#we robots

... human beings are not Darwinian survivalists, they are maximalists. What makes the maximalizing of our cultures possible is our playfulness and our narrative inventions, which are distillations of play.

Proust advocated generosity and kindness before all else. But his native generosity became the acid of social criticism when his unflinching, unapologetic regard fell upon the cruelty of self-interest. He considered cruelty more than anything else just maddeningly, puzzlingly, and infinitely stupid... For the gentle Marcel, deliberate unkindness, especially when motivated by self-interest, hurt him and angered him more than anything else he could name.

Nature is what we are—when we are most worthy of ourselves.

... somewhere in that ocean of acute perception that we know as In Search of Lost Time, Marcel Proust makes the following observation: the most common thing about humans is not common sense but human kindness. Unhappily, he goes on, our natural disposition to kindness is too often defeated by our contrary disposition to self-interest. Buddhist dharma puts much the same dynamic in these terms: everyone shares in Buddha-nature, but that can be lost through anger, greed, and delusion. As a result, there is suffering.