We are all susceptible to the pull of viral ideas. Like mass hysteria. Or a tune that gets … - Neal Stephenson

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You can create an intimate community of about 20 or 25 people, and beyond that you're into a different kind of relationship.

Neal Stephenson

We are all susceptible to the pull of viral ideas. Like mass hysteria. Or a tune that gets into your head that you keep humming all day until you spread it to someone else. Jokes. Urban legends. Crackpot religions. Marxism. No matter how smart we get, there is always this deep irrational part that makes us potential hosts for self-replicating information.

Hosts, Hysteria, Religions, Smart, Urban Legends

Same Author Quotes

Until a man is twenty-five, he still thinks, every so often, that under the right circumstances he could be the baddest motherfucker in the world. If I moved to a martial-arts monastery in China and studied real hard for ten years. If my family was wiped out by Colombian drug dealers and I swore myself to revenge. If I got a fatal disease, had one year to live, and devoted it to wiping out street crime. If I just dropped out and devoted my life to being bad.

Art, Real, Revenge, Under, Wiping, Years

Ninety-nine percent of everything that goes on in most Christian churches has nothing whatsoever to do with the actual religion. Intelligent people all notice this sooner or later, and they conclude that the entire one hundred percent is bullshit, which is why atheism is connected with being intelligent in people's minds.

Atheist, Christian, Intelligent, Nothing, People, Percent

When you are wrestling for possession of a sword, the man with the handle always wins.

Handle, Man, Men, Possession, Winning, Wrestling

You should not believe a thing only because you like to believe it. We call that 'Diax's Rake.

Believe, Call, Rake, Rakes, Should, Thing

See, the world is full of things more powerful than us. But if you know how to catch a ride, you can go places.

Know, Know How, Places, Powerful, World