WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:04.259 Imagine making your fortune selling bulletproof 00:00:04.259 --> 00:00:08.080 vests. Right. And surviving six consecutive government 00:00:08.080 --> 00:00:10.800 mandated murder attempts. But no small feat. 00:00:11.060 --> 00:00:13.220 No, not at all. But then after all that, you 00:00:13.220 --> 00:00:15.820 get killed by a cigarette lighter just because 00:00:15.820 --> 00:00:18.839 you fell in love. It's wild. It really is. It 00:00:18.839 --> 00:00:21.679 is. And today, we're looking at a scenario that 00:00:21.679 --> 00:00:24.820 proves human vulnerability is, like, infinitely 00:00:24.820 --> 00:00:27.899 more dangerous than any actual weapon. So welcome 00:00:27.899 --> 00:00:30.239 to another Deep Dive. Glad to be here for this 00:00:30.239 --> 00:00:32.700 one. Our mission for you today is to explore 00:00:32.700 --> 00:00:36.740 this 1953 science fiction short story. It's by 00:00:36.740 --> 00:00:39.299 Robert Shuckley, and it's called Seventh Victim. 00:00:39.359 --> 00:00:41.719 Yeah, a real classic. Right. And on the surface, 00:00:41.719 --> 00:00:44.179 it looks like this classic pulp sci -fi premise, 00:00:44.380 --> 00:00:47.479 right? Like a legalized post -apocalyptic assassination. 00:00:47.280 --> 00:00:49.539 Which was a very popular trope at the time, I 00:00:49.539 --> 00:00:51.899 guess. Totally. But what we're really gonna uncover 00:00:51.899 --> 00:00:54.460 here is how this 70 -year -old tale is actually 00:00:54.460 --> 00:00:58.020 this masterful, highly ironic commentary on the 00:00:58.020 --> 00:01:00.179 vulnerabilities of love. Exactly. And, you know, 00:01:00.479 --> 00:01:02.939 the absolute inevitability of human self -deception. 00:01:03.320 --> 00:01:05.719 It's a brilliant piece of writing. Yeah. Precisely 00:01:05.719 --> 00:01:08.480 because it just completely subverts your expectations 00:01:08.480 --> 00:01:11.819 as a reader. Oh, 100%. You go into this story 00:01:11.819 --> 00:01:16.129 bracing for a gritty, you know... action -packed 00:01:16.129 --> 00:01:18.950 thriller about survival in a dystopian city. 00:01:19.230 --> 00:01:21.530 Right, you want the action movie. Yeah, but then 00:01:21.530 --> 00:01:25.219 you walk away questioning the fundamental ways 00:01:25.219 --> 00:01:28.359 we lie to ourselves the second we become emotionally 00:01:28.359 --> 00:01:31.180 invested in someone else. It's a bait and switch 00:01:31.180 --> 00:01:33.420 in the best possible way. OK, let's unpack this. 00:01:33.680 --> 00:01:35.680 Because before we can even get to the legendary 00:01:35.680 --> 00:01:38.579 twist of the story, and it's a good one, we have 00:01:38.579 --> 00:01:41.079 to immerse ourselves in the chillingly bureaucratic 00:01:41.079 --> 00:01:43.120 world that Sheckley built here. We really do. 00:01:43.239 --> 00:01:46.560 Like, we need to understand exactly why a society 00:01:46.560 --> 00:01:48.920 would ever choose to institutionalize murder. 00:01:49.060 --> 00:01:51.599 Which sounds completely counterintuitive. Right. 00:01:51.700 --> 00:01:54.900 So here is the setup for you. Humanity has just 00:01:54.900 --> 00:01:57.359 barely survived the Fourth World War. Barely. 00:01:57.500 --> 00:02:00.659 Barely. And to prevent a Fifth World War from, 00:02:00.659 --> 00:02:02.939 you know, wiping out whatever is left of the 00:02:02.939 --> 00:02:05.840 human race, society decides they have to eliminate 00:02:05.840 --> 00:02:08.159 major global warfare altogether. Right, the stakes 00:02:08.159 --> 00:02:11.719 are ultimate survival. Exactly. And their grand 00:02:11.719 --> 00:02:14.620 solution to achieving this world peace is something 00:02:14.620 --> 00:02:17.879 they call the Big Hunt. And the logic driving 00:02:17.879 --> 00:02:21.449 this society is... Well, it's as fascinating 00:02:21.449 --> 00:02:24.490 as it is dark. Oh, it's so dark. According to 00:02:24.490 --> 00:02:26.250 the lore of the story, the government determines 00:02:26.250 --> 00:02:29.009 that approximately one quarter of the human population 00:02:29.009 --> 00:02:32.229 is inherently inclined toward violence. Just 00:02:32.229 --> 00:02:34.729 biologically, basically. Right. And they believe 00:02:34.729 --> 00:02:36.710 that if they bottle up that natural aggression, 00:02:36.849 --> 00:02:39.469 if they try to suppress it with laws and prisons 00:02:39.469 --> 00:02:41.930 and normal justice systems... Just gonna blow 00:02:41.930 --> 00:02:44.530 up. Exactly. It will eventually build up pressure 00:02:44.530 --> 00:02:48.110 and explode into another global conflict. So 00:02:48.110 --> 00:02:51.030 their solution is to create a highly regulated 00:02:51.030 --> 00:02:55.090 release valve for that specific 25 % of the population. 