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  • Really, one of us ought to have the courage to call the experiment off and shoulder the responsibility for the decision, but the majority reckons that that kind of courage would be a sign of cowardice, and the first step in a retreat. They think it would mean an undignified surrender for mankind as if there was any dignity in floundering and drowning in what we don't understand and never will.

    "Solaris". Book by Stanisław Lem, translated by Joanna Kilmartin and Steve Cox. Chapter 11: "The Thinkers", p. 158, 1970.