It is either coincidence piled on top of coincidence," said Hollus, "or it is deliberate design.

You can't choose the ways in which you'll be tested.

Secrecy was the problem; transparency the obvious cure.

Virtual reality is just air guitar writ large.

Not wanting to die was another universal constant, it seemed.

If theft is advantageous to everyone who succeeds at it, and adultery is a good strategy, at least for males, for increasing presence in the gene pool, why do we feel they are wrong? Shouldn't the only morality that evolution produces be the kind Bill Clinton had - being sorry you got caught?

Since ancient times, the philosophers' secret has always been this: we know that God does not exist, or, at least, if he does, he's utterly indifferent to our individual affairs--but we can't let the rabble know that; it's the fear of God, the threat of divine punishment and the promise of divine reward, that keeps in line those too unsophisticated to work out questions of morality on their own.