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Death and sex were the classic literary pairing after all, a favorite of poets down the ages. What could be more important than how you were going to die or who you were going to sleep with?
It was hard to keep the dozens of theories flitting through his mind at bay. He was in data-acquisition mode, and fitting a thesis to a limited data set could blind you to the most important clue. For now, he needed to keep his thinking open and his touch light. Only
“Looking up at the stars?” Emily’s tone was different now, husky with emotion. “It gives me perspective. But it’s also a reminder to always dream bigger. There’s always more to be done.”
“I wish that changing people’s minds was as simple as making a rational argument. Our species would have averted so many disasters if clear-headed analysis won the day. Generating the greatest net benefit to society is so far removed from the institutional realities of policy-making. Entrenched interests. Bureaucracy. Corruption. Personal grudges and favors. Politics is the gap between what is and what should be.”
Those who travel with the current will always feel they are good swimmers, while those who swim against the current may never realize they are better swimmers than they imagine.
It was through those cracks that new players clawed hand over bloody hand into the game. And once you were in, the only way to stay in was to throw yourself into the abyss of uncertainty with wild abandon over and over and over again. You had to risk everything every single day. Otherwise, someone willing to do so would topple you in no time at all. Winners didn’t stay winners by staying cooped up in a fortress. They stuck their necks out so far that everyone else thought it was a bluff.
He spent so much time being the person the situation required, honing every aside and microexpression, that he couldn’t help but wonder whether that came at a cost. Did his own life lack depth and texture because he invested so much in external effort? It was never too late for reflection.
