Anyone who wants simple, pat stories should buy another author's product. The real universe ain't that way, and neither are my fictive ones.

...where were answers to the truly deep questions? Religion promised those, though always in vague terms, while retreating from one line in the sand to the next. Don't look past this boundary, they told Galileo, then Hutton, Darwin, Von Neumann, and Crick, always retreating with great dignity before the latest scientific advance, then drawing the next holy perimeter at the shadowy rim of knowledge.

I find humans tremendously interesting

Self-righteous people can talk themselves into forgetting they are part of a civilization. They can then feed on that culture, bringing it down. It's happened many times in the past. It could happen to us.

When it comes to privacy and accountability, people always demand the former for themselves and the latter for everyone else.

You don't have conversations with microprocessors. You tell them what to do, then helplessly watch the disaster when they take you literally!

In the end, the work of diplomats continues even while others fight. So, it's not necessarily true that everyone needs to march.