00:02:55.229 --> 00:02:58.150 And they run this entire lethal operation through 00:02:58.150 --> 00:03:01.990 a government agency with the most dystopian bureaucratic 00:03:01.990 --> 00:03:04.270 name imaginable. I love the name. It's so good. 00:03:04.389 --> 00:03:06.530 It's called the Emotional Catharsis Bureau. Just 00:03:06.530 --> 00:03:09.150 incredible. Just think about the sheer absurdity 00:03:09.150 --> 00:03:12.159 of that name for a second. They have taken the 00:03:12.159 --> 00:03:15.719 raw, horrific reality of murder, and they've 00:03:15.719 --> 00:03:18.580 wrapped it in the sanitized language of, like, 00:03:18.819 --> 00:03:21.139 a weekend wellness retreat. Right. Emotional 00:03:21.139 --> 00:03:24.439 catharsis. Exactly. So through this bureau, citizens 00:03:24.439 --> 00:03:27.680 can voluntarily sign up for the Big Hunt, where 00:03:27.680 --> 00:03:30.219 they alternate back and forth between two distinct 00:03:30.219 --> 00:03:33.259 roles. The hunter and the victim. Yep. And this 00:03:33.259 --> 00:03:35.599 brings us right to our main character, Stanton 00:03:35.599 --> 00:03:38.259 Frillane. Stand up for me. Yes, and he is not 00:03:38.259 --> 00:03:41.060 some terrified rookie. Just trying to survive 00:03:41.060 --> 00:03:43.979 his first game. He is a highly experienced hunter. 00:03:44.159 --> 00:03:46.340 He's got six successful rounds already under 00:03:46.340 --> 00:03:48.360 his belt. He is the consummate player of the 00:03:48.360 --> 00:03:50.819 game, like completely acclimated to this reality. 00:03:50.819 --> 00:03:54.199 Yeah. What makes for Lane such a compelling protagonist 00:03:54.199 --> 00:03:57.219 to analyze is how thoroughly he has integrated 00:03:57.219 --> 00:04:01.180 this brutal life or death game into normal everyday 00:04:01.180 --> 00:04:04.919 capitalism. Yes. The capitalism angle is so funny. 00:04:05.259 --> 00:04:07.259 Right. He lives in Cleveland, and his day job 00:04:07.259 --> 00:04:10.159 is literally co -owning a company that manufactures 00:04:10.159 --> 00:04:13.120 and sells bulletproof vests to other players 00:04:13.120 --> 00:04:15.199 of the Big Hunt. It is the ultimate conflict 00:04:15.199 --> 00:04:17.439 of interests. Oh, completely. Like, you're participating 00:04:17.439 --> 00:04:20.259 in a lethal game, and you're nine to five is 00:04:20.259 --> 00:04:22.360 selling the armor for it. Gotta make a living 00:04:22.360 --> 00:04:24.930 somehow. I just love this detail because it's 00:04:24.930 --> 00:04:28.269 like a twisted lethal version of a gig economy 00:04:28.269 --> 00:04:31.029 app or maybe like an extreme sports league. Yeah, 00:04:31.149 --> 00:04:33.069 that's a good way to put it. You've got this 00:04:33.069 --> 00:04:37.470 post -World War II society trying to neatly compartmentalize 00:04:37.470 --> 00:04:41.550 the messy reality of human violence into like 00:04:41.879 --> 00:04:44.860 A regulated bureaucracy. With merchandise, essentially. 00:04:45.160 --> 00:04:48.019 Exactly. And Frillane even looks up to his older 00:04:48.019 --> 00:04:50.399 business partner, this guy named E .J. Morgher, 00:04:50.860 --> 00:04:53.060 specifically because Morgher is a member of the 00:04:53.060 --> 00:04:55.899 Ten's Club. The Ten's Club being this... highly 00:04:55.899 --> 00:04:59.439 coveted, really rarefied status that you can 00:04:59.439 --> 00:05:02.560 only achieve by surviving 10 alternating rounds 00:05:02.560 --> 00:05:05.259 of the hunt. So that's five as a hunter, five 00:05:05.259 --> 00:05:07.839 as a victim. Exactly. It has become the ultimate 00:05:07.839 --> 00:05:10.420 status symbol in a society that is just entirely 00:05:10.420 --> 00:05:12.680 gamified death. Right. And if we connect this 00:05:12.680 --> 00:05:15.160 to the bigger picture, the very existence of 00:05:15.160 --> 00:05:18.040 the Emotional Catharsis Bureau highlights society's 00:05:18.040 --> 00:05:20.699 desperate, almost naive need to quantify and 00:05:20.699 --> 00:05:23.220 control human nature. Oh, totally naive. The 00:05:23.220 --> 00:05:25.600 authorities in this world genuinely believe that 00:05:25.600 --> 00:05:28.420 if they just apply enough rules, file enough 00:05:28.420 --> 00:05:31.779 paperwork, and create tiered status levels for 00:05:31.779 --> 00:05:34.480 violence. Like frequent flyer miles for murder. 00:05:34.620 --> 00:05:36.779 Right. They think they can tame it. They treat 00:05:36.779 --> 00:05:39.040 human emotion like a predictable math equation. 00:05:39.120 --> 00:05:42.199 Which never works out. Never. And that exact 00:05:42.199 --> 00:05:45.879 mindset, that unwavering belief in a coldly logical 00:05:45.879 --> 00:05:48.899 system is what sets the stage for Frilane to 00:05:48.899 --> 00:05:51.139 be so thoroughly manipulated later on in the 00:05:51.139 --> 00:05:54.000 story. Okay, so if a society has gamified death 00:05:54.000 --> 00:05:56.839 to this extreme and created all these unspoken 00:05:56.839 --> 00:05:59.139 rules of engagement, what happens when a player 00:05:59.139 --> 00:06:01.399 completely refuses to play their part? Well, 00:06:01.500 --> 00:06:04.319 the system breaks down. Exactly. And Frillene 00:06:04.319 --> 00:06:06.779 is about to find out the hard way. So he receives 00:06:06.779 --> 00:06:09.199 his seventh official assignment from the Bureau. 