So here we are, amidst the remnants of another blogger who bit the dust.
Tiddly-pom.
I felt his story was describing the present, to be honest. I can see it all coming to pass. I was reminded of the Matrix and the Machine World. You know, I think the Matrix was one of the most sophisticated films to have come out of Hollywood -thanks to the brothers-now-sisters directors who seem to be highly hermetically-gnostically inspired. That coming from an Arthouse buff.
I too won't be around here for much longer, since quality writing like this is doomed to go insufficiently noticed. Even if it's not about needing to earn a living, a writer must have a steady amount of subscribers. It is how it works even for a journalist. Otherwise the writer will run out of real steam. (They usually don't want to be here for any other reason, like casual friends or recipes or lists of government conspiracies.)
But before you know it you get dragged in by irritations, because that is the name of the game. (As Tim has popped back in to tell you himself).
I can appreciate your more patient promise to yourself to learn as much as you can - for this too one must do while one is here, like it or not - but the cost can be quite high, with the picture of social side of man sometimes glum and often artificial while nobody much sees in which subtle ways this is so.
Here till 31 May, hope to read more from (either of) you soon.