal lie | And in strange aeons, even death may die” (an enigmatic couplet also memorialized in Derek Riggs‘ artwork for Iron Maiden‘s 1985 album Live After Death). Napolis is late on the murder scene as Don Webb chronicled Aquino’s death in the metafictional short story ‘The Sound of a Door Opening’.

Reality: There are no independently verifiable sources for Napolis’ claims, her depiction of  quantum computers and plasma/fifth dimensional physics, nor any involvement by Carnegie Mellon or John Hopkins University. The Apple Macintosh SE/30 is mentioned here in an homage to Don Norman‘s influence on product design and user experience. The Mac SE/30 is not a quantum computer (despite the Hypercard software as an early hypermedia system) nor is it powered by plasma/fifth dimensional physics. This suggests either Napolis is joking, careless with references, or is unfamiliar with the technological capabilities of mid-1980s desktop computers. If the latter is true, then her dystopian beliefs in computer problems, quantum computers, plasma/fifth dimensional physics, and inner eye-lid nanotechnology may also not be credible.

Reality: This YouTube clip explains why Hewitt’s people would still be concerned about Napolis, who was convicted in 2003 of celebrity stalking.

Reality: Napolis’ description of visual imagery in her “inner eyelid” is closer to self-generated eidetic imagery rather than nanotechnology or quantum computers. The eidetic imagery explanation also fits Napolis’ interest in lucid dreaming methodologies, drawn from New Age interpretations of Tibetan Buddhist praxis. There is no independent evidence that a computer/brain interface exists beyond its depiction in science fiction films; that Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory or Michael Aquino own this purported technology (LLNL’s computation and supercomputing facilities are used for simulations of disease epidemics and nuclear explosions); nor that Napolis is being targeted in any way. The Wired.com article clearly states that DARPA‘s research program is at the stages of blue sky/conceptual research and basic R&D, with a 10-20 year timeframe speculated as a longrange possibility, rather than “implemented as of 2001 and it was used on me.” Napolis’ claim that, “I was told by Aquino that various satanic cults were going to abuse me as a gesture for the millennium,” illustrate her Satanic Ritual Abuse worldview, and differs remarkably from Aquino’s Church of Satan history (2009). A comparison of Napolis and Aquino’s worldviews reveals that they are conceptually, philosophically and ethically incommensurable.

Reality: This posting illustrates Napolis’ brinkmanship about her “pending lawsuit”. Napolis omits the crucial fact that, in the past, she has threatened Hewitt, Hopkins, Aquino and the Temple of Set. Instead, a more plausible explanation than “political opponents who try to cause trouble for me” is that the FBI and District Attorney’s office visited Napolis’ home due to her 2003 convictions of stalking Hewitt, who along with film director Steven Spielberg and Aquino have filed permanent restraining orders. This provides the context for Mix’s “threat”, if, in fact, this has occurred at all and was unprovoked.

Reality: Napolis’ information on Dr. Michael A. Aquino‘s real estate holdings in San Francisco is taken from 1987 media coverage of Satanic Ritual Abuse allegations made against Aquino, which were never proven and which he was never charged for, yet which became the focus of Napolis’ Internet newsgroup attacks. Today, Aquino’s holdings are managed by the Barony of Rachane family trust with no connection whatsoever to Carol Hopkins. Aquino notes in his extensive rejoinder to Napolis’ unsuccessful lawsuit filed with the U.S. Federal Court in 2008, that he has had no contact with Hopkins except as a co-defendant, that Napolis lawsuit was dismissed on 16th September 2008 against all defendants, and that the San Francisco Superior Court issued a permanent Restraining Order against Napolis on 31st October 2008, to protect the Aquinos.

Thus there is no evidence that Hopkins was “involved in a conspiracy to steal Aquino’s millions” nor that Napolis “was not being controlled by Michael Aquino whose computer I was in” (as noted above such an asset class and family trust vehicle are prudent investment and wealth management structures against such risks). This is just rumor and speculation by Napolis to try and keep the interest of her audience, due to her lawsuit’s dismissal by the U.S. Federal Court. In fact, Napolis’ extensive email postings in 1995-2000 under Karen ‘Curio’ Jones and other pseudonyms illustrates her unsuccessful attempts at “identity theft” and reputation damage against Aquino and others, which they have rebutted. Being “in a computer” and hearing an “internal conversation” suggests referential ideation, magical thinking and auditory hallucinations — unless Napolis meant a transparent Apple Macintosh SE/30?

