Author's note: This is my apparently-annual "I'll put a post on LessWrong in honor of LessOnline" post. These days, my writing goes on my Substack. There have in fact been some pretty cool essays since last year's LO post.

Structural note:
Some essays are like a five-minute morning news spot. Other essays are more like a 90-minute lecture.

This is one of the latter. It's not necessarily complex or difficult; it could be a 90-minute lecture to seventh graders (especially ones with the right cultural background).

But this is, inescapably, a long-form piece, à la In Defense of Punch Bug or The MTG Color Wheel. It takes its time. It doesn’t apologize for its meandering (outside of this disclaimer). It asks you to sink deeply into a gestalt, to drift back and forth between seemingly unrelated concepts until you start to feel the way those concepts weave together [...]

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Outline:

(02:30) 0. Introduction

(10:08) A list of truths and dares

(14:34) Act I

(14:37) Scene I: How The Water Tastes To The Fishes

(22:38) Scene II: The Chip on Mitchell's Shoulder

(28:17) Act II

(28:20) Scene I: Bent Out Of Shape

(41:26) Scene II: Going Stag, But Like ... Together?

(48:31) Scene III: Patterns, Projections, and Preconceptions

(01:02:04) Interlude: The Sound of One Hand Clapping

(01:05:45) Act III

(01:05:56) Scene I: Memetic Traps (Or, The Battle for the Soul of Morty Smith)

(01:27:16) Scene II: The problem with Rhonda Byrne's 2006 bestseller The Secret

(01:32:39) Scene III: Escape velocity

(01:42:26) Act IV

(01:42:29) Scene I: Boy, putting Zack Davis's name in a header will probably have Effects, huh

(01:44:08) Scene II: Whence Wholesomeness?

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First published:

Source:

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Narrated by TYPE III AUDIO.

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