"In sum: It’s awesome that Palmer’s Kickstarter has done so well — but look at what it’s entailed. It’s entailed time, effort, planning and work both backward and forward in time. That currently $439,000 isn’t a windfall for her; it’s a marker of what all that commitment to the work has earned.
"If you’re one of the people looking at her Kickstarter money with stars in your eyes and awesome plans of your own in your head, ask yourself first: Have you put in the time? Earned the credibility? Scoped out the financial balance sheet? Made the commitment to fulfill every single thing you have promised? Palmer has. If you haven’t — on any of this — be aware that your results, shall we say, may vary."

(The earlier part, about the very long process of reputation- and network- building which got Palmer to this point, is quite astute, but too long to excerpt.)

"Look, here's a simple fact: The alien didn't ask to be born. It didn't ask to have an evolutionary gestational strategy that relies partly on a third-party host. You can't in good conscience blame it for that. And when it is born, do humans gather 'round to appreciate the miracle of birth? They do not. They try to kill the alien. What choice does the alien have but to run and hide?
"And then, naked, cold, hungry, and outnumbered, what choice does the alien have but to try to survive? The humans are the ones hunting it with shock prods and flamethrowers. Can it really be blamed for fighting back? If you were being hunted down by heavily armed superior forces, would you be thinking, Well, golly, I'll just let them burn me to death with a flamethrower, that seems fair? It is, in a word, doubtful. You'd do what the alien does: fight back."

Indeed.

Thinking about it, I have spent >= $100/yr on particular artists in three cases: getting all of Catherynne Valente's books after reading _In the Night Garden_; buying fancy career-retrospective editions of Jack Vance; and a fancy edition of _Sandman_. This is not a viable career path.

"Aaaaaaand that’s then I want to start pressing the “It’s time for the goddamned revolution” button. By the time we get to the breakdowns of the monthly expenses of the seven 1% households profiled for the article, which features line items like $800 a month on wine and $1200 for the vacation house on the lake, I’m vaguely surprised Toronto isn’t on fire. The only people I feel any sort of commonality with are the immigrant family, who pack their own lunches for work and aside from the hair salon line item seem to have some perspective on their cash. The retired couple who invested well and are living off the proceeds also gets a pass, because, hey, that’s the goal, right? Otherwise: Purification by flame."

Bacteria colonies would in fact be far better suited to space travel than primates. Just saying...

"All of this is fine, if one recognizes that the idealized world Ayn Rand has created to facilitate her wishful theorizing has no more logical connection to our real one than a world in which an author has imagined humanity ruled by intelligent cups of yogurt. This is most obviously revealed by the fact that in Ayn Rand’s world, a man who self-righteously instigates the collapse of society, thereby inevitably killing millions if not billions of people, is portrayed as a messiah figure rather than as a genocidal prick, which is what he’d be anywhere else. Yes, he’s a genocidal prick with excellent engineering skills. Good for him. He’s still a genocidal prick. Indeed, if John Galt were portrayed as an intelligent cup of yogurt rather than poured into human form, this would be obvious. Oh my god, that cup of yogurt wants to kill most of humanity to make a philosophical point! Somebody eat him quick! And that would be that."

"Mussolini was called a fascist because he was a fascist, OG style, yo".

Do check out the photos as well