As much as I liked the anime, I tend to put it into the "pseudo-profound bullshit" category. They drop in loads of philosophical concepts, fringe science, wild

As much as I liked the anime, I tend to put it into the "pseudo-profound bullshit" category. They drop in loads of philosophical concepts, fringe science, wild extrapolation, and a bit of conspiracies and paranormal. There is no way you can't make parallels with the real world. If may sound harsh but it is not a bad thing. It creates an atmosphere, and it is thought provoking, as evidenced by the article. It is a work of fiction, and fiction is like magic, it is all fake, but we enjoy being tricked into it. And that is a perfectly good trick when well executed. Maybe Lain overdid it a bit, but I enjoyed the show, and for me, it is the important part.