The Voided Man Quotes

“My projections show that this is the action with the highest expected short term yield.” “No.” “If you would just film yourself shaving your feet, or rubbing some kind of oil slowly…”
― Anthony Dean, The Voided Man

“Huh. So you’re saying that even strong arm Presidents don’t like to tangle with trust attorneys.”
― Anthony Dean, The Voided Man

“They always wanted to know what I thought the important characteristics of a new government should be. My point of view was always the same, and I highlighted the same few points dozens of times in front of dozens of groups. “You have to keep it simple. You have to limit its powers. You have to put those powers in different places - no kings, no single groups that can do everything. You have to have elections so that people can toss officials who are doing a lousy job out on their ears. You have to make sure that everyone can vote in the elections. You have to make sure that no one can vote twice in the elections. That’s about it. If you actually do those things, you can’t go wrong.”
― Anthony Dean, The Voided Man

“They were great at being decadent, they were fantastic hedonists, but in the end they weren’t very bright, and that cost them their empire.”
― Anthony Dean, The Voided Man

“And so the nineteen married couples and the eleven single astronauts made a pact and formed the Thirty Families. They agreed on the following simple but critical points: 1. They would never pass their ability to authorize the creation of new life extension treatments (or EXTs, as they called them) to anyone except a single heir, usually their oldest child, upon their deaths. 2. They would not allow the creation of any new AIs that were capable of accepting such authorization from anyone not the head of one of the Thirty Families. 3. They would create a new digital currency and would accept only it and nothing else from buyers wishing to purchase EXTs. 4. They would enforce their monopoly through the sanction of withholding EXTs.”
― Anthony Dean, The Voided Man

“Annabelle and my old life, of course. But in the end, I spent those years being often melancholy but not uncomfortable. I was often bored, but I had pleasant enough surroundings. I sometimes felt trapped, but I was in no danger. I was in purgatory, and not in hell.”
― Anthony Dean, The Voided Man

“Tale of Two Cities flanked David Copperfield on either side. I retrieved the book and I placed Annabelle’s folded letter inside to mark page 1. Before I closed it, I read the first sentence. “Whether I shall turn out to be to hero of my own life, or whether that station will by held by anybody else, these pages must show,” it started. It sounded good.”
― Anthony Dean, The Voided Man

“The old must make way for the young, otherwise there would be no promotion.”
― Anthony Dean, The Voided Man

“All problems seem large when you first encounter them,”
― Anthony Dean, The Voided Man

“They wanted some technology, but not much innovation. They wanted a consumer culture, but without much room for individual tastes. They wanted people happy enough to be productive, but not comfortable enough to become ambitious.”
― Anthony Dean, The Voided Man

“You have to keep it simple. You have to limit its powers. You have to put those powers in different places - no kings, no single groups that can do everything. You have to have elections so that people can toss officials who are doing a lousy job out on their ears. You have to make sure that everyone can vote in the elections. You have to make sure that no one can vote twice in the elections. That’s about it. If you actually do those things, you can’t go wrong.”
― Anthony Dean, The Voided Man

“I listened to old songs about cowboys who had lost their girl or their truck or their job or their dog or their dear sweet Mama down in Texas until I fell asleep.”
― Anthony Dean, The Voided Man

“Hey, Al, how much of a person’s budget goes to the EXTs, the life extension treatments?” “The median is approximately 55%.” More than half! I thought. They’re paying more than half of their earnings in taxes.”
― Anthony Dean, The Voided Man

“They had frozen civilization everywhere at the point that generated the most revenue for them. They wanted some technology, but not much innovation. They wanted a consumer culture, but without much room for individual tastes. They wanted people happy enough to be productive, but not comfortable enough to become ambitious.”
― Anthony Dean, The Voided Man

“And here’s the thing about their currency, the Universal Credit: the Thirty Families can turn it on, and they can turn it off”
― Anthony Dean, The Voided Man