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The meme-ification of the “Demon Core”

The strange transformation of a criticality accident into dark Internet humor

One could no doubt analyze many different dimensions of juxtaposition at work here, including the gender roles: Slotin was not just male, but the entire accident was caused by the sort of risk-taking bravado (which had he been explicitly warned about) that anyone who has spent time as or around young men recognizes immediately. So having a cute Japanese schoolgirl performing this very male-coded experiment is quite a switch in tone — and one that probably also is dually resonant with the “geeky boy” demographic that I suspect is largely the primary “receiver” and “transmitter” of the meme. The bomb is no stranger to such treatment, of course — consider Dr. Strangelove, or Tom Lehrer — although my sense is that the “Demon Core” memes are not, in any serious way, making conscious “interventions” in how people think about the risks of the nuclear world.

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