Nor is there any evidence for Aquino being a “fall guy” in Napolis’ fictional conspiracy involving Carol Hopkins as a “gold digger”. Instead, this final claim illustrates four aspects of Napolis’ thought process: (1) People who Napolis has publicly attacked for over a decade are ‘clustered’ into a group (even when her alleged collaborators have a public record of longstanding disagreement, such as Aquino and Scott Locklin); (2) Napolis claims this group is ‘against’ her as a reaction formation when, in fact, it was she who attacked them; (3) When Napolis’ claims are shown to be wrong or falsiable, she creates false claims to misdirect others, rather than re-evaluate her theories, because of anchoring, framing, sunk costs and other cognitive biases; and (4) over time, Napolis uses a ‘revolving door’ to reposition the people she attacks, such as Aquino being a “fall guy” and Hopkins now being the villain (Napolis made earlier claims about Aquino, Locklin and others named as co-defendants in her unsuccessful lawsuit, and earlier in 1995-2000 postings on Internet newsgroups). Rather than disgard her false claims, or adjusting for biases by using Bayes’ theorem for a priori and post priori information, Napolis simply creates more grandiose conspiracies, inferences and speculation as attention-seeking.

Collectively, these examples illustrate Napolis’ defense mechanisms to avoid having to publicly admit that she has been incorrect for over a decade.

Reality: Carol Hopkins has denied Napolis’ allegations.

The historical Illuminati was an Enlightenment era secret society founded by Adam Weishaupt in 1776 which is now depicted by conspiracy theorists as a shadowy, trans-national ruling elite. The Temple of Set’s Illuminati element or study group is concerned with Weishaupt’s aeonic word Perfection which TS former High Priest Don Webb likens to Beethoven‘s Ninth Symphony and John Lennon‘s song ‘Imagine’ (blog post 2nd May, 12:28am).

Any ‘private inner Order’ is a claim that Napolis attempts to ensure is unverifiable because of how she frames it, and it appears to be modeled on either the Roman Catholic Church or Napolis’ misunderstanding of the Temple of Set‘s Order system, which are more like university departments which conduct specialized research programs.

Napolis’ allegation that Hopkins’ fictional Order “”hunted” their personal enemies for “sport”" is taken from Richard Connell‘s short story ‘The Most Dangerous Game’ (1924) and film adaptation (1934). Napolis appears to have taken this claim from Mark Phillips and Cathy O’Brien’s self/vanity-published book Trance Formation of America (Reality Marketing, Inc., Las Vegas NV, 1995), in which O’Brien claims the Roman Catholic Church, Illuminati bloodlines and multi-generational Satanists are depicted in a mind control plot with Washington political elites, U.S. Presidents, and the country and western music industry. In turn, Napolis’ allegations revive claims made in the late 1950s and early 1960s by the John Birch Society and similar conservative groups, which felt threatened by the Second Vatican Council and 1960s liberal society. Along with Phillips and O’Brien, Fritz Springmeier promoted these claims during the early 1990s in the U.S. patriot, militia, and survivalist communities, as a worldview to justifiy his tax evasion schemes and to recruit susceptible people from these communities.

Thus, part of Napolis’ claims about Hopkins are based on discredited conspiracy theories and religiopolitical propaganda, which O’Brien, Phillips, Springmeier, Wheeler and others have promoted to gain social status in communities and subcultures. These theories and propaganda may help to integrate these communities against external enemies: notably, the Roman Catholic Church and Washington political elites, which, although perceived as illegitimate,  have ‘power over’ these communities through institutions, religious doctrines and taxation.

Reality: Unlike her past defendants who have publicly verifiable academic qualifications, research grants and publication track records (such as Professor Elizabeth Loftus or Dr. Michael A. Aquino), Napolis has not yet revealed the academic institution, degree program or year of her qualifications. This is usually a norm for a researcher or practitioner who desires to establish their academic and public reputation in a field of knowledge. The most likely candidates for Napolis’ degree are at San Diego State University‘s Department of Religious Studies and the MA in Transpersonal Psychology program at San Diego University for Integrative Studies (the latter is more probable, as Napolis claims in a 6th May 2009 blog post to have a ‘Buddhist teacher’, and the SDUIS program has a stong Tibetan Buddhist orientation). Verifying this academic qualification is important for several reasons. First, it provides a ‘wayfinder’ for her domain knowledge in religious studies, spirituality and transpersonal psychology. Second, a perspective on Napolis’ stance, cognitive biases and frames of reference, which includes stereotyping of her past defendants. Third, an independent benchmark of her academic socialization and research skills (or clear lack of). Importantly, Napolis has published her ‘data’ and ‘findings’ on Internet blogs rather than in recognized academic journals with editorial, communal verification and peer review processes.