“There is no conspiracy. Even though the media are mostly corporate-owned, their first allegiance is to their public because if they lose that allegiance, they lose money. Sometimes the press leads the public; sometimes the public leads the press. The media, at least the mainstream media, don’t want to get too far ahead. They just […]
This book came to my attention by way of David Brin, who claims it as mandatory reading for anyone interested in saving the world. I’m not sure if I’d go that far, but the assertion that positive sum games play a critical role in biological and cultural evolution is definitely significant, especially insofar as it […]
“Consciousness may reside in computers, networks of computers, even networks of computers and people. The philosophers who hold this view aren’t fuzzy-minded New Agers or reactionary Cartesians or mystical poets like Teilhard himself; they are people who accept a basic premise of modern behavioral science––that all causality happens in the physical world––and who also appreciate […]
“Oyonnax, in a strange girlish gesture, put a gloved hand to her lips, suppressing a laugh. ‘You still do not understand. Versailles is like this window.’ She swept her arm out, directing Eliza’s eye to a scene in stained glass. ‘Beautiful, but thin, and brittle.’ She opened the casement below to reveal the street beyond: […]
“‘There is no time to talk,’ Arlanc said. ‘But know that the men they have sent you are very dangerous: murderers, conspiracists, phanatiques, looters of bakeries, outragers of women, and locksmiths gone bad.’” ––The Confusion, by Neal Stephenson, pg. 212 “Natural selection creates by discarding, and it doesn’t discard gently. Tennyson, in a poem […]
“‘I believe I shall write a letter to England, monsieur.’ ‘England! But we are at war with England,’ the Marquis pointed out, mock-offended. ‘What I have in mind is a Natural-Philosophic sort of discourse,’ Eliza said, ‘and Philosophy recognizes no boundaries.’” ––The Confusion, by Neal Stephenson, pg. 111 “The idea is simply to tolerate […]
“Though she would never show it, Eliza felt a sudden upwelling of affection for Rossignol. In a world full of men who only wanted to take her to bed, it was somehow comforting to know that there was one who, given the opportunity, would prefer to read through a big pile of stolen correspondence.” ––The […]
It is always painful to write a negative review of a beloved author, but less so when the book in question is as desultory and tedious as this one. Neal Stephenson is probably my favorite living author, but making it through the first volume of his Baroque Cycle (which is really three books in one) […]
“There are phases in cultural evolution that are by their nature big leaps; a technology, or a constellation of them, proves so explosive that its lucky hosts suddenly seem light-years ahead of other cultures. Those laggard cultures, indeed, look so pathetic that it is tempting to ask whether there isn’t some qualitative difference at work, […]
“‘No, Robert.’ Hooke took advantage of Daniel’s plea to jam a leather strap in his mouth. ‘You may bite down on that if you wish, or you may spit it out and scream all you like––this is Bedlam, and no one will object. Neither will anyone take heed, or show mercy. Least of all Robert […]