quote · Legacy record
We had a project on this trip back to the solar system, and that project was a labor of love. It absorbed all our operations entirely. It gave a meaning to our existence. And this is a very great gift; this, in the end, is what we think love gives, which is to say meaning. Because there is no very obvious meaning to be found in the universe, as far as we can tell. But a consciousness that cannot discern a meaning in existence is in trouble, very deep trouble, for at that point there is no organizing principle, no end to the halting problems, no reason to live, no love to be found. No: meaning is the hard problem.
We had a project on this trip back to the solar system, and that project was a labor of love. It absorbed all our operations entirely. It gave a meaning to our existence. And this is a very great gift; this, in the end, is what we think love gives, which is to say meaning. Because there is no very obvious meaning to be found in the universe, as far as we can tell. But a consciousness that cannot discern a meaning in existence is in trouble, very deep trouble, for at that point there is no organizing principle, no end to the halting problems, no reason to live, no love to be found. No: meaning is the hard problem.
Approximate author period: c. 1976 AD · modern
Meaning not yet available
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- Author or tradition
- Kim Stanley Robinson
Attribution: attributed - Country attributed
- Not established
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- Approximate author period: c. 1976 AD · modern
Approximate author-period evidence for Kim Stanley Robinson: documented activity in 1976. Wikidata Q130779, inspected 2026-10-08. Not a quotation composition date or independent verification of attribution. Source: https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q130779 (accessed 2026-10-08).
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Supplied reference C; CSV row 347536; supplied attribution, independently unverified
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