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“First: Survival is the primary need of civilization. Second: Civilization continuously grows and expands, but the total matter in the universe remains constant.”
Successful cooperation does not equate to successful understanding.
first, he thought that Zhang Beihai was somehow on guard, which offended Wu. In
Lacking confidence in victory and doubting the significance of our present work, a soldier’s dignity becomes the only pillar sustaining work and life.
What a literary character does in ten minutes might be a reflection of ten years’ experience. You can’t be limited to the plot of a novel—you’ve got to imagine her entire life, and what actually gets put into words is just the tip of the iceberg.”
“So literature, it turns out, is a perverted endeavor.”
For the majority of people, what they love exists only in the imagination. The object of their love is not the man or woman of reality, but what he or she is like in their imagination. The person in reality is just a template used for the creation of this dream lover. Eventually, they find out the differences between their dream lover and the template. If they can get used to those differences, then they can be together. If not, they split up. It’s as simple as that. You differ from the majority in
Ji could make out just one thing: This moment was immensely important to the man’s whole life. Kent turned to
One of his key points was that the advantages of a large country were only truly advantageous in low-technology eras and would ultimately be weakened by the swift pace of technological progress,
do you know what the greatest expression of regard for a race or civilization is?” “No, what?” “Annihilation. That’s the highest respect a civilization can receive. They would only feel threatened by a civilization they truly respect.”
wonder whether we could find a form of communication that only humans can comprehend, but which the sophons never will. That way, humanity can be free of sophon monitoring.” Luo Ji looked
“Well, let’s try to convey a simple meaning through facial expressions.”
Perhaps the outside world really was something akin to a quantum state, and did not exist unless he observed it.
Although the restraint of his safety belt kept him from floating away, to his senses he and the High Frontier were no longer parts of the same whole. The gravity that had once bonded them together was gone, and he and the plane were now flying in parallel paths through space.
He is the mouthpiece of certain power.”
“When you have eliminated the impossible, whatever remains, no matter how improbable, must be the truth.
The Lord believes that defeatism is more dangerous than triumphalism,” Newton said.
A peerless computer. If humanity failed, it would never be equaled,
Hines said, “Why is it that everyone gets so sensitive at the mention of thought control? From commercial advertising to Hollywood culture, thought control is everywhere in modern society.
Time is the one thing that can’t be stopped. Like a sharp blade, it silently cuts through hard and soft, constantly advancing. Nothing is capable of jolting it even the slightest bit, but it changes everything. The same year as the Mercury
“Ah, if only we knew how to cherish things back then.”
but present
“‘Make time for civilization, for civilization won’t make time,’”
“It’s called civilization immunity. It means that when the world has suffered a serious illness, it triggers civilization’s immune system, so that something like the early Crisis Era won’t happen again.
“Emancipation of human nature inevitably brings with it scientific and technological progress.”
The ocean was space in miniature on Earth.
The historical facts of the Middle Ages and the Great Ravine prove that a totalitarian system is the greatest barrier to human progress.
“The birth of a new civilization is the formation of a new morality.”
The boundlessness of space nurtured a dark new humanity in its dark embrace.
Darkness was the mother of life and of civilization.
motionless relative to both Earth and sun, squarely
That’s the most important aspect of the chain of suspicion. It’s unrelated to the civilization’s own morality and social structure.
Regardless of whether civilizations are internally benevolent or malicious, when they enter the web formed by chains of suspicion, they’re all identical.”
The potential for technological leaps is the explosive buried within every civilization, and if it’s lit by some internal or external factor, it goes off with a bang.
I’m weaker than you, but once I’ve received your message and know of your existence, the chain of suspicion is established between us. If at any time I experience a technological explosion that suddenly puts me far ahead of you, then I’m stronger than you.
And it might be that my knowledge of your existence and the information I received from our communication was the perfect spark to set off that explosion.
To sum up: one, letting you know I exist, and two, letting you continue to exist, are both dangerous to me and violate the first axiom.”
“The universe is a dark forest. Every civilization is an armed hunter stalking through the trees like a ghost, gently pushing aside branches that block the path and trying to tread without sound. Even breathing is done with care. The hunter has to be careful, because everywhere in the forest are stealthy hunters like him. If he finds other life—another hunter, an angel or a demon, a delicate infant or a tottering old man, a fairy or a demigod—there’s only one thing he can do: open fire and eliminate them.
In this forest, hell is other people. An eternal threat that any life that exposes its own existence will be swiftly wiped out. This is the picture of cosmic civilization. It’s the explanation for the Fermi Paradox.”
“Hiding the self through a faithful mapping of the universe is the only path into eternity.”
