Knowledge is a tool, and like all tools, its impact is in the hands of the user.

Denial is a critical part of the human coping mechanism. Without it, we would all wake up terrified every morning about all the ways we could die. Instead, our minds block out our existential fears by focusing on stresses we can handle—like getting to work on time or paying our taxes.

Substantiate or suffocate, Ms. Vetra. Mickey's ticking.

Medicine, electronic communications, space travel, genetic manipulation . . . these are the miracles about which we now tell our children. These are the miracles we herald as proof that science will bring us the answers. The ancient stories of immaculate conceptions, burning bushes, and parting seas are no longer relevant. God has become obsolete. Science has won the battle.

Only one form of contagion travels faster than a virus. And that's fear.

The media is the right arm of anarchy.

Powerful truth has its own gravity and eventually pulls people back to it.