Quotes from Ramez Naam

People don't demand a say in how they're governed because they want to be rich. They demand it when they already are rich and crave something more.

Like Einstein, Kade thought. The problems we currently face can't be solved at the level of thinking that created them.

When had terrorists ever accomplished anything but to enrage people, drive them towards greater security, greater sacrifice of freedom? They only gave their oppressors more excuses for oppression. And the oppressors just drove the oppressed further towards violent rebellion. Extremists on both sides gave power to the very forces they fought against.

We must all act within the choices we are given.

Breathe. Slow. Observe. Break the link between sensation and reaction. Breathe into the gap between them. Blind reaction is attachment. Blind reaction is slavery. Freedom exists in the gap. Choice exists in the gap.

Funny how the experience of one person could have such an impact on billions of others. Pryce wondered what that said about the way the world was run. Nothing good, she was sure of that. All politics is personal, Pryce thought. It turns out all policy is personal, too.

Luxuries and indulgences were distractions from true greatness, tawdry and ephemeral baubles that dissipated energy that could be directed toward more meaningful and durable accomplishments in the world around him.

But remember, anger cannot be fought with anger. Rage cannot be fought with rage. No amount of signal processing can cancel out suffering, or craving, or aversion. If you want to help a mind – or a world – find peace, do exactly that. Help it find peace.

Benjamin Franklin once wrote, "Those who would sacrifice essential liberty to purchase a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety.

Power is best when it's distributed most broadly.

When you suffer, Ananda had told him, When you rage. When you weep. When you crave. That is when you must still your mind.

Regardless, in this world, this world where everything was linked, where data ruled all, where cryptographic codes had replaced physical locks on the world's wealth, on its infrastructure, on its weapons… In this world a being able to process information more rapidly than humans was the ultimate threat.

CYGNUS EXPRESS – A PROJECT ODYSSEUS FUNDRAISER Vastness of space, planets orbiting distant suns, partygoers in gleaming imitations of vacuum suits, bleeping sound of contact through the static of cosmic background radiation, overlaid with driving trance rhythm. Frances shrugged. Damn, she felt good pressed against him. "In space," she said, "no one can hear you dance." Kade shrugged. "Next.

The meaning of a thing is the impact it has on the world around it, she thought. The meaning of a life is the impact that life has on the world.

Breathe. Slow. Observe. Break the link between sensation and reaction. Breathe into the gap between them. Blind reaction is attachment. Blind reaction is slavery. Freedom exists in the gap. Choice exists in the gap. I exist in the gap. Let go of attachment to my fear, he told himself. Let go of attachment to myself. Let go of attachment to my life. That's the secret to living.

Rules of responsible drug use, he thought. Know your substance before you start. Know your dose. Safe, comfortable setting. He shook his head. They'd struck out on all three of those.

The worst atrocities… Maybe half of them arose directly because the powerful had a monopoly or a near-monopoly on some key capability.

Breathe. Slow. Observe. Break the link between sensation and reaction. Breathe into the gap between them. Blind reaction is attachment. Blind reaction is slavery. Freedom exists in the gap. Choice exists in the gap. I exist in the gap.

The days passed. Sunday turned to Monday turned to Tuesday turned to Wednesday.

Lightning flashed off to the east. It struck somewhere out beyond the city, flickered for a moment, lit up the sky.

Kade's own room was small but nice, with a view of Bangkok's neon-lit downtown.

Are you wiser than humanity? Ilya's whispered in his mind, echoing Ananda. Not even you should have that power.

You will not be punished for your anger, Buddha had said. You will be punished by your anger.

They'd done their best with democracy, with capitalism, but those had reached their limit long ago. They'd been corrupted, twisted to the interests of a few individuals, when the greatest problems the world faced were problems of collective interest.