In 25 years of writing novels, I've never had anything that felt like writer's block.
I would say the flip side to my fascination with systems is a fascination with components. So many of my books are dialogues between little and big.
Type a few lines of code, you create an organism.
Evil is the refusal to see one's self in others.
When you're sure of what you're looking at, look harder.
I don't mind arguing with myself. It's when I lose that it bothers me.