The only thing more fun than listening again to this talk was enjoying it when it happened. Thank y'all both for that!
Also, two further comments on how the Hinternet overflows into reality (and makes it more zany, more intelligent, and more fun): that Oort Cloud Review was originally a false source that blurbed JSR's fiction, before the actual magazine materialized. And the Hinternet is now offering an essay contest, like any humanistic institution should: https://www.the-hinternet.com/p/hinternet-essay-prize-competition
Thanks! I sort of felt the same way, in the sense that even when someone is writing as much as Justin is, there a lot of biographical holes that can be usefully filled.
Loved listening to this. Great to hear JSR talking so freely about the Hinternet, but also not giving the game up completely — the ambiguity is the point!
Also thanks to Kevin for saying such lovely words about me, very kind!
I wonder whether the spore experiment inspired "The Invasion from Outer Space", the fantastic short short story by the inimitable Stephen Millhauser...I mean, it had to, right?
It must have, given that a human imagined as a floating spore is such a bizarre image that's hard not to fill in with greater detail. (Also, this Millhauser story made me pine more than I expected for older, better New Yorker short fiction, so thanks for that!)
The only thing more fun than listening again to this talk was enjoying it when it happened. Thank y'all both for that!
Also, two further comments on how the Hinternet overflows into reality (and makes it more zany, more intelligent, and more fun): that Oort Cloud Review was originally a false source that blurbed JSR's fiction, before the actual magazine materialized. And the Hinternet is now offering an essay contest, like any humanistic institution should: https://www.the-hinternet.com/p/hinternet-essay-prize-competition
Just got around to listening to this. Even for me, a longtime reader of JSR from before substack, there was a lot to like here! Great questions, Dan.
Thanks! I sort of felt the same way, in the sense that even when someone is writing as much as Justin is, there a lot of biographical holes that can be usefully filled.
Loved listening to this. Great to hear JSR talking so freely about the Hinternet, but also not giving the game up completely — the ambiguity is the point!
Also thanks to Kevin for saying such lovely words about me, very kind!
Like I said, I’m glad you gave me room far beyond the factual!
I wonder whether the spore experiment inspired "The Invasion from Outer Space", the fantastic short short story by the inimitable Stephen Millhauser...I mean, it had to, right?
https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2009/02/09/the-invasion-from-outer-space
It must have, given that a human imagined as a floating spore is such a bizarre image that's hard not to fill in with greater detail. (Also, this Millhauser story made me pine more than I expected for older, better New Yorker short fiction, so thanks for that!)