Category: FICTION IN PHASE SPACE
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Enchantment
“…when he returns to what was once the USSR but is now Ukraine to do a dissertation on Russian Mythology and Tales and whether they conform to Propp’s Functions of Folktales…” https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Literature/Enchantment… The arc of history bends toward the Book of Mormon. Ima try this, see what happens. Ender’s Game, speaker for the Dead, Xenocide,…
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Flaming Pie
ORIGINS “Well, I had a vision when I was twelve. And I saw a man on a flaming pie, and he said, ‘You are the Beatles with an A.’ And so we are.” John Lennon’s tongue-in-cheek origin myth, delivered with his signature blend of scouse wit and cosmic irreverence, is more than a punchline—it is…
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Gravity’s Rainbow
In the shadowed realms of thermodynamics, where entropy’s whispers echo and the laws of nature weave their intricate tapestries, we encounter a parade of concepts that dance on the edge of information asymmetry:
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I Bought a Little City
Donald Barthelme’s 1974 short story “I Bought a Little City” is a surreal and satirical take on the American Dream, consumerism, and the power dynamics of ownership. The story follows an unnamed narrator who, upon hearing that the city of Galveston, Texas, is up for sale, decides to purchase it on a whim. From the…
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Identity
Identity is a complex and multifaceted concept that has been the subject of much philosophical debate. One of the most fundamental questions about identity is whether it is situated in time. In other words, do we have a single, unchanging identity that persists throughout our lives, or is our identity constantly changing and evolving? There…
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Ilium
So, having lurked around the crypto social protocol Farcaster, I’ve always found the name ironic. Years ago, I joked it was a real-world “Torment Nexus”—the classic tech blunder of building a dystopian thing from sci-fi because it sounded cool. They took the name from Dan Simmons’s Hyperion novels, where the Farcaster is literally the nexus…
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Kishōtenketsu
Kishōtenketsu is a unique story structure commonly found in East Asian narratives, particularly in traditional Chinese, Japanese, and Korean literature. It offers an alternative approach to storytelling that subverts the traditional Western concepts of conflict-driven plotlines and three-act structures. The term “Kishōtenketsu” consists of four Chinese characters, each representing a different narrative element: Kishōtenketsu showcases…
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Let’s democratize this *insert business by making it more expensive
Let’s slice through the status quo, man. Let’s take this business, this purveyor of pedestrian products or services, and inject it with a hyperdermic of exclusivity. We’ll jack the price to a level that would make a Rockefeller blink, a price that screams, “This ain’t for the Joneses, this is for the goddamn Vanderbilts!” Imagine,…
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Lu-Tze and the Tao of Non-Engagement
A Radical Simplicity Terry Pratchett’s Lu-Tze, the humble sweeper-monk, embodies a philosophy that transcends the binaries of control and chaos, order and entropy. His approach echoes the Taoist principle of wu wei—effortless action—where effectiveness arises not from force or rigid doctrine, but from alignment with the natural flow of things. In a world where systems…
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Mamet
Alright, listen up. You think this business, this whole damn racket, is some kind of free-for-all? Everyone gets a shot? Bull***t. This ain’t a goddamn playground. But here’s the thing, sunshine – a crowded market is a dead market. We don’t want everyone in the game, flinging elbows and driving down prices. We want scarcity.…