David Foster Wallace: The Cost of Consciousness

David Foster Wallace was not a futurist, technologist, or academic theorist. Yet, few writers captured the emotional and existential toll of modern life as presciently as he did. With a mind equal parts linguistic gymnast and moral philosopher, Wallace wrote about addiction, irony, attention, loneliness, and the quiet, often unbearable burden of being awake to the world. His sprawling 1996 novel Infinite Jest imagined a society paralyzed by its own entertainment, long before anyone had a smartphone in their pocket. His nonfiction work probed American culture with humor and precision. And his 2005 commencement address, “This Is Water,” remains a singular meditation on awareness, compassion, and choice.In resurrecting him for this podcast, we aren’t indulging in nostalgia – we’re acknowledging that Wallace may have been the first writer of the post-internet condition. And we didn’t even notice until it was too late.More information:⁠They Tried to Warn Us, the book⁠: More info on each podcast interview subject, along with 15 more interviews.⁠They Tried to Warn Us, the newsletter⁠: Follow the action on Ray's Substack.