When the reality was depressing, men tried to console themselves with myth. - Arthur C. Clarke

But was even this the end? A few mystically inclined biologists went still further. They speculated, taking their cues from the beliefs of many religions, that mind would eventually free itself from matter. The robot body, like the flesh-and-blood one, would be no more than a stepping-stone to something which, long ago, men had called “spirit.” And if there was anything beyond that, its name could only be God.

There was no substitute for reality; one should be aware of imitations.

The core of Jupiter, forever beyond human reach, was a diamond as big as the Earth.