Genome Quotes

“winter”
― A.G. Riddle, Genome

“We believed even literary scholars didn’t truly understand Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland. They thought it was simply a new type of fantasy novel, an accomplishment in the literary nonsense genre.”
― A.G. Riddle, Genome

“Do you know the difference between us and them?” The car came to a stop. The pitter-patter of rain grew louder by the second, making Yuri’s soft voice seem almost far away. “We are awake. We sense the truth: that something is deeply wrong with the world.”
― A.G. Riddle, Genome

“Our fate is reflected in our most famous invention: the computer. Those local area networks that sprang up like cities in the eighties and nineties got connected at the turn of the century by the internet. Just like European colonization connected the globe. Globalization is to the human race what the internet is to computers—a method for sharing resources and ideas. Ideas can now move around the world in nanoseconds. We have a platform for enabling the strongest minds to transform their thoughts into reality—and deploy that reality for the good of the masses.”
― A.G. Riddle, Genome

“True knowledge is earned, not given.”
― A.G. Riddle, Genome

“The first email was sent at 2:38 a.m, the second email four hours later.”
― A.G. Riddle, Genome

“The problem is quite simple. I do not have the manpower to program reports to satisfy their every whim and curiosity—in the outrageous time frames given.”
― A.G. Riddle, Genome

“The scenes made her realize how delicate the social fabric of the human race truly was. People’s confidence in government and police—the order of things—was the glue that held society together. And that glue was coming unstuck. Once it was gone, instilling that trust again would be very difficult. The damage being done might soon be irreparable.”
― A.G. Riddle, Genome

“Evolution. Survival of the fittest. Fittest is a thoroughly misunderstood concept in the theory. Fitness is determined by the environment. It’s not about being the biggest or the baddest. It’s about being fit—the best adapted to the world you find yourself in.”
― A.G. Riddle, Genome

“There’s only one known force that could affect changes at a subatomic level over great distance: quantum entanglement. The phenomenon Einstein called ‘spooky action at a distance’.”
― A.G. Riddle, Genome

“Punctuated equilibrium,” Lin said, “is a theory proposed in 1972 by Niles Eldredge and Stephen Jay Gould. Before that time, evolutionary biologists had debated how new species developed. Most thought it happened gradually over time—what we call phyletic gradual evolution. But the fossil record doesn’t support that. It shows that when a species emerges, it is generally stable, with little genetic change, for long stretches of time. When evolution does occur, it happens rapidly—new species branch off in a relatively short period of time. On a geological scale, anyway.”
― A.G. Riddle, Genome

“Punctuated equilibrium,” Lin said, “is a theory proposed in 1972 by Niles Eldredge and Stephen Jay Gould. Before that time, evolutionary biologists had debated how new species developed. Most thought it happened gradually over time—what we call phyletic gradual evolution. But the fossil record doesn’t support that. It shows that when a species emerges, it is generally stable, with little genetic change, for long stretches of time. When evolution does occur, it happens rapidly—new species branch off in a relatively short period of time. On a geological scale,”
― A.G. Riddle, Genome

“Walking upright had a huge impact on our evolution. The female birth canal became narrower at the exact same time that our brains were getting larger. This obstetric dilemma had a huge impact on our offspring. We developed openings in the skull called fontanelles that essentially allow babies’ heads to compress during birth. The anterior fontanelle actually stays open for two years after birth, allowing the brain to expand further. That’s completely different from chimpanzees and bonobos”
― A.G. Riddle, Genome

“Even today, we humans account for 350 million tons of biomass on this planet. That’s three times the biomass of all the sheep, chickens, whales, and elephants—combined. This planet has become an ecology almost completely dedicated to fueling our massive calorie-hogging brains.”
― A.G. Riddle, Genome

“Only the first part is Latin,” Lin said. “It’s the beginning of an oath. A very old one. Do fidem me nullum librum vel instrumentum aliamve quam rem ad bibliothecam pertinentem…”
― A.G. Riddle, Genome

“I recently learned that true knowledge must be earned, not given.”
― A.G. Riddle, Genome

“Look at the Forbes list of the richest people. The individuals listed are very different, but they all share one trait: vision. The ability to imagine a future that doesn’t exist—to imagine what the world would be like if something changed, if a product or service existed. And these people’s fortunes were made because their visions were accurate—they correctly predicted that something that didn’t already exist both could be created and would be valuable to a specific group of people.”
― A.G. Riddle, Genome

“A reality radically different from the human’s own. This human could render possible futures, imagine what life would be like if something existed. That was the transcendental mutation.”
― A.G. Riddle, Genome

“The quintessential human trait: imagination, fiction, simulation. Powered by energy our brain could use.”
― A.G. Riddle, Genome

“cladogenesis.”
― A.G. Riddle, Genome

“Responsibility is the difference. You took responsibility for your own actions. You made your choices. So did he. So have I. You can’t blame yourself for what happened to him.”
― A.G. Riddle, Genome

“But I believe it. And you have to believe it. Don’t give up hope. It’s a very powerful thing, darling.”
― A.G. Riddle, Genome

“There isn’t somebody out there I don’t trust. There’s nobody out there I do trust.”
― A.G. Riddle, Genome

“History is history, Doctor Greene. It’s only forgotten and rediscovered. In our case, we’re merely recovering what the brave crew of the Beagle rediscovered.”
― A.G. Riddle, Genome

“London.”
― A.G. Riddle, Genome

“A pound of brain tissue uses twenty times the amount of energy a pound of muscle does.”
― A.G. Riddle, Genome

“could be said that Earth is an island. In space.” “That will reach equilibrium,” Desmond said. “And stagnate. Then decline.”
― A.G. Riddle, Genome

“loquacious”
― A.G. Riddle, Genome

“He saw a pattern now, pieces fitting together, the wide view—as if his eyes had been mere inches from a painting, but now he had stepped back and could see it all, understand it.”
― A.G. Riddle, Genome

“I think we read about things we don’t have. Things we wonder about, want to see in the world. I think there’s not enough justice in this world. Too many victims—without anyone to defend them.”
― A.G. Riddle, Genome