skiviers
"What's the maximum proportion of sociopaths in a society before sociopathy becomes the norm?"
In calculus, dydx (or dy/dx) represents the rate of change of y in response to changes in x. For example, if y stands for speed and x for time, then dydx represents acceleration.
Now, if we consider y to be society's perception of reality and x as the objective reality itself, dydx illustrates how our perceptions shift as the real world changes.
An interesting aspect of dydx is that it gauges only an instantaneous rate of change at a specific point. The whole concept breaks down and becomes meaningless in the long run, when changes are of larger magnitude.
What happens, then, when our perception of reality - our abstracted mental models - begins to drift away significantly from the world around us?
Some will argue that we should rely only on our current perceptions as a reference then, deeming both objective reality and our old perceptions obsolete. Others might believe our perceptions have been corrupted and would prefer we revert to a time when they aligned with reality. Yet some might find themselves choosing the lesser of two evils, failing to realise that it's not only the magnitude of the evil itself that matters but also its rate of growth.
Inevitably, it leaves us all viewing life through designer lenses, arguing with each other over intermediary, subjective states of nature. Sometimes, we view it as a utopia; other times, a dystopia, depending on who asks, or even when or how they ask.
While this drift into abstraction is the theme of dydx, the plot doesn't directly revolve around it. It's a science fiction story set in a future that isn't so distant as to be unrelatable, yet not so close as to be unfeasible.
In a way, reflecting on it, it reminds me of a zombie apocalypse story.