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Existential Cost

Systems where utilizing advanced tech or magic hollows out human empathy, erases personal memories, or forces total emotional isolation.

The chilling emptiness of losing oneself to gain power or knowledge. The profound isolation of a mind or soul eroded by its own advancements, leaving only a hollow shell where a person used to be.

Books

Brave New WorldAldous Huxley
Ready Player TwoErnest Cline
The RowanAnne McCaffrey
DistressGreg Egan
RuinsOrson Scott Card
Mister ImpossibleMaggie Stiefvater
Bloodfire QuestTerry Brooks
Star EaterKerstin Hall
Psychohistorical CrisisDonald Kingsbury
Jenna StarbornSharon Shinn
The RingRobert E. Margroff
Shadow StudyMaria V. Snyder
Last ExitMax Gladstone
The core of the sunJohanna Sinisalo
Lord PrestimionRobert Silverberg
StringsDave Duncan
DustlandVirginia Hamilton
The Pain MerchantsJanice Hardy
HespiraMatthew Hughes
CouncilorL. E. Modesitt, Jr.
Sea of GhostsAlan Campbell
The Probability ManBrian N. Ball
Ink, Iron, and GlassGwendolyn Clare
Be My EnemyIan McDonald
PresetSarina Dahlan
ResetSarina Dahlan
Cast in CourtlightMichelle Sagara
The Iron ChainSteve Cockayne
Orphans of ChaosJohn C. Wright
MemoryLinda Nagata
The unearth peopleKris Neville
Lord of All ThingsAndreas Eschbach
The FallTracy Townsend
The Song of WrathSarah Raughley
The Ends in EmbersKamilah Cole
Conform: A NovelAriel Sullivan
The Last SorceressBonnie Wynne
OtherworldlyDwain Worrell
The Ruby CodeJessica Khoury
Hour of NeedMichael Pryor
ShadowspeerJo Clayton
Myth of the MakerBruce R. Cordell
The Last MasterGordon R. Dickson

Related

Social OstracizationTemporal DisplacementInternalEchoicVirtualHidden WorldOracle Site