[ryanyde]

They totally missed the mark on this one: "What’s meant to distinguish Infinite Jest (the book) from various artefacts that precede it is the conflation of entertainment with drug addiction, and this notion is, I think, fundamentally flawed."

It's now pretty clear entertainment can be neurologically addictive, as evidenced by the social media companies and their abilities to predict improved engagement.

On top of that, we've now got an attention + an opioid addiction.

If anything, DFW was just very early at predicting the medium term state, complete with national secession movements.

Not bad for a 'verbose' fiction writer.

[ses1984]

Also I'm quite sure the idea of conflating entertainment with drug addiction precedes IJ, it can be traced back at least as far as the idea that religion is the opiate of the masses.

[otabdeveloper4]

Here's the full quote:

> Religious distress is at the same time the expression of real distress and the protest against real distress. Religion is the sigh of the oppressed creature, the heart of a heartless world, just as it is the spirit of a spiritless situation. It is the opium of the people.

That is, "opium" here is references a painkiller; religion is viewed as a way to deaden pain and suffering. It's not about addiction.

[ses1984]

I highly doubt the idea of opium was invoked without intention to reference its addictive nature.

[vvpan]

This is a more modern Pynchon, but this paragraph from Inherent Vice (set in the very early days of computer adoption) made me laugh:

> As usual these days, Fritz was back at the computer room, staring at data. He had that ask-me-if-I-give-a-shit look Doc had noted before in the newcomers to the groovy world of addictive behavior.

[elgfare]

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amusing_Ourselves_to_Death