Quote of the Day, November 19th, 2008
Now it is such a bizarrely improbable coincidence that anything so mindbogglingly useful [the Babel fish] could have evolved by chance that some thinkers have chosen to see it as a final and clinching proof of thenon-existence of God.
The argument goes something like this: “I refuse to prove that I exist,” says God, “for proof denies faith, and without faith I am nothing.”
“But,” says Man, “the Babel fish is a dead giveaway isn’t it? It could not have evolved by chance. It proves you exist, and so therefore, by your own arguments, you don’t. QED”
“Oh dear,” says God, “I hadn’t thought of that,” and promptly vanishes in a puff of logic.
-Douglas Adams, The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Universe
Douglas Adams is one of my favorite authors, and certainly my favorite fiction author. Its a shame that he is now dead, because we sure could use an skeptic and atheist with his creative wit.
