“Television's perfect. You turn a few knobs, a few
of those mechanical adjustments at which the higher apes are so proficient, and
lean back and drain your mind of all thought. And there you are watching the
bubbles in the primeval ooze. You don't have to concentrate. You don't have to
react. You don't have to remember. You don't miss your brain because you don't
need it. Your heart and liver and lungs continue to function normally. Apart
from that, all is peace and quiet...And if some nasty-minded person comes along
and says you look more like a fly on a can of garbage, pay him no mind. He
probably hasn't got the price of a television set."—Mystery writer Raymond
Chandler (1888-1959), in Selected Letters of Raymond Chandler,
edited by Frank MacShane (1981)
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