Things are simply what they are, neither good nor bad. The potential for evil is not in our stars, but in ourselves. - Paul J. McAuley

They're following one bunch of herders. Marta has this idea that she can work out their social behavior.
"And do they have any?" Dorthy asked.
"Fucking mostly," Andrew said evenly. The boss female controls the group by choosing which males fuck her, and the males fuck each other, too, to establish their dominance. Rather like the Navy."

They survive.
"Ah yes, survive. And achieve nothing to deserve it."
"The only meaning of life, if it can be said to have meaning, is to survive. My brothers and sisters, herding their children on the plains, find meaning in the simple pattern of their lives and need nothing more. They are immersed in the processes of the world: all is one. That is their religion. They seek no other meaning.
"Your race, now, believes that expansion is all. You think to outrace your dark destiny, believe that the whole universe is yours when you understand so little of it."

I didn't know that you were into politics.
"Anyone with money has to be. Real money, I mean. Even criminals need to keep a politician in their pockets these days."