It’s hard to feel completely hopeless during that special moment when you first catch sight of dawn. - David Brin

almost any habit can be called an “addiction” if its repetition is reinforced in the human brain, by rhythmic release of pleasure-mediating chemicals. The core process is not, in itself, harmful. Indeed, it is deeply human and essential! Pleasure-based repetition reinforcement is partly responsible for our tight bonding to our children, our husbands and wives, or the tendency to keep returning our attention to music, or beauty, or the glorious exercise of skill. It contributes to the joy that some derive from prayer. These are some of the good and wholesome things that we are glad to be addicted to!

But then, of course, it could have been worse. This may not be the best of all possible worlds. But Pangloss never met Murphy. And things could have been very much worse, indeed. The pyramid loomed ahead, separated by a broad river from the main part of an alien metropolis that had once been named Cal’mari.

Creative people see Prometheus in a mirror, never Pandora.