Do you get the feeling sometimes that you don’t know what’s going on?...People eat and sleep in the shadow of what we do. But at the same time, what?
-- Shiner (chapter 1)

Importance: Eric’s chief of technology, Shiner, says this to Eric during their meeting towards the beginning of the novel. Shiner’s comments help set the tone of the novel both in terms of its nihilistic themes and its contemplations on capitalism. Underlying Shiner’s words is a vague yet profound uncertainty with his and Eric’s ways of life, and while Shiner’s viewpoint has no apparent affect on Eric, the represented ideas shape Eric over the course of the novel.

What did you buy for your one hundred and four million dollars?...You paid the money for the number itself. One hundred and four million. That is what you bought. And it is worth it. The number...
-- Vija Kinski (chapter 2)