Sam Harris at it again
Check out this article by Jerry Coyne: here.
Read (or at least skim) the responses all the way through and then read Sam Harris' response.
Spoiler below (read the article first)
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I'm embarrassed to say that it took me several paragraphs to realize Sam wasn't serious. I thought maybe his "let's not call ourselves atheists" line of thinking had somehow corrupted him. But man, when I realized what he was doing, it was fucking brilliant! Classic. Demolished the appeasers and apathetics completely with a sustained, Poe-powered Argumentum ad Absurdum. That's one that belongs in the history books. Harris is the resurrection of Thomas Payne, imho.
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It cracked me up, too. I also created a link topic.
Sam Harris posted the quoted text as a response to an article you can read here: http://www.edge.org/3rd_culture/coyne09/coyne09_index.html
There are other replies from other highly respected atheists and free-thinkers (I saw Dan Dennett and Steven Pinker in there as well), but I'm reposting Sam's simply because it's fucking hilarious. Enjoy.
(Note for the lazy: Still funny if you haven't read the linked material.)
Somewhere, there is an oblivious theist reading this and thinking, "Yeah! Totally!"
A place common to all will be maintained by none. A religion common to all is perhaps not much different.
I merged them, they both point to this thread now.
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One of the best satires I've ever read. I guess I shouldn't be surprised.
Feel the burn!
Our revels now are ended. These our actors, | As I foretold you, were all spirits, and | Are melted into air, into thin air; | And, like the baseless fabric of this vision, | The cloud-capped towers, the gorgeous palaces, | The solemn temples, the great globe itself, - Yea, all which it inherit, shall dissolve, | And, like this insubstantial pageant faded, | Leave not a rack behind. We are such stuff | As dreams are made on, and our little life | Is rounded with a sleep. - Shakespeare
I am going jack slap all of you and Harris too! Jebus Kristos on a salminela peanut butter cracker folks!
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Atheism isn't a lot like religion at all. Unless by "religion" you mean "not religion". --Ciarin
http://hambydammit.wordpress.com/
Books about atheism
My favorite line, too, Hamby. Mine, too.
*tear* it's ... so beautiful!
I am awed to silence. How can one write when we have Sam Harris as an example? How can one hope to live up to that combination of subtlety and in-your-face sarcasm?
I have never before read Sam Harris. I shall seek out his writings.
"Yes, I seriously believe that consciousness is a product of a natural process. I find that the neuroscientists, psychologists, and philosophers who proceed from that premise are the ones who are actually making useful contributions to our understanding of the mind." - PZ Myers
Sad thing is that he's probably right...
After eating an entire bull, a mountain lion felt so good he started roaring. He kept it up until a hunter came along and shot him.
The moral: When you're full of bull, keep your mouth shut.
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Have you looked here yet?
http://www.samharris.org/
The End of Faith is a pretty awesome book, too.
A place common to all will be maintained by none. A religion common to all is perhaps not much different.
The End of Faith is rock solid. Imho, it marks the beginning of the 'new atheist' literature. One of the other reasons I compare Harris to Thomas Payne.
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Sam's only problem is that he's sometimes so far ahead of the possee that he risks losing influence, which would be a great pity. He never has anything less than interesting to say.
Employing sarcasm makes for a very funny riposte. But it also precipitates a very interesting experiment in itself. The use of subtle humour in emulating the stance of people who typically are neither subtle nor have a sense of humour is a master-stroke.
Now sit back and wait for the first selected snippet to be egregiously employed by the religionists as "proof" that their "arguments" are bringing one of atheism's leading spokespeople to their "side". For people who clutch at straws Sam has just handed them a whole bale of the stuff (which still doesn't float when waterlogged, even in bales). Should be fun ...
I would rather have a bottle in front of me than a frontal lobotomy
My first Harris experience was "Letter to a Christian Nation." I picked it up, opened it to page one, and for the next thirty five minutes, I was in literary nirvana. (It's really short. If you haven't read it, you should.)
I disagree with some of Harris' more apocolyptic visions of religion literally destroying the world. I think he's prone to going over the top to try to scare the religious into abandoning their faith. On the other hand, I think he's one of the boldest of the atheist writers, and I respect the fact that he doesn't back down from saying things exactly the way he sees them.
And then there's that wit...
Damn, he's got a little Mark Twain in him.
Atheism isn't a lot like religion at all. Unless by "religion" you mean "not religion". --Ciarin
http://hambydammit.wordpress.com/
Books about atheism
...by all means *do* read the works of Mr. Harris. "The End of Faith" certainly started me on the road towards atheism. If your experience of it and "Letter To A Christian Nation" are anything like mine, you will be both enlightened and entertained. Criminy, the *footnotes* in "The End of Faith" are interesting!
(Of course, I also had to admit that Mr. Harris' books made a lot more sense than what I was prepared to deal with at the time. I trust you won't have that difficulty.)
Conor