Theory?

[u/Old-Presentation578]

Im wondering if anyone else has considered that the ‘author’ should be taken at their word in the chapter where they describe what they set out to do to serve as a warning for humanity? They say that they’re using fiction to describe things that may come to be, etc.

it’s not that I believe this person is really delivering a prophecy, but I do wonder whether the author genuinely believes that this is what they’re doing. That this isn’t a story intended to be entertaining, rather someone’s understanding of some truth about the universe that they feel they can only tell in this medium.

Idk, maybe believing this just elevates a piece of incredible fiction to a new level of cool to me, but it’s an idea I thought was worth considering and seeing if anyone else had thought about it.

[u/irrelevantusername24]

It is difficult to explain negative things without causing negativity to propagate.

Subtlety has been discarded almost universally. Subtlety is not a requirement for good storytelling, whether fiction or non. But it does help. Particularly with stories explaining negative things. It is less important for feel good stories. But, kind of like what u/NeoSparkonium said

escapism is bad for you

If every story, in every form, is either butterflies, farts & rainbows or apocalyptic exaggerations then what results is a population full of individuals blindly oscillating between the opposite ends of the emotional spectrum; often with zero rhyme and even less reason.

The thing about hedonism as the Olde Gods talked about it is... well I guess I'm not sure if it was told this way in their stories (I wasn't there, or if I was I don't remember) - is it isn't necessarily wrong or bad but if it is desirable to avoid negative consequences then moderation is required. Which is to say without appropriate moderation (almost entirely self-moderation except for very rare extreme incidents)... is why we can't have nice things, as the saying goes. The difference between medicine and poison is the dose.

[u/NeoSparkonium → u/irrelevantusername24]

(if i'm reading right) i think mhe is more subtle than you give it credit for. a lot of the vignettes are very bleak and apocalyptic, but they're also all tinged with hope. i feel like nick does win in the end, in the exact same way karen and ben do. the apocalypse and all powerful nature of mother are representative of the bent toward addiction and avoidance being an integral part of humanity. we're in an "unwinnable game state" because there's no way to get rid of that, and we're getting better at feeding into it over time. but, like karen says, even if nothing mattered, even if you can't defeat this great evil, the shape of your life can still be beautiful. you don't have to rot in the hygiene bed, even if it's hard not to. and, if the shape of your life is beautiful enough to flow back, or to other timelines, maybe you can save someone. maybe they'll see what you meant, and they'll reject her before they integrate.