Scott Alexander is a fantastic author. Most of his other work isn’t so realistic though, for example “Universal Love, Said the Cactus Person” has the protagonist in a DMT trip alternating between nonsense poetry describing the environment and trying to convince his hallucinations to do a math problem he can’t in order to prove that they’re real that involves explaining enlightenment with a car analogy. He also wrote “A Modern Myth” that’s about Greek gods in the modern world (for example Eris hosts a daytime talk show, Ares is a soldier, Zeus owes child support for 200 kids, etc) and spun a story out of a meme image about picking a pill to get a superpower.
Probably his best is a lengthy piece titled UNSONG that’s an absolute master class in foreshadowing, and involves the works of William Blake, Jewish mysticism, and an answer to the question of evil.
Wow, that story was a wild ride. Thank you for sharing. While it’s tagged
fiction, it’s a real sounding account and had me really thinking there.Scott Alexander is a fantastic author. Most of his other work isn’t so realistic though, for example “Universal Love, Said the Cactus Person” has the protagonist in a DMT trip alternating between nonsense poetry describing the environment and trying to convince his hallucinations to do a math problem he can’t in order to prove that they’re real that involves explaining enlightenment with a car analogy. He also wrote “A Modern Myth” that’s about Greek gods in the modern world (for example Eris hosts a daytime talk show, Ares is a soldier, Zeus owes child support for 200 kids, etc) and spun a story out of a meme image about picking a pill to get a superpower.
Probably his best is a lengthy piece titled UNSONG that’s an absolute master class in foreshadowing, and involves the works of William Blake, Jewish mysticism, and an answer to the question of evil.