How we cite our quotes: (Part.Chapter.Line)
Quote #7
"It's a kind of gerontological therapy. An experimental procedure. Somewhat like an inoculation, but with a DNA strengthener. Repairs broken strands, and restores cell-division accuracy to a significant degree." (5.6.21)
Here's a question for you: does the gerontological therapy transform what it means to be human or merely strengthen it? Good luck with this one; it's a doozie.
Quote #8
"Maybe that's why things are getting so strange these days, everyone talking about ownership or sovereignty, fighting, making claims. People squabbling like those old gods on Olympus, because nowadays we're just as powerful as they were."
"Or more," Nadia said. (5.8.63-64)
Does humanity become as powerful (or more so) as gods? We're not sure, but we are reasonably sure that the ancient Greeks would find the internet pretty spectacular.
Quote #9
[…] so that it's in the nature of an act of genetic engineering what we do here, we have the DNA pieces of culture all made and broken and mixed by history, and we can choose and cut and clip together from that's best in that gene pool, knit it all together the way the Swiss did their constitution, or the Sufis their worship, or the way the Acheron group made their latest fast lichen […]. (5.10.105)
John suggests a recipe for transforming our society: keep the good stuff, get rid of the rest. Seems to be pretty easy, but as we see, it's not so easy to agree on the good stuff.