William Burroughs
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On telepathy and the battle for narrative control.
After William Burroughs experienced how pitifully he could be held in thrall by a small molecule, he developed a lifelong interest in telepathy and mind control. His own brain had been upended. Suddenly, he found himself devoting the vast majority of his time and money toward a single cause: obtaining a day’s ration of opiate. …
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On psychedelic drugs as medicine.
Would a sudden jolt away from our minds’ ruts help treat depression? Or — complacency in general?
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On pain.
Habitual drug use ruins lives. But the War on Drugs ends them.
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On Han Kang’s ‘The Vegetarian.’
Plants photosynthesize. Humans kill to eat. But I still think humans are pretty great.
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On chess as a window to the soul.
I loved chess growing up, enough that I always felt a shiver of pleasure when games appeared in novels.
Frank Brown Cloud 