George Saunders

And that's in the book too, I think.

Yeah, in a sense, yes.

As a writer, you're kind of trying to be a canary in the coal mine.

And I think you're doing it by having the low thought thing so you can actually observe the data.

And so there are a lot of things that – and actually, my usual reaction is, oh, man, I kind of underestimated it.

So I think part of the fun is to pick up on just a little hints, early hints of something and –

But yeah.

Well, yeah.

And I mean, it's not a new idea, but I think that the rate at which we're being encouraged to forego human-to-human activity, that's an amazing thing.

And it seems to me driven by

I mean, not to sound like a cliché, but it is driven by corporate hegemony.

And so there are forces.

And the weird thing is these forces are full of wonderful people.

But these forces are subtly encouraging us to see a human-to-human reaction as somehow second level.

And I think we're going along with it, sort of.

I mean, I get emails from non-fans saying,

saying things they would never say in person.

They would never, you know?

And I get a low enough volume of those that I can respond.

And I think without exception, every time I've done it, the person has backed off.