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All this talk of using tax policy to 'assess social costs'...what a dumb idea. The only way to stop polluters is to put them against walls and shoot them.

David Brin

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David Brin
Age: 74
Born: 1950
Born: October 6
Astronomer
Astrophysicist
Novelist
Physicist
Science Fiction Writer
Scientist
Screenwriter
Writer
Glendale
California
USA
Glen David Brin
Stop
Walls
Talk
Shoot
Idea
Dumb
Social
Using
Ideas
Taxes
Way
Cost
Polluters
Wall
Assess
Policy
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The fundamental premise of sci-fi is not spaceships and lasers - it's that children can learn from the mistakes of their parents.
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In historical fact, all of history's despots, combined, never managed to get things done as well as this rambunctious, self-critical civilization of free and sovereign citizens, who have finally broken free of worshipping a ruling class and begun thinking for themselves. Democracy can seem frustrating and messy at times, but it delivers.
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It's how creativity works. Especially in humans. For every good idea, ten thousand idiotic ones must first be posed, sifted, tried out, and discarded. A mind that's afraid to toy with the ridiculous will never come up with the brilliantly original.
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If you believe you can make a living as a writer, you already have enough ego.
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In the end, the work of diplomats continues even while others fight. So, it's not necessarily true that everyone needs to march.
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I hate the whole übermensch, superman temptation that pervades science fiction. I believe no protagonist should be so competent, so awe-inspiring, that a committee of 20 really hard-working, intelligent people couldn't do the same thing.
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