Some great dystopian-realist vignettes here that I wish didn't resonate as much as they do, but I suppose they say "do not avert your gaze" for a reason.
Roy feels like a contender for an SF Patrick Bateman or something. I guess maybe that would make The Cheesecake Factory "Dorsia", which is an upsetting thought for me.
2. Although this is a great piece, I feel like it is in some sense low-hanging fruit - it's almost doomer porn to lean in to the whole AI billboard B2B homelessness angle. I think it would take a lot more work to produce a flourishing/virtuous version of this essay, but I would love to read that.
Two things kept coming to mind when reading this:
1. I wonder what Roy would think of This Is Water — David Foster Wallace, tho maybe he is too "what is water" fish to take much from it.
2. Although this is a great piece, I feel like it is in some sense low-hanging fruit - it's almost doomer porn to lean in to the whole AI billboard B2B homelessness angle. I think it would take a lot more work to produce a flourishing/virtuous version of this essay, but I would love to read that.