Every time humans discovered a new resource, or technique for using mass and energy, one side effect has always been pollution. Why should the inform… - David Brin

there are rumors and worried models predicting a coming conflagration — one between classes, rather than nation states. But who really yearns for such a thing to happen? What if the optimists are right? Suppose we in this generation are — on average — growing both smarter and more sane at a decent clip. That average still leaves a billion human beings, out of almost ten billion, who are steeped in rage, or dogmatic rigidity, or delusional repetition of discredited mistakes. You know such people. Do you recognize those traits in some of your neighbors? Or perhaps that face in the mirror?

I had to admit, standing there, that sometimes you just gotta admire the passion of the truly insane — a passion that bulls right past all sense or reason.

What was it like, he wondered, to care about something so passionately? He suspected it made her somehow more alive than he was.