Cosmic Ray Deflection Society

The Cosmic Ray Deflection Society is a satirical environmental and pseudoscientific organization associated with New Orleans, Louisiana. It presents itself as a group preparing humanity for a fictional future in which damage to the ozone layer allows dangerous cosmic rays to reach Earth. The organization’s premise deliberately mixes genuine environmental concerns with absurd scientific claims, turning public anxiety about ozone depletion, industrial pollution, and ecological collapse into participatory performance and visual art. Also Aswell organized the society in May 1984 in Greensboro, North Carolina, in response to contemporary reports about the possible destruction of the ozone layer. The organization later became associated with New Orleans and described itself as having a worldwide membership of more than 250 people. Its activities are connected with Krudzna Ink, characterized as a loosely organized network of environmentally minded and unconventional artists. The society’s central artifact is the Anti-Cosmic Ray Suit, or ACRaS. Members construct protective clothing and objects by attaching items with little practical value, including toys, buttons, beads, plastic objects, tickets, jewelry, and automobile parts, to hats, shirts, footwear, vehicles, houses, and shields. Within the group’s fictional logic, the accumulation of objects eventually reaches “critical mass,” at which point the decorated item begins to repel cosmic rays. The related Anti-Cosmic Ray Hat, or ACRaH, is especially important: making one is described as a requirement for membership, and the organization’s motto is “The Hat Comes First.” A second doctrine, the Dysonberg Confusion Principle, claims that cosmic rays possess a limited intelligence and can be confused by behavior that violates ordinary expectations. Examples include wearing sunglasses without being famous, setting off fireworks at Christmas, exchanging presents on Independence Day, and observing a combined holiday called “Valloween” on Valentine’s Day and Halloween. These practices parody both scientific theorizing and ritualized social behavior while reinforcing the group’s environmental message. The society operates through local chapters, which are approved when three members create Anti-Cosmic Ray Hats. Chapters hold monthly covered-dish meetings, work toward compiling a Cosmic Ray Cookbook, promote local environmental and free-speech issues, and are encouraged to support an outsider artist in their community. Its rules reportedly draw on Robert’s Rules of Order, giving the otherwise anarchic concept a formal meeting structure. The organization has also participated in art-car and alternative-media culture. Several decorated vehicles, called Cosmic Ray Deflection Motor Vehicles, became part of its collection, while members worked on a Cosmic Ray House and Garden in New Orleans and developed wearable shields. The society’s public profile expanded through its involvement in the 1996 Black World Wide Web protest and the subsequent Blue Ribbon Online Free Speech Campaign. These activities broadened its agenda from environmental satire to include online expression and censorship concerns. The Cosmic Ray Deflection Society is best understood as an artistic and cultural project rather than a scientific, commercial, or conventional environmental institution. Its humor depends on presenting absurd protective technologies as if they were serious, while its craft practices, chapter activities, and public interventions create a community around ecological consciousness, outsider art, counterculture, and free speech.

