Otherness Quotes

“The conflict is an old one. George Washington and other followers of the Enlightenment Movement wrote of their belief in an imminent maturity of humankind. The ancient and cruel feudal ways were splitting asunder at last; therefore, how could truth and freedom not prevail? In fact, the Enlightenment changed humanity forever. Yet its followers forgot something important -- that each generation is invaded by a new wave of barbarians... its children. Just as Washington, Franklin, and their peers took joy in toppling the tyranny of Church and King, so the youths of the Romantic Movement thrived on jeering the lofty ideals of their predecessors.”
― David Brin, Otherness

“Science gives man what he needs, but magic gives man what he wants.”
― David Brin, Otherness

“It may be that the best time for Otherness has already passed. Clearly part of the basis for this renaissance has been wealth, especially the unprecedented comfort enjoyed by the vast majority of Westerners since World War II, in which very few of us can even conceive of starving”
― David Brin, Otherness

“Where it is strongest, it must still contend ceaselessly with macho, paranoiac, homogenizing, and other traditional forces that continue battling over the minds and actions of women and men – forces that may indeed be far more “natural” to us human animals, who are so innately egotistical and afraid. Add to this a plague of self-righteousness, in which both individuals and political factions seem more interested in the sweet mantras of their slogans than in finding pragmatic solutions to modern problems, and you have a formula for troubled times ahead.”
― David Brin, Otherness

“It takes great wisdom, maturity, and force of will to overcome ingrained human egotism and say -- “Hey, I can fool myself! I might even be wrong, from time to time.” ”
― David Brin, Otherness

“I may not ever be able to be certain what is absolutely True... but I sure as heck can work to find out what isn’t true!  Moreover, I can improve my model of the world, by slowly, carefully finding out what is truer than what I already know.”
― David Brin, Otherness

“Give up,” they preached. “Don’t bother trying to figure out how the flawed world works. Perfect knowledge is to be found only within the mind, the soul. Seek your own private salvation then, apart from the world, and don’t bother getting your hands dirty trying to piece together the nuts and bolts of God’s handiwork.”
― David Brin, Otherness

“In other words, I look through my eyes and see only a version of the world, a version that can be, and often is, colored or twisted by what I want to see.  Another person may witness the same events, and yet observe something entirely different.”
― David Brin, Otherness

“Socrates, Plato, Jesus, Buddha and countless other mystics, in countless cultures, have preached the same thing -- that we all exist amid a blur of uncertainty. That one can never know complete truth about physical reality via our senses alone. Much is made of the differences between their systems... Socrates teaching reason, Buddha urging meditation, and Jesus prescribing faith. But what they all had in common was far more important. Each of those sage-prophets worried that the power of human egotism tends to make us lie to ourselves, leading to error, hypocrisy, and all too often, the rationalization of evil actions.”
― David Brin, Otherness

“a species used to strict patterns of inherited hierarchy.”
― David Brin, Otherness

“new astronomy also had to adjust to the idea that what their senses told them everyday was untrue – that the world did not revolve around them alone.”
― David Brin, Otherness

“Dogmas don’t have to be entirely logical, as long as they work.”
― David Brin, Otherness