Excellent interview. Thanks for sharing. I had been aware of this Professor who is cited by Yeadon, Malone. McCullough et al but so far he hadn’t come to prominence.

This is a very interesting theory, but I have a few problems with it. I don't believe that his preconditions for "meaningless lives" and "lack of social bonds/isolation" have been met to set off a societal mass formation in the US. Lack of social bonds and a sense of meaningful lives differ across communities, generations and subcultures. (We don't want to use Gen Z as representative of the country.) One would have expected to see the "mass psychosis" subside as the lock downs were lifted and "normal" relationships resumed during the summer of 2020. Instead, the psychosis appeared to solidify. Second, the theory doesn't appear to fit "mass psychosis" events taking place in smaller, more cohesive groups---the Witchcraft Craze in Salem and Nazi Germany during WWII. My final complaint is that the theory is not specific enough to use to de-engineer the mass formation---but it sounds good and uses a nice descriptive concept to say much of society is crazy right now.