Somewhere we taught ourselves that our opinions are more significant than the facts. And somehow we get our egos and our opinions and Truth all mixed up in a single package, so that when something does challenge one of the notions to which we subscribe, we react as if it challenges us.

It is not faith per se that creates the problem; it is conviction, the notion that one cannot be wrong, that opposing views are necessarily invalid and may even be intolerable.

Boundaries have no existence save on charts or in small minds. Nature does not draw lines.

How does it happen that the most intractable types always rise to the top?

Courage is perhaps our most admirable trait. The man, or woman, who possesses it is able to plunge ahead, despite dangers, despite warnings, despite hazards of all kinds, to attack the task at hand. Often, it is indistinguishable from stupidity.

All of the important things ... will turn out to be universally shared. It's why there will be no true aliens.

So we have progressed to the point where we can move politicians around faster than light. I'm not sure I see the advantage.