Prot Asks: Logan about fiction, conflict, escapism, and life lessons

2025-11-03

Raw link: YouTube OR Internet Archive

In this +2-hour video, I talk to Logan about story-telling, finding conflict and escapism in fiction, and related life lessons.

We start with a brief introduction to what Logan is doing right now. He is a university student in the field of general science. His interest is in game development, though he has not pursued that as a specialisation yet. Logan is also into writing fiction, which he tells me more about through our conversation.

I ask Logan what does conflict mean in the case of story-telling. How are we drawn into the story and what can we learn from it. We discuss how sometimes the story becomes self-fulfilling and how people can be influenced to act accordingly.

Part of our talk involves thought experiments and explores philosophical themes. We make comments on the fact that material conditions do not necessarily lend themselves to a single appropriate action.

In the context of stories as a means of understanding current dynamics, we discuss how we can envisage possible worlds before they occur and regulate our behaviour in response to what we think is right or wrong about the manner of our ways.

Towards the end of our exchange, Logan tells me about the work of fiction he is writing. He will eventually publish it and I am excited to learn more about it.

About “Prot Asks”

In this video series, I talk to anybody who is interested to have a video call with me (so do contact me if you want!). The topics cover anything related to Emacs, technology, and life in general. More here: https://protesilaos.com/prot-asks/.