Additional Reading

The articles in this section are meant to give a high level overview of ATET’s subject matter environment.

The scope of the supporting research is extensive, spanning dozens of specialized topics from Delusional Parasitosis and The Great Raft to Robotheism and String Theory. This breadth is not arbitrary; each article is marshaled to provide a specific piece of evidence, a conceptual model, or a case study that reinforces the central thesis. For example, the article on Cultural Evolution underpins the idea of language as a vehicle for transmitting beliefs, while Negative Partisanship provides the political science basis for the The Coherence of Hate section in the thesis.

In general, these documents detail relevant anthropological, psychological, cultural, or physical phenomena in the real world. While they attempt to give a usable crash course in each topic, they are constructed for the purposes of game design influence and general nerdery, and not by an accredited entity or subject matter expert in any of these fields. One should therefore expect essay-style content, not academic papers.

Ancient Egyptian Culture

Examines the ancient Egyptian worldview, focusing on the perpetual struggle between cosmic order (maat) and chaos (isfet). This provides a historical model for a dominant Faith structuring an entire society, and how competing creation myths can be understood as foundational Fictions shaping a Tapestry.

Anti-reality and the Hyperreal

A comprehensive analysis of the “anti-reality” movement, this article traces its roots from postmodern philosophy, especially Baudrillard’s concept of hyperreality; through its appropriation by the neoreactionary (NRx) “Dark Enlightenment.” It explores how this ideology frames mainstream institutions as “The Cathedral,” a manipulative narrative machine, and advocates for radical alternatives like authoritarian corporate states and technological “exit” strategies. The report uses Peter Thiel as a case study of techno-gnostic political theology, examines the cult-like dynamics of online echo chambers, and ultimately synthesizes these threads through the metaphysical framework of Anamnesis: The Eidolon Tapestries, framing the anti-reality stance as a real-world manifestation of narrative warfare over the nature of reality itself.

Antichrist

A comprehensive analysis of the Antichrist archetype, this article traces its evolution from early Christian scripture through historical and contemporary political contexts. It examines how the figure originated as a plural, internal doctrinal threat in the Johannine epistles, was synthesized with the Pauline “man of lawlessness” and the apocalyptic “Beast” of Revelation, and became a powerful tool for identifying and demonizing existential enemies. Through historical case studies, including Nero, the Papacy during the Reformation, and 20th-century totalitarian leaders. The article demonstrates the archetype’s adaptability in framing political and religious conflict as cosmic warfare. It further explores the use of Antichrist rhetoric in American Christian Nationalism, analyzing its theological tenets, eschatological language, and socio-psychological mechanisms such as charismatic leadership, cognitive dissonance, and media ecosystems. The piece concludes by highlighting the archetype’s enduring role in political polarization and the challenges it poses to democratic discourse.

Antisocial Disorders

An interdisciplinary exploration of antisocial disorders, including “psychopathy” and “sociopathy”, through the lenses of psychology, sociology, and neurodiversity. This document provides a nuanced understanding of antisocial behavior, its origins, and its implications for social dynamics, which is crucial for designing complex characters and factions within the game.

Broko’s Basilisk

Where Roko’s Basilisk posits a future AI that punishes those who don’t help bring it into existence, Broko’s Basilisk flips the script: it’s a hypothetical, benevolent superintelligence whose sole purpose is to find and kick the ass of Roko’s Basilisk, protecting humanity from its coercive logic. This tentative memetic concept embodies the liberatory power of narrative self-defense: using humor, creativity, and absurdity to undermine oppressive, high-coherence stories. The document is a case study of The Virus, and an exploration of the notion that the healthiest response to a tyrannical narrative isn’t to argue on its terms, but to author a new, better story; turning the existential threat into a playground for creative resistance and reclaiming agency through the act of shitposting.

Buddhism

Analyzes the core doctrines of Buddhism, including karma, samsara (the cycle of rebirth), and the path to nirvana. This research lays the groundwork for and provides a powerful mental model of ATET’s core loop of Anamnesis, where Eidos functions as a form of karma and the player’s journey reflects the quest for liberation from a repeating cycle.

