> From: Nathan Wajsman <photo@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
>
> Richard Dawkins, my religious guru, wrote the gibberish below?
Why would you expect different from the guy who thinks genes are
selfish? :-)
And why would anyone who wrote a book named "The God Delusion" be
someone's "religious guru?" Dawkins is a celebrated atheist.
> Do you know where the quote is from?
"God's Utility Function," Scientific American, November 1995, p. 85,
in context:
"The total amount of suffering per year in the natural world is beyond
all decent contemplation. During the minute that it takes me to
compose this sentence, thousands of animals are being eaten alive,
many others are running for their lives, whimpering with fear, others
are slowly being devoured from within by rasping parasites, thousands
of all kinds are dying of starvation, thirst, and disease. It must be
so. If there ever is a time of plenty, this very fact will
automatically lead to an increase in the population until the natural
state of starvation and misery is restored.
In a universe of electrons and selfish genes, blind physical forces
and genetic replication, some people are going to get hurt, other
people are going to get lucky, and you won't find any rhyme or reason
in it, nor any justice. <quoting Darwin:> The universe that we observe
has precisely the properties we should expect if there is, at bottom,
no design, no purpose, no evil, no good, nothing but pitiless
indifference."
This and much more can be found at: http://RichardDawkins.net .
Obligatory Olympus content: the total amount of suffering in our
household is proportional to how far away I am from my E-3 when a
really cool shot registers on my retinas.
:::: Nature must, in the not too distant future, institute bankruptcy
proceedings against industrial civilization. -- William Catton ::::
:::: Jan Steinman <http://www.VeggieVanGogh.com/Van> ::::
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