In the ninth episode, Robert and guest Ryan Hartley (Kenneth Ryan Hartley) discuss Abney’s effect, a phenomenon regarding the perceived expansion of light from the center of an illuminated area. The conversation moves fluidly from the technical abstractions of ray tracing and holograms to the gritty reality of the "starving artist" lifestyle. They examine the volatile origins of the online /lit/ community, from 4chan boards to the "incel angst" of young writers, and the necessity of transmuting that rage into mature art. Topics range from the "pissing in the wind" perseverance of writing mentors like Harold Jaffe to Ryan’s harrowing past dealing drugs to pipeline roughnecks in the "no man's land" of rural British Columbia, and they explore concepts like the "slow boiling frog" of societal collapse and the performative nature of political extremism through the lens of personal trauma and survival.

Ryan's writing endevours can be found ⁠HERE⁠.

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