One of the nice things about science fiction is that it lets us carry out thought experiments. Rudy Rucker More Quotes by Rudy Rucker More Quotes From Rudy Rucker For me, the best thing about cyberpunk is that it taught me how to enjoy shopping malls, which used to terrify me. Now I just pretend that the whole thing is two miles below the moon’s surface, and that half the people’s right-brains have been eaten by roboticized steel rats. And suddenly it’s interesting again. Rudy Rucker shoppingmoontwo When I see an old movie, like from the ’40s or ’50s or ’60s, the people look so calm. They don’t have smartphones, they’re not looking at computer screens, they’re taking their time. They’ll sit in a chair and just stare off into space. I think some day we’ll find our way back to that garden of Eden. Rudy Rucker smartphonesgardenthinking It's a waste to chase the pipe dream of a magical tiny theory that allows us to make quick and detailed calculations about the future. We can't predict and we can't control. To accept this can be a source of liberation and inner peace. We're part of the unfolding world, surfing the chaotic waves. Rudy Rucker inner-peacesurfingdream A little-known truth: Every aspect of the world is fundamentally unpredictable. Computer scientists have long since proved this. Rudy Rucker littleslongworld A computation is a process that obeys finitely describable rules. Rudy Rucker computationprocess Lately I’ve been working to convince myself that everything is a computation. Rudy Rucker computationconvince Unfortunately our nation, nay, our world, is run by evil morons. Rudy Rucker our-worldevilrunning We're part of the unfolding world, surfing the chaotic waves Rudy Rucker wavesurfingworld Computations are everywhere, once you begin to look at things in a certain way. Rudy Rucker rudelooksway Intellectually, perspective [drawing] is a breakthrough, because here, for the first time, the physical space we live in is being depicted as ifit were an abstract, mathematical space. A less obvious innovation due to perspective is that here, for the first time, people are actually drawing pictures of infinities. Rudy Rucker drawingteachingmath Think of a field of daisies: they bloom, they wither, and in the spring they grow again. Who wants to see the same stupid daisy year after year, especially with a bunch of crappy iron-lung-type equipment bolted to it? Rudy Rucker stupidspringthinking The world is magic. Science is but an insipid style of sorcery. Rudy Rucker sorcerymagicstyle I am, as it were, an eye that the cosmos uses to look at itself. The Mind is not mine alone; the Mind is everywhere. Rudy Rucker cosmoseyemind Electronic distribution is more of a fall-back strategy for putting out a book that isn't deemed profitable enough to print. You hardly make any money publishing an electronic book. Rudy Rucker rudebookfall I think dry nanotechnology is probably a dead-end. Rudy Rucker dead-endsdrythinking I like to do things that are surprising and different. Rudy Rucker surprisingdifferent I like a book better if I can't predict what's going to happen. Rudy Rucker ifshappensbook At present, however, I don't think the Net is a very good medium for books, books should really be inexpensive lightweight paperbacks you can bang around. Rudy Rucker bangsbookthinking All living things are gnarly, in that they inevitably do things that are much more complex than one might have expected. Rudy Rucker gnarlyexpectedmight But how does it feel to plug into a system that's say, a million times as smart as a person. Rudy Rucker smartrudedoe