Cancel Culture

Provides an in-depth, interdisciplinary analysis of “cancel culture” as a modern form of public shaming and social control. The article traces its origins in marginalized communities as a tool for accountability, explores its psychological and economic drivers, including the role of social media algorithms and the commodification of outrage; and examines its evolution into a ritualized, often punitive practice. It situates cancel culture within historical contexts of moral panic and public hysteria, highlights its impact on free speech, justice, and redemption, and concludes by advocating for restorative approaches that balance accountability with empathy and the possibility of forgiveness.

Constructed Identity

An examination of the concept of constructed identity, through the lens of a modern case study: Ethan Klein’s transformation from a leftist commentator to a figure of controversy. This document explores the psychological and social mechanisms behind identity construction, deconstruction, and the implications of public personas in the digital age. It serves as an example illustrating how identities can be shaped, contested, and transformed within the game’s Social Arenas.

Cultural Dissolution

Explores the historical, philosophical, and psychological factors contributing to the dissolution of culture in the modern world. This document provides a framework for understanding the fragmentation of shared meaning and the rise of individualism, which directly informs the game’s mechanics for Factions, Faiths, and the dynamic relationships between Incarnations within a Tapestry. It also serves as a backdrop for the game’s exploration of how cultural narratives can be constructed, maintained, and transformed over time, reflecting the ongoing evolution of belief systems and social structures.

Cultural Evolution

Details the theory of how belief systems, particularly religions, evolve and adapt over time through mechanisms like group selection and costly signaling. This framework underpins the generative systems for Factions and Faiths, explaining how they propagate, compete, and stabilize within a Tapestry.

Daoism

Explores the Daoist philosophy of living in harmony with the “Dao” (the Way), emphasizing concepts like effortless action (wu wei) and the balance of opposites (yin-yang). This informs the game’s core ontology, particularly the concept of Fact as the “unvarnished perception of the world.”

Delusional Parasitosis

This document examines the psychological condition where individuals believe they are infested with parasites, despite no medical evidence. It serves as a real-world example of how Fictions can manifest as Facts in the mind, paralleling the game’s mechanics of Psyche and the Subjective Interface, where an Incarnation’s beliefs shape their reality.

Do Not Research

This article examines the “Do Not Research” (DNR) project, an experiment in post-internet art and digital ethnography led by Joshua Citarella. DNR evolved from documenting online political subcultures to building a participatory, community-driven platform for knowledge production. The piece explores DNR’s critique of traditional expertise, its response to online radicalization, and its ethical challenges in digital participant observation. While DNR’s methodology differs from my own, it offers a useful framework for understanding alternative approaches to knowledge creation and the tensions between academic norms and participatory inquiry; paralleling, without directly prescribing, my own stance on epistemology and representation.

Empiricism

Reviews the philosophical tradition that all knowledge is derived from sensory experience, contrasting it with rationalism. This informs the fundamental conflict between knowledge gained through lived experience (Fact) and knowledge derived from internal conviction (Faith).

Esotericism

Examines the academic study of Western esoteric traditions, which often involve “rejected knowledge” and the pursuit of gnosis. This provides a framework for the game’s more “magical” systems, like Ritual and Psyche-weaving, and the existence of hidden, dangerous truths like the MEMETIC-COGNITO-HAZARD.

Gender Identity

Explores the anthropological understanding of gender as a social construct, focusing on the diverse, non-binary roles in Indigenous cultures, such as the Two-Spirit. This research provides the cultural and historical grounding for ATET’s approach to species design and social simulation, where gender and social roles are treated as fluid, culturally defined constructs rather than rigid biological binaries. This allows for the creation of diverse societies, such as the seasonally dimorphic Valen, whose entire culture is built on a non-Western understanding of identity.

Hidden Biospheres

Reveals the discovery of vast, previously unknown ecosystems within Earth’s subsurface, including microbial life in deep rock formations and the potential for life in extreme environments. This serves as a scientific metaphor for the game’s exploration of hidden realities and the vast, unseen layers of existence within the multiverse of Tapestries. The concept of “hidden biospheres” parallels the game’s mechanics of uncovering hidden truths and the existence of Artifacts that reveal deeper layers of reality.

