Mario Stinger
Mario Stinger is a Canadian author, whose career was in industrial counter-espionage. He has been gravitating around the United Nations for many years and currently lives abroad where he is granted diplomatic immunity. This has given him a unique perspective which has helped him ground his novels in reality, despite the book's science fiction genre.
His inspiration for Destined for Oblivion: As Nature Intended came from his past experiences in his careers in security and in industrial counter-espionage as well as from his travels and interactions with different cultures around the world as a diplomat under the auspices of the United Nations. Being an avid reader and fan of various science fiction genres, he specifically named Star Trek as very influential with regard to the nature of the technology and equipment that can be found in the facility. He based the story’s plot on a curiosity that he came upon when he was reading about climate change, the continuing population growth, and the wanton exploitation of finite natural resources that he has witnessed in his journeys.
“This is not just "our" world.”
“Essentially, almost all humans are born with a fear of the unknown. It casts a pall of anxiety which pushes us into the arms of religions and soothsayers and their made-up answers.”
“Given the level of understanding and the fact that they believed already in a set of myths and superstitions, it was the easiest and fastest way to proceed.”
“You are in good shape for a dead man.”
“If you are resolute to go, I will not stop you. But I hope I’m making the right decision.”
“Sir, no insult intended, but you said to me once that you don’t like kiss-asses and that you’d rather work with people challenging your perceptions.”
“I don’t get you people. You watch the Godfather on television and tons of people are getting shot and stabbed to death, blood splattering everywhere and it is entertaining. But, when they killed a horse, people were outraged.”
“If it had only been for the immortality gene, humanity would have eventually managed to turn it back on. At one point in history, they would have embarked on a quest to become immortals, like the gods. But they couldn’t and the whole of humanity still can’t and won’t.”
“Dying on your own terms, this is the greatest gift anyone can bestow upon a mortal man.”
“Pride is yet again in the way of our mind’s ability to accept that we may not be the most intelligent and advanced people in the universe or on Earth since it was formed along with the solar system 4.5 billion years ago.”
“Men are creatures of invention and are usually determined not to accept no for an answer.”
“Humanity's greatest achievement will come when the happiness of some will no longer be the sadness of others.”