Questions about Stephen King's "The Jaunt"

[Unimatrix Q]

What would a personality or mind have to be like to survive the jaunt relatively intact (at least for the longest possible time)?

Any possible psychological tricks or techniques that would help someone to pass the time as sane as possible for the longest possible time and feel the least amount of psychological torment?

How exactly would the mind of a person inside break down? Would there be different stages in the process and what would they be like?

And how long would it take in the case of a very strong, willfull, prepared and creative person to become a vegetable?

 

[Oddish]

If I remember right, the only creature to survive the Jaunt while awake was a goldfish. So, limited intellect would improve your chances. Beyond that, we don't know the particulars of how long the Jaunt is, mentally. Years? Centuries? Aeons? Stephen King didn't give us precise figures. The story was creepier that way.

 

[Unimatrix Q]

If I remember right, the only creature to survive the Jaunt while awake was a goldfish. So, limited intellect would improve your chances. Beyond that, we don't know the particulars of how long the Jaunt is, mentally. Years? Centuries? Aeons? Stephen King didn't give us precise figures. The story was creepier that way.

I guess it might be at least billions or trillions of years.

Yeah a limited interlect might be preferable for this, but in the case of an intelligent being going awake through the jaunt i wonder what the psychological makeup would have to be like to survive the jaunt in the best possible condition.

And what exactly happens with a mind trapped there for near eternity?

 

[Oddish]

Beyond a certain duration, it doesn't matter. You'll go mad as a rat in a tin outhouse whether it's a century or a million centuries.

 

[Mr. Laser Beam]

Yeah, there's no way in hell any human being could survive that long, awake, with literally nothing to do.

That's why I regard this story as the scariest thing I've ever read, regardless of author. Billions of years of...nothingness? I can't imagine any torture more grueling than that.

 

[Oddish]

Their sanity would, literally, collapse, even if their body was sturdy enough to survive the shock. As we see in the story. It's one of Mr. King's more memorable efforts.

Did he do any other sci-fi? Can't remember any offhand...

 

[Unimatrix Q]

Yeah, there's no way in hell any human being could survive that long, awake, with literally nothing to do.

That's why I regard this story as the scariest thing I've ever read, regardless of author. Billions of years of...nothingness? I can't imagine any torture more grueling than that.

Yeah, it's the same for me. I read it first in my teens and had actually a few nightmares about it.

I wonder what the process of jaunting awake would be like in detail, especially because of the unfathomable timespans involved.

 

[Oddish]

It depends on the sensory input you experience during the time. Light? Sound? Silence? Pain? Just nothingness? All the first test subject said was "It's eternity in there."

 

[Unimatrix Q]

It depends on the sensory input you experience during the time. Light? Sound? Silence? Pain? Just nothingness? All the first test subject said was "It's eternity in there."

Would it really make a difference? Guess having the same sensorial experience for an eternity could possibly be effectively the same as having no experience at all imo

 

[Unimatrix Q]

If trapped inside the jaunt, how would an average person try to cope with that fate, what thoughts would arise and how would the thought process change over time? Stephen King wrote about the mind auto-cannibalizing itself. Is something like that actually possible and how exactly would it happen? And what about the subconscious mind?

And could a person that survived such a thing with no organical brain damage as an after effect, against all odds, and get all the possible help, ever recover enough to be a part of society and live the semblance of a normal life?

What would such a person be like?

 

[Oddish]

WARNING: Spoilers ahead. If you haven't read the story, you should do so before reading on.

And could a person that survived such a thing with no organical brain damage as an after effect, against all odds, and get all the possible help, ever recover enough to be a part of society and live the semblance of a normal life?

Given how careless they are about the anesthesia, it's a safe bet that others have gone through conscious. I'd say three possibilities.
1. No one ever survives. The kid's actions were essentially death throes.
2. Survivors are quietly terminated by the state, to avoid panic that will bring a jaunt dependent economy to a halt.
3. People do survive. Given that the two known awake travelers were both verbal and responsive, they can probably be helped. The kid's eye injuries could probably be repaired with quick medical care; having dissected eyes, I can tell you that they're harder to destroy than most people think.

