I'm still a bit stunned that the pristine 1985 copy of Little, Big showed up squarely in the middle of the used book wall at Goodwill the week after you mentioned it.

Maybe more "delighted" than "stunned." :)

...that might be as subtle as affecting the emotional response of the viewer or as drastic as creating the appearance of a conversation that never even happened? How would any individual, in cases of global lockdowns for instance, tell wether they were, in essence, brains in a vat?

Besides being panned by critics as "too obvious," what would that character do with that much power? How much control could he exert, not just at a national, but at an individual level?
Imagine he adds the capability to change online conversations irt with something like tiktok filters...

Imagine that man also owns a neural interface company, digs tunnels under LA and takes over a government that seems hellbent on creating power infrastructure for a massive AI-driven network. Imagine he gets access to SSN data and Camb Analytica profiles for that entire nation.

Imagine a movie in which one of the world's richest men owns a worldwide network of satellites that could to any degree control a fleet of self-driving, bulletproof, projectile-shaped vehicles. Now imagine that man names a son he's fathered with a cosplay sorceress after a fighter/bomber.

The congressperson's name is "Luna." That would be too heavy handed in a TV show.

Speaking of writing, "Gwendy's Button Box" has typos, right? At least a Q, R and T that aren't what they should be? Am I the last person in the world to have noticed?