Laurel Lazar

“WHAT IS SOCIAL NETWORKING? – it’s a way for submissives to tweet, nudge and post their way to oblivion. While dominants get on with using their time to create things and dominate the world, the submissives fritter their time away in the most futile stream of trivial consciousness ever known. The intergalactic static that provides the microwave echo of the Big Bang has come to life in the shape of Facebook and Twitter. Now we can hear the vacuum speak.”
― Adam Weishaupt, Resurrection: The Origin of a Religious Fallacy

“Things changed when my phone outsmarted me. Once Facebook had a permanent place in my pocket, it became a permanent portal—able to transport me away from my family. Even if we were physically in the same room, I wasn’t necessarily there with them. Facebook was no longer simply a naptime vacation but an all-day form of escapism.”
― Wendy Speake, The 40-Day Social Media Fast: Exchange Your Online Distractions for Real-Life Devotion

“she died of alcoholism
wrapped in a blanket
on a deck chair
on an ocean
steamer.

all her books of
terrified loneliness

all her books about
the cruelty
of loveless love

were all that was left
of her

as the strolling vacationer
discovered her body

notified the captain

and she was quickly dispatched
to somewhere else
on the ship

as everything
continued just
as
she had written it.”
― Charles Bukowski, The Pleasures of the Damned

“Science is a time machine, and it goes both ways. We are able to predict our future with increasing certainty. Our ability to act in response to these predictions will ultimately determine our fate. Science and reason make the darkness visible. I worry that lack of investment in science and a retreat from reason may prevent us from seeing further, or delay our reaction to what we see, making a meaningful response impossible. There are no simple fixes. Our civilisation is complex, our global political system is inadequate, our internal differences of opinion are deep-seated. I’d bet you think you’re absolutely right about some things and virtually everyone else is an idiot. Climate Change? Europe? God? America? The Monarchy? Same-sex Marriage? Abortion? Big Business? Nationalism? The United Nations? The Bank Bailout? Tax Rates? Genetically Modified Crops? Eating Meat? Football? X Factor or Strictly? The way forward is to understand and accept that there are many opinions, but only one human civilisation, only one Nature, and only one science. The collective goal of ensuring that there is never less than one human civilisation must surely override our personal prejudices. At least we have come far enough in 40,800 years to be able to state the obvious, and this is a necessary first step.”
― Brian Cox, Human Universe: A Sunday Times Bestseller of Popular Science, Astronomy, and the Cosmos