Men of God in the City of Man

This is a story about a virus and the gain-of-function research that produced it.

It's not what you think.

Every virus needs carriers to spread. Even a narrative virus.

We can learn a lot from what they have in common.

In the same way that genetics governs how physical viruses reproduce within a host, memetics governs how narrative viruses reproduce within a culture.

And the memes which govern our narrative virus are powerful.

Every narrative is built on memes that have evolved and adapted to human culture over centuries.

But some environments change the way that those memes are expressed. The effects can be explosive.

Men of God prophesied as early as 2007 that God would make Donald Trump the President of the United States.

Our narrative virus gave these predictions fertile ground to take root.

Surprising outcomes in reality world that seem to confirm a narrative often produce explosive growth in its scale.

But also in its scope.

Narrative viruses are not immune to events in reality world - especially when we have made those narratives part of our identity.

And when a narrative becomes part of our identity, it changes what we need to be true.

A single virus can cause disease of the body in several ways at once.

A single narrative can cause disease in society in several ways, too.

This is the story of a new disease from an old acquaintance.