Quotes from Daniel H. Wilson

La gente debería saber que al comienzo el enemigo tenía la forma de objetos cotidianos: coches, edificios, teléfonos. Luego, cuando empezaron a diseñarse a sí mismos, los robots resultaban familiares pero al mismo tiempo deformes, como personas y animales de otro universo creados por otro dios.

Maps are just a lie we tell ourselves to feel safe.

What is a mind, but a pattern? My mind or yours. Man or machine. Simply an arrangement of atoms. Each of us, a unique expression of the mind of the universe.

routine monitoring of her brain implant's data stream showed that Kline's predominant state of mind was an alpha brain wave varying between 7 and 13 Hz—a state of nonarousal, relaxed alertness in the face of mortal danger. It was a small discrepancy that would go unnoticed until much later.

IT IS A WELL-ESTABLISHED Achilles' heel of human civilization that individuals are more motivated by immediate private reward than by long-term, collective future benefits. This effect is particularly evident when considering payoffs that will take longer than a generation to arrive—a phenomenon called intergenerational discounting

It has been subsequently theorized that our species' seeming inability to focus on long-term existential threats will inexorably lead to the destruction of our environment, overpopulation, and resource exhaustion. It is therefore not an uncommon belief among economists that this inborn deficit represents a sort of built-in timer for the self-destruction of human civilization.

Of course, the mathematician Émile Borel never said such a thing. Instead, he proposed a law of large numbers, demonstrating that given a universe of infinite size, every event with nonzero probability will eventually occur. Or put another way—with enough chances, anything that can happen will happen.

And pain is simply the price for living.

In attempting to construct such machines we should not be irreverently usurping His power of creating souls….Rather we are…instruments of His will, providing mansions for the souls that He creates. —ALAN TURING, 1950

Living for its own sake isn't life. People need meaning as much as they need air.

No matter how crazy it seems, the world always operates by the rules. Those rules can be understood, even if it doesn't seem like it at first.

I don't know it for sure. Nobody knows nothing for sure. If they say they do, they're either a preacher or selling something.

The underlying logic of a living thing is its own survival.

No matter how much kids beg to be treated like adults, nobody likes to let go of their childhood. You wish for it and dream of it and the second you have it, you wonder what you've done. You wonder what it is you've become.

I may be a simple man, but I am very good with an axe.

Wu is seen taking a breath as if to speak . . . but the former taikonaut lets it out without saying anything. Her silence in this moment was surely spurred by conflicting desires—her duty to her team on one hand, versus her duty to maintain the secrets of her homeland on the other. With every word tantamount to a chess move, her decision to take no action here would prove a costly blunder. And an unnecessary one.

A vision washes over my mind. Elena's innocent face, inches away from mine, her arms tight around my neck. Somewhere, a dragon is roaring, flecks of hot spittle twirling past in yellow clouds. The silhouette of a woman wavers in the haze—death incarnate.

You're trustworthy because you were never supposed to be here. You're a wild card, Stone, and possibly a very lucky accident.

All those postage-stamp front yards we used to have were reminders that we like clear spaces to see predators coming.

Odhiambo frowned. It seemed as if an opportunity for cooperation had just passed them by. Unfortunately, it was a chance that wouldn't come again.

It's all just chemicals.

This is why Stern picked you at the last minute. On a damned hunch.

The average span of a human generation is twenty-five years. Any reward occurring beyond this generational horizon creates an imbalance that undermines long-term cooperation. In short, we as a species are motivated to betray our own descendants. In my view, the only possible solution is the institution of harsh and immediate punishments for those who would be unfaithful to the future.

We're all dying, Jamie. Some of us faster than others.