“The effort to understand the universe is one of the very few things that lifts human life a little above the level of farce and gives it some of the grace of tragedy.” —Steven Weinberg, Nobel Prize in Physics, The First Three Minutes (1977) #booksinmybookcasegoober #science

“Nations hate other nations for the evil which is in themselves.” —George W. Russell

“I don't challenge irrational beliefs because I'm a pessimist who thinks people are hopelessly stupid. I do it because I am an optimist who thinks people can do better.” —Guy P. Harrison, marooned in the 21st century #booksbyguypharrison

An autograph I picked up along the way... (Gene Kranz, NASA's Chief Flight Director. Directed Mercury, Gemini, and Apollo missions, including the first Moon landing. He led the Mission Control team that helped save the crew of Apollo 13.) #anautographipickedupalongtheway

UFO Experts and Profiteers: No SETI and Professional Astrobiologists: Yes I want to believe (But I'm not gullible).

“We don’t have an intelligence problem. We have a compassion problem. That, more than any other single factor, is what’s driving us toward extinction.” —Blake Crouch, Upgrade, 2022 novel #booksbyguypharrison

“But one more thing, if anybody’s listening, that is. Nothing scientific. It’s purely personal. But seen from out here, everything seems different. Time bends. Space is boundless. It squashes a man’s ego. I feel lonely.” Michael Wilson and Rod Serling, Planet of the Apes, 1968 #booksbyguypharrison

“My only enemy is time.” —Charlie Chaplin

“People like the illusion of choice. Gives them comfort in these strange times.” ―Chuck Wendig, Aftermath: Star Wars, 2015 novel “Hope clouds observation.” ―Frank Herbert, Dune, 1965 novel #booksbyguypharrison

So much more than robots and ray guns, science fiction is the ceaseless storm of thoughts that perfectly illuminates the boundless creativity of a three-pound blob of electrochemical magic known as the human brain. #booksbyguypharrison #sciencefiction

“Humans are amaze.” —Rocky, Project Hail Mary by Andy Weir, 2021 novel “Time travels us.” —Ursula K. Le Guin, “Ether, OR,” 1995 short story “Machines building machines. How perverse.” ―C-3PO, Attack of the Clones (Star Wars: Episode II), 2002 film, written by George Lucas and Jonathan Hales

50 simple questions... #booksbyguypharrison

Excellent book for the absurd times we are living in. Highly recommended. #kakistocracy #idiocracy

Unique perspective... #booksbyguypharrison

Fascism is the stubborn zombie that just won’t die. It keeps showing up around the world, banging on doors and hoping enough people will be naïve and angry enough to open it. www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/abou...

How many Americans today are aware of the fascism/Nazi-admiration movement in the United States during the '30s? Aviator Charles Lindbergh, one of the most popular and beloved American heroes of all time, supported it to some degree. (Photo: 1939 fascism rally in NYC's Madison Square Gardens)

“Man molded the machine, but the machine is going to mold Man.” —John W. Campbell, 1938 (quoted in Astounding, by Alec Nevala-Lee)

The more we know, the more we can imagine. The more we can imagine, the more we can do. —Guy P. Harrison, At Least Know This: Essential Science to Enhance Your Life #booksbyguypharrison

“This is a microbial world, always has been and always will be.” —Joseph L. Graves Jr., A Voice in the Wilderness: A Pioneering Biologist Explains How Evolution Can Help Us Solve Our Biggest Problems

“You don’t see borders, you don’t see religious lines, you don’t see political boundaries... We are way more alike than we are different.” Christina Koch, Artemis II Beautiful words. But we don't have to leave the Earth to realize that we are one family torn apart by our own fearful imagination.

something my camera saw along the way... “My only enemy is time.” —Charlie Chaplin

AMAZE! AMAZE! AMAZE! #projecthailmary

“You can’t consume much if you sit still and read books.” ― Aldous Huxley, Brave New World, 1932 novel

I’m an unintended consequence of the Cambrian explosion. What are you?

