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Jim talks with Damien Walter about science fiction and the mechanics of myth. They discuss the roles of pathos & ethos in science fiction, Damien’s lifelong fascination with sci-fi, the symbolon of “science fiction,” Star Trek vs Star Wars, categorizing Star Wars, Asimov’s idea of psychohistory, The Lord of the Rings & the value of myth, the Inklings literary group, the metaphysics of Tolkien, fostering a creator culture, creating as an alternative to consumption, Jim’s Script Helper program & opening the door to creativity, the collapse of status competition to money & beauty, the corporate entertainment franchise, collaborative virtual world-making, addictive games & porn, the highjacking of the red pill metaphor, Pavlovian conditioning in games, positioning between the most virtuous & the most evil, the way that evil eats itself, a book recommendation, systems novels, science fiction as philosophy fiction, the novels of Neal Stephenson, and much more.
- Episode Transcript
- Damien Walter (website)
- Damien Walter (Substack)
- Damien Walter (Medium)
- The Rhetoric of Story course
- “The Truth of Myth: JRR Tolkien and the return of the mythos,” by Damien Walter
- JRS EP 188 – Robert Tercek on Intellectual Property in the Time of AI
- The Humane Use of Human Beings, by Norbert Weiner
- JRS EP143 – John Vervaeke Part 1: Awakening from the Meaning Crisis
- JRS EP 185 – Daniel Suarez on the Near Future of Space Exploration
- There Is No Antimemetics Division, by qntm
- Termination Shock, by Neal Stephenson
Damien Walter is a writer and a storyteller who has written for The Guardian, the BBC, Wired, The Independent, Aeon, and others. He teaches The Rhetoric of Story and Writing the 21st-Century Myth to over 35,000 students worldwide, and is the host of the Science Fiction Podcast.