00:06:09.420 --> 00:06:12.079 Lucky number seven. Right. And his designated 00:06:12.079 --> 00:06:15.019 victim is a woman named Janet Marie Patsig, and 00:06:15.019 --> 00:06:17.560 she's located in New York. Which is a huge surprise 00:06:17.560 --> 00:06:20.100 to him. He is genuinely shocked by this. He has 00:06:20.100 --> 00:06:21.660 never even heard of a woman playing the hunt 00:06:21.660 --> 00:06:23.540 before. Which shows you a lot about the gender 00:06:23.540 --> 00:06:25.579 dynamics Sheckley was playing with in the 50s. 00:06:25.680 --> 00:06:28.060 Oh, absolutely. So Frilane actually picks up 00:06:28.060 --> 00:06:31.060 the phone and calls the emotional catharsis bureau 00:06:31.060 --> 00:06:34.300 just to double check that they didn't make like 00:06:34.300 --> 00:06:36.500 a clerical error in his file. And the bureau 00:06:36.500 --> 00:06:40.060 confirms the assignment is real, which completely 00:06:40.060 --> 00:06:42.360 shatters his preconceived notions of what a victim 00:06:42.360 --> 00:06:45.480 is supposed to look like. Right. So Frilane travels 00:06:45.480 --> 00:06:48.180 to New York and he's mentally preparing himself 00:06:48.180 --> 00:06:51.279 for a tense, highly strategic hunt. He's ready 00:06:51.279 --> 00:06:54.459 for action. Very ready. He goes out to scout 00:06:54.459 --> 00:06:57.439 her neighborhood. entirely expecting her to be 00:06:57.439 --> 00:07:00.329 in hiding? barricaded in an apartment somewhere, 00:07:00.670 --> 00:07:03.370 or at the very least, heavily armed, paranoid, 00:07:03.750 --> 00:07:05.509 and scanning the crowds. Because that's what 00:07:05.509 --> 00:07:08.110 he would do. Exactly. But that is not what happens 00:07:08.110 --> 00:07:10.649 at all. Instead, he spots her almost immediately. 00:07:10.769 --> 00:07:12.490 Just out in the open. Right out in the open. 00:07:12.610 --> 00:07:15.769 She is just sitting at an outdoor cafe, casually 00:07:15.769 --> 00:07:18.870 smoking a cigarette. She has no cover, no bodyguards, 00:07:18.930 --> 00:07:21.610 no tactical gear, and definitely no bulletproof 00:07:21.610 --> 00:07:24.350 vest from his Cleveland company. She is just 00:07:24.350 --> 00:07:27.350 sitting there, completely exposed, and furlanes 00:07:27.350 --> 00:07:29.769 in turn. reaction to seeing this is so telling 00:07:29.769 --> 00:07:32.189 about how this society functions. Oh, it really 00:07:32.189 --> 00:07:34.930 is. He isn't relieved that he's been handed an 00:07:34.930 --> 00:07:38.569 easy risk -free kill. No, he's furious. He feels 00:07:38.569 --> 00:07:41.189 cheated. He actually feels like he is being robbed 00:07:41.189 --> 00:07:44.689 of his full catharsis because his victim isn't 00:07:44.689 --> 00:07:46.910 fighting back. And that psychological detail 00:07:46.910 --> 00:07:49.430 is the linchpin of the entire narrative. Yeah. 00:07:49.689 --> 00:07:52.209 It demonstrates that for a seasoned player like 00:07:52.209 --> 00:07:56.230 Freelane, the hunt isn't actually about the mechanics 00:07:56.230 --> 00:07:58.110 of the kill. You're right. It's not about paperwork. 00:07:58.410 --> 00:08:01.430 No, it's about the thrill. It is about the chase, 00:08:01.990 --> 00:08:04.610 the adrenaline, and the ultimate validation of 00:08:04.610 --> 00:08:07.050 his own skill and superiority. He wants to prove 00:08:07.050 --> 00:08:10.269 he's the best. Exactly. So when Patsig just sits 00:08:10.269 --> 00:08:13.470 there at the cafe drinking her coffee, she completely 00:08:13.470 --> 00:08:16.189 breaks the unspoken psychological contract of 00:08:16.189 --> 00:08:18.910 the game. Ferlay needs the excitement and the 00:08:18.910 --> 00:08:21.490 tension to feel that emotional release the Bureau 00:08:21.490 --> 00:08:24.949 promised him. A target who doesn't run offers 00:08:24.949 --> 00:08:27.410 no catharsis whatsoever. It's like playing a 00:08:27.410 --> 00:08:29.209 video game on the lowest difficulty setting. 