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And that good government is an indispensable component of a good society, in particular keeping the temptations of clever-clever finance at bay.

Every hungover morning, as I slunk along trying to give out flyers, the bored coughing of the dozen punters who’d watched me bleat clever-clever attempts at wordplay on the previous afternoon still ringing in my ears, the buskers would be there.

The book feels like an extended episode of “Black Mirror,” and certainly has that show’s taste for dark humor and high-concept philosophizing around our tech addiction, though what raises it above another clever-clever slab of science fiction is that its characters are complex and contradictory and real.

Expect the coming months to bring theatre, brinkmanship, clever-clever flourishes and ultimately, in all likelihood, an In vote.

While Illies's book was critical of his generation, many also felt it spoke their language all too well: the postmodern game of brand semiotics, the clever-clever blurring of high culture and low entertainment, the acceptance that this was a book written for the market rather than the critics.