rust: look. i consider myself a realist, all right, but in philosophical terms, i’m what’s called a pessimist. martin: um, okay. what’s that mean? rust: means i’m bad at parties. martin: heh. let me tell you. you ain’t great outside of parties either. rust: i think human consciousness was a tragic misstep in evolution. we became too self-aware. nature created an aspect of nature separate from itself. we are creatures that should not exist by natural law. martin: huh. that sounds god-fucking-awful, rust. rust: we are things that labor under the illusion of having a self, this accretion of sensory experience and feeling, programmed with total assurance that we are each somebody when, in fact, everybody’s nobody. martin: i wouldn’t go around spouting that shit, i was you. people around here don’t think that way. i don’t think that way. rust: i think the honorable thing for species to do is deny our programming, stop reproducing, walk hand in hand into extinction, one last midnight, brothers and sisters opting out of a raw deal. martin: so what’s the point of getting out bed in the morning? rust: i tell myself i bear witness, but the real answer is that it’s obviously my programming, and i lack the constitution for suicide.