Red Iguana Dawn

Prelude (3 of 5): Lemonade

From: sprowell@grape.cs.utk.edu (Stacy Prowell)
Subject: PRELUDE TO RED IGUANA DAWN (3 of 5) Lemonade
Date: 14 Mar 1994 15:00:42 GMT
Message-ID: <2m1u6qINNbut@CS.UTK.EDU>

In this post I find myself having a relaxing discussion with Publius...

Re: CONTROVERTED QUESTIONS

[Scene: Doctor Stan and I are sitting in a moss-covered cabanya in the hills of North Carolina. It is unseasonally warm and pleasant. We are both sipping lemonade.]

In article <2k6lro$k0h@inca.gate.net>, publius@inca.gate.net (Publius) writes:
|> "Looking at the matterfrom the most rigidly scientific point of
|> view, the assumption that, amidst the myriads of worlds scattered
|> through endless space, there can be no intelligence, as much greater
|> than man's as his is greater than a blackbeetle's, no being endowed
|> with powers of influencing the course of nature as much greater than
|> his, as his is greater than a snail's, seems to me not merely
|> baseless, but impertinent."

[I take a sip of my lemonade to try to wash the huge block of syntax down.]

Me: [Scratching my head as I try to make sense of Stan's run-on sentence] I'd hate to have to diagram that sentence. That seems a little long-winded, even for you, Stan. Also, I think you said life "didn't happen anywhere else" in an earlier post. Are you reversing that stance now?

publius@inca.gate.net (Publius) says:
|> Without stepping beyond the analogy of
|> that which is known, it is easy to people the cosmos with entities
|> in ascending scale until we reach something practically               
|> indistinguishable from omnipotence, omnipresence, and omniscience.

Me: Analogy of that which is known? I don't have a clue what that means, Stan. Besides, I don't think you know what those words mean. Omnipotence doesn't just mean "really powerful," or "more powerful than me and my cat-"

Orithyia: Meow!

Me: ...uh, me and my wife combined. Besides, are you reversing your earlier stance or not?

publius@inca.gate.net (Publius) continues:
|>   Thomas H. Huxley - The Crew of the "Enterprise"- and PUBLIUS
|>  (Essays Upon Some Controverted Questions)
|>   P.S. - Sure beats the Life-less God of the Atheist Religion!

Me: Uh, if the god is lifeless, then it isn't a god. I've been trying to tell you this. Have you heard a word I've said?

publius@inca.gate.net (Publius) quietly sips his lemonade:
|>

Me: Hello?

-- 
-- _Stacy Prowell_______sprowell@utkcs.utk.edu_
  |                                            |
  | The mysterious UNIX paradigm:              |
  |                                            |
  |   "No design is better than a bad design." |
  |                             - Ken Thompson |
  |____________________________________________|

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