How we cite our quotes: (Chapter.Paragraph)
Quote #1
Where to spend his time? Ah! Atop Montjuïc. He turned down an alley. Where he emerged on the far side, the crowds were thin... and a tourist auto was just arriving for him. Alfred sat back in the single passenger cockpit and let his mind roam. The Montjuïc fortress was not the most impressive in Europe, and yet he had not seen it in some time. Like its brethren, it marked the bygone time when revolutions in destruction technology took decades to unfold, and mass murder could not be committed with the press of a button. (1.76)
The book doesn't make much of this, but Alfred is also kind of old (17.1); so when he goes to see an old fortress that marks a "bygone time," we should consider that Alfred might have known—well, okay, the Montjuïc fortress is from the 1600s, so Alfred isn't that old. But is it possible that his desire to get the world back to an old order has to do with his elderliness?
Quote #2
He just sat there, slumped to the side. His right hand rubbed again and again at the wrist of his left. And yet, this was a big improvement. Robert Gu, Sr, had been down to eighty pounds, a barely living vegetable, when UCSF Medical School took him on for their new treatment. It turned out the UCSF Alzheimer's cure worked where the years of conventional treatment had failed. (2.37)
This is Bob Jr.'s view of his dad and a reminder that Robert Gu nearly bought the farm. Not that we need a reminder: the first time we see Robert, we're told that he "should be dead" and we hear all about how badly off he is—or was. As Bob Gu notes here, Robert doesn't look good, just sitting there and rubbing his wrist, but this is "a big improvement." As we'll see, there's some different ways to get old in the future.
Quote #3
But the light was so bright that Robert saw fiery color even in the shadows. "It's all still a blur, but I haven't seen this well in..." he didn't know how long; time itself had been a darkness "...in years."
A woman spoke from right behind his shoulder. "You've been on the retinal meds for about a week, Robert. Today we felt we had a working population of cells present, so we decided to turn them on." (3.3-4)
The only reason we get Robert Gu as a protagonist in this book is because they have "technology" to combat the symptoms of old age. (Though as we'll see later, not every symptom and disease can be fixed.) We could here sympathize with the weirdness that Robert must be experiencing: here he had lost his marbles and his eyesight and now it's all coming back. (He describes the feeling of his eyeballs as "fizzing." Yeesh.) But let's also note that Robert will have to get used to all this new tech too. In other words: what are "retinal meds"?
Quote #4
"Okay then. You were a smart guy. You have a lot to learn, but I'm betting you'll get those smarts back. Don't panic if you can't remember something. Don't push too hard, either. Practically every day the docs are going to restore some additional capability. The theory is that this will be less disturbing for you. Whether that's right or wrong won't matter if you keep cool. Remember you have a whole loving family here." Lena. Robert lowered his head for a moment. Not a return to childhood, but a kind of second chance. If he could come all the way back from the Alzheimer's, if, if ... then he might have another twenty years left, time to make up for what he had lost. So two goals: his poetry, and ... "Lena." (3.38)
Here, Reed Weber (physician's assistant) tries to get Robert used to the idea of regaining certain abilities he's lost in his old age. Notice that Robert's "Return" (the name of the chapter) is controlled by doctors who have a schedule to "restore some additional capability" day-by-day instead of all at once. Also, note that Robert doesn't think of all the cool new things he could do—he's just interested in getting back what he lost. Is that because he's old and he's looking to the past instead of the future?
Quote #5
"Ah, that's the problem. Whoever is at the top of my affiliance is coy. We're just collecting information. Basically, some of these senior citizens used to be bigshots."
