Have started to read this book by Arthur C Clarke and some other guy. Like with "The God Delusion", I had some preconceived ideas regarding its main gist, as outlined by reviews on Wikipedia etc.
For instance this assertion: "Crime would cease to exist with the availability of "worm-cams", because no-one could avoid being watched"
is one which I would like to poke holes through.
But I must admit, Clarke, unlike Dawkins, is a visionary even in my strictest Marconomic sense, and his assertions are unfalsifiable in the way they are laid out as part of a science fiction novel anyway; so as much as I am preparing arguments that demonstrate the holes in his, I am being swayed in equal measure by other aspects of the novel.
9 comments:
Thanks for letting me know about the posting of Dawkins. On the same day I found his book in the bottom of one of my book boxes. I'd thought of getting it out and putting it on the shelf and possibly thumbing through it again, but what's the point (but surely winston, you do realize that there is a point).
To clarify: I don't mean that there is no point in talking to your esteemed self Marco. I just mean no point in general. I'm pretty much over spending hours typing about the subject. I've even stopped watching every oddball I could find on the Internet talking about it. If people want to run their whole lives around an idea that is at best undisproveable, then I'm happy to let them. They seem to be enjoying themselves. I just pray that they don't blow me up.
He lives! He lives! Winstoninabox that is.
I knew it! Getting atheists organised and motivated to save the world is like herding cats, Herding Cats, I tell you.
Do you have "The Light of other Days"?
We could read that and review it as an ongoing project.
You should, you know, winston... read 'Light of Other Days', that is. I can't lend you my copy since I already sent it to Marco. :)
From what I hear, you are at more risk of being blown up the militant atheists in your part of the world... for the moment, anyway!
I live. If you can call Grand Theft Auto 4 multiplayer living. I sit in front of the TV for hours shooting human-shaped icons while chatting to team mates from God-Knows-Where in America. All this in the hopes of collecting a few more dollars to reach the next level, which provides no other bonus except extra skins for my character/mass-murderer. It7s all rather sad, really. But fun.
I don't have the book in question, and probably won't for the foreseeable future as Amazon took the last of my spending money last night for some other books which will take me weeks to read (there's not that many books, but I'm a slow reader, and there's that GTA thing I mentioned earlier).
But cameras dropping through wormholes or whatnot sounds like an interesting idea. Could possible fold it into the "do people on do good things because they suspect God is eternally watching and judging them" discussion, but that idea really is quite depressing. Not the being watched bit, which is more kinky than depressing, but the people only do good because of the heavenly policeman idea.
It must be bedtime.
Thought this argument could bear recycling.
ok. I'll do a new post
I see your making about as much progress on this as I am with Kauffman's book! :)
My resolution for the weekend is made...
* you're
///hangs head in shame for dodgy spelling///
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