Can't say I'm particularly fond of this one. Although competently written, it's just too tropey for my taste, like it's going through the motions of what articles about unknowable forces ought to be — you know, clinical disbeliever observes believers from outside with a certain clinical disdain, gets ranted to by someone that does understand, ultimately falls prey to the same force. You can trace the prints of this sort of article to Tufto's Scarlet King proposal and probably farther back (not to imply plagiarism, there's like a trillion articles that do this and Tufto themself has milked this formula all the way through to anno domini 2025), down to the "it probably doesn't exist actually" initial skepticism.
Which is all a shame cause damn, there's so much interesting stuff here. Like, the amount of research done and where the implications point is all fascinating but the execution flounders. There's tons of cultural threads to follow too, but what's an interesting overview in Addendum 571.B is just repeated at length in the interview for no particular gain or change in perspective, and ultimately the effects of 571 aren't expounded or varied enough to justify the wordcount. I don't know, I feel that being as knowledgeable on faith as you are you definitely have the grey matter to write a more interesting take on the subject of succumbing to/surviving nihilism, especially given that the Authority is rooted in the Catholic Church.
Until further investigation proves there is an actual, tangible entity or phenomenon behind RPC-571, its registration as a phenomenon code is pending.
I'm not sure it makes sense to say "its registration as a phenomenon code is pending" in the same sentence where he says its very registered phenomena code… unless that's the point, I'm not really sure.
I get what the point of this note is — he's the doctor that's going insane in the interview — but I can't say I'm sold on it as one of the very first things you see. Like, what's the point of being told, right at the start, "this thing doesn't exist by the way" followed by 2000 words of explanation for why it absolutely really does exist and zero debate about it?
Despite the variations in beliefs regarding the practice of Flagellatism across recorded RPC-571 cultures, eight core tenets are universally observed.
Having both the eight core tenets and the counter-affirmations placed so close to each other might be a tad on the nose. I like the concept, but it feels crude the way it's conveyed.
