u/ahighthyme

Yes. From 1953 to 1964, the CIA's infamous MK-Ultra program and the US Army tested LSD on soldiers, often causing subjects severe psychological distress. Similarly in Infinite Jest, a US Army early DMZ test-subject remains thought to have permanently lost his mind, even though he'd been found in his cell afterwards singing show tunes in a scary deadly-accurate Ethel-Merman-impression voice. Today, Carlisle claimed that this Army convict's condition is not the same as Hal's because Hal did not lose his mind, but that's not accurate. There aren't any mixed signals, and it isn't ambiguous. After being dosed just before 0500h. 20 November Y.D.A.U., Hal's increasingly bizarre behavior finally led to him being sent to the ER on a psychiatric stretcher, obviously because he appeared to have lost his mind. As he acknowledges to himself a year later in November Year of Glad, he's never recovered and can no longer communicate, so still appears to have lost his mind. That's clearly why C.T. and deLint are unwilling to let him speak for himself, and why he will once again get sent to the ER on a psychiatric stretcher. DMZ alters the ingester's perception of time, which might explain his erratic movements looking like a time-lapse, but obviously not the administrators' perception since they've not ingested DMZ themselves. The only reason readers know that Hal actually hasn't lost his mind is because they get his internal thoughts from the novel's narrator, who can hear them. Everybody else, including C.T., deLint, and the University's administrators, cannot hear them, so think that Hal has lost his mind. The Leavenworth convict who appeared to have lost his mind could nevertheless sing show tunes perfectly, just like Hal, who also appears to have lost his mind, can nevertheless play show tennis perfectly. There's no business like show business.

Yes. From 1953 to 1964, the CIA's infamous MK-Ultra program and the US Army tested LSD on soldiers, often causing subjects severe psychological distress. Similarly in Infinite Jest, a US Army early DMZ test-subject remains thought to have permanently lost his mind, even though he'd been found in his cell afterwards singing show tunes in a scary deadly-accurate Ethel-Merman-impression voice. Today, Carlisle claimed that this Army convict's condition is not the same as Hal's because Hal did not lose his mind, but that's not accurate. There aren't any mixed signals, and it isn't ambiguous. After being dosed just before 0500h. 20 November Y.D.A.U., Hal's increasingly bizarre behavior finally led to him being sent to the ER on a psychiatric stretcher, obviously because he appeared to have lost his mind. As he acknowledges to himself a year later in November Year of Glad, he's never recovered and can no longer communicate, so still appears to have lost his mind. That's clearly why C.T. and deLint are unwilling to let him speak for himself, and why he will once again get sent to the ER on a psychiatric stretcher. DMZ alters the ingester's perception of time, which might explain his erratic movements looking like a time-lapse, but obviously not the administrators' perception since they've not ingested DMZ themselves. The only reason readers know that Hal actually hasn't lost his mind is because they get his internal thoughts from the novel's narrator, who can hear them. Everybody else, including C.T., deLint, and the University's administrators, cannot hear them, so think that Hal has lost his mind. The Leavenworth convict who appeared to have lost his mind could nevertheless sing show tunes perfectly, just like Hal, who also appears to have lost his mind, can nevertheless play show tennis perfectly. There's no business like show business.