Take the old left-right political axis. Stupid. From 18th century France! lumped aristos with fundies, libertarians, isolationists, imperialists, pur… - David Brin

Where is it written that one should only care about big things? I fought for big things, long ago...for issues, principles, a country. Where are all of them now?
The steely gray eyes were narrow and sad when next he looked up at Gordon. I found out something, you know. I discovered that the big things don't love you back. They take and take, and never give in return. They'll drain your blood, your soul, if you let them, and never let go.
I lost my wife, my son, while away battling for big things. They needed me, but I had to go off trying to save the world. Powhatan snorted at the last phrase. Today I fight for my people, for my farm—for smaller things—things I can hold.

humans wrestled endlessly with their own overpowering egos. Some tried suppressing selfness, seeking detachment. Others subsumed personal ambition in favor of a greater whole — family, religion, or a leader. Later they passed through a phase in which individualism was extolled as the highest virtue, teaching their young to inflate the ego beyond all natural limits or restraint.

Demonstrating some of the proposed new techniques of encrypted uniqueness verification that can be embedded in each customer’s use-copy of a given work.