Words&Dirt

“‘Brain hack is an alternate hypothesis entirely consistent with the observed data. And Occam likes it a lot more than omnipotent sky wizard.'”

––Echopraxia, by Peter Watts, pg. 218

“In the 1920s, it was as if a second Pandora’s box had been discovered, and from inside its hidden dark leaped fads, styles, entertainers, and entertainments: each bearing two faces, one horrifying and one enchanting. Americans kicked up farm dirt with gas-powered harvesters and reapers, kicked up their heels in speakeasy nightclubs, and kicked up a fuss about what the people on the other side of the cultural dividing line were (or were not) doing. The 1920s have not ended because we have not answered the questions that got asked and we have not stopped enjoying the fast cars, the soothing voices of gorgeous actors, or the tempting wink of corporate money and its never-ending array of the new-and-improved.”

––American Stories: Living American History, Vol. II: From 1865, by Jason Ripper, pg. 119-20