“We all carry a multitude of ghosts around with us: impressions of other people, strong or weak, deep from long acquaintance or shallow with brevity. Those ghosts are maps, updated with each encounter, made detailed, judged, liked or disliked. They are, if you ask a philosopher, all we can ever really know of the other people in the world.” PeopleRelationshipsFriendshipAcquaintance Book:The Gone-Away World Source: The Gone-Away World
“Lemons. He liked lemons. They made you make funny faces when you bit them, and a very, very long way in the future there was a really amazing planet where they'd evolved into people and lived in harmony with a variety of hyper-intelligent bee. Evolution. Thousands and thousands of years of tiny changes could turn little burning sparks of chemistry into people, into monsters and angels and even human beings.” PeopleHuman BeingsEvolutionMonstersAngelsLemonsThe DoctorFunny FacesHyper Intelligent BeesTiny Changes Book:Doctor Who: Keeping Up with the Joneses Source: Doctor Who: Keeping Up with the Joneses
“Google says young people don't care about privacy, but when asked if they'd let their parents see their phone bills and other stuff they say no.” PeopleIfsCareYoungStuffParentBillsPhonesDon't CarePrivacyGoogle Author:Nick Harkaway
“There is a sense that everything should be easy, but easy decisions are the ones we should be scared of because if they're easy then we're probably being sold something. This is why I'm worried about "nudge" - it's pushing people in the direction of what you think they should be doing. Easy decisions are dangerous ones.” PeopleIfsThinkingShouldEasyDecisionDangerousScaredWorriedPushingNudge Author:Nick Harkaway
“I have wrangles with Facebook, entered fictitious trips because I can't get the map to get off my page, don't want people to know where I live. It is possible to carve out a space that's your own.” PeopleKnowsWantI CanSpacePagesMapsBecause I Can Author:Nick Harkaway
“We should be worrying about if you live in the city you're more likely to have anxiety or mood disorders and to be schizophrenic. More than the problems people have from social media.” PeopleIfsShouldProblemSocialCitiesWorryMediaAnxietySocial MediaMoodDisorderSchizophrenicMood Disorders Author:Nick Harkaway
“Society is based on discontent: people wanting more and more and more, being continually dissatisfied with their homes, their bodies, their decor, their clothes, everything.” PeopleHomeBodyClothesDiscontentDissatisfiedDecorWanting More Author:Nick Harkaway
“The trouble with shooting people, Edie Banister now remembers, is that it's so hard to do just one.” PeopleHardRememberTroubleShootingJust One Author:Nick Harkaway
“The problem isn't who is in charge. It's what is in charge. The problem is that people are encouraged to function as machines. Or, actually, as mechanisms. Human emotion and sympathy are unprofessional. They are inappropriate to the exercise of reason. Everything which makes people good - makes them human - is ruled out. The system doesn't care about people, but we treat it as if it were one of us, as if it were the sum of our goods and not the product of our least admirable compromises.” PeopleIfsHumansReasonProblemCareEmotionProductsExerciseMachinesTreatsFunctionCompromiseGoodsMechanismAdmirableInappropriateHuman Emotions Book:The Gone-Away World Source: The Gone-Away World
“People don't want children to know what they need to know. They want their kids to know what they ought to need to know. If you're a teacher you're in a constant battle with mildly deluded adults who think the world will get better if you imagine it is better. You want to teach about sex? Fine, but only when they're old enough to do it. You want to talk politics? Sure, but nothing modern. Religion? So long as you don't actually think about it. Otherwise some furious mob will come to your house and burn you for a witch.” PeopleIfsThinkingKnowsWorldWantNeedsChildrenLongEnoughKidsHouseSexTeachTeacherImagineModernFineOughtBattleAdultsConstantGet BetterWitchFuriousDeluded Author:Nick Harkaway
