We are now edging across the boundary - always a porous one - between self-justification and fantasy. Matthews' story is by no means a complete fantasy: we can recognise every event. But the frame of reference is somehow shrinking, and momentous world events being rewritten around the actions of a minor player.
Mike Jay, A Visionary Madness: The Case of James Tilly Matthews and the Influencing Machine
biography, history, psychology