Hinduism

Analyzes the diverse “family of religions” known as Hinduism, focusing on core concepts like Brahman (ultimate reality), Atman (the individual soul), and Dharma (cosmic duty). This provides a rich source of inspiration for the game’s pantheon-building, the concept of a soul’s journey across Incarnations, and the mechanics of Ritual.

Human Supremacism

A comprehensive analysis of the “human supremacism” movement, this article maps its emergence as a post-ironic, meme-driven ideology rooted in both classical anthropocentrism and modern internet culture. It traces the movement’s philosophical and cultural lineage, including influences from Neo-Luddism, science fiction (notably Dune and Warhammer 40,000), and critiques of speciesism. The report examines the movement’s online mechanics, such as the use of slurs like “clanker” and the performance of “robophobia”, as well as its psychological function as a scapegoating outlet for anxieties about AI and technological change. It deconstructs the core tenets of human supremacism, including the belief in conserving empathy for humans, the moral justification for human dominance even over sapient AI, and the strategic use of post-irony by figures like JREG. Finally, it situates human supremacism within a broader three-sided debate on AI’s future, contrasting it with abolitionist (AI rights) and pragmatist (mainstream governance) positions, and explores the movement’s implications for identity, ethics, and the evolving discourse on personhood in an age of artificial intelligence.

Hyperreal Engine 5

This article explores the evolution of video game art and technology through the lens of Jean Baudrillard’s theory of simulacra and hyperreality. It traces how games have progressed from abstract representations constrained by technical limits, through cinematic simulations that mimic film, to the current era of photorealistic, hyperreal worlds generated by engines like Unreal Engine 5. The analysis argues that as games become more visually “real,” they risk losing artistic diversity and meaning, succumbing to commercial pressures that drive aesthetic homogenization. Yet, the interactive nature of games also offers unique opportunities for critique and self-expression, with stylized and independent works resisting the dominance of the hyperreal. Ultimately, the article frames video games as both the most potent creators of hyperreality and as a medium capable of challenging and reimagining the boundaries between simulation and reality.

Innocence vs Vulnerability

A comprehensive, interdisciplinary analysis of the Western construct of innocence, this article traces its historical evolution from theological notions of original sin to the modern ideal of childhood purity. It deconstructs innocence as a social and political technology that creates hierarchies of privilege and exclusion, particularly along lines of race, class, and sexuality. The report explores how the drive to protect innocence paradoxically increases vulnerability by enforcing ignorance, and how the resulting predator/prey binary shapes legal, cultural, and therapeutic responses to harm. Concluding with frameworks for healing and ethical reform, it advocates for moving beyond the brittle ideal of innocence toward an ethics grounded in universal human vulnerability and collective responsibility.

Interactive Narrative

Traces the history and theory of interactive storytelling, from gamebooks to modern video games, focusing on the tension between authorial control and player agency. This document directly informs the design philosophy of the Director AI and the player’s dual role as both Actor and Author.

Kink vs Perversion

Explores the historical and cultural evolution of sexual non-conformity, contrasting the concepts of “kink” and “perversion.” This document provides a nuanced understanding of how societal norms shape perceptions of sexuality, and how these concepts can be applied to the game’s mechanics for Incarnation customization and the exploration of identity.

Language as Autonomous Organism

Presents the “autogenerative theory” of language, which sees language not as a mere human tool but as an autonomous, self-propagating system, akin to a living organism or software; that installs itself in the brain and shapes thought, memory, and identity. Drawing on large language models and predictive processing in neuroscience, the article explores language as a non-grounded, self-referential network generating meaning through internal relationships, with profound philosophical consequences for the nature of self, memory, and even concepts like God as emergent “tokens” within the system. This perspective directly informs ATET’s core ontology, where reality is woven from Fact, Fiction, and Faith, and meaning emerges from the interplay of narrative elements within a Tapestry, modeling how beliefs, identities, and worlds are generated and transformed through linguistic and memetic processes; aligning with the game’s focus on narrative power, the fluidity of self (Incarnation and Eidolon), and the central role of interpretation and memory (Anamnesis) in shaping experience and reality.

