When we live the 21st-century good life, almost every aspect of it is predicated on not looking at the implications of what we're up to. Happiness at this point has a lot to do with not looking, so you don't feel complicit in some vast and awful enterprise.
Interpretation
Happiness may stem from ignoring the unpleasant realities of our modern lives.
Paolo Bacigalupi's quote explores the notion that contemporary happiness is often based on willful ignorance of the moral and ethical implications of our lifestyles. In the pursuit of what is often called the 'good life,' individuals may choose to overlook the broader consequences of their actions, thereby finding temporary joy while remaining unaware of their complicity in larger societal issues.
In practice
This quote can be used in a debate about consumer culture and environmental responsibility.
All the definitions people want to put on you in terms of what kind of writer you are come with hidden meanings. If you're writing science fiction, you're writing rocket ships. If you write dystopian fiction, it's inequity where The Man must be fought.
Pioneering spirit should continue, not to conquer the planet or space ... but rather to improve the quality of life.
When people get taken over by the ego to such an extent, there is nothing else in their mind except the ego. They can no longer feel or sense their humanity - what they share with other human beings, or even with other life forms on the planet. They are so identified with concepts in their minds that other human beings become concepts as well.
The true man breathes with his heels.
Now let us find solace in the finished work of our Lord Jesus. Everything is fully done: justice demands no more.
'My country, right or wrong' is a thing no patriot would ever think of saying except in a desperate case. It is like saying 'My mother, drunk or sober.'
It appears to be in the nature of religion itself to be prejudiced against those who are different.
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