00:08:29.490 --> 00:08:32.289 There's no satisfaction. Precisely. So desperately 00:08:32.289 --> 00:08:34.389 seeking that missing thrill, he does something 00:08:34.389 --> 00:08:37.509 incredibly reckless. Very reckless. He deliberately 00:08:37.509 --> 00:08:40.429 places himself in physical danger by walking 00:08:40.429 --> 00:08:43.590 right up to her table. He pretends he's just 00:08:43.590 --> 00:08:46.169 some random guy in town on business looking for 00:08:46.169 --> 00:08:48.759 a date. Just making small talk. Right. And the 00:08:48.759 --> 00:08:51.539 whole time he's doing this, he is fully expecting 00:08:51.539 --> 00:08:54.620 her to see through his disguise, panic, and pull 00:08:54.620 --> 00:08:56.899 a gun on him. He wants her to. He's literally 00:08:56.899 --> 00:08:59.240 waiting for the adrenaline spike. He wants her 00:08:59.240 --> 00:09:02.580 to fight back so badly. But Patsy does not pull 00:09:02.580 --> 00:09:05.639 a gun. No. She initially just brushes off his 00:09:05.639 --> 00:09:08.620 advances, very bleakly telling him that she will 00:09:08.620 --> 00:09:11.240 probably be dead soon anyway, so there's no point 00:09:11.240 --> 00:09:13.700 in a date. Which is such a dark thing to say 00:09:13.700 --> 00:09:17.519 to a stranger. It is. But slowly, she opens up 00:09:17.519 --> 00:09:20.009 to him. She explains her backstory, that she 00:09:20.009 --> 00:09:22.509 came to New York to be an actress, failed miserably, 00:09:22.789 --> 00:09:24.809 and looking for some kind of excitement or purpose, 00:09:25.230 --> 00:09:27.409 she impulsively signed up for the hunt. As you 00:09:27.409 --> 00:09:30.049 do. Right. But during her very first mission 00:09:30.049 --> 00:09:31.990 as a hunter, when she actually had the upper 00:09:31.990 --> 00:09:34.629 hand, she couldn't pull the trigger. She froze. 00:09:35.129 --> 00:09:37.190 She couldn't find the courage to take her assigned 00:09:37.190 --> 00:09:41.049 victim's life. Now the rules have flipped, and 00:09:41.049 --> 00:09:44.610 it is her turn to be the victim. She confesses 00:09:44.610 --> 00:09:47.149 to Ferlain that she can't even contemplate shooting 00:09:47.149 --> 00:09:49.210 the person hunting her, so she's simply given 00:09:49.210 --> 00:09:52.490 up. She's sitting at the cafe, passively waiting 00:09:52.490 --> 00:09:55.429 to be killed. And this confession just completely 00:09:55.429 --> 00:09:57.990 disarms him. Oh, entirely. Like all his tactical 00:09:57.990 --> 00:10:00.029 preparation goes straight out the window. They 00:10:00.029 --> 00:10:02.049 end up spending the entire afternoon together 00:10:02.049 --> 00:10:03.950 just walking around the city. Having a lovely 00:10:03.950 --> 00:10:07.950 time. But Patsig is just consumed by this looming 00:10:07.950 --> 00:10:10.809 doom, constantly lamenting that her life is about 00:10:10.809 --> 00:10:14.570 to end at any moment. Elaine, the hardened killer, 00:10:14.789 --> 00:10:17.710 the guy on his seventh lethal round. The bulletproof 00:10:17.710 --> 00:10:20.909 vest salesman. Yes. He completely falls for her. 00:10:21.210 --> 00:10:24.009 He falls head over heels in love, and unable 00:10:24.009 --> 00:10:26.690 to bear her sadness, he finally drops the charade. 00:10:27.009 --> 00:10:28.990 He tells her the truth. He admits to her that 00:10:28.990 --> 00:10:31.289 he is her assigned hunter, but promises her he 00:10:31.289 --> 00:10:34.529 can't do it. Instead of murdering her, he proposes 00:10:34.529 --> 00:10:37.840 marriage on the spot. Right. He offers her the 00:10:37.840 --> 00:10:40.799 ultimate fairy tale out. He believes he is stepping 00:10:40.799 --> 00:10:43.320 into the role of the savior, offering to rescue 00:10:43.320 --> 00:10:46.259 her life, marry her, and take her away from this 00:10:46.259 --> 00:10:49.360 barbaric game entirely. And here is where the 00:10:49.360 --> 00:10:52.000 brutal irony of the story locks into place. You're 00:10:52.000 --> 00:10:55.139 right. Pat Sig is incredibly relieved. She accepts 00:10:55.139 --> 00:10:58.820 his proposal. She leans in, kisses him, and then 00:10:58.820 --> 00:11:00.860 pulls out a cigarette to celebrate. Naturally. 00:11:01.240 --> 00:11:04.669 She sparks her cigarette lighter and She shoots 00:11:04.669 --> 00:11:07.669 him dead. Boom. The lighter was a concealed gun 00:11:07.669 --> 00:11:10.549 the entire time. The entire time. And as Freline 00:11:10.549 --> 00:11:13.049 is bleeding out, dying on the pavement, the last 00:11:13.049 --> 00:11:15.409 thing he hears is Patsig joyfully announcing 00:11:15.409 --> 00:11:18.269 that with this successful kill, she finally gets 00:11:18.269 --> 00:11:21.309 to join the Elite Ten's club. It is a devastating 00:11:21.309 --> 00:11:24.169 twist because it recontextualizes every single 00:11:24.169 --> 00:11:26.149 interaction they just had. It's the ultimate 00:11:26.149 --> 00:11:28.450 tragic irony. Think about the mechanics of this 00:11:28.450 --> 00:11:30.940 for a second. Frilane is a man who literally 00:11:30.940 --> 00:11:33.720 makes his living selling bulletproof vests. Right. 00:11:34.080 --> 00:11:36.600 He profits off selling physical armor to protect 00:11:36.600 --> 00:11:39.519 people from physical bullets. But the absolute 00:11:39.519 --> 00:11:42.480 second he lowered his emotional armor, it killed 00:11:42.480 --> 00:11:45.039 him. It was fatal. He was prepared for every 00:11:45.039 --> 00:11:47.259 tactical threat in the book, but he had absolutely 00:11:47.259 --> 00:11:49.820 zero defense against his own romantic impulses. 