Life & Wisdom Quote by Bruce Sterling

Sterling’s line lands like a warning label slapped onto the internet: no resets, no clean slates, no “new account, new me.” The phrasing is deliberately prosecutorial. “Chain of evidence” isn’t just metaphor; it’s a courtroom image that frames everyday digital life as an investigation already in progress. You can try to break the link, delete the post, wipe the phone, move cities, but the file has copies. The system remembers because the system is built to remember.

The bite is in “data shadow.” A shadow is attached to you, involuntary, cast by forces outside your control. It follows you not because you’re uniquely interesting, but because you’re continuously illuminated: by platforms, sensors, brokers, and the boring logistics of modern life. Sterling’s “thousands and thousands of little leaks and tributaries” rejects the Hollywood fantasy of a single catastrophic hack. The subtext is that privacy doesn’t die in one dramatic betrayal; it erodes through frictionless conveniences, default settings, loyalty cards, location pings, and “just this once” permissions that become permanent.

As a writer steeped in cyberpunk’s suspicion of techno-capital, Sterling is also puncturing a cherished myth of the digital age: that identity is modular and reversible. Online, the past isn’t past; it’s an indexable asset. “Pursued” makes it personal and predatory, suggesting a future where your shadow isn’t merely stored, but actively used to nudge, price, deny, and decide. The line’s intent is less to scare than to clarify: the crime scene is normal life, and the evidence is you.