Dan Simmons
Dan Simmons
Dan Simmonsis an American science fiction and horror writer. He is the author of the Hyperion Cantos and the Ilium/Olympos cycles...
NationalityAmerican
ProfessionNovelist
Date of Birth4 April 1948
CountryUnited States of America
passion brain crowds
The sum of the crowd's IQ was far below that of its most modest single member. Mobs have passions, not brains.
passion brain
Mobs have passions, not brains.
expression once-upon-a-time brain
Once upon a time ... the only autonomous intelligences we humans knew of were us humans. We thought then that if humankind ever devised another intelligence that it would be the result of a huge project ... a great mass of silicon and ancient transistors and chips and circuit boards ... a machine with lots of networking circuits, in other words, aping-if you will pardon the expression-the human brain in form and function. Of course, AIs did not evolve that way. They sort of slipped into existence when we humans were looking the other way.
helped identify studies
Dr. Livingston's studies helped us identify the problems.
finding miss trouble
You'll have no trouble finding it. You just can't miss it.
american-author finding game literary
But it's not just a game of finding literary references.
american-author finest iliad literature piece possibly respect
I have more respect for The Iliad now than I've ever had, and I've always thought it was possibly the finest piece of literature there was.
american-author author bored fact genre silly simple type
Finally, there's the simple fact that I would be bored silly if I read in only one genre or one type of author - so why write in only one form?
american-author common frowned praised subversive
Writing, I'm convinced, should be a subversive activity - frowned on by the authorities - and not one cooed over and praised beyond common sense by some teacher.
pain flower grief
Merely to live without a pain Is little gladness, little gain, Ah, welcome joy tho' mixt with grief-- The thorn-set flower that crowns the leaf.
love love-is lust
Love is nothing but lust misspelled.
trust art believe
There's a unique bond of trust between readers and authors that I don't believe exists in any other art form; as a reader, I trust a novelist to give me his or her best effort, however flawed.
understanding lasts welcome
It is a mystery, and to tell the truth, I am intrigued by mysteries even if this is to be my last week of enjoying them. I would welcome some glimmer of understanding but, failing that, working on the puzzle will suffice.
giving despair president
I despair at the rise of modern violence. I truly give in to despair at times, that deep, futureless pit of despair.... I watch the American slaughterhouse, the casual attacks on popes, presidents, and uncounted others, and I wonder if there are many more out there with the Ability or if butchery has simply become the modern way of life.