I've read plenty of amazing science pieces where the writers don't hang out in labs. I just have fun doing it. And I get rewarded for it; I get gushy, especially when kids tell me they expected to be bored by my books, but weren't.
Mary RoachRead
It is interesting to come across people who feel that a ghost communicating via a spell-checker is less far-fetched than a software glitch.
Interpretation
What this quote means
The quote highlights the absurdity of people's beliefs about technology and the supernatural.
In this quote, Mary Roach points out a peculiar irony: that some individuals find it more believable for a ghost to communicate through a spell-checker than to accept the possibility of a simple software glitch. This reflects a broader commentary on human perceptions of technology and the whimsical ways we interpret the inexplicable around us, often preferring fantastical explanations over rational ones.
Themes
TechnologyBeliefGhostsHumorSoftwareCommunication
In practice
Example use cases
During a tech conference, someone might use this quote to highlight the quirks of how we perceive technology.
More from Mary Roach
All quotes βFollow your instincts. Do the kind of writing you love to do and do best. 'Stiff' was an oddball book - I mean, a funny book about cadavers? - and I worried that it would be too unconventional. In the end, that's what has made it a success, I think.
Mary RoachRead
I don't fear death so much as I fear its prologues: loneliness, decrepitude, pain, debilitation, depression, senility. After a few years of those, I imagine death presents like a holiday at the beach.
Mary RoachRead
I'm drawn to the taboos that surround the human body. I find it fascinating that we are repelled by many of the acts and processes that keep us alive.
Mary RoachRead
I began thinking about my skeleton, this solid, beautiful thing inside me that I would never see.
Mary RoachRead
I walk up and down the rows. The heads look like rubber halloween masks. They also look like human heads, but my brain has no precedent for human heads on tables or in roasting pans or anywhere other than on top of a human bodies, and so I think it has chosen to interpret the sight in a more comforting manner. - Here we are at the rubber mask factory. Look at the nice men and woman working on the masks.
Mary RoachRead
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Marketers use big data profiling to predict who is about to get pregnant, who is likely to buy a new car, and who is about to change sexual orientations. That's how they know what ads to send to whom. The NSA, meanwhile, wants to know who is likely to commit an act of terrorism - and for this, they need us.
Douglas RushkoffRead