Quotes from Douglas E. Richards

Do you know why you aren't charged to use social media platforms? Because you aren't the customer. You're the product." "Meaning what?" said Ashley. "Meaning these companies are selling you. Data on every aspect of your lives.

mind is pretty miraculous. Who knows, perhaps

The scenario you just experienced was borrowed from a very old science fiction story," replied Dr. Brennan. "The Cold Equations by Tom Godwin. Relatively short, but considered a classic. Different

the goal was a mental flash, achieved somewhere below consciousness. In these ideal instants one did not strain toward an answer as much as relax toward it." —Richard Feynman (Nobel Laureate, Physics)

Hitler believed that the bigger the lie, the more audacious, the more likely it was to be believed. Because who'd imagine someone would have the nerve to spread such a colossal lie? And the more such a lie was repeated, the more likely it would be accepted as truth.

whatever you choose to believe about the US, believe this: China has become a totalitarian state, and its citizens don't have a fraction of the freedoms that we have here. And don't be fooled by the propaganda. The US isn't perfect, by any means, but it's still a bastion of liberty that continues to be a positive force in the world.

humans were happiest, not during lengthy periods of leisure, but when they were growing as people. When they were achieving. When they were striving to overcome difficult and worthwhile challenges, and then overcoming them. When they were feeding a sense of accomplishment and self-esteem through effort. Even the accomplishments of menial labor brought a sense of personal satisfaction far greater than most realized.

Being inside Marc Fisher's head was agony. The man had the outside appearance of a human being, but he was not. It was like taking a bite of a perfect, shiny apple to find nothing but squirming maggots inside. Hall

Reed and Hoyer both had the steak the major had raved about, while Allie had a Caesar salad.

Go on Facebook or Instagram or Twitter, and what do you see? Heated, vitriolic arguments. Fake news. Photos taken at parties you weren't invited to. The perfect, curated lives of others that make your own life seem lacking by comparison

For any unfamiliar with the concept of nuclear winter, basically this is when so much smoke and soot are released into the atmosphere as a result of multiple nuclear blasts, that the sun is blotted out for extended periods of time, leading to catastrophic cooling.

Total species elimination

In science consensus is irrelevant. What is relevant is reproducible results. The greatest scientists in history are great precisely because they broke with the consensus.

The scholarly term is Intermittent Variable Rewards. Which simply means that unpredictability has great power to addict. Because we have an innate evolutionary compulsion to know.

If we happen to pass within fifty yards of any of our other drones, so that they become operable again, let me know.

So a key ingredient to achieving happiness is to become engaged in activities that consume our concentration, that don't give our imaginations room to find new things to worry about. If we're totally focused on something we enjoy, living in the moment, like every other animal in the animal kingdom, we're alive, electric—and happy. Especially if we're challenging ourselves, overcoming obstacles, improving, achieving.

Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic." —Arthur C. Clarke

Discover Magazine (2018) "Down the Quantum Rabbit Hole: Fellow Scientists labeled him a crackpot. Now Stuart Hameroff's quantum consciousness theories are getting support from unlikely places.

We hang the petty thieves. The master thieves we appoint to public office.