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Together they called Louis the Infernal Optimist. He'd burn the house down looking for a bright side.

Maybe the only way to keep living was to willingly forget large parts of the narrative of your life and then just live with what was left.

Let’s ask: which came first, the violence or the pain?

“I’ve taken to imagining [AI] as a demon that’s deliberately misinterpreting your reward and actively searching for the laziest possible local optima. It’s a bit ridiculous, but I’ve found it’s actually a productive mindset to have,” writes Alex Irpan, an AI researcher at Google.

Do electric sheep dream of Roy Batty?

We want things we cannot have. We seek to reclaim a certain moment, sound, sensation. I want to hear my mother’s voice. I want to see my children as children. Hands small, feet swift. Everything changes. Boy grown, father dead, daughter taller than me, weeping from a bad dream. Please stay forever, I say to the things I know. Don’t go. Don’t grow.

In time we often become one with those we once failed to understand.

"What do you look for in a book? A pocket tutor: all the advantages of a teacher without the disadvantages."

all things, my son,
transmute into old age,
life diminishes,
everything declines,
the proliferation of kinds
is a mere illusion,
and no one knows
to what end.

It occurred to me, as the heavy curtains were opened and the morning light flooded the small dining area, that without a doubt we sometimes eclipse our own dreams with reality.

Begin Volume 7

I couldn’t assimilate his kindness with my expectations that the world was a constant disappointment until you died.