BigBen

I need to talk to someone about this, if for no other reason than Scott Adams wrote it so that people would talk about it.

Please read the philosophical treatise HERE

Comments:

I enjoyed the mental image of two people talking in an old fashioned study, where a fire was burning and an old man was huddled in a blanket.

Probability theory was a central theme, and I was surprised by that. I have taken statistics, and the thought of probability being God's will (did I get that right?) was awesome.

What did others think? The 5 stages of awareness? The coin toss and how a coin has the illusion of free will?

I actually could not keep working once I started reading it. I had to stop what I was doing to finish it! Unfortunately, I am a Cardiovascular Surgeon, and the patient did not make it. He was old and really sick anyway, and I felt better about it at the end because the book says due to probability he will come back and live all over again! Whew!

__________________
3.141592654
Hey, if you are impressed with my memorizing pi to 10 digits, you should see the size of my penis.

Zyr

Required reading indeed.

"The target audience for God’s Debris is people who enjoy having their brains spun around inside their skulls."

Everybody who has an interest in philosophy should read this.


You don't happen to have the sequel, The Religion War, do you?

__________________
"Oh, irony! Oh, no, no, we don't get that here. See, uh, people ski topless here while smoking dope, so irony's not really a high priority. We haven't had any irony here since about, uh, '83 when I was the only practitioner of it, and I stopped because I was tired of being stared at."

Omnia mutantu, nos et mutamur in illis.
All things change, and we change with them.
- Neil Gaiman, Marvel 1602

Mantus

I found it a rehash of everything we ever coverd on this forum.


The books dives into the nihilist mistep - which is selective deconstruction. The best example of this is: Nothing has meaning, therefore there is no purpose to life. If the first statement was true, the second statment would be meaningless.

This book constantly makes such mistakes. Especially in the Delusion Generator chapter.

"It is beyond the human brain to understand the world and it's enviroment, so the brain compenstates by creating simplified illusions that act as a replacement for understanding."

Thus, this understanding is a simplified illusion as well. The author just updates our metaphors.


The chapter on Evolution shows that he lacks some understanding of the subject.


I need to re-read the Fighting God chapter. I saw allot of useless rhetoric and generalization of the human condition in there. For example:

"Evil is an action that might damage people"

Good might damage people too, it's a subjective concept. Further, what the point of re-assembling god? Once again we are given an empty religious purpose. The God's Dust theory is rather, well useless.


The relationships chapter is a worthwhile read until it gets to relationships between men and women.

For examplel, making sacrifices for people does increase your value but it does nothing for creating chemestry. You might get reward sex, but thats about it. Contrary to popular belieft the rich can have just as much trouble with women, if not more. They above all other believe that lust can be bought.

"A woman needs to be told that you would sacrifice anything for her"

Heh, that would certainly keep her around but it won't make her be attracted to you.

Finally the Fifth Level chapter stank of Scientology, heh.
My favorite part is how the book ends by contradicting itself.

"Ideas are the only things that can change the world. The rest is details"

I was told you can't communicate ideas, only information



Anyways nice find BigBen. A fun read.

Zyr

Incidently, here is the sequel, The Religion War.


Talking about the response to the previous book:

"Other people wrote angry letters and scathing reviews, pointing
out the logical and factual flaws in the book. It is full of flaws,
and much of the science is made up, as it states in the introduction.
I explained that the reader is supposed to be looking for flaws.
That's what makes the experiment work. You might think this
group of readers skipped the introduction and missed the stated
point of the book, but I suspect that something else is going on.
People get a kind of cognitive dissonance (brain cramp) when
their worldview is disturbed. It's fun to watch."

__________________
"Oh, irony! Oh, no, no, we don't get that here. See, uh, people ski topless here while smoking dope, so irony's not really a high priority. We haven't had any irony here since about, uh, '83 when I was the only practitioner of it, and I stopped because I was tired of being stared at."

Omnia mutantu, nos et mutamur in illis.
All things change, and we change with them.
- Neil Gaiman, Marvel 1602

Kadath

Scott Adams is starting to creep me out. When he put a chapter about the power of positive visualization at the end of one of his books I twigged to it, and this just throws more on the pile.

__________________
it's quiet in here

Mantus

"You might think this group of readers skipped the introduction and missed the stated point of the book."

