What is the shape of space? Is it flat, or is it bent? Is it nicely laid out, or is it warped and shrunken? Is it finite, or is it infinite? Which of the following does space resemble more: (a) a sheet of paper, (b) an endless desert, (c) a soap bubble, (d) a doughnut, (e) an Escher drawing, (f) an ice cream cone, (g) the branches of a tree, or (h) a human body?
Rudy RuckerThe simple process of eating and breathing weave all of us together into a vast four-dimensional array. No matter how isolated you may sometimes feel, no matter how lonely, you are never really cut off from the whole.
Rudy RuckerThink of a field of daisies: they bloom, they wither, and in the spring they grow again. Who wants to see the same stupid daisy year after year, especially with a bunch of crappy iron-lung-type equipment bolted to it?
Rudy RuckerNow, being a science fiction writer, when I see a natural principle, I wonder if it could fail.
Rudy RuckerFor me, the best thing about cyberpunk is that it taught me how to enjoy shopping malls, which used to terrify me. Now I just pretend that the whole thing is two miles below the moonโs surface, and that half the peopleโs right-brains have been eaten by roboticized steel rats. And suddenly itโs interesting again.
Rudy RuckerWhen I see an old movie, like from the โ40s or โ50s or โ60s, the people look so calm. They donโt have smartphones, theyโre not looking at computer screens, theyโre taking their time. Theyโll sit in a chair and just stare off into space. I think some day weโll find our way back to that garden of Eden.
Rudy Rucker