For the betterment of mankind and the advancement of world peace.
These were the stated goals of the Dharma Initiative. Dedicated scientists, conducting experiments and making breakthrough discoveries in six specific technical disciplines: meteorology, psychology, parapsychology, zoology, electromagnetism, and utopian social engineering. And all of it carried out on a beautiful island with comfortable living spaces and tasteful decor. The Fifth Dimension could have sung its praises: Peace will guide this island, and love will steer the vans. This is the dawning of the Dharma Initiative...
The well-rehearsed propaganda must have been appealing to our grandparents. Here was an organisation that lived its values, and valued peace over war, love over death.
Except the organisation was funded by a munitions and arms merchant who became wealthier with every Vietnamese village incinerated to dust by napalm bombs. Except the DI was run by a mathematician whose primary aim was to build “security systems”. And when Horace Goodspeed’s bully tactics weren’t aggressive enough, Stuart Radzinsky stepped in with handguns, rifles, and machine guns.
What was the Dharma Initiative? A band of peace-loving dropouts, or a group of power-hungry masterminds? Hippie utopia, or fascist nightmare? The Dharma Initiative is the story of happy image and harsh reality, idealists and schemers, the culmination of everything the Woodstock Generation believed in. This is the story of the Dharma Initiative.