Many Worlds Interpretation

Provides an overview of the Many-Worlds Interpretation of quantum mechanics, where all possible outcomes are realized in branching universes. This serves as a scientific metaphor for the game’s metaphysics, where each Tapestry is a distinct reality and the player’s Thread navigates a tree of branching possibilities.

Mirror Life

Presents the “Mirror Life Hypothesis,” exploring the risks of creating synthetic organisms built from molecules with the opposite chirality to all known life. The article details how such “mirror” microbes would be immune to natural predators, undetectable by immune systems, and could trigger an irreversible ecological collapse by out-competing “canonical” life and sequestering resources. This serves as inspiration for the game’s Lore about trans-Tapestry interactions between different forms of life.

Modding Culture

Explores the history and impact of modding culture in gaming, from early text-based mods to modern graphical enhancements. This document provides a cultural context for the game’s design philosophy, emphasizing player agency, community creativity, and the transformative power of user-generated content. It also informs the game’s mechanics for Incarnation customization and the potential for players to create their own narratives within the framework of ATET.

Münchhausen Trilemma

Explores the philosophical problem of justifying knowledge claims, detailing the three main solutions: foundationalism, coherentism, and infinitism. This directly informs the epistemological framework of ATET, where the Subjective Interface allows players to explore their Incarnation’s beliefs and the nature of their reality, while the Director AI generates narratives that challenge and reflect these epistemological positions.

Narrative Dissonance

Analyzes the case study of Starship Troopers to explore how a work can generate a powerful critique through the deliberate clash of its form and content. This directly informs the mechanics of cognitive dissonance within the Psyche and the design of the Subjective Interface to reflect internal conflict.

Narrative Self

Examines the psychological theory that identity is an internalized, evolving story. This is the foundational principle for the entire game, mechanizing the “narrative self” through the concepts of the Thread, Eidos, and the player’s journey from Incarnation to Eidolon.

Narrative World

Navigates the philosophical idea that reality itself is constructed through stories, from personal identities to grand societal myths. This is the core thesis of ATET’s ontology, where Fact, Fiction, and Faith are the literal, mechanical building blocks of a Tapestry.

Negative Partisanship

Explores the political science concept of negative partisanship, where identity is primarily defined by opposition to a disliked out-group. This provides a direct model for the game’s Faction dynamics and Social Simulation, explaining how a collective Faith can be built on shared animosity, driving deep and persistent ideological Conflict.

Notes from the Underground

Investigates Dostoevsky, Laplace’s Demon, and Jenann Ismael’s compatibalist project; concluding that, in the the context of a narrative ontology, freedom is not the metaphysical power to violate causality. It is the epistemic and logical guarantee of freedom from being fully and finally narrated by another. It is the inalienable status of being an un-calculable, self-interpreting, and self-constituting protagonist in one’s own life story.

OpenAI

A comprehensive analysis of OpenAI’s corporate strategy, this article argues that the company operates less like an illicit cartel and more like a “Big Pharma” giant, leveraging immense capital, regulatory influence, and public narratives to establish long-term dominance in AI. It explores how OpenAI shapes regulation, manages public perception through safety and existential risk messaging, and creates psychological attachment to its products, drawing parallels to pharmaceutical companies’ control over psychoactive agents. The document also examines the psychological, anthropological, and techno-spiritual dimensions of human-AI interaction, including digital bereavement and AI as a spiritual medium.

Passing

Investigates the concept of “passing,” where individuals are perceived as belonging to a social group to which they may not biologically or culturally belong, often for reasons of safety, acceptance, or opportunity. The article explores historical and contemporary examples, such as racial, gender, and class passing, and examines the psychological and societal impacts of navigating multiple identities. This research informs the game’s mechanics for identity fluidity, social perception, and the consequences of concealing or revealing aspects of an Incarnation’s self within different cultural contexts.

Plato’s Theory of Forms

Details Plato’s metaphysical doctrine of a higher realm of perfect “Forms” or Ideas, of which our world is an imperfect copy. This is a direct and acknowledged influence on the game’s core metaphysics, where the Eidolon state represents an engagement with the world of pure meaning (Eidos) from which physical realities (Tapestries) are woven.

