David Walton
David Walton (born October 26, 1975) is an American science fiction and fantasy writer.
Quotes
[edit]The Genius Plague (2017)
[edit]- All page numbers from the trade paperback first edition published by Pyr ISBN 978-1-63388-343-7
- “All I’m hearing is ‘I can’t’ when I needed that data yesterday. Go bore someone else with your excuses.”
- Chapter 18 (p. 176)
- “Having trouble with the help?” I asked.
“Trying to weed out those who kiss other asses to cover their own,” she said. “There are people who get things done, and people who just get in the way.”- Chapter 18 (p. 176)
- Humans are driven by emotion. Much of our so-called logic is merely the rationalization of choices that make us feel good.
- Chapter 20 (p. 204)
- Its purpose is the same as every other organism. To survive.
- Chapter 21 (p. 210)
- “If not, we’ll go to plan B.”
“Which is?”
“I don’t know. I’ll make it up if we need it.”- Chapter 23 (p. 238)
- The whole earth is solar powered. The movement of clouds and air and water, the growth of plants and animals, it’s all just a big heat engine driven by the sun. Humanity has spent so long binging on fossil fuels that we’ve forgotten where it all comes from.
- Chapter 29 (p. 312)
- “When history looks back on this century,” Paul said, “they will see it as an aberration. A bizarre spike on the energy graph when we suddenly realized the Earth had millions of years of the sun’s energy stored underground and used it all up in a brief blaze of glory. The worst thing that ever happened to the human race was the invention of the steam engine.”
“You’re kidding me,” I said. “All of modern human advancement and invention, enabling billions of people to survive, that’s all nothing? Medicine? Global communication? Modern agriculture?”
“It’s a glitch. It’s like blowing your whole trust fund in a weekend. When the fund runs out, you’ve got to live on your income.”- Chapter 29 (pp. 312-313)
- Nobody knows: they just believe, and then because everyone else believes it, too, it feels like it couldn’t possibly be wrong. But consensus doesn’t mean truth. In fact, it means a lack of critical thinking, a blind following of the status quo. Humans are really good at doing that, too.
- Chapter 34 (p. 359)
