"Celebrity has merged human institutions into a “much-of-a-mulchness”, such that the values surrounding political leaders and infamous sex workers are becoming increasingly indistinguisable."

“There is, I believe, a great deal to be learned from faith traditions – from the ordinary people who practice them today; from their sacred texts and writings and artefacts; and from their histories. Faith traditions present a rich and diverse vein of human experience, and I am convinced that — as with other humanities — a serious interest in them is a cultural education in itself.”

“Learning is something I’m good at, given the right conditions. Drop me in the middle of an academic subject I care about, and that has relatively clearly defined boundaries, and I can do "expert" more quickly and more comprehensively than most. It’s not vacuous memorization: I’m no savant. What I do is create a schema of fundamental knowledge and understandings, usually over-learned using SQ3R, and that schema then becomes a powerful magnet for related information.”

“I'm a long-haul Cosmic anthropologist, which means I hop around isolate-planets  in order to study Advanced Language Species . I specialise in First Stage Globalization terrestrials. Most FSG planets have whole-world silicon-based communication technologies in situ, and thus as soon as I’m near enough, I ’plug in’, and shortly after make contact. Well, I’ve been plugged in for quite some time, but this is my first contact. Sorry about that.”

“We’ve been listening into and watching your planet’s radio and television transmissions ever since Reginald Fessenden proclaimed, ‘Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace to men of good willies’, back in 1906. Since then, our research at the University of Weagu Tafrid has focused primarily on the concept of human “celebrity”.”