The terms “chat” and “chat is this real” have exploded in popularity over the past few years. The term, originally used in contexts like “chat, this real?” to “chat, am I cooked?” stems from the world of Twitch and Discord, as streamers ask their audience for clarification, support, and answers—all within the confines of the stream’s chat window, where viewers can communicate with the streamer through text. But now, it’s become adopted as IRL slang, used in any context, for any reason at all.
What once looked like a generational change to public space in the American city has instead returned to a bunch of curb parking. What went wrong?
Absolution continues to refuse to offer any answers. You obviously don’t get to the end of the book and suddenly realize the solution to climate change. You barely even get any answers to “What the heck is Area X, anyway?” But the answers aren’t the point. It’s how terrifying the questions are.
Think of it as a brilliant exercise in multi genre collage, a mash-up of some of the best elements of the thriller, the novel of ideas, anarchism, philosophy and quantum theory.