The Cosmic Ray Deflection Society emerged in May 1984, when Also Aswell organized it in Greensboro, North Carolina. Its formation responded to public discussion about the anticipated destruction of the ozone layer by chlorofluorocarbons, exhaust fumes, and other human-made pollutants. Instead of addressing the issue through conventional scientific or political advocacy, the society adopted an intentionally absurd premise: if environmental degradation allowed deadly cosmic rays to penetrate the atmosphere, people would need to construct improvised devices capable of deflecting them. The organization’s survivalist language was presented in the style of a serious technical and environmental program, but its proposed solutions were deliberately irrational. Members assembled Anti-Cosmic Ray Hats and Anti-Cosmic Ray Suits from collections of discarded or trivial objects. Toys, buttons, beads, plastics, jewelry, tickets, and automotive components could be fastened to clothing or other surfaces. The supposed protective power of these objects increased as they accumulated, eventually reaching a condition called “critical mass.” The society’s motto, “The Hat Comes First,” emphasized the hat as both a practical-looking defense and a symbol of membership. The group also developed the Dysonberg Confusion Principle. According to this fictional theory, cosmic rays have enough intelligence to be confused by actions that depart from social norms. Members therefore promoted deliberately unexpected behaviors, such as wearing sunglasses without celebrity status, lighting fireworks on Christmas, giving gifts on Independence Day, and observing “Valloween,” a hybrid of Valentine’s Day and Halloween. These practices converted environmental anxiety into communal performance and gave members a set of recognizable rituals. Over time, the society became associated with New Orleans, Louisiana, and reported a membership of more than 250 people around the world. Its activities were linked with Krudzna Ink, a loosely connected community of unconventional environmentalists and artists. The society’s work also entered the art-car movement. Decorated vehicles known as Cosmic Ray Deflection Motor Vehicles joined the group’s broader collection of protective objects. Members described plans for a Cosmic Ray House and Garden with a patio in New Orleans and created shields intended for urban wear. The organization’s chapter system gave structure to its participatory culture. A local chapter could be approved after three members made Anti-Cosmic Ray Hats. Chapters held monthly covered-dish gatherings, collaborated on a proposed Cosmic Ray Cookbook, and were encouraged to adopt and support a local outsider artist. Environmental and free-speech issues formed part of the chapter agenda, while Robert’s Rules of Order supplied a formal procedure for meetings. Membership also involved attempting to read Samuel R. Delany’s novel Dhalgren and Tom Wolfe’s The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test, further connecting the group to experimental literature and countercultural history. In 1996, the society participated in the Black World Wide Web protest and the later Blue Ribbon Online Free Speech Campaign. These interventions added internet speech and censorship concerns to its existing environmental and artistic themes. The organization’s public image was also documented through references in art-car and outsider-art media, including material associated with the films Wild Wheels and Life and Death at Barrister’s. The society is not a scientific body and is not documented as a conventional product company. Its significance lies in its use of parody, handmade objects, ritual, and public spectacle to discuss real environmental fears while resisting the language of institutional seriousness. It occupies an unusual space between environmental satire, outsider art, countercultural association, and free-speech activism.

• 1996

  Participation in online free-speech campaigns

  [1]Cosmic Ray Deflection Societyen.wikipedia.org

  The society participated in the Black World Wide Web protest and the subsequent Blue Ribbon Online Free Speech Campaign.

• 1984

  Organization founded in Greensboro

  [1]Cosmic Ray Deflection Societyen.wikipedia.org

  Also Aswell organized the Cosmic Ray Deflection Society in Greensboro, North Carolina, in response to warnings about ozone-layer destruction.

Satirical environmentalism expressed through participatory craft, outsider art, absurdist pseudoscience, and free-speech activism.

• Wearable art and membership artifact · 1984

  Anti-Cosmic Ray Hat

  An improvised hat decorated with accumulated trinkets and discarded objects. Within the society’s satirical belief system, the hat protects its wearer from cosmic rays after reaching critical mass. Creating an Anti-Cosmic Ray Hat is described as a basic membership requirement, making it both a craft object and a visible sign of participation.

• Wearable art · 1984

  Anti-Cosmic Ray Suit

  A decorated shirt-and-hat ensemble assembled from objects such as plastics, buttons, toys, beads, jewelry, tickets, and automobile parts. The suit parodies protective scientific equipment while turning environmental anxiety into a handmade performance object.

• Art cars

  Cosmic Ray Deflection Motor Vehicles

  Art cars incorporated into the society’s collection of cosmic-ray defenses. These vehicles extend the group’s wearable-object aesthetic into mobile public sculpture and connect its activities with the broader art-car movement.

• Environmental installation

  Cosmic Ray House and Garden

  A planned or developing New Orleans installation combining a house, garden, and patio as large-scale cosmic-ray deflection objects. It represents the society’s expansion from personal protective artifacts into site-specific outsider-art environments.

• 1996Black World Wide Web protest

  United States · Internet

  The society participated in a Black World Wide Web protest, linking its environmental and countercultural activities with concerns about online communication and freedom of expression.

  Outcome. The activity was followed by the society’s involvement in the Blue Ribbon Online Free Speech Campaign, and free-speech issues became part of its stated interests.

  Source
• 1996Blue Ribbon Online Free Speech Campaign

  United States · Internet

  The society joined a follow-up online campaign focused on protecting free expression, broadening its public agenda beyond environmental satire and art-making.

  Outcome. Free-speech advocacy became an additional activity associated with the organization.

  Source

• 1996

  Expand activities into online free speechStrategy

  Background

  Following participation in internet protests, the society addressed free-expression issues alongside its environmental and outsider-art activities.

  Action taken

  The organization participated in the Black World Wide Web protest and the Blue Ribbon Online Free Speech Campaign.

  Aftermath

  Free speech became part of the society’s broader program and public identity.

  Source

1. 1Cosmic Ray Deflection Societyen.wikipedia.org