Ball Lightning

by Liu Cixin

“An electron the size of a soccer ball,” he added. “An electron the … What makes it like that?” someone stammered. “What do you think an electron ought to be like? An opaque, dense little ball? Yes, that’s the picture of an electron, proton, or neutron in most people’s minds.

There is nothing (turtles) all the way down. At the "bottom" there is only a dream, a concept, a causation, a thought

“From a physics perspective, the form of matter movement known as life has no more meaning than any other movement of matter. You can’t find any new physical laws in life, so from my standpoint, the death of a person and the melting of an ice cube are essentially the same thing.

He could be wrong. He accepts quantum mechanics, so he should be open to there being things to discover in the complex interaction that is life and consciousness - even if it follows the same material laws. It could be a theater/scene on which to discover material laws even if "life" is just material

No physicist really cares about anything. Last century, when they turned over the formulas and techniques for atomic energy release to engineers and soldiers, then struck a pose of injured innocence at the price paid by Hiroshima and Nagasaki? Such hypocrites. They wanted to see the results, believe me. They wanted a demonstration of the power they had discovered.

"struck a pose of injured innocence" - probably true for quite a few

“I watched the flashing rifle pulse steadily in the soft, pale hands of my twelve-year-old girl, the blowback from the chamber tossing your bangs on your forehead, the reflection of the muzzle fire in your child’s eyes, and the look of rapturous excitement on your face

Sounds like made for manga!