Looking at where the planet is now, we could screw things up massively or we could wise-up on a species level and actually make things better. If I had to put my money where my mouth is, I think we'll wise up globally but there will still be outbreaks of local stupidity.

Alastair Reynolds

Categorized in : Thinking Wise Stupidity

Nightside, cities glistened in chains, and a spray of tinkertoy habitats girdled the planet. Gossamer starbridges reached from the equator towards orbit.

Alastair Reynolds

habitat orbit cities

I think I've reduced the amount of blood in my caffeine system to an acceptable level.

Alastair Reynolds

levels blood thinking

To see something marvelous with your own eyes-that's wonderful enough. But when two of you see it, two of you together, holding hands, holding each other close, knowing that you'll both have that memory for the rest of your lives, but that each of you will only ever hold only have an incomplete half of it, and that it won't ever really exist as a whole until you're together, talking or thinking about that moment ...that's worth more than one plus one. It's worth four, or eight, or some number so large we can't even imagine it.

Alastair Reynolds

eye memories thinking

As the old saying went, the Manhattan Project wasn't built in a day. Or was that Rome? Something to do with Earth, anyway.

Alastair Reynolds

manhattan rome earth

Victory loses its meaning without the memory of what you've vanquished.

Alastair Reynolds

loses victory memories

The cards always look different when it's your turn to play them; loaded with subtly different possibilities.

Alastair Reynolds

different play cards

I never wanted to be "a writer"; I only ever aspired to be an science fiction writer. They'll tear that badge out of my cold dead hands.

Alastair Reynolds

science-fiction cold tears

Autocratic governments are masters of self-contradiction. They say one thing, do another.

Alastair Reynolds

contradiction government self

Without risk in our lives, we're scarcely better than machines ourselves.

Alastair Reynolds

our-lives machines risk

I really struggle to pinpoint whether I became a scientist because I like science fiction, or did I gravitate to science fiction because I identified strongly with scientists.

Alastair Reynolds

scientist struggle fiction

A city's only ever three hot meals away from anarchy.

Alastair Reynolds

meals cities hot

It’s the people who don’t worry—those who never have any doubts that what they’re doing is good and right—they’re the ones that cause the problems.

Alastair Reynolds

doubt worry people

It looked like a biology lesson for gods, or a snapshot of the kind of pornography which might be enjoyed by sentient planets.

Alastair Reynolds

snapshots lessons might

You worry that we're becoming monsters. Merlin, we already were monsters. You didn't make us any worse.

Alastair Reynolds

becoming monsters worry

Enjoy it, kid. Enjoy feeling that you can make a difference.' Floyd flashed him a smile. 'It won't last for ever.

Alastair Reynolds

differences feelings kids

The human capacity for grief. It just isn't capable of providing an adequate emotional response once the dead exceed a few dozen in number. And it doesn't just level off - it just gives up, resets itself to zero.

Alastair Reynolds

giving-up zero grief

At one time, the treatment for a certain kind of psychosis had been to push an ice pick up through the orbit of the eye, into the frontal lobe; the ice pick was then stirred around until it reduced the problematic brain tissue to non-functioning porridge.

Alastair Reynolds

psychosis ice eye

It's an ancient technique known as lying, Khouri.

Alastair Reynolds

ancient technique lying

How did you . . . pass the time?’ Sunday asked. ‘You couldn’t just ching out of it, could you?’ ‘We had a different form of chinging,’ Eunice said. ‘An earlier type of virtual-reality technology, much more robust and completely unaffected by time lag. You may have heard of it. We called it “reading”.

Alastair Reynolds

sunday technology reading

I'm not a morning person: I can't function until I've had a coffee - or several.

Alastair Reynolds

person function coffee morning