Thank you! The themes of over-consumption or oversaturation distancing us from reality come up in Stinkfist too. But whereas Stinkfist and Vicarious identify the problem, Fear Inoculum seems to provide a solution. In Stinkfist the protagonist is searching for more and more stimulation. "I'll keep digging until I feel something" can be interpreted as a commitment to seeking more extreme thrills. So the problem is identified, but the guy is stuck in this cycle. In Vicarious, our protagonist is getting off on human misery and asserting that we all do this too. This is true to some extent, it's evident in the popularity of the true-crime genre and 24-hour news, which many of us devour as entertainment. However, not everyone succumbs to this need to devour terrible stories about other people in a negative way. Most people scratch that itch by consuming fiction that deals with tragic stories. Most of us don't need the story to be real. We can explore scary and depressing things through art and ultimately be safe in the knowledge it didn't really happen. Again the guy in Vicarious has identified this problem but lets himself succumb to it, insisting that we're all the same and we all thrive on chaos. Fear Inoculum, especially the 'exorcise' part, can be read as an answer and a way out.

I think the overstimulation of people is way more of a problem than it was in 1996 when Aenima came out, and even way more than in 2006 with Vicarious. Along with the overstimulation of social media and constant online interaction, we've seen tremendous polarisation, fear and manipulation. On Fear Inoculum, the protaganist talks about exhaling this stuff away, a physical action that grounds him in the present moment and in his body. Away from the combative, frightening and fake world that exists on the TV and on your smartphone.

I might be reading this as a guy whos spent way too much time arguing online though.

What do you think?