Mind rending knowledge is a silly concept to me. The eldritch causing one to question the nature of reality seems laughable. I *already* question reality constantly, and I *already* have mental health issues related to the *mundane*, the nature of humanity is far more unhinging than the idea of a universe full of monsters who care not for our existence.
@BigFatFae
A modern replacement for external, unknowable horrors is horror coming from alienation with the self. Reading about modern studies on neuroscience, consciousness and identity, where we're told that the mind makes decisions faster than consciousness can follow, and consciousness doubles back with a false story saying "I decided that because of [reasons]" when reason wasn't a factor at all...
The true eldritch horror is that we think we're real, when we're just self-deluded rivers of words strapped to a meat machine that would do just fine without us.
@gcupc @signalstation @BigFatFae aye blindsight was chilling
@BigFatFae @signalstation The nice thing about being good at words is that, occasionally, I can stick one into the meat and get back something resembling what I expect. Self-programming is harder than Javascript, though.
@BigFatFae @signalstation Peter Watts is really great at evoking this. Blindsight is the most immediately relevant book, but there's some in the Rifters trilogy, too.