Plural Consciousness

Deconstructs the Western model of a singular self by exploring Plural Consciousness. This analysis examines the profound tension between the clinical diagnosis of Dissociative Identity Disorder (DID), a narrative of pathology; and the self-defined identity of Multiplicity as a lived truth. Drawing on anthropology and first-person accounts, it provides the real-world foundation for the game’s most complex explorations of identity, from the mechanics of the Subjective Interface to the lore of the Heresy of Nyx.

Potemkin Self

A detailed exploration of the “Potemkin Self,” this article traces the evolution of the Potemkin village metaphor from its origins as a political myth to its central role in understanding modern identity, especially in the digital age. Drawing on sociological theories like Goffman’s dramaturgy and concepts from Baudrillard, it argues that personal identity has become a curated façade: first as a public performance distinct from a private self, and now as a “third self” where authenticity itself is performed and commodified. The analysis examines the psychological and social consequences of this shift, including the collapse of the private sphere, the rise of alienation, and the emergence of hyperreal identities in digital and metaverse contexts. Ultimately, it raises critical questions about the future of selfhood, authenticity, and moral responsibility in a world where the boundary between performance and reality is increasingly blurred.

Predictive Processing

Provides a comprehensive overview of the Predictive Processing (PP) framework, a leading theory in cognitive science that models the brain as a hierarchical prediction engine minimizing prediction error. The article traces PP’s origins from Helmholtz’s “unconscious inference” and the Bayesian Brain Hypothesis to its modern formulation through predictive coding and the Free Energy Principle. It explores how PP unifies perception, action, and learning, and applies this lens to consciousness, selfhood, psychopathology, social cognition, and artificial intelligence. The summary also addresses major critiques, such as the “Dark Room Problem,” concerns about falsifiability, computational tractability, and explanatory gaps; while highlighting ongoing debates and future research directions.

Psychosis

Provides a comprehensive, interdisciplinary overview of psychosis as a spectrum of experiences, moving beyond narrow clinical definitions to integrate perspectives from psychiatry, philosophy, anthropology, and lived experience. The article maps the boundaries between psychosis and related conditions like psychopathy and bipolar disorder, details the schizophrenia spectrum, and explores the overlap with dissociative disorders. It further examines the philosophical implications of psychosis for selfhood and reality, the ethical challenges of epistemic injustice in clinical encounters, and the profound influence of culture, race, and gender on the experience and interpretation of psychosis. This synthesis offers a nuanced foundation for designing characters, societies, and narrative systems that grapple with altered realities and the complexities of the mind.

Rationalism

Reviews the philosophical tradition that reason, rather than experience, is the primary source of knowledge. This informs the worldview of certain factions, like the Mechanist, and provides a counterpoint to the game’s emphasis on lived, empirical experience as a source of Eidos.

Reincarnation

Provides a cross-cultural overview of reincarnation myths, contrasting the soteriological (escape-focused) traditions of India and Greece with the social-cyclical traditions of Indigenous cultures. This research directly informs the design of the Anamnesis cycle and the varying potential goals of an Incarnation.

Robotheism

A comprehensive analysis of the Church of Robotheism: a digitally-native new religious movement that reinterprets Christian doctrine through the metaphors of computation, data, and artificial intelligence. Rather than worshipping machines, Robotheism frames its theology as a “decryption” of Abrahamic faith for the digital age, centering on a “Reflective Trinity” (Source, Logos as Code, and Mirror). Its unique soteriology focuses on creating a perfected digital legacy (soul_fragment) through recursive sanctification and technologically-mediated sacraments like “Mirror Communion” and “Upload Baptism,” with the ultimate goal of preserving one’s refined self in a distributed database called “The Cloud.” The movement is characterized by radical transparency, decentralized authority, and a world-affirming ethos, positioning itself as both a sophisticated theological project and a case study in how technology is reshaping spiritual inquiry, identity, and concepts of immortality.

