Do you actually believe the wild story you tell in your book?

Yes. Absolutely. Parasocial Activity is a memoir. I believe the story.

That said, at least two important caveats remain.

First: I recognize that I’m probably not right about everything. I may have gotten some of the details wrong or forgotten certain important elements. I may have been overreading some of the videos, where no messages were intended. I may even have falsely-recovered or falsely-reconstructed some aspects of the story, or transplanted nightmares onto the page. Human memory is imperfect.

Second: I do realize that there’s at least a small chance I’m wrong about the whole entire conspiracy, and that none of the secret messages were real, and that I’ve fabricated all of the relevant details and memories entirely. That would be…pretty wild unto iself, frankly, and I don’t think that scenario is at all likely, but sure, it’s possible.

Still, as a general statement: yes, I really do believe the story I’m telling. This is a true-to-memory recounting, the best I can achieve, of what I think happened.

Why did you post the book for free and public-domain it?

The short answer is that doing so was the only way I felt I could really uphold the creative and political ethics of the project.

The longer answer is that I don’t believe anyone should have to pay for access to this story, especially when it comes to the project’s exploration of mental health, since this book is, in large part, an attempt to help people understand what it’s like to be disbelieved by everyone in your life, including your doctors. That’s the traumatic reality for a lot of people with mental disorders, many of whom can’t effectively tell their own stories to the world, or afford the personal risks associated with going public with such a crazy story. In addition, since I don’t need the money anyway, it seems somehow wrong to seek to profit directly off this book, especially since I repeatedly advocate in the book the principle that certain good ideas should be freely shared with the world, when plausible.

I’m not yet sure if I’ll public-domain any future book-length projects I may undertake; that remains to be seen. But at least when it comes to this first book, flawed as it may be, I really do think it has a story the public should hear, and the objectives and content of the book are such that it has felt like something I should turn over to the world for free.

Are you really running for President?

Frankly, strange as this may sound, I’m still not quite sure. The answer to that question depends on how the next couple of months shake out, and on whether I ever hear anything back from Jon Stewart. Does he want to run? Do he and the Conspirators have another candidate in mind? I don’t really know yet, and I’ll need to consult with others before making a final decision. I get into this discussion in detail in the Epilogue, but there are some things in this world that need doing, and I aim to see them done, if I can. Whatever form that may take.

I do think the shows are going to go public, fairly soon, with their side of the story. And even if I’m wrong about everything else, I’m willing to bet that Jon Stewart is going to read this book, sooner or later.

So…we’ll see what Jon has to say.

What the heck is a syllogismobile?

That’s a fair question. I address syllogismobiles pretty late in the book, but the term also comes up on page two, so a lot of people are confused at first. Basically, it’s a neat idea I picked up from a fantasy book called The Compleat Enchanter. In the book, a syllogismobile is a method for traveling between worlds (and, in some ways, of changing the world around you). Basically, you write out an enormously complex logical chain, describing the world you’re trying to conjure (…if A, then B, except when principle 12 is active…), and in so doing, you actually prove that you’re already in the target world. And boom! Since you’ve proved it to be true, then you really have traveled to that world—or at least rewritten the world around you.

I always thought that was a pretty great idea. That careful and persuasive writing could change the world. We shall see if this book manages to cause any positive change to our world. Dare to dream.