How we cite our quotes: (Chapter.Paragraph)
Quote #1
The heirs of drug wars past had been in eclipse this last decade; access to "ecstasy and enhancement" was so widespread that competition had done what enforcement could never accomplish. (1.52)
Rainbows End doesn't focus on this, but the growth of tech changes the drug market seriously. Basically, tech crushes the illegal drug trade—at least for the old drugs. So already we see how much change comes from tech.
Quote #2
Every day there were new changes in himself, and old barriers suddenly removed. He could easily accept Reed Weber's advice to be patient with his limitations. So much was changing and all for the better. One day he was walking again, even if it was a lurching, unstable gait. He fell three times that first day, and each time, he just bounced back to his feet. (3.46)
This section soon moves on to Robert playing ping-pong on a very old table, but let's just look at this part, which emphasizes Robert's changes. One curious aspect of these medical changes is that they are, in effect, changing him back to the days before he got old. There aren't a lot of changes back in this book.
Quote #3
"Oh." Chumlig looked kind of sad for a moment, like she was figuring out how to pass on bad news. "Administration has changed a lot, Dean Blount."
Winston Blount sat back in his chair. "Okay. So we have to learn some new tricks." (4.102-3)
Blount is another man out of time. Like Robert, he wants to get back on top—and he's willing to… well, what? Chumlig says that there are changes, but Blount doesn't seem to take them seriously when he says that he'll learn the new tricks. Memo to Blount: the change isn't just "tricks."
Quote #4
But the poems he wrote, almost without conscious effort, were already in a different world from what his poor teachers normally encountered. They considered themselves blessed to be in his presence—and rightly so.
But in this brave new world he could see only a fraction of the "compositions" the students allegedly created, and he had no doubt they could appreciate very little about his work. (6.1-2)
Like Blount, Robert doesn't really take this future changes seriously. Notice how he says the students "allegedly" create works and how he has to put composition in quotation marks. This is Robert in high jerk form. But we also get a glimpse here of his past, of how great he used to be as a poet. So sure, he's in for a rude awakening, but you might almost feel bad for the guy who has to face this level of change.
Quote #5
One of the sand crabs reared back, a lurker drawn into the open. "So what's new in that? My brother is all unemployed and depressed, and he's only twenty. It's hard to keep up." (10.6)
The oldsters are not alone in being left behind by all the technological changes. As one of Miri's friends tells her (in a virtual world), even young(ish) people have to work hard to stay current. Is this an accurate statement?
Quote #6
Lazy bum, thought Robert, and wondered at Sharif's earlier enthusiasm for "real books." But he had noticed the trend even in his own teaching days. It wasn't just the students who refused to get their hands dirty. Even so-called researchers ignored the universe of things that weren't online. (12.122)
Once again, Robert reacts to a change by getting angry or dismissive: here, when Zulfikar Sharif says that digital archives are pretty cool, Robert immediately goes to calling him a lazy bum. But this isn't a totally new change, as Robert notes. Back in his time, students and teachers started getting into digital archives. So not everything about the future is totally new.
Quote #7
Lena watched the other woman for a second and then she seemed to wilt back into her wheelchair. She looked down at her granddaughter. "Poor Miri. You don't understand. You live in a time that thinks it can ignore the human condition." She cocked her head. "You never read Secrets of the Ages, did you?" (13.107)
For Lena, whose disease can't be cured (and whose ex-husband was a total jerk), all those medical miracles can't change the human condition; as she tells her granddaughter Miri, the future tech "distracts you from the bedrock of reality" (109). This is the meaning of Robert's poem sequence Secrets of the Ages, according to Lena: some stuff can be changed, but the human condition remains the same.
Quote #8
The Mysterious Stranger waved them on through the brush. "A tradition?" he said. "But that would be a plus. Like panty raids and putting automobiles on top of administration buildings. The sort of thing that made American universities great." (21.19)
Of course, to Rabbit/The Mysterious Stranger, it's the prank-like traditions that made American universities great. So it's no wonder that he would want to contribute by making the library riot into a sort of tradition. Which nicely points out how traditions start as change, as something new (and probably disruptive). It's only when it sticks around that it becomes "tradition" and we forget what a big change it was in the first place.
Quote #9
Sometimes decisions come down to one poor slob on the ground. (31.29)
Bob has a lot more firepower in 2025 than he would have in 2013. His command also involves far fewer actual marines (20.135). But some things don't change in a war or battle, like how the soldiers at the scene sometimes have to make decisions for themselves. Note also that this comment of Bob's is present tense and broad—it's not just "this decision," but multiple "decisions." Bob recognizes that this is a situation that will continue to happen without serious change.
Quote #10
Grades for the demos wouldn't be available for another twenty hours or so. They would have plenty of time to agonize over their failings. Nevertheless, Louise Chumlig looked quite cheerful, giving each student her congratulations—and deflecting all manner of questions about whether this or that deficit should truly be of any grading significance. (34.1)
To end, here's another aspect of the future that remains the same as now: even when students might make money with their final projects, it's hard not to worry about the grade. Maybe one day we'll have computerized teachers that give grades immediately. We can only hope. (Also, note that this is from Robert's POV and he doesn't call Chumlig or the students any names—so we know he's changed.)