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October 10, 2011

"Planets are the abusive parents of evolution."

Their very surfaces promote warfare,
concentrate resources into dense defensible patches that can be fought over. Gravity forces you to squander energy on vascular systems and skeletal support, stand endless watch against an endless sadistic campaign to squash you flat. Take one wrong step, off a perch too high, and all your pricey architecture shatters in an instant. And even if you beat those odds, cobble together some lumbering armored chassis to withstand the slow crawl onto land— how long before the world draws in some asteroid or comet to crash down from the heavens and reset your clock to zero? Is it any wonder we grew up believing life was a struggle, that zero-sum was God's own law and the future belonged to those who crushed the competition? -- Rifters.com: Peter Watts' Backlist [HT:Ilka]

Posted by Vanderleun at October 10, 2011 11:25 PM. This is an entry on the sideblog of American Digest: Check it out.

Your Say

I blame existence.

Posted by: Gagdad Bob at October 11, 2011 8:53 AM

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