Marathe and Steeply: the Master copies and temptation
Theory’s that with a really sophisticated piece of holography you’d get the neural density of an actual stage play without losing the selective realism of the viewer-screen. That the density plus the realism might be too much to take.
Context
The mechanism guessed at from the audience's side: too much reality to survive. B.S.S.'s working theory locates the lethality in density — holography giving "the neural density of an actual stage play" while keeping "the selective realism of the viewer-screen," the immediacy of live presence fused to the flattering framing of a screen. The lethal surplus is "the density plus the realism might be too much to take." It's the theme's account of why spectation, engineered far enough, kills: not too little reality but too much, an image so neurally dense it overwhelms the viewer's capacity to hold anything else. Where ordinary entertainment offers a manageable, escapable version of experience, the Entertainment offers experience past the threshold of what a nervous system can bear and still keep functioning.