I personally want to "do" death in the active and not the passive, and to be there to look it in the eye and be doing something when it comes for me.

There can be no progress without head-on confrontation.

Many religions now come before us with ingratiating smirks and outspread hands, like an unctuous merchant in a bazaar. They offer consolation and solidarity and uplift, competing as they do in a marketplace. But we have a right to remember how barbarically they behaved when they were strong and were making an offer that people could not refuse.

Most of the utopian community ideas actually are religious. They're based more on the idea of the monastery than the commune.

It's often a bad sign when people defend themselves against charges which haven't been made.

Which natural gift would you most like to possess? The ability to master other languages (which would have hugely enhanced the scope of these answers). How would you like to die? Fully conscious, and either fighting or reciting (or fooling around). What do you most dislike about your appearance? The way in which it makes former admirers search for neutral words.

The beauty of science hugely outranks the charms of superstition.