“It seems the height of antiquated hubris to claim that the universe carried on as it did for billions of years in order to form a comfortable abode for us. Chance and historical contingency give the world of life most of its glory and fascination. I sit here happy to be alive and sure that some reason must exist for "why me?" Or the earth might have been totally covered with water, and an octopus might now be telling its children why the eight-legged God of all things had made such a perfect world for cephalopods.” WorldGivingYearsChildrenHas BeensMadeReasonSeemsMightEarthFormOrderUniverseWaterChancePerfectAliveAtheismComfortableGloryAll ThingsClaimsHistoricalEightBillionsHeightCoveredMight Have BeenFascinationHubrisA Perfect WorldAbodeWhy MeContingencyOctopusHappy To Be Alive Book:An Urchin in the Storm: Essays about Books and Ideas Source: An Urchin in the Storm: Essays about Books and Ideas
“The Enlightenment was an attempt to liberate myth and base truth claims on evidence, not just dogma. But when science threw out the church, they threw out the baby with the bath water.” WaterChurchBabyEnlightenmentEvidenceClaimsMythDogmaBaths Author:Ken Wilber
“If one looks into the genealogies of many 'old families,' one discovers episodes of slave trafficking, bootlegging, gun running, opium trading, falsified land claims, violent acquisition of water and mineral rights, the extermination of indigenous peoples, sales of shoddy and unsafe goods, public funds used for private speculations, crooked deals in government bonds and vouchers, and payoffs for political favors.” IfsLooksGovernmentRunningPoliticalUsedWaterDealsRightsLandGunClaimsSlaveFavorsViolentFundGoodsEpisodesTradingSpeculationIndigenousAcquisitionCrookedMineralsOpiumIndigenous PeopleUnsafePayoffTraffickingGenealogyExterminationVouchersBootlegging Author:Michael Parenti
“Contrary to popular belief, the Loch Ness Monster is not a dinosaur -- it's a huge mutant duck, a top researcher claims.... Most mainstream Nessie researchers consider Gluber's duck theory to be horse feathers and are trying to blast it out of the water.” TryingBeliefWaterTheoryHugeClaimsHorseContraryMonstersDucksMainstreamFeathersBlastDinosaursResearchersMutantsContrary To Popular BeliefLoch Ness Monster Author:Murphy J. Foster, Jr.
“... The reality is that atmospheric CO2 has a minimal impact on greenhouse gases and world temperature. Water vapor is responsible for 95 percent of the greenhouse effect. CO2 contributes just 3.6 percent, with human activity responsible for only 3.2 percent of that. That is why some studies claim CO2 levels are largely irrelevant to global warming.” WorldHumansRealityWaterLevelsStudyEffectsActivityPercentClaimsResponsibleImpactGlobal WarmingIrrelevantTemperatureHuman ActivityGreenhousesGreenhouse GasesCo2Vapor Author:Walter Cunningham
“I haven't seen any claim that Piraha lacks recursion, that is, that there are a finite number of sentences or sentence frames. If that's so, it would mean that the speakers of this language aren't making use of a capacity that they surely have, a normal situation; plenty of people throughout history would drown if they fall into water.” PeopleIfsMeanUseFallLanguageWaterNumbersSituationHavensNormalCapacityClaimsSentencesPlentySpeakersFiniteRecursionFinite Number Author:Noam Chomsky
“With each passing year, experimental observations further undermine the claim of a large positive feedback from water. In fact, observations suggest that the feedback is close to zero and may even be negative.” YearsMayFactsEnergyWaterEnvironmentNegativeClaimsClimate ChangePassingPassingsObservationZeroFeedbackPositive Feedback Author:William Happer