The Subtraction Machine

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The Maternity Ward of Desire: Pepsodent and the Infinite Behavioral Loop
How a 1915 Chicago ad campaign made toothpaste a national obsession—and laid the blueprint for the addictive smartphone in your palm.
 • Charles Rodgers
The Imitation of Christ: Mal de Débarquement and the Cruise Ships of the Addition Machine
Chapter 10 — Flight 726, an ill-advised comment on tree bark, decade-long cruise ship seasickness, and Thomas à Kempis’s 15th-century diagnosis of…
 • Charles Rodgers
The Imitation of Christ: The Map Is Not the Territory
Chapter 9 — The Texas brush, smartwatch recovery scores, Big Book orthodoxy, and Thomas à Kempis’s 15th-century warning against institutional dogma.
 • Charles Rodgers
The Maternity Ward of Desire: Mechanizing Human Longing
How an 1898 paper sketch off Chestnut Street in Philadelphia became the invisible guiding hand behind human choice.
 • Charles Rodgers

September 2026

The Imitation of Christ: Renting Verbal Costumes
Chapter 8 — Fastidious time management, an architecture of profanity, corporate bulletproof vests, and Thomas à Kempis’s 15th-century defense of…
 • Charles Rodgers
The Maternity Ward of Desire: Prologue
A 130-Year Metaphysical Horror Story
 • Charles Rodgers
The Imitation of Christ: The Static After the News
Chapter 7 — Suburban Saturday nights in 1978, Pepperidge Farm fruit turnovers, the 10:00 p.m. sign-off, and Thomas à Kempis’s 15th-century defense of…
 • Charles Rodgers
The Imitation of Christ: The Architecture of Unordered Desires
Chapter 6 — Suburban micro-acquisition, spiritual hoarding, and Thomas à Kempis's 15th-century monastic warning.
 • Charles Rodgers
Breaking the 4th Wall in the Pet Food Aisle
Existential Performance Art in Aisle 14 of Walmart Store #3406
 • Charles Rodgers

August 2026

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