Artificial Truth Quotes

“In fact, some tragedies happen in complete silence, without any calamitous signifiers.”
― J.M. Lee, Artificial Truth

“Language, like fire and water, is difficult to control and can quickly become dangerous.”
― J.M. Lee, Artificial Truth

“A machine could never make sense of such a nonsensical equation. But we are not machines. We are humans. We cry and laugh, fight and make up, hope and despair, fall in and out of love, dream and become disillusioned, ruin ourselves but feel no regret. We do these things over and over, sometimes learning from our mistakes, sometimes not. We’re nonlinear, irrational, unpredictable. We’re the only creatures on Earth capable of such a complex and contradictory life.”
― J.M. Lee, Artificial Truth

“I don’t answer and instead let there be silence. Devoid of emotion, I don’t feel the same urgency that humans do. I find it fascinating how silence, the absence of words, can alter the course of a conversation completely. Silence often extracts truth better than constant jabbering. Humans, however, cannot bear the void of a long pause. It causes them pain. They invented language and writing to express themselves, to understand others, to build civilizations. Humans think language is their most essential tool. Yet how much death and destruction have been brought about by words? Think of all the misfortune that could have been avoided had humans been mute. Language, like fire and water, is difficult to control and can quickly become dangerous. Lies, threats, insults, incoherent noise. If humans seek peace and truth, they must learn how to hold their tongues. Their intelligence is too weak, their emotions too raw, to wield something as volatile as language.”
― J.M. Lee, Artificial Truth

“If the world is a giant machine designed by God and destiny is a program written in his language, then we should be able to live a life of fulfillment without understanding any of it.”
― J.M. Lee, Artificial Truth

“But that path did not lead to my defeating cancer or overcoming death. It was just a longer and more arduous route to the inevitable.”
― J.M. Lee, Artificial Truth

“Repeat a lie enough and it becomes true. At first, the lie might seem impossible. After hearing it twice, you think it might be possible. By the third time, you’re convinced it’s true. And by the fourth, you might even want it to be true. And it’s not just humans. Artificial intelligence is just as susceptible to confirmation bias.”
― J.M. Lee, Artificial Truth

“If the world is a giant machine designed by God and destiny is a program written in his language, then we should be able to live a life of fulfillment without understanding any of it. After all, most people enjoy TV without knowing a thing about electromechanics; most people drive their cars without ever understanding how an engine works. Someone else has done all the hard work so that we don’t have to think about it. The machine chugs away, its workings unbeknownst to us. Our destiny reveals itself to us with minimal to no effort. And seemingly chance encounters and insignificant events subtly influence our trajectory.”
― J.M. Lee, Artificial Truth

“I’d achieved what I always wanted, but the unease inside me remained. It felt like something had happened that wasn’t supposed to happen, like I was acting out a stranger’s life. On nights when I was alone, my memories grabbed me by the throat and shook me—mistakes and errors, bad decisions and misguided actions. And a childhood I couldn’t think about without getting sad or angry,”
― J.M. Lee, Artificial Truth

“Our meeting had been brief, one that you could write off as mere chance, but for some reason I couldn’t stop thinking about her. She ignited a sense of nostalgia inside my imagination for a memory I’d never had. I fell in love with the fabricated memory of her as a young, innocent girl. And once this happened, she felt familiar to me, as if I’d known her my entire life.”
― J.M. Lee, Artificial Truth

“I couldn’t understand how someone could have survived this long with the naivete of a boy and the common sense of a jackass.”
― J.M. Lee, Artificial Truth

“It wasn’t like I was a celibate. In fact, I met all sorts of women—at libraries, on walks, at the discount store, in restaurants. They came from all walks of life, from college students and salaried women to telemarketers and housewives. I would dine with these women and sleep with them, but these encounters never turned into long-term relationships. Some of them may have even loved me, but I never reciprocated the feelings. I soon realized that interacting with anyone, sharing opinions, and creating good “chemistry” was not possible for someone like me. And when I realized this, that I couldn’t love anyone with sincerity, that I could never be understood, I both pitied myself and felt a sense of liberation and relief.”
― J.M. Lee, Artificial Truth

“In some ways, my grief seemed insincere. Indeed, I was less disturbed by his absence than by how relieved I felt now that I was alone.”
― J.M. Lee, Artificial Truth