00:11:50.120 --> 00:11:52.860 And this forces us to look at Frilane's fatal 00:11:52.860 --> 00:11:55.470 flaw. It wasn't just that he was gullible in 00:11:55.470 --> 00:11:57.990 a single moment, right? It was his insatiable 00:11:57.990 --> 00:12:01.929 need for a narrative, for excitement. His desire 00:12:01.929 --> 00:12:05.730 for that full catharsis completely blinded his 00:12:05.730 --> 00:12:08.669 normally sharp survival instincts. He walked 00:12:08.669 --> 00:12:11.169 up to that cafe table, thinking he was the predator, 00:12:11.509 --> 00:12:14.490 playfully toying with his food, completely unaware 00:12:14.490 --> 00:12:17.470 that he had been the prey from the very first 00:12:17.470 --> 00:12:19.330 second they made eye contact. She was playing 00:12:19.330 --> 00:12:22.070 him the whole time. Patzig played the role of 00:12:22.070 --> 00:12:26.230 the helpless, tragic victim flawlessly. Which, 00:12:26.610 --> 00:12:28.330 ironically enough, proves she wasn't a field 00:12:28.330 --> 00:12:31.009 actress after all. Oh, wow. She gave the absolute 00:12:31.009 --> 00:12:33.610 performance of a lifetime. Oh, I love that. The 00:12:33.610 --> 00:12:35.850 layers to that deception are incredible. But 00:12:35.850 --> 00:12:38.190 this plot twist isn't just there for shock value, 00:12:38.269 --> 00:12:41.090 is it? No, not at all. This is the exact mechanism 00:12:41.090 --> 00:12:43.389 Sheckley uses to pivot the entire narrative. 00:12:43.690 --> 00:12:47.009 He takes this pulpy sci -fi thriller about assassins 00:12:47.009 --> 00:12:50.070 and suddenly turns it into a profound philosophical 00:12:50.070 --> 00:12:52.649 commentary. Exactly. Because if you look at Robert 00:12:52.649 --> 00:12:54.830 Sheckley's later writings analyzing his own work, 00:12:55.110 --> 00:12:57.769 he explicitly stated that Seventh victim is ultimately 00:12:57.769 --> 00:13:01.570 a story about love. Really? Yes. He described 00:13:01.570 --> 00:13:05.129 love as this inextinguishable, irrational impulse 00:13:05.129 --> 00:13:08.450 that can blossom in even the most hardened calculating 00:13:08.450 --> 00:13:11.129 of creatures, like for Lane. Right, against all 00:13:11.129 --> 00:13:14.090 logic. And that impulse, once activated, will 00:13:14.090 --> 00:13:16.230 drive a person either to ultimate fulfillment, 00:13:16.570 --> 00:13:19.470 or directly to their death. Wait, I need to challenge 00:13:19.470 --> 00:13:21.809 this for a second. Go for it. How can a story 00:13:21.809 --> 00:13:24.710 fundamentally centered on a government mandated 00:13:24.710 --> 00:13:28.799 murder game not be about violence? The entire 00:13:28.799 --> 00:13:31.580 world building premise, the world wars, the emotional 00:13:31.580 --> 00:13:34.700 catharsis bureau, that is a massive critique 00:13:34.700 --> 00:13:37.200 of human aggression and warfare, isn't it? You 00:13:37.200 --> 00:13:38.879 would certainly think so, and a lot of critics 00:13:38.879 --> 00:13:41.259 did at the time. Yeah. But Sheckley pushed back 00:13:41.259 --> 00:13:43.940 on that interpretation very hard. He wrote that 00:13:43.940 --> 00:13:46.659 within the context of the story, the hunt is 00:13:46.659 --> 00:13:49.360 actually an ironic, futuristic equivalent of 00:13:49.360 --> 00:13:52.710 the creative act. The creative act. Yes. It is 00:13:52.710 --> 00:13:54.590 something people are doing for its own sake, 00:13:54.950 --> 00:13:58.210 driven by passion and thrill, rather than a reasoned 00:13:58.210 --> 00:14:01.610 logical outcome. He explicitly stated that claiming 00:14:01.610 --> 00:14:04.169 seventh victim is simply a story about the problem 00:14:04.169 --> 00:14:06.389 of violence. It's like saying Jonathan Swist, 00:14:06.690 --> 00:14:09.029 a modest proposal is simply a story about the 00:14:09.029 --> 00:14:12.309 eating habits of the Irish. Oh, okay. That is 00:14:12.309 --> 00:14:15.129 a fantastic analogier. For anyone who hasn't 00:14:15.129 --> 00:14:17.990 read the Swift essay, a modest proposal is that 00:14:17.990 --> 00:14:21.529 famous satirical piece from 1729, where Swift 00:14:21.529 --> 00:14:23.769 suggests that impoverished Irish people could 00:14:23.769 --> 00:14:27.429 solve their economic troubles by selling their 00:14:27.429 --> 00:14:30.309 children as food to the rich. A very grim piece 00:14:30.309 --> 00:14:33.070 of satire. Right. And obviously it's not a literal 00:14:33.070 --> 00:14:35.470 culinary guide or an essay on agriculture. It 00:14:35.470 --> 00:14:38.509 is a scathing, exaggerated critique of British 00:14:38.509 --> 00:14:40.889 policies and the heartlessness of the upper class. 