One of the nice features of the Kindle is being able to quote/mark random things and read back sections later. Here are some random quotes from random books that have some bearing on actual reality (such as working on tech stuff), or that I just found interesting. Not even the latest things I’ve read — mostly from this summer. I haven’t marked up some things as much as others, but I at least found the following philosophically interesting or just thought provoking in places. I plan to post a bit more of this kind of thing later.
Neal Stephenson’s Anathem
Diax said something that is still very important to us, which is that you should not believe a thing only because you like to believe it.
The mind knows that there is an action principle that governs how the world evolves from one moment to the next — that restricts our world’s path to the points that tell an internally consistent story. So it focuses its worrying on outcomes that are more plausible.
“Our opponent is an alien starship packed with atomic bombs,” I said. “We have a protractor.”
That’s funny because if anyone actually did prove the existance of God, we’d just tell him ‘nice proof … and start believing in God
I still think it seems fanciful to think we are all the time erecting and tearing down counter-factual universes in our minds.
the Convox was political, and made decisions by compromise. And it happened all the time that the compromise between two perfectly rational alternatives was something that made no sense at all.
That was how we’d frequently got into trouble … by doing too much of the right thing.
Frank Herbert’s God Emperor of Dune
All rebellions are an ordinary and ultimate bore… all rebels are closet aristocrats. That’s how I convert them so easily.
Radicals are only to be feared when you try to suppress them. You must demonstrate that you will use the best of what they offer.
Radicals always see matters in terms which are too simple — black and white, good and evil, them and us. By addressing complex matters in that way, they rip open a passage for chaos. The art of government as you call it, is the mastery of chaos.
I assure you … that government is a shared myth. When the myth dies, the government dies.
In it’s guts, the Army knows it is the Sorcerer’s Apprentice. It unleashes technology and never again can the magic be stuffed back in the bottle.
Technology builds anarchy … it distributes the tools at random.
Laws tend to be temporary over the long haul …. There is no such thing as rule-governed creativity.
In the view of Infinity … any defined long-term is short-term
Odd as it may seem, great struggles such as the one you can see emerging … are not always visible to the participants. Much depends on what people dream int he secrecy of their hearts. I have always been more concerned with the shaping of dreams as with the shaping of actions.
My peace is actually enforced tranquility … Humans have a long history of reacting against tranquility.
Beware of Truth … although much sought after, truth can be dangerous to the seeker. Myths and reassuring lies are much easier to find and believe. If you find a truth, even a temporary one, it can demand that you make painful changes.
I point out to you .. a lesson from past over-machined societies which you appear to not have learned. The devices themselves condition the users to employ each other the way they employ machines.
You always know the creative because it is revealed openly. Concealment betrays the existence of another force entirely.
Given enough time for the generations to evolve, the predator produces particular survival adaptations in its prey which, thorugh the ciruclar operation of feeback, produce changes to the predator which again change the prey — etcetera, etcetera … Many powerful forces do the same thing. You can count religions among such forces.
“He is both the storm and the ship”
“You should never be in the company of anyone with whom you would not want to die”
Most believe that a satisfactory future requires a return to an idealized past, a past which never in fact existed.
Ender in Exile, Orson Scott Card
“The way I see machinery,” said Abra, “I have to find words to explain it to people, but when I see it, I just know. I don’t think the machinery is talking to me, though. No feelings”. “It may not be talking,” said Ender, “but that doesn’t mean you can’t hear.”
“Some people are born to lead,” said Ender, “They just think that way, whether they want to lead or not. While others are born craving authority, but they have no ability to lead. It is very sad.“
“If you spend your whole life pretending to be good, then you are indistinguishable from a good person. Relentless hyprocrisy eventually becomes the truth. Peter has made himself into a good man, even if he set out on that road for reasons that were far from pure.”