I always skip the intro...

Redlemon

Anyone find this book in any other format? I'd like to read it on my Palm.

__________________
I can't read your signature. Sorry.

BigBen

I don't get it...

You can't read .pdf's on your palmpilot, or were you being Very Deep and Philosophical?

__________________
3.141592654
Hey, if you are impressed with my memorizing pi to 10 digits, you should see the size of my penis.

Redlemon

I'm as deep as a puddle. There are PDF readers for Palm, but I don't feel like scrolling left and right to read it. I could copy out the text, but then I get the titles and page numbers interspersed. I could take time to edit that, but... I'm lazy. Thus, my question.

__________________
I can't read your signature. Sorry.

Poppinjay

I prefer his OA5 philosophy.

I would argue a point where he wrote that Muslims and Jews believe that Jesus is not the son of God. I've never seen that written anywhere, and most Muslims believe Jesus was a holy prophet. Part of the structure of Christianity is familial titles. Our Father in Heaven, the blessed virgin Mother, the children of God etc.

It's an interesting idea - the probability thing. I think the conversation demonstrates that the delivery guy is more at 2nd level awareness.

He delves into mysticism but decries religion. That's kind of goofy.

__________________
I think the Apocalypse is happening all around us. We go on eating desserts and watching TV. I know I do. I wish we were more capable of sustained passion and sustained resistance. We should be screaming and what we do is gossip. -Lydia Millet

Zyr

Finished reading The Religion War. Not as good. It's a a fiction story with bit of thought provoking stuff, as opposed to God's Debris's thought provoking stuff, with a bit of fiction wraped around it. Still very good.

I think I wrote that right...

__________________
"Oh, irony! Oh, no, no, we don't get that here. See, uh, people ski topless here while smoking dope, so irony's not really a high priority. We haven't had any irony here since about, uh, '83 when I was the only practitioner of it, and I stopped because I was tired of being stared at."

Omnia mutantu, nos et mutamur in illis.
All things change, and we change with them.
- Neil Gaiman, Marvel 1602

Coppertop

I have a paperback version, but somehow I doubt that's what you meant.

Yes, this book is one hell of a read. Read it straight through to my ex a few years back. It is just that compelling. I am definitely going to look into the sequel. Is sequel even the right word when it comes to books?

Ustwo

Heh nice spin.

Another way to write that would be.

After a certain age most people outgrow childish fantasy. That certain age varies by person but if you’re over fifty-five(mentally) you probably won’t enjoy this fantasy. If you’re eighty going on thirty-five, you might like it. If you’re twenty-three and still immature, your odds of liking it are very good.

Mind you I've only read bits and pieces of it, but that intro struck me as a wee bit presumptuous.

__________________
Agents of the enemies who hold office in our own government, who attempt to eliminate our "freedoms" and our "right to know" are posting among us, I fear.....on this very forum. - host

Obama - Know a Man by the friends he keeps.

Mantus

Looking at this novella in a new light I can't really figure out it's purpose. What is this though experiment. Or is the experiment to see how many people would buy into the "experiment"?

Zyr

The point is to make you think.

__________________
"Oh, irony! Oh, no, no, we don't get that here. See, uh, people ski topless here while smoking dope, so irony's not really a high priority. We haven't had any irony here since about, uh, '83 when I was the only practitioner of it, and I stopped because I was tired of being stared at."

Omnia mutantu, nos et mutamur in illis.
All things change, and we change with them.
- Neil Gaiman, Marvel 1602

Mantus

Like I can ever stop

onewolf

Is this guy related to L Ron Hubbard? Is he on the boat ride I get to take when I reach the top level?

Zyr

"The opinions and philosophies expressed by the characters
are not my own, except by coincidence in a few spots
not worth mentioning. Please don’t write me with passionate
explanations of why my views are wrong. You won’t discover
my opinions by reading my fiction."

Might just be me, but people seem to be skipping the intro.

__________________
"Oh, irony! Oh, no, no, we don't get that here. See, uh, people ski topless here while smoking dope, so irony's not really a high priority. We haven't had any irony here since about, uh, '83 when I was the only practitioner of it, and I stopped because I was tired of being stared at."

Omnia mutantu, nos et mutamur in illis.
All things change, and we change with them.
- Neil Gaiman, Marvel 1602