No one disputes that seeming order can come out of the application of simple rules. But who wrote the rules?

How do you define God? Like this. A God I could understand, at least potentially, was infinitely more interesting and relevant than one that defied comprehension.

Secrecy was the problem; transparency the obvious cure.

General principles should not be based on exceptional cases.

A science fiction writer should try to combine the intimately human with the grandly cosmic.

Learning to ignore things is one of the great paths to inner peace.

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.