Robert Charles Wilson - Thought Quotes

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You learning anything from this? Tyrell asked.
Turk stood up and brushed his hands. Yeah. I'm learning that I know even less than I thought I did.

Robert Charles Wilson
Sandra had spent her days rendering pass/fail verdicts over troubled minds, applying tests most functional adults easily passed. Is the subject oriented to time and place? Does the subject understand the consequences of his actions? But if she could give the same test to humanity as a whole, Sandra thought, the outcome would be very much in doubt. Subject is confused and often self-destructive. Subject pursues short-term gratification at the expense of his own well-being.

Robert Charles Wilson
Consciousness, according to current scientific thought, was something the higher mammals had evolved in order to help them reproduce, much the way a garden slug secretes slime. It had no special ontological status. The self was a genetically modulated and biologically useful illusion.

Robert Charles Wilson
I would confront the thieves, I thought, and the self-evident justice of my case would cause them to crumble before me. I don't know why I expected such extravagant results from the application of mere justice. That kind of calculation is seldom borne out by worldly events.

Robert Charles Wilson
When was it obvious she was ill?
Weeks ago. Or maybe—looking back on it—well—months.
Has she had any kind of medical attention? Pause. Simon?
No.
Why not?
It didn't seem necessary.
It didn't seem necessary?
Pastor Dan wouldn't allow it.
I thought: And did you tell Pastor Dan to go fuck himself?

Robert Charles Wilson
It was sad but completely understandable. Ten billion human beings without any cortical or limbic augmentation had simply acted to maximize their individual well-being. They hadn't given much thought to long-term consequences, but how could they? They had no reliable mechanism by which they could think or act collectively. Blaming those people for the death of the ecosphere made as much sense as blaming water molecules for a tsunami.

Robert Charles Wilson