Long term scars, of course, are almost certain.

Stephen King wrote about the mind auto-cannibalizing itself. Is something like that actually possible and how exactly would it happen? And what about the subconscious mind?

He used terms that people can understand, but also be frightened by: he is, after all, a horror writer. There's probably a more technical description, something like "psychological effects of spending extreme amounts of subjective time in an isolated and asensory virtual environment", but would that give a typical reader the willies?

 

[Mr. Laser Beam]

It depends on the sensory input you experience during the time. Light? Sound? Silence? Pain? Just nothingness? All the first test subject said was "It's eternity in there."

I got the impression that it really is nothingness.

 

[Skipper]

Did he do any other sci-fi? Can't remember any offhand...

Well, it depends on your definition of "sci-fi". Do you consider Under the Dome sci-fi? (I do but your mileage can vary). He did a couple of novels set in the future, I believe that this made them automatically sci-fi.

The Running Man

The Long Walk

 

[Oddish]

Running Man was definitely sci fi. Long Walk is more dystopian present day.

 

[Skipper]

Long Walk is more dystopian present day.

Well, it really depends on definitions. If I remember it correctly, it is set on an alternate America. Usually this kind of stories are classified under the sci-fi umbrella.

 

[Unimatrix Q]

WARNING: Spoilers ahead. If you haven't read the story, you should do so before reading on.



Given how careless they are about the anesthesia, it's a safe bet that others have gone through conscious. I'd say three possibilities.
1. No one ever survives. The kid's actions were essentially death throes.
2. Survivors are quietly terminated by the state, to avoid panic that will bring a jaunt dependent economy to a halt.
3. People do survive. Given that the two known awake travelers were both verbal and responsive, they can probably be helped. The kid's eye injuries could probably be repaired with quick medical care; having dissected eyes, I can tell you that they're harder to destroy than most people think.

Long term scars, of course, are almost certain.



He used terms that people can understand, but also be frightened by: he is, after all, a horror writer. There's probably a more technical description, something like "psychological effects of spending extreme amounts of subjective time in an isolated and asensory virtual environment", but would that give a typical reader the willies?

Think a mixture of 1. and 3. is the most likely scenario imo. Had the strong impression from the way the finale was written that King wanted to end this story with Ricky as the first human surviving the jaunt.

To come back to my other questions, what do you think the thoughts and mental dialogue of a person trapped in the jaunt is like and how would it change over the aeons until it is impossible to think?

 

[Tosk]

Well, it depends on your definition of "sci-fi". Do you consider Under the Dome sci-fi? (I do but your mileage can vary). He did a couple of novels set in the future, I believe that this made them automatically sci-fi.

The Running Man

The Long Walk

I'd say The Tommyknockers counts too. (Not for the setting, the content.)

Probably The Langoliers too, I reckon.

 

[Oddish]

To come back to my other questions, what do you think the thoughts and mental dialogue of a person trapped in the jaunt is like and how would it change over the aeons until it is impossible to think?

I don't know and I don't want to know.

 

[publiusr]

In the Matrix you are pretty much in a sphere of goo....but you live.

Creepier would be to see glass spheres like grapes...and the person “walking” but not moving in it. Now sitting at a table that isn’t there. Eating food that isn’t there. Turned this way..now that. We don’t see the vision he sees. Not in bed. Not hanging like something from COMA or Dead Stop.

We just see the struts and frets.

 

[Oddish]

In the Matrix you are pretty much in a sphere of goo....but you live.

Creepier would be to see glass spheres like grapes...and the person “walking” but not moving in it. Now sitting at a table that isn’t there. Eating food that isn’t there. Turned this way..now that.

That would be creepy as well.