I would study academic environments, the departmental politics and territorial squabbles, the places where disciplines overlapped, fed back, and interfered.
-- Philip (Narration) (chapter 2)

Importance: This line of narration pertains to Philip’s research specialization. Philip is an anthropology professor who studies the political and social dynamics of university faculty/departments. This research not only signals the novel’s satirical exploration of the insular nature of academia, but it also foreshadows the sometimes dysfunctional ways in which the faculty and departments interact in the novel.

Observation without subjective judgment.
-- Alice (chapter 4)

Importance: When Garth is first introduced into the story, Alice explains that she hired him to aid with her experiments. He has working eyes but a non-functioning visual cortex, so he can observe things without consciously seeing them. Alice believes that Garth can therefore observe experiments without imparting subjective judgment on them. This idea is related to the scientific idea observation in quantum mechanics, and this dynamic...