Ball Lightning

Ding Yi said that, from the perspective of quantum mechanics, death is the pro­cess of transitioning from a strong observer to a weak observer, and then to a non-­observer.

The next development was in bee toxicity: joining the initial highly toxic variety that could kill instantly was a new breed, equally deadly, but with mortality delayed by five to ten days, so as to increase the burden on the ­enemy....

Now who’s being anti-­materialistic? The observer ­doesn’t need consciousness.” Ding Yi grinned dev­ilishly at her.

I lost count of the people

allowing emotion to trump reason

Swords can be made into plowshares,

“From a physics perspective, the form of matter movement known as life has no more meaning than any other movement of matter. You can’t find any new physical laws in life, so from my standpoint, the death of a person and the melting of an ice cube are essentially the same thing.

untethered to each other

The entrance to science is the entrance to hell.—Marx.

t, yet you want to turn it mysterious. I’m the opposite: I’m used to taking sacred things and turning them ordinary.”