The Unsettling Truth About the ‘Mostly Harmless’ Hiker

https://www.wired.com/story/unsettling-truth-mostly-harmless-hiker/

by davidklemke • 6 years ago

15 1 6 years ago

On the one hand, it seems MH was dealing with challenges you might call mental illness—interpersonal problems, impulsive and erratic behavior, irrational decision making.

On the other hand, I think part of what is so captivating and compelling about his story is the way so many people can project parts of ourselves onto him: alienation, disillusionment, the disconnect between tech and the physical, visceral world.

I see part of myself in him, the juxtaposition of feeling “catatonic” in the face of fast paced society, against the desire to achieve some cleansing / purity by disappearing into anonymity in the harsh dirty outside.

It’s a romanticized way to look at things, but (imo) it highlights the tension between digital idealism and still being stuck in a squishy warm body.

The Unsettling Truth About the ‘Mostly Harmless’ Hiker

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