The Tralfamadorians can look at all the different moments just that way we can look at a stretch of the Rocky Mountains, for instance. They can see how permanent all the moments are, and they can look at any moment that interests them. It is just an illusion we have here on Earth that one moment follows another one, like beads on a string, and that once a moment is gone it is gone forever.

Summary

This quote speaks to the perspective of the Tralfamadorians, an extraterrestrial race created by author Kurt Vonnegut. It suggests that the Tralfamadorians have a unique ability to perceive time as a collection of individual moments, much like we perceive a stretch of mountains. In contrast to our perceived linear understanding of time, the Tralfamadorians see all moments as eternal and can freely observe and revisit any moment that piques their curiosity. The quote emphasizes that our concept of time being composed of sequentially passing moments is merely an illusion, and that moments are not truly lost once they have passed.

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