Deals with the devil aren't what they used to be
A New Yorker review of a book on the history of Faustian bargains prompts debate over how “deals with the devil” have evolved from religious and literary motifs into modern contracts with technology companies, where users trade privacy and autonomy for convenience. Commenters argue over writing style and reading difficulty, using the piece to launch into broader concerns about declining literacy, humanities education, and the “deskilling” of educated workers. Many also share favorite devil-pact stories from global folklore and pop culture, exploring recurring themes of temptation, power, and the limits of human judgment in the face of seemingly magical technology.
Reading level, style, and media literacy
- Several readers found the prose dense, meandering, or “pompous,” while others argued it’s standard college-level reading and that discomfort signals weak humanities training.
- Debate over whether such literary nonfiction is worthwhile or self-important filler.
- One commenter explained how to use publication and section (New Yorker “Books”) to infer genre and expectations, encouraging broader reading.
- A subthread joked that a meta-explanatory comment “sounds like GPT,” prompting discussion of how LLM prose differs from human writing.
Assessment of the article as a book review
- Many felt the piece lacks a clear thesis: it starts with disenchantment vs. magic, detours into a long literary history of Faust, and tacks on a modern tech/EULA angle at the end.
- Some see this as typical New Yorker book-review structure: broad hook → dense middle → rushed contemporary tie-in.
- Others thought the final sentence is strong but not well prepared by what precedes it.
Literacy, education, and “deskilling”
- Commenters cited statistics claiming over half of U.S. adults read below a sixth-grade level and linked this to decades of underfunded public education.
- Concerns that even elite students struggle with 19th‑century prose; fears of a bifurcated future with a small literate elite and a large underclass.
- Some defend older literature as only slightly different dialect; others argue archaic style is not inherently superior to modern language.
Faustian bargains, folklore, and favorite stories
- Large subthread trading devil-deal tales: Faust variants, folklore (crossroads, devil’s bridges, Pan Twardowski, Stingy Jack), novels, songs, films, and TV episodes.
- Recurrent motifs: strict contracts, temptation of power/knowledge, hubris, pride, and attempts to outwit the devil (sometimes successful, sometimes not).
- Several summarize the core lesson as “be careful what you wish for,” with elaborations about greed, overconfidence, and inability to handle what you get.
Technology, magic, and modern bargains
- Multiple comments link Faustian themes to AI, smartphones, EULAs, surveillance capitalism, fossil fuels, and climate change: short‑term convenience or growth vs. long‑term harm.
- Discussion of “disenchantment” vs. a new “remagicalization” as tech becomes too complex for lay understanding, making experts feel like wizards.
Religion, magic, and power
- Extended side debates on: Adam and Eve’s “knowledge of good and evil,” ancient myths about forbidden knowledge, Job’s wager, and whether magic is literal or psychological.
- Some argue Christianity historically “disenchanted” the world and that modern superstition simply wears new labels (economics, tech, etc.).
- Others emphasize deals-with-the-devil as allegories about our own choices rather than literal demons.