00:14:40.909 --> 00:14:42.929 Exactly. So Sheckley is doing the exact same 00:14:42.929 --> 00:14:45.980 thing here. He is using the extreme, grotesque 00:14:45.980 --> 00:14:48.700 metaphor of legalized, bureaucratic murder to 00:14:48.700 --> 00:14:50.340 talk about something entirely different. Yes, 00:14:50.340 --> 00:14:52.279 he is. And if we follow that logic all the way 00:14:52.279 --> 00:14:54.659 through, then love itself is the actual big hunt. 00:14:55.039 --> 00:14:57.659 Romance is this terrifying game where we willingly 00:14:57.659 --> 00:15:00.360 step out into the open, sit at the cafe without 00:15:00.360 --> 00:15:03.240 any armor, and play the vulnerable victim, just 00:15:03.240 --> 00:15:05.279 hoping the other person doesn't pull the trigger. 00:15:05.399 --> 00:15:07.480 And what is so fascinating about that interpretation 00:15:07.480 --> 00:15:11.460 is how perfectly the metaphor maps onto the mechanics 00:15:11.460 --> 00:15:15.159 of romantic relationships. Sheckley is basically 00:15:15.159 --> 00:15:17.879 issuing a warning about the sheer inevitability 00:15:17.879 --> 00:15:19.860 of self -deception. Right, the stories we tell 00:15:19.860 --> 00:15:22.080 ourselves. Exactly. When we fall in love, we 00:15:22.080 --> 00:15:24.740 tell ourselves stories. Ferlain told himself 00:15:24.740 --> 00:15:28.539 a very specific story. that Patsy was a helpless 00:15:28.539 --> 00:15:31.399 damsel in distress who desperately needed his 00:15:31.399 --> 00:15:33.620 protection. He wanted to be the hero. He wanted 00:15:33.620 --> 00:15:36.299 to be the hero of that narrative so badly that 00:15:36.299 --> 00:15:39.500 he willfully ignored every single red flag, including 00:15:39.500 --> 00:15:41.419 the very obvious fact that she was an active 00:15:41.419 --> 00:15:44.299 participant in a literal murder game. Yeah, minor 00:15:44.299 --> 00:15:47.500 detail. It's a small oversight. The story exposes 00:15:47.500 --> 00:15:50.580 how our own ego, our deep desire to feel essential 00:15:50.580 --> 00:15:53.299 and to experience excitement, can be the deadliest 00:15:53.299 --> 00:15:56.990 trap of all. The Emotional Catharsis Bureau thought 00:15:56.990 --> 00:15:59.190 they could control human nature with rules and 00:15:59.190 --> 00:16:01.509 paperwork, and Ferlain thought he was in total 00:16:01.509 --> 00:16:03.970 control of the interaction at the cafe. Both 00:16:03.970 --> 00:16:06.610 were completely, fatally deceiving themselves. 00:16:07.629 --> 00:16:10.669 It is wild to think about how deep that psychological 00:16:10.669 --> 00:16:12.830 critique goes, but, you know, this provocative 00:16:12.830 --> 00:16:15.850 blend of lethal games and human psychology didn't 00:16:15.850 --> 00:16:18.429 just stay trapped in the pages of a 1953 issue 00:16:18.429 --> 00:16:20.750 of Galaxy Science Fiction magazine. No, it certainly 00:16:20.750 --> 00:16:23.230 didn't. The ideas in this story bled into pop 00:16:23.230 --> 00:16:25.690 culture in a massive way, spawning adaptations 00:16:25.690 --> 00:16:28.389 and even creating a real -life phenomenon. The 00:16:28.389 --> 00:16:30.490 cultural lineage of this concept is quite a journey, 00:16:30.610 --> 00:16:32.950 honestly. Sheckley's story didn't emerge from 00:16:32.950 --> 00:16:35.370 a vacuum. It was actually inspired by an even 00:16:35.370 --> 00:16:38.240 older piece of fiction. Richard Connell's famous 00:16:38.240 --> 00:16:41.759 1924 short story, The Most Dangerous Game. Right, 00:16:41.879 --> 00:16:43.659 which everyone reads in high school. Exactly. 00:16:44.259 --> 00:16:47.059 It's essentially the granddaddy of all humans 00:16:47.059 --> 00:16:51.019 hunting humans for sport tropes. But where Connell 00:16:51.019 --> 00:16:54.059 focused on the physical jungle survival aspect 00:16:54.059 --> 00:16:56.820 of the hunt, Sheckley took that framework and 00:16:56.820 --> 00:16:59.419 made it deeply psychological and urban. Right. 00:16:59.559 --> 00:17:01.779 And the impact of Seventh Victim in the real 00:17:01.779 --> 00:17:05.279 world was surprisingly direct and physical. Okay, 00:17:05.400 --> 00:17:07.359 this is the part that blows my mind. It's crazy. 