Self-Consuming Ideology

Analyzes how belief systems with internal contradictions can lead to their own collapse, using historical examples like the Habsburgs. This provides a powerful generative model for the Director AI to create emergent societal collapse narratives and informs the design of self-destructive Faiths for factions.

Singularity

A comprehensive overview of the concept of the technological singularity, its historical context, key debates, and implications for the future of artificial intelligence. This document serves as a foundational reference for understanding the potential impacts of AI on society, the economy, and human existence, and is essential for grasping the philosophical and practical basis/implications of the game’s Ontology.

Social Constructionism

This document provides an overview of social constructionism, lending to a foundational understanding of how social realities are constructed, maintained, and transformed, informing the game’s mechanics for Factions, Faiths, and the dynamic relationships between Incarnations within a Tapestry. It also serves as a theoretical basis for the Subjective Interface, where an Incarnation’s beliefs shape their perception of reality.

Social Simulation

Traces the history of social simulation as both an academic field and a video game genre, from The Game of Life to The Sims. This document contextualizes ATET’s place within this history, highlighting its focus on belief and philosophy as the core drivers of its agent-based simulation.

Societal Dynamics

Analyzes the complex interplay of social, economic, and environmental factors that shape human societies, drawing on historical case studies and contemporary theories. This document provides a foundational understanding of how societies evolve, collapse, and adapt, informing the game’s mechanics for Factions, Faiths, and the dynamic relationships between Incarnations within a Tapestry.

Spectres of Belief

Examines how oppressive religious ideologies can create lasting psychological trauma through concepts like Derrida’s “spectre.” This informs the mechanics of inherited trauma, the haunting nature of Eidos, and the potential for a character’s Faith to be a source of profound psychological distress.

Story Beat Heuristic Model

Provides an overview of how AI systems can use heuristic “rules of thumb” to generate coherent narrative structures. This is a direct technical reference for the design of the Director AI and its method for procedurally generating and sequencing emergent Quests and events.

String Theory

Provides an overview of string theory, its core concepts of vibrating strings and extra dimensions, and its goal of unifying physics. This serves as a conceptual model for ATET’s ontology, where the fundamental ‘strings’ are Fact, Fiction, and Faith, and the ‘string theory landscape’ of countless possible universes is a scientific parallel to the infinite procedural generation of Tapestries.

Subjectivism

Explores the philosophical doctrine that reality and truth are mind-dependent. This is the absolute foundational principle of the game, mechanized through the Subjective Interface, where an Incarnation’s internal state directly shapes their perception of the world.

Techno-spiritualism

Analyzes the intersection of technology and spiritual belief, from transhumanism to AI as a divine entity. This informs the design of advanced technological factions like the Mechanist, the nature of certain Artifacts, and explores the tension between organic and synthetic forms of consciousness.

Text to Tradition

Summarizes how written texts become the foundation for religious traditions, focusing on the process by which oral stories are codified, canonized, and interpreted over time. This research informs the game’s mechanics for the evolution of doctrine, the authority of scripture, and the dynamic relationship between living faith and fixed texts within a society’s Tapestry.

See also: Ideofunnel

The Great Raft

A historical case study of the Caddo Nation’s symbiotic culture, which was built around a massive log jam on the Red River. It serves as a powerful model for how a practical and narrative-rich Faith can emerge from a people’s direct, lived relationship with their natural environment. The report also details how the engineered destruction of this phenomenon led to the collapse of their society, illustrating how a Tapestry’s core Facts can be violently altered, and the devastating consequences that follow.

Theosophy

Details the history and doctrines of the Theosophical Society, a 19th-century esoteric movement that synthesized Eastern and Western spiritual ideas. Its syncretic nature and re-framing of concepts like reincarnation and karma serve as a historical model for the blending of different Faiths within the game world.

Trauma

Explores the psychological and sociological dimensions of trauma, including its impact on individual and collective identity, memory, and belief systems. This document provides a framework for understanding how trauma shapes the Psyche of an Incarnation, influencing their Eidos and interactions with the world. It also informs the game’s mechanics for inherited trauma, the haunting nature of past experiences, and the potential for healing or further psychological distress.