My first published novel was written for teenagers, and there were rules laid down by the publisher: no sex, no smoking, no swearing. I blew up entir… - Ben Bova

If astronomy has taught man anything it is the painful fact that we are not special creatures in any sense of the term. Our star is an average one, and the conditions that led to the formation of our planet and ourselves were probably not very extraordinary.

A teacher?" Vyborg gasped. "They got rid of him in Mexico because he was teaching unauthorized garbage. Do you want him teaching his blasphemies here?"
Berkowitz's smile diminished by less than a millimeter. "Freedom of thought is not blasphemous, Sammi. He's a great teacher.

The real problem," Eberly burst out, "is that these regulations were written by people who live in a world that must be tightly controlled. They all share the same basic, underlying view that society must be hierarchical and controlled from the top."
Wilmot felt pleased that the discussion was moving into his field of interest. "Aren't all societies controlled from the top? Even so-called democracies are ruled by a small elite group; the only difference is that a democracy can shift its elite without bloodshed and give the general populace the illusion that they have made a telling change.