"If they were so big, how come they're in our classes now?" It was just the question the kids asked at school. (4.77-8)
Big Lizard (really Chumlig) has just told Juan to make nice with the senior citizens in school, since they might once have been important. Of course, as we'll see when Juan tries to make friends with Xiu Xiang, Winston Blount, and—shudder—Robert Gu, just because they were important once doesn't mean they're important now. Here's another effect of getting old: not only does your body get old, but you're no longer as important as you once were. Which brings us to—
Quote #6
And then there was Xiu Xiang. PhD physics, PhD electrical engineering; 2010 Winner of the President's Medal for Secure Computation. Overall the hotstuff index on her was almost Nobel quality. Dr. Xiang sat hunched over, looking at the table in front of her. She was trying to keep up on a view-page! Poor lady. But for sure she would have connections. (4.121)
Xiu is one of our favorite oldsters, probably because she builds cool toys that can destroy self-driving cars. However, when we meet her, our first view is pretty sad: first we hear how great she was, with her two PhDs and near Nobel-quality work. Then, we see how far she's fallen: she's "hunched over" (never a position of power or health, so note-to-self: sit up straight please); and she's using a view-page instead of wearable computers. The book really starts out associating "old age" with "old technology." Even low-self-esteem Juan pities Xiu with that "Poor lady" comment, so we can see how badly off she is.
Quote #7
"That's three bubbles back, Dad. And you guessed wrong on every one. But at this point you're nearly certified as self-sufficient. You'd have a hard time scaring up any public assistance. The taxpayers are not kind to seniors; old people run too much of the country already." He hesitated. "And after today, my generosity has run out. Mom died two years ago—and dumped you decades before that. But maybe you should wonder about other things. For instance, where are all your old pals from Stanford?" (8.25)
We really cut this quote out just for the part where Bob says that "old people run too much of the country." Which makes some sense if you have the medical technology to keep old people active and smart. Though it is surprising that we hear this after seeing how slow Robert and Xiu are to get with the program. (How can you run the country if you can't even silent message?) But we should also note how Bob hits on Robert's history here—specifically, how Robert kept messing up. He messed up his finances, his marriage, and his friendship (ha!) with his "old pals." So, can Robert fix all these mistakes he made in the past?
Quote #8
"Me, I'll stick with the proven solutions." He patted his laptop. Through some fluke of memory, Robert recognized the model. Twenty some years ago, this gadget had been at the cutting edge of power and miniaturization, barely eight inches by ten, with a brilliant, millimeters-thin screen and a fancy camera. Now ... even to Robert it was a ponderous behemoth. (12.63)
Nothing ages quite as painfully as technology. Seriously, people were amazed by the first cell phones, but have you seen them recently? Right here, Tommie Parker shows a huge problem with growing old, both for people and tech: what was super cool back in the day soon… isn't. In other words, the guy who sticks to the "proven solution" can't adapt to the future and is stuck in the past.
Quote #9
Then Juan had to go help his mother. As he faded away, Robert studied the examples. He recognized some of the steps from the protocol descriptions, but, "How did you know all that?"
Foolish question. The boy looked a little startled. "It's just—it's just kind of intuitive, you know? I think that's the way the interface is designed." And then he was completely gone. (16.13-4)
There's so much in this book about how old people have to struggle to stay current. But let's just take a moment to nod to the young people in the book, like Miri and Juan. Whereas Robert and Xiu have to study and work hard—look at Robert there, studying the examples—Miri and Juan grew up with this stuff. So to Juan, using the computer is largely "intuitive." Of course, Juan shouldn't let that get to his head: one day he'll be old and he might not be able to learn the next system so easily.
Quote #10
The vocational program was not the gem of Fairmont High. Most of these kids could not master the latest, cutting-edge applications (and most of the retread students were even less competent). On the other hand, Chumlig had asserted in an unguarded moment that parents preferred the vocational demos, mainly because they made more sense to them than what other children were doing. (33.73)
Here we have another reason to play DJ Jazzy Jeff and the Fresh Prince's classic, "Parents Just Don't Understand." Even with all that great medical technology, the cutting edge kids (like Miri) can do things that oldsters (even middle-aged oldsters) just don't understand. Which raises lots of questions, like, how do teachers grade students if they can't understand them?