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“At parties, people no longer showed off their new gadgets, jewelry, or hairstyles, but prosthetic cochleas that improved the sense of balance, artificial muscles with augmented contraction characteristics, prosthetic limbs that obeyed mental directions, or updated firmware that enhanced sensory organs. SBT developed a revolutionary substance for mediating between the biological and the electronic worlds. Extracted from the gladii of squids, this modified chitosan complex could convert the biological ion flow that carried brain signals into electric currents that could be deciphered by machines, thereby seamlessly forming a feedback loop between the nervous system and the prosthesis. The invention had expanded the definition of the boundary of the body beyond imagination.”
― Chen Qiufan, Waste Tide

“The offices in the skyscrapers were lit bright as day. The giant eye zoomed in and observed a hundred thousand faces staring at computer monitors through closed-circuit cameras; their tension, anxiety, anticipation, confusion, satisfaction, suspicion, jealousy, anger refreshed rapidly while their glasses reflected the data jumping across their screens. Their looks were empty but deep, without thought of the relationship between their lives and values, yearning for change but also afraid of it. They gazed at their screens the way they gazed at each other, and they hated their screens the way they hated each other. They all possessed the same bored, apathetic face.”
― Chen Qiufan, Waste Tide

“So selfish. Chen Kaizong's first response upon hearing the elder's soliloquy was disgust.
He knew very well how people were exploited and oppressed. This was a common theme throughout history: take any group of people- it didn't matter if they were of different races or compatriots- some always set themselves apart as a higher class, and, in the name of gods, the nation, or 'progress,' made laws and constructed rules that allowed them to dominate the lives of the other classes, to own their bodies as well as their spirits.”
― Chen Qiufan, Waste Tide

“Uncle Chen's laugh was gentle, and he looked at the young man with pity and affection. "Remember, from the beginning of history till now, we have had only one society: a society based on the law of the jungle."
Kaizong wanted to bring up more evidence for his position, but he knew, deep down, that Uncle Chen had a better handle on the truth. It wasn't a truth written down in books, but something rooted deeply in the soil, tested by blood and fire.”
― Chen Qiufan, Waste Tide

“Now, any further excuses would be stumbling blocks for the collective, and all plans and acts would be highly efficient. This was the decision of all.”
― Chen Qiufan, Waste Tide

“Welcome to Anarchy.Cloud. We provide information storage and remote computing services from low orbit server stations. Our operating entity belongs to no nation, political party, or corporation. As far as practicable, we endeavor to help you circumvent laws like the American PATRIOT Act and the supplements to the European Union’s Article 29 of the Data Protection Directive, which are designed to invade data privacy in the name of antiterrorism.”
― Chen Qiufan, Waste Tide

“Like a gust of wind, Scott swept past all of this. The scenery stretched and distorted in his vision, blurring like the wild strokes of Postimpressionists. He had to keep himself from howling, and all sound was tossed behind with the streaming air, fading rapidly. He shifted and sensed the higher torque from a lower gear, as though the mechanical beast between his legs had melded with his body so that no matter what the road conditions, the machine would sensitively and appropriately translate his intent into motion. Fusing Man with machine. The idea surfaced in Scott’s mind, unbidden. Just like the shocking tale he had heard a few hours ago. The mysterious prosthesis with the serial number SBT-VBPII32503439 was intended to replace the back of the skull between the coronal suture and the lambdoid suture, including parts of the parietal and occipital bones.”
― Chen Qiufan, Waste Tide

“Scott felt a part of his brain light up. He had been repressed for too long in this restricted-bitrate zone; the turtle-like network speed and the bogged-down progress of the project made it hard for him to breathe. He suddenly understood what he needed: speed. The careless sensation of hurtling along like a lightning bolt, even if it meant placing a man’s fragile flesh and bones on the edge of a knife. A powerful desire, almost suffocating in its urgency, drove him, and he yearned to press his skin and flesh against this cold metal monster, as it trembled, growled, and bolted away, never to stop.”
― Chen Qiufan, Waste Tide

“Exact location unknownâ€� struck him in the chest like an icepick. He refused to trust anyone and pledged that he would find her with his own methods. He knew the art of crafting code, of shaping symbols to carry out his will without forbearance. Almost unnoticed, a certain computer virus with directed propagation began to spread among IP addresses in Silicon Isle, infecting more and more machines and taking over web terminals frequented by the waste people.”
― Chen Qiufan, Waste Tide

“Kaizong understood very well that the figure who stood before him was far more than an old man at the twilight of life. The sparkling lights that emitted from his eyes were clearly the result of the latest model of augmented-reality contact lenses, though Kaizong wasn’t sure of the access level. In this restricted-bitrate zone, an old man so equipped was a terrifying figure, as though he could tear off his disguise and, in a flash, turn into a cold-blooded warrior.”
― Chen Qiufan, Waste Tide

“Kaizong watched Uncle Chen’s solemn expression; watched the young people taking photographs and recordings of the proceedings so that the files could be sent to the email addresses of dead relatives; watched the silent, praying faces, childish or lined, flickering in the flames from the candles and burning incense—and something deep in him was moved. Perhaps there would come a day when everything he was looking at would be replaced by virtual reality, by simulation, by technology, but what couldn’t be replaced was how people longed for those they loved. They needed some ceremony, some platform, some way to cross the border between life and death, to connect the past to the present, to shape the formless memories and longing into objects, acts, or ritualized performances so that the feelings that had been numbed by the passage of time might be reawakened, so that the pain of loss, once heartbreaking and bone-weary, could be recalled along with the endless memories that followed.”
― Chen Qiufan, Waste Tide

“siempre había un grupo de gente, no importaba si eran de la misma o de diferente raza, que terminaba por considerarse de una clase superior, ya fuese en nombre de los dioses, de la nación o del «progreso». Dicho grupo escribía las leyes y creaba normas que le permitiesen dominar las vidas de los demás, tanto en cuerpo como en alma.”
― Chen Qiufan, Marea tóxica