Brave New World

"Words can be like X-rays, if you use them properly---they'll go through anything. You read and you're pierced." [Chapter 4]

"I'm glad I'm not an Epsilon," said Lenina, with conviction.
"And if you were an Epsilon," said Henry, "your conditioning would have made you no less thankful that you weren't a Beta or an Alpha."  [Chapter 5]

"But if you know about God, why don't you tell them?" asked the Savage indignantly. "Why don't you give them these books about God?"
"For the same reason as we don't give them Othello: they're old; they're about God hundreds of years ago. Not about God now."
"But God doesn't change."
"Men do, though."
"What difference does that make?"
"All the difference in the world."  [Chapter 17]

"I say, you do look ill, John!"
"Did you eat something that didn't agree with you?" asked Bernard.
The Savage nodded. "I ate civilization." [Chapter 18]

From Aldous Huxley's classic work Brave New World. Quotes are from Chapter 4, 5, 17, 18, respectively. I learned that this book is an assigned reading for high schools here.

 

The Great Escape

It is possible to be unhappy or worried, or to feel stress, even at times when you think your life is generally going well. Indeed, sadness, pain, and stress might be inevitable during some of the experiences one must go through in order to build a good life. Army boot camp, graduate studies in economics, medical school, or dealing with the death of a parent are examples of unpleasant experiences that are nevertheless an essential part of life. 

The above is from Angus Deaton's The Great Escape, page 52. I agree with Nils' review of the book here.

Addendum: Shout out to my girlfriend who allowed me to steal her copy of this book. (In my defense, it's not really likely that she'll ever get around to finish it anyway.)

It's a circle!

"Without sustainability, we will not maintain prosperity; and without prosperity, sustainability will remain a vain hope. Without justice, there can be no enduring equity or fairness; and without equity, justice becomes a mere formal myth. Without freedom, community withers under the totalitarian; and without community, freedom becomes fraught and lonely desperation."

Totally awesome quote by Roy Morrison, USBIG Discussion Paper No. 017, February 2002.

Natural Selection

"You would think that there will be sadness when you start to pull away from Earth. An ache for the mountains, what's left of the beaches. For the sweet smell of the fresh air.

My guess, there is a little bit of that. But, when you are an astronaut, you start asking your self question like: How the hell did I get here? Is it hard work? Fate? Was it a hand of God?

You ask yourself: Why am I one of the lucky suckers leaving? And not one of the poor bastards being left behind?

I think that the obvious question is simply: what the hell happened?

And the obvious answer is that we do not really know."

For your information, today's blog post is brought to you by Defying Gravity.

"Sometimes, I think that the only natural selection happens in the petri dish.

But, if it's in the petri dish, that's not really natural, isn't it?"

The Pirate Solution

I always love The Big Bang Theory, but now more than ever, the newest episode just really got to me. Boy, it's hilarious!

Raj: By the way, when I say squat,I mean diddly-squat. I wish I had squat.
Sheldon: So, wait, what have you been doing for the past six months?
Raj: You know, checking e-mail, Updating my facebook status, Messing up wikipedia entries.
Raj: Hey, did you know netflix lets you stream movies on your computer now?
Sheldon: And you've continued to take the university's money under false pretenses?
Sheldon: Highly unethical for an astrophysicist. Although pctically mandatory for a pirate.

And call it enough!

You want blood?
Come here and take it!
It's fresh!
Still warm from the life that just left it.
The blood of my brother.
So take it!
Take his blood,
and call it enough.
If you need more, take mine.
Do it!

I surrender. Shoot me.
And call that enough.
Or can one of you come down here...
and show me your face?
Show me that you're more than tank, metal, and shell.
That you're human like we are.
That you breathe, that you bleed.
That you feel and feel pity.
That you live for more than our deaths.

Come.
Any of you who have lost a brother.
Come and tell me it's enough.
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Quote from serial Kings S01E01.