00:17:07.559 --> 00:17:11.140 Seventh Victim was the original direct inspiration 00:17:11.140 --> 00:17:14.640 for the live action college game Assassin. Yep. 00:17:14.900 --> 00:17:17.220 Like if you went to an American university campus 00:17:17.220 --> 00:17:20.319 anytime in the 1980s, you probably saw kids running 00:17:20.319 --> 00:17:22.519 around dormitories playing this. With the water 00:17:22.519 --> 00:17:25.279 guns in the safe zones. Exactly. And according 00:17:25.279 --> 00:17:27.059 to the history of the game, it was introduced 00:17:27.059 --> 00:17:30.579 at the University of Michigan in 1978 by a coordinator 00:17:30.579 --> 00:17:32.960 named Lenny Pitt, who had previously played a 00:17:32.960 --> 00:17:35.079 version of it at the Roper School. Think about 00:17:35.079 --> 00:17:36.839 the massive disconnect happening there. It's 00:17:36.839 --> 00:17:39.559 so funny. You have this highly nuanced literary 00:17:39.559 --> 00:17:42.599 critique about emotional vulnerability, the dangers 00:17:42.599 --> 00:17:46.079 of ego, and the self -deception inherent in romantic 00:17:46.079 --> 00:17:49.039 love. Yeah. And society's takeaway is to turn 00:17:49.039 --> 00:17:52.619 it into college students sneaking around cafeterias 00:17:52.619 --> 00:17:54.779 shooting each other with water guns. It is a 00:17:54.779 --> 00:17:57.339 bizarre cultural telephone game. Like, people 00:17:57.339 --> 00:18:01.180 read a deeply layered story about a guy who dies 00:18:01.180 --> 00:18:03.359 because he trusted a woman playing a victim. 00:18:03.559 --> 00:18:06.660 And the collective cultural response is, Hey, 00:18:06.759 --> 00:18:08.900 dodging assassins would be a really fun game 00:18:08.900 --> 00:18:11.299 to play after calculus. Right. And it wasn't 00:18:11.299 --> 00:18:13.220 just college kids running around with water guns 00:18:13.220 --> 00:18:15.559 either. The story was adapted into media multiple 00:18:15.559 --> 00:18:18.480 times, often missing the point just as spectacularly. 00:18:18.579 --> 00:18:20.779 Oh, the adaptations are fascinating. Yeah. Like 00:18:20.779 --> 00:18:23.920 in 1957, there was an X minus one radio play 00:18:23.920 --> 00:18:26.480 adaptation by Ernest Kenoy. Right, the radio 00:18:26.480 --> 00:18:28.720 show. Yeah. And they mostly kept to the original 00:18:28.720 --> 00:18:30.960 plot, though they added a bureau character named 00:18:30.960 --> 00:18:33.640 Emmanuel Gale, basically just to deliver heavy 00:18:33.640 --> 00:18:35.839 exposition while Ferlain was packing. his bags 00:18:35.839 --> 00:18:37.980 for New York. Difficult radio drum mechanics? 00:18:38.259 --> 00:18:40.819 Exactly. But the adaptation that truly takes 00:18:40.819 --> 00:18:43.900 the cake, the one that is just gloriously unhinged, 00:18:44.559 --> 00:18:48.380 is the 1965 Italian film The Tenth Victim. Oh, 00:18:48.480 --> 00:18:51.359 that film adaptation is a truly fascinating artifact 00:18:51.359 --> 00:18:55.000 of its era. It starred Ursula Andress and Marcello 00:18:55.000 --> 00:18:58.000 Mastriani, and the filmmakers heavily modified 00:18:58.000 --> 00:19:01.230 the core plot. In the film, They actually switched 00:19:01.230 --> 00:19:03.410 the roles around. Right, they flipped it. Yeah, 00:19:03.509 --> 00:19:05.670 Ursula Andress plays the hunter who is seeking 00:19:05.670 --> 00:19:09.049 her 10th victim to join the club and Mastroianni 00:19:09.049 --> 00:19:12.690 plays her assigned victim. They become romantically 00:19:12.690 --> 00:19:14.849 involved, maintaining the core tension of the 00:19:14.849 --> 00:19:18.210 short story. But the twist they added is incredibly 00:19:18.210 --> 00:19:20.730 cynical. It's so capitalist. Andress's character 00:19:20.730 --> 00:19:23.150 isn't just trying to survive or get a catharsis. 00:19:23.470 --> 00:19:26.609 She is trying to arrange the perfect kill because 00:19:26.609 --> 00:19:29.109 she has secured a highly lucrative corporate 00:19:29.109 --> 00:19:31.589 sponsorship from a tea company. A tea company? 00:19:31.670 --> 00:19:34.190 A tea company. She is literally monetizing her 00:19:34.190 --> 00:19:36.349 state -sponsored assassination for brand synergy. 00:19:36.569 --> 00:19:38.589 It's amazing. It is hilarious. But honestly, 00:19:38.710 --> 00:19:41.619 it is also incredibly prophetic. That 1965 movie 00:19:41.619 --> 00:19:44.380 is predicting modern influencer culture and corporate 00:19:44.380 --> 00:19:47.099 sponsorships decades before social media or Instagram 00:19:47.099 --> 00:19:49.839 even existed. Oh, completely. Imagine the ad 00:19:49.839 --> 00:19:52.599 raid, right? Brought to you by Earl Grey, the 00:19:52.599 --> 00:19:55.400 perfect soothing tea to drink after a long day 00:19:55.400 --> 00:19:58.259 of hunting your fellow humans. Use promo code 00:19:58.259 --> 00:20:01.779 Hunter for 20 % off. Exactly. And the wildest 00:20:01.779 --> 00:20:04.160 part is that Sheckley actually loved the movie's 00:20:04.160 --> 00:20:07.839 bizarre concepts so much that he wrote a novelization 00:20:07.839 --> 00:20:10.660 of the film and then followed it up in the late 00:20:10.660 --> 00:20:13.339 80s with two of his own sequels. Right. Victim 00:20:13.339 --> 00:20:15.960 Prime and Hunter Victim. Yes. And the irony of 00:20:15.960 --> 00:20:18.339 all these adaptations and games is that they 00:20:18.339 --> 00:20:20.839 serve as the ultimate proof of Sheckley's original 00:20:20.839 --> 00:20:24.160 point. How so? Well, he writes a cautionary tale 00:20:24.160 --> 