Daily Inspiration Quote by Aaron Allston

“Free” is one of capitalism’s favorite magic tricks: a word that pretends money has left the room while it’s quietly moving through the walls. Aaron Allston, writing from the sensibility of a genre novelist who understood systems as well as characters, snaps that illusion in half with a faux-dictionary definition that sounds breezy and lands like an invoice.

The line works because it weaponizes the tone of neutrality. A “definition” should be settled, boring, objective; Allston uses that posture to smuggle in a critique. “You pay for it” collapses the comforting distance between consumer and cost, and “whether or not you elect to receive it” sharpens the knife: choice is cosmetic. The phrasing echoes bureaucratic language - opt-in forms, default settings, taxes, fees, “included” services - where consent is implied and accountability is diffused. It’s not just about paying money, either. You pay in attention, in data, in time, in risk, in the slow inflation of expectations (the app is free; the surveillance is not).

Subtextually, it’s a warning about how modern life repackages coercion as convenience. “Free” becomes a social mood, a marketing promise, a political talking point; the costs are redistributed, externalized, deferred, or hidden in the fine print until they feel inevitable. Allston’s sting is that inevitability is the product. The joke leaves you laughing, then checking your pockets.