{"id":2114,"date":"2024-10-10T07:28:57","date_gmt":"2024-10-10T07:28:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/quantum.closelycoded.site\/?page_id=2114"},"modified":"2024-12-18T01:34:12","modified_gmt":"2024-12-18T01:34:12","slug":"backstory-degenerate-sanity","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/events.cqt.sg\/shorts\/backstory-degenerate-sanity\/","title":{"rendered":"Backstory: Degenerate Sanity"},"content":{"rendered":"\t\t<div data-elementor-type=\"wp-page\" data-elementor-id=\"2114\" class=\"elementor elementor-2114\" data-elementor-post-type=\"page\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-5922dc1c e-flex e-con-boxed e-con e-parent\" data-id=\"5922dc1c\" data-element_type=\"container\" data-e-type=\"container\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"e-con-inner\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-6683d3c4 elementor-absolute elementor-hidden-tablet elementor-hidden-mobile elementor-widget elementor-widget-image\" data-id=\"6683d3c4\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-e-type=\"widget\" data-settings=\"{&quot;_position&quot;:&quot;absolute&quot;}\" data-widget_type=\"image.default\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-container\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<img decoding=\"async\" width=\"92\" height=\"143\" src=\"https:\/\/events.cqt.sg\/shorts\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2024\/09\/pattern_top.png\" class=\"attachment-full size-full wp-image-591\" alt=\"\" \/>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-66666dcf elementor-absolute elementor-hidden-tablet elementor-hidden-mobile elementor-widget elementor-widget-image\" data-id=\"66666dcf\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-e-type=\"widget\" data-settings=\"{&quot;_position&quot;:&quot;absolute&quot;}\" data-widget_type=\"image.default\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-container\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<img decoding=\"async\" width=\"160\" height=\"177\" src=\"https:\/\/events.cqt.sg\/shorts\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2024\/09\/pattern_bottom.png\" class=\"attachment-large size-large wp-image-592\" alt=\"\" \/>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-d31c074 e-con-full e-flex e-con e-child\" data-id=\"d31c074\" data-element_type=\"container\" data-e-type=\"container\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-35255a5 elementor-widget elementor-widget-heading\" data-id=\"35255a5\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-e-type=\"widget\" data-widget_type=\"heading.default\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-container\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<h2 class=\"elementor-heading-title elementor-size-default\">Backstory: Degenerate Sanity<\/h2>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-698dafe elementor-widget elementor-widget-text-editor\" data-id=\"698dafe\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-e-type=\"widget\" data-widget_type=\"text-editor.default\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-container\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<p align=\"center\">A Q&amp;A with\u00a0<strong>Mahnoor Fatima<\/strong>, Quantum Shorts finalist<\/p><p align=\"center\">Read the story:\u00a0<a href=\"\/entry\/degenerate-sanity\">Degenerate Sanity<\/a><\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-2bc8bc4 elementor-widget elementor-widget-text-editor\" data-id=\"2bc8bc4\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-e-type=\"widget\" data-widget_type=\"text-editor.default\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-container\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<p><strong>Can you give a short introduction of yourself?<\/strong><\/p><p>I am an electrical engineering graduate and an EdTech engineer. I am deeply interested in science communication and science outreach and aim to make science accessible to the common masses. I see myself as the jack of all trades (and the master of none) and usually find myself juggling through my apparently conflicting interests. After all, I modelled Emily in\u00a0<em>Degenerate Sanity<\/em>\u00a0after myself!<\/p><p>\u00a0<\/p><p><strong>How did you come up with the idea for your story?<\/strong><\/p><p>This story is an allegory of my high-functioning depression, where I found too many thoughts racing in my head and too little energy to work on them. This proliferated \u201cbranching out\u201d of thoughts and the desire to make others understand my mental state is what led to the creation of this story.<\/p><p>\u00a0<\/p><p><strong>What was your quantum inspiration?<\/strong><\/p><p>The Quantum Shorts anthology itself: the range of creative takes on quantum mechanics inspired me to spin a quantum tale of my own. (I\u2019m truly standing on the shoulders of giants!)<\/p><p>Also, the concept of neuronal degeneracy was inspired by Michael Crichton\u2019s\u00a0<em>Timeline,\u00a0<\/em>in which the \u201cencryption error\u201d in quantum teleportation caused physical and mental deformities in the teleported entities.<\/p><p>\u00a0<\/p><p><strong>What was your writing process like?<\/strong><\/p><p>More laborious than my usual pieces. As I planned to keep the first-person perspective, I struggled with having enough details in the story to not leave the reader hanging. However, choosing any perspective meant dropping some aspect of this story (as it happens with all first-person accounts). I have a few drafts from the doctor\u2019s perspective and one from the wife\u2019s. Moreover, I originally conceived the idea as a young boy undertaking the neuronal decoherence odyssey for his mother, but I realised that dealing with the grandfather\u2019s paradox would have made this flash fiction too dense.<\/p><p>I had to study quite a bit about quantum consciousness, and\u00a0<em>Mind, Matter, and Quantum Mechanics<\/em>\u00a0by Henry Stapp served as the crash course. Moreover, I consulted my doctor friends and doctor-to-be sister on the feelings of the relatives of terminally ill patients, and tried to extrapolate this knowledge for the protagonist. Overall, the writing process took eight drafts and around two years of revisions.<\/p><p>\u00a0<\/p><p><strong>What is your favourite science-inspired book?<\/strong><\/p><p><em>A Scanner Darkly<\/em>\u00a0by Philip K Dick. I wasn\u2019t particularly inclined to my prior exposure to sci-fi, which was focused on futuristic tech and flying. It was the book (and its excellent movie adaptation)\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/ddec1-0-en-ctp.trendmicro.com\/wis\/clicktime\/v1\/query?url=https%3a%2f%2fwww.goodreads.com%2fquotes%2f371583%2dwhat%2ddoes%2da%2dscanner%2dsee%2dhe%2dasked%2dhimself%2di%2dmean&amp;umid=3053a620-6c36-4f44-bd76-86a8d6de14d6&amp;auth=8d3ccd473d52f326e51c0f75cb32c9541898e5d5-fc796926f61185b6e8bd8747540d0482758d4873\">questioning the place of humanity in a technological world<\/a>\u00a0that singlehandedly converted me to science fiction and expanded my understanding of this genre.<\/p><p>\u00a0<\/p><p><strong>What does being a Quantum Shorts finalist mean to you?<\/strong><\/p><p>So much! This is my second submission to\u00a0<em>Quantum Shorts<\/em>\u00a0and my second publication, so I\u2019m absolutely delighted to have made it to the shortlist. I\u2019m truly humbled and utterly grateful to the jury for shortlisting my story. I hope that making the shortlist helps me connect with other writers and further my writing career.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Backstory: Degenerate Sanity A Q&amp;A with\u00a0Mahnoor Fatima, Quantum Shorts finalist Read the story:\u00a0Degenerate Sanity Can you give a short introduction of yourself? I am an electrical engineering graduate and an EdTech engineer. I am deeply interested in science communication and science outreach and aim to make science accessible to the common masses. I see myself [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":49,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-2114","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v28.6 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Backstory: Degenerate Sanity - Quantum Shorts<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/events.cqt.sg\/shorts\/backstory-degenerate-sanity\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Backstory: Degenerate Sanity - Quantum Shorts\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Backstory: Degenerate Sanity A Q&amp;A with\u00a0Mahnoor Fatima, Quantum Shorts finalist Read the story:\u00a0Degenerate Sanity Can you give a short introduction of yourself? 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