In other words, the Internet was doing two things for Bruce - it allowed him to separate from the exterior life he hated, but also allowed him to stay engaged with an interior life he wanted. It was, ultimately, the single most important aspect of who he was: It removed his present-tense unhappiness while facilitating the possibility for future joy. It made the dark part of his mind smaller, but it made the optimistic part limitless. It added what he needed to affix and subtracted what he hoped to destroy. And maybe this was bad for Bruce’s humanity, but I think it was probably good. I think it took a mostly sad man and made him mostly happy. The degree of authenticity doesn’t matter.