VOLUME 13, NO. 1     DEC 1999

Readers remember "Alpha and Omega"

As WPI completes its Y2K preparations, some may recall an enigmatic article from the early '70s that set forth arcane predictions for the dawn of the new millennium. "The Theory of Alpha and Omega on Planet Earth," by Andreas de Rhoda, a writer who then worked in WPI's Development Office, and his former wife, Annette, was published in the August 1973 issue of the WPI Journal. The article engendered strong reactions from alumni and members of the college community.

The theory foretold a "second leap" in human evolution--a change that had been building inside man's unconscious for the last 1.5 billion years. As the accumulated sum of spiritual and technical knowledge approached infinity, mankind would reach a higher awareness that transcended conflict, crime, disease and possibly death itself. This transformation, the authors predicted back in 1973, was likely to take place within the next three decades.

The text of the article--along with supporting data that included charts, graphs, paintings and a bibliography that cited Carl Sagan, Arthur C. Clarke, Jeanne Dixon and the Bible, among others--ran a full 18 Journal pages.

Letters to the editor called Alpha and Omega everything from "one of the greatest [articles] ever, anywhere," to "downright embarrassing" and "sheer tommyrot." "A few more articles like that and the Journal will be on a par with the MIT publication Technology Review," wrote one reader. Another called the decision to publish Alpha and Omega "a sorry blot on the reputation of the Institute," and "nothing short of an affront to the intelligence of its alumni."

Andreas de Rhoda is now retired, remarried and living in New York City. "I would like to offer some apologetic words about that article," he said in a recent telephone interview. "I don't want people to take what I said too seriously. I took it too seriously for 25 years. The theory was based on spiritual experiences of my former wife and myself, which were very real but cannot be explained."

But Alpha and Omega may have left a lasting impression on readers. Roger Landry, who attended WPI in the early '70s, recently wrote to request a copy. Although he has only vague memories of the theory, Landry remains haunted by its prescient description of an infinite explosion of knowledge at the approach of the 21st Century--which he compares to the unbelievable pace at which information technology is evolving in the final years of this decade.

"Computers were really in their infancy in 1973," Landry points out. "I don't think anyone back then could have foreseen the rapidly multiplying processing power that we possess today." He concedes, however, that humanity still has a long way to go to achieve the de Rhodas' utopian consciousness by 2003.

De Rhoda, cryptic as ever, warns that we must use our own judgement in interpreting the wisdom of the universe. "Everybody has to take his own road to reality and trust his own guidance," he says. "Think about the substance of being. Life is a product of intelligence, not matter. Trust your own guidance."

--Joan Killough-Miller