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SJ Gould says we're part book and have to tar our way to alternate universes

After reading the gazillionth claim that the Bible clearly says the earth is flat, I figured what's good for the goose...

Stephen Jay Gould, Wonderful Life:

We are the offspring of history and must establish our own paths in this most diverse and interesting of conceivable universes--one indifferent to our suffering, and therefore offering us maximum freedom to thrive, or to fail, in our own chosen way.

Here Gould clearly says that your mother and father are history books. Then he says that there are alternate universes, and that we must lay down asphalt roads to create paths between them in order to travel from one to the next. And then he says it doesn't matter how much we suffer doing it, because we have to whether we like it or not.

Obviously Gould was a complete nut-case for believing any of those things, and anyone who believes anything Gould ever wrote must also be a total nut-case, since they believe in alternate universes, the necessity of paving roads between them, and the fact that our mothers and fathers were history books. A scientist wouldn't use allegory, and this is the clear, literal meaning of the text, after all.
 
Haha. That's a good one npetreley. I have another good one:

God, The Bible:


Here God clearly says that he personally waved a magic wand around and created all life instantly, including the birds. Then he says that the water multiplied all the life so that there's now a lot of everything. The water multiplied the birds, too, apparently. And then God looked at everything and saw that it's all "Good." And all of this obviously makes evolution false.

Obviously God was a complete nut-case for believing any of those things, and anyone who believes anything God ever wrote must also be a total nut-case, since it seems to be totally against all the observed evidence. God wouldn't use allegory, and this is the clear, literal meaning of the text, after all.
 
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You are pretty good at literalist interpretation. I think you can see why a person who feels compelled to deny science because of their literal understanding of Genesis 1 might feel compelled to do so based on a similar literal reading of the flat/immobile Earth passages. Good... we are getting somewhere...
 
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Good one, Nick! Here's another one:


Obviously God was a complete nut-case for believing any of those things, and anyone who believes anything God ever wrote must also be a total nut-case, since they believe in creating plants before creating the sun, the necessity of separating day from night, and the fact that God has nipples just like we do. A god wouldn't use allegory, and this is the clear, literal meaning of the text, after all.
 
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Freodin

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Nick, if you really try to give a literal interpretation of this quote, be carefull to do it right.

He does not mention history BOOKS, and he does talk about making paths in THIS universe.

So even if you interprete it in a literal style - your interpretation is wrong.

More luck next time.
 
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Sorry, there is no other way to interpret this passage but as I interpreted it. Remember, as a scientist, one has an a-priori commitment to material causes. Gould is a scientist, therefore he must be referring to a material thing, not a concept or idea. So one is left with no other option than to extrapolate the reference to history to mean a history book. Now some liberal interpreters have suggested that he was referring to a history web site, or a history CD, but the culture of his day (being an author) dictates that it must have been a book, or at best, a magazine.

And, of course, there's the precedent laid down by others here that, that because Iiwant to interpret it to mean book, it MUST be book, just as those who insist that because THEY interpret the Bible to mean flat earth, it MUST mean flat earth and anyone who denies it must be ignorant or denying the true intention of the author.
 
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