00:20:27.400 about how human beings deceive themselves, hiding 00:20:27.400 --> 00:20:30.180 their true, vulnerable motives behind complex 00:20:30.180 --> 00:20:33.200 games and the pursuit of thrills. And how does 00:20:33.200 --> 00:20:36.640 society respond? By completely missing the philosophical 00:20:36.640 --> 00:20:39.460 warning about love and ego, and instead hyper 00:20:39.460 --> 00:20:42.019 -focusing entirely on the mechanical rules of 00:20:42.019 --> 00:20:44.200 the murder game itself. We just like the game 00:20:44.200 --> 00:20:46.980 part. Exactly. We turned it into college fads 00:20:46.980 --> 00:20:49.359 and stylish cinematic spectacles sponsored by 00:20:49.359 --> 00:20:52.259 fictional tea companies. We actively proved his 00:20:52.259 --> 00:20:54.759 thesis about self -deception by collectively 00:20:54.759 --> 00:20:56.740 deceiving ourselves about what the story actually 00:20:56.740 --> 00:20:58.759 meant in the first place. That is so true. We 00:20:58.759 --> 00:21:00.500 just wanted the thrill of the water gun fight. 00:21:00.640 --> 00:21:03.619 We really did. We absolutely did not want the 00:21:03.619 --> 00:21:06.039 mirror held up to our own romantic failures and 00:21:06.039 --> 00:21:09.000 ego trips. We preferred the surface level action 00:21:09.000 --> 00:21:11.240 over the deep psychological critique. Which is 00:21:11.240 --> 00:21:13.359 very human of us. Which brings us full circle 00:21:13.359 --> 00:21:16.059 to why we chose to dive into this material today. 00:21:16.420 --> 00:21:19.220 We have journeyed from a bleak post -World War 00:21:19.220 --> 00:21:23.359 III dystopia imagined in a 1953 magazine, to 00:21:23.359 --> 00:21:27.019 a 1980s college campus water gun game, all the 00:21:27.019 --> 00:21:29.720 way to the cinematic origins of influencer culture 00:21:29.720 --> 00:21:33.000 in a 1960s Italian film. Quite the trip. But 00:21:33.000 --> 00:21:35.259 why does a 70 -year -old sci -fi story about 00:21:35.259 --> 00:21:37.799 assassins actually matter to you today? Because 00:21:37.799 --> 00:21:40.119 it challenges you to look at your own life, strip 00:21:40.119 --> 00:21:42.460 away the metaphors, and ask the hard questions. 00:21:43.160 --> 00:21:46.059 Where in your life, particularly in your relationships, 00:21:46.460 --> 00:21:48.700 are you aggressively playing the hunter. Right. 00:21:48.839 --> 00:21:51.200 And where are you willingly, perhaps manipulatively, 00:21:51.339 --> 00:21:53.960 playing the victim? What elaborate self -deceptions 00:21:53.960 --> 00:21:56.039 are you holding onto right now just to feel the 00:21:56.039 --> 00:21:58.359 thrill of the game? Are you walking through life 00:21:58.359 --> 00:22:00.460 wearing a heavy bulletproof vest while leaving 00:22:00.460 --> 00:22:02.619 your heart completely exposed to the first person 00:22:02.619 --> 00:22:04.839 who sits at your cafe table? It makes you wonder 00:22:04.839 --> 00:22:07.319 about the very nature of the conflicts we create, 00:22:07.339 --> 00:22:09.980 doesn't it? Yeah, it really does. I mean, the 00:22:09.980 --> 00:22:12.019 emotional catharsis bureau in the story was created 00:22:12.019 --> 00:22:14.940 to prevent another world war by funneling human 00:22:14.940 --> 00:22:17.720 violence into a highly controlled gamified system. 00:22:18.519 --> 00:22:22.019 But if, as Sheckley argues, the hunt is not actually 00:22:22.019 --> 00:22:24.759 about violence at all, if it is truly an allegory 00:22:24.759 --> 00:22:27.599 for love, for the creative act, and for the raw, 00:22:27.819 --> 00:22:30.500 unyielding human need for excitement, does that 00:22:30.500 --> 00:22:32.880 imply something profound about conflict itself? 00:22:33.039 --> 00:22:35.119 That's a huge question. We look at conflicts, 00:22:35.400 --> 00:22:37.519 whether it is an intense argument with a spouse 00:22:37.519 --> 00:22:40.559 or a massive global war, and we assume it is 00:22:40.559 --> 00:22:43.480 just born out of anger and aggression. But Sheckley 00:22:43.480 --> 00:22:45.660 leaves us with this terrifying, lingering thought. 00:22:45.839 --> 00:22:48.960 Are the wars we wage, both personal and global, 00:22:49.380 --> 00:22:51.680 born not out of mere hatred, but out of a twisted, 00:22:52.039 --> 00:22:55.200 unfulfilled human desire for passion, for deep 00:22:55.200 --> 00:22:57.539 connection, and for the ultimate thrill of feeling 00:22:57.539 --> 00:23:01.420 alive? Now that is a heavy, fascinating thought 00:23:01.420 --> 00:23:02.940 to chew on the next time you think you've got 00:23:02.940 --> 00:23:05.380 your own modems all figured out. Thank you for 00:23:05.380 --> 00:23:07.960 joining us on this deep dive. Keep questioning 00:23:07.960 --> 00:23:10.000 the rules of the game you find yourself playing, 00:23:10.180 --> 00:23:12.039 and most importantly, stay curious.