Axiomatic

by Greg Egan

Them and us. That’s the kind of twentieth-century bullshit that wrecked the planet. You think you can build a fence around this country and just forget about everything outside? Draw some artificial line on a map, and say, people inside matter, people outside don’t?”

Does it bother you that there are places outside your skin – and you’re not in them? That you come to a sudden end at the top of your skull – and then there’s nothing but air? Of course not. So why should it bother you that there’ll be times when you won’t be around – any more than you care that there are places you don’t occupy? You think your life is going to be undone – canceled out, somehow – just because it has an end? Does the space above your head cancel out your body? Everything has boundaries. Nothing stretches on forever – in any direction.”

You are the saddest, most screwed-up man I’ve set eyes on all week. So, you’ve chosen a particular moral code to live by; that’s your right, and good luck to you. But you have no real faith in what you’re doing; you’re so uncertain of your choice that you need God to pour down fire and brimstone on everyone who’s chosen differently, just to prove to you that you’re right. God fails to oblige, so you hunt through the natural disasters – earthquakes, floods, famines, epidemics – winnowing out examples of the ‘punishment of sinners.’ You think you’re proving that God’s on your side? All you’re proving is your own insecurity.”