Your brain lies to you a million times a day. Many of these lies are harmless if not useful deceptions, but some can be costly. Fortunately, the application of critical thinking can empower your brain to catch the most dangerous lies. #booksbyguypharrison #science #books #criticalthinking

Science fiction is our essential mirror. Look into it if you dare. Past, present, future, fears, hopes, failures, triumphs, heroes, villains, possible impossibilities... And it's all in this book. DAMN YOU, ENTROPY! 1,001 OF THE GREATEST SCIENCE FICTION QUOTES

What does it say about our species that this century could see the end of poverty and war? We might visit faraway worlds and significantly extend our lifespans, or... maybe it will be nuclear war, ecological ruin, and the collapse of modern civilization. Homo unpredictabilas

Your brain is lying to you every moment of every day. Our vision, hearing, memory, and ability to reason are not as reliable as we tend to believe. Critical thinking is essential. #booksbyguypharrison #science #philosophy #psychology #books #criticalthinking #brainscience

"In the name of rooting out corruption and supposed bias, fascist politicians attack and diminish the institutions that might otherwise check their power." —Jason Stanley, How Fascism Works: The Politics of Us and Them (2018)

“Fascist politicians know that their supporters will turn a blind eye to their own, true corruption since in their own case it is just a matter of members of the chosen nation taking what is rightfully theirs.” —Jason Stanley, How Fascism Works: The Politics of Us and Them #books #fasicm

“When a population is dependent on a machine, they are hostages of the men who tend the machines.” —Robert A. Heinlein, “The Roads Must Roll,” 1940 short story

“What I fear is that we’re losing the ability to tell the difference between our voice and the machines’. Or worse, losing the will to argue that there is one.” —Charles Yu, “Don’t Call It ‘Intelligence” (The Atlantic, March 5, 2026) #AI

“No one is useless in this world,” retorted the Secretary, “who lightens the burden of it for any one else.” ―Charles Dickens, Our Mutual Friend, 1864 novel

Arnold executed the perfect rep with this 2017 post

If you're curious about Artemis II, check this out... www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dyua...

Soooo, what horrors will Trump serve up next month to make the public and news media forget about this month?

“In moments of crisis, the sentimental clichés prove true. Nobody has come up with a better idea than love.” –Dorian Lynskey, Everything Must Go: The Stories We Tell About the End of the World, 2024 book #booksinmybookcase

“The prospect of building godlike creatures fills me with a sense of religious awe that goes to the very depth of my soul and motivates me powerfully to continue, despite the possible horrible negative consequences. I feel quite schizophrenic about this.” —Hugo de Garis, The Artilect War #AI

“In settler colonialism, the process by which colonists seize land and permanently displace its indigenous inhabitants, the very existence of those inhabitants must be concealed or minimized, and the land represented as empty.” —Jason Stanley, Erasing History #booksinmybookcase

“Fascism requires an enemy, preferably one who can appear to be dangerous but in fact is close to helpless compared to the might of the state.” ―James Lawrence Powell, The 2084 Report: A Novel of the Great Warming, 2011 novel #booksinmybookcase

“Totalitarianism demands, in fact, the continuous alteration of the past, and in the long run, probably demands a disbelief in the very existence of objective truth.” —George Orwell, “The Prevention of Literature,” 1946 essay #booksinmybookcase

“Race is a system of ideas that is constantly being transformed by human interactions. … Racial formations are a fabrication that, like shifting sands, change over time.” —Rina Bliss, What’s Real about Race?: Untangling Science, Genetics, and Society (2025) #booksinmybookcase #books #race #racism

The science fiction quotes book you’ve been waiting for... Damn You, Entropy! 1,001 of the Greatest Science Fiction Quotes. Available at Amazon, Barnes & Noble, and all bookstores. #ScienceFiction #SciFiQuotes #Books #Reading #SpeculativeFiction #booksbyguypharrison #quotes

It seems that three out of four Americans understand that these people are crazy. centerforinquiry.org/blog/good-ne...

Sharpen your thinking about gods and religions. It matters, regardless if you are a casual believer, apathetic atheist, fundamentalist zealot, or innocent bystander. www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/abou...

We are big-skulled, neuron-bloated, bipedal, omnivorous, microbe-hosting, information-sharing, culture-dependent, socially amplified, endothermic, multicellular organisms. But wait, there’s more! www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/abou...

“When we design shiny, futuristic, and seemingly flawless algorithms, and then train them with flawed, biased, and incomplete data, we risk entrenching into the future of our healthcare systems the damaging cycles that we should instead be breaking.” #booksinmybookcase

EGALITARIAN ORIGINS “For the vast majority of human history there were no chiefs, commanders, or aristocrats. There were none of the usual signs of disparities in power, whether that be unequally sized dwellings or an individual or group buried with especially extravagant goods." #booksinmybookcase

“It doesn’t matter who’s in charge, because this problem is out of humanity’s league. We need to back off, and find some other way to achieve our dreams of an abundant future. If anyone builds it, everyone dies.” —Eliezer Yudkowsky and Nate Soares #booksinmybookcase #AI

“You wouldn’t need to hate humanity to use their atoms for something else.” —Eliezer Yudkowsky and Nate Soares, If Anyone Builds It, Everyone Dies: Why Superhuman AI Would Kill Us All, 2025 book #booksinmybookcase #AI