Sign in with Facebook
“Morning, noon & bloody night,
Seven sodding days a week,
I slave at filthy WORK, that might
Be done by any book-drunk freak.
This goes on until I kick the bucket.
FUCK IT FUCK IT FUCK IT FUCK IT”
― Philip Larkin: Letters to Monica
Seven sodding days a week,
I slave at filthy WORK, that might
Be done by any book-drunk freak.
This goes on until I kick the bucket.
FUCK IT FUCK IT FUCK IT FUCK IT”
― Philip Larkin: Letters to Monica
“Think of how stupid the average person is, and realize half of them are stupider than that.”
―
―
“Turns out that when something gets cheaper, or more efficient, we just end up using so much more of the stuff that the savings disappear under a wave of increased consumption.
They call it the “Jevons Paradox”, and it applies to pretty much any human resource. Halve the price of computer memory, we'll increase demand by a factor of four. Increase solar efficiency by ten times, we'll suck back twenty times as much of the stuff. And you just know that if we resort to geoengineering to buy time—use stratospheric sulfates to compensate for ongoing carbon emissions, for example—people will just be that much less inclined to cut those emissions any time soon. We are not wired for restraint; let us off the leash, and we will devour whatever is available.”
― Peter Watts Is An Angry Sentient Tumor: Revenge Fantasies and Essays
They call it the “Jevons Paradox”, and it applies to pretty much any human resource. Halve the price of computer memory, we'll increase demand by a factor of four. Increase solar efficiency by ten times, we'll suck back twenty times as much of the stuff. And you just know that if we resort to geoengineering to buy time—use stratospheric sulfates to compensate for ongoing carbon emissions, for example—people will just be that much less inclined to cut those emissions any time soon. We are not wired for restraint; let us off the leash, and we will devour whatever is available.”
― Peter Watts Is An Angry Sentient Tumor: Revenge Fantasies and Essays
“Of course, no one’s immune to these biases; I’ve caught myself cherry-picking data on more than one occasion. To that extent we all live in glass houses. But there are ways of error-checking yourself, if you care to use them. The scientific method, at its heart, is a set of tools explicitly designed to break through bias and shine a light on the empirical information underneath. Recognizing our prejudices, we can overcome them. But one thing we cannot do—and it has taken me so very long to realize this—is reason successfully with those who reject such tools. Logic doesn’t matter to a Jehovah’s Witness. Fossils mean nothing to a creationist. All the data in the world will not change the mind of a true climate-change denier. You cannot reason with these people. You cannot take them seriously. It is a waste of energy to even try.”
― Peter Watts Is An Angry Sentient Tumor: Revenge Fantasies and Essays
― Peter Watts Is An Angry Sentient Tumor: Revenge Fantasies and Essays
Weird Books!
— 545 members
— last activity Mar 02, 2026 08:15AM
Are you the author of a weird book? Are you enjoying a weird book that you'd like to tell others about? Are you an actual weird book that has somehow ...more
Spells, Space & Screams: Collections & Anthologies in Fantasy, Science Fiction, & Horror
— 254 members
— last activity 13 hours, 29 min ago
Welcome to the kingdom of short stories! Every month we will read a collection or anthology. Each book will contain short stories in fantasy, science ...more
Lovecraft Ezine
— 102 members
— last activity Oct 29, 2019 12:43PM
The official Lovecraft Ezine Magazine book group. Every month we will discuss lovecraftian stories, either short story, novella, or full length book. ...more
Friends of Chômu Press
— 88 members
— last activity Mar 24, 2017 01:04PM
The greatest enemy of art and of suicide is the world's indifference. -Quentin S. Crisp, from All God's Angels, Beware! Mission: A group dedicate ...more
Waffles’s 2025 Year in Books
Take a look at Waffles’s Year in Books, including some fun facts about their reading.
146 books
|
1,870 friends
274 books
|
60 friends
8,437 books
|
729 friends
2,049 books
|
198 friends
176 books
|
494 friends
3,220 books
|
883 friends
966 books
|
192 friends
925 books
|
380 friends
More friends…
Favorite Genres
Polls voted on by Waffles
Lists liked by Waffles
