Straton wrote that the most common error we commit is to think that ideas determine reality, when in fact the opposite is true. Ideas follow from material conditions; belief systems are formed to explain and justify the way we live. We did not have kings because we believed in the mandate of heaven; we believed in the mandate of heaven because we lived in monarchies.

1K: There will always be user error.
Melville: I think I could idiot proof this thing... but I do take your point. Pellegrino once almost killed himself with a bucket.

The beauty of the universe and the beauty of what we can accomplish within it are two related but separate things, and the separation matters.

If humankind had no more cause for war, if would make war for sport instead.

The truth cannot be pursued or uncovered, it can only be found where it has already taken root.