tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28755195.post7961956422962285215..comments2023-09-25T04:26:51.568-06:00Comments on The Barefoot Bum: Scott Adams is an idiotLarry Hamelinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08788697573946266404noreply@blogger.comBlogger9125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28755195.post-18735495502098416302007-08-02T11:30:00.000-06:002007-08-02T11:30:00.000-06:00I go by Hanlon's razor: Never attribute to malice ...I go by <A HREF="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hanlon's_Razor" REL="nofollow">Hanlon's razor</A>: <I>Never attribute to malice that which can be adequately explained by stupidity.</I>Larry Hamelinhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08788697573946266404noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28755195.post-10402486788586030512007-08-02T11:24:00.000-06:002007-08-02T11:24:00.000-06:00I think the idea that Scott is more of an asshole ...I think the idea that Scott is more of an asshole than an idiot should be entertained. As a regular reader of his blog I know that he likes to come up with silly, half-baked ideas that he throws out there because they are (to some) amusing to read about and argue over. The mistake I most commonly find with people who review his blog is that they assume he's serious, when he's not, he's a cartoonist. If you read it as philosotainment, as he recommends, it's enjoyable, if you treat it as actual philosophy and subject it to the rigorous standards therein, you're bound to be disappointed. That said, I must have missed that post, it wasn't particularly funny, or on the money with Pascal's wager, which I agree is weak.Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03701486643606672348noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28755195.post-55972327458905688032007-07-30T17:42:00.000-06:002007-07-30T17:42:00.000-06:00...he does occasionally come out with a few decent...<I>...he does occasionally come out with a few decent posts...</I><BR/><BR/>Even a stopped clock is right twice a day.<BR/><BR/><I>...he certainly doesn't always think <B>his positions through properly</B>...</I><BR/><BR/>I suspect the bolded portions of that comment could be omitted without loss of generality.<BR/><BR/><I>Thanks for the link-love... ;)</I><BR/><BR/>You're most welcome! You get to read him so I don't have to.Larry Hamelinhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08788697573946266404noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28755195.post-34709026788275613112007-07-30T17:24:00.000-06:002007-07-30T17:24:00.000-06:00Hey! Thanks for the link-love... ;)I must admit, I...Hey! Thanks for the link-love... ;)<BR/><BR/>I must admit, I do find Scott Adams' humour a little dry at times, and he certainly doesn't always think his positions through properly, but he does occasionally come out with a few decent posts (which actually make you think), so I keep reading.<BR/><BR/>That said, I thought this one was just SOOO thoughtless it deserved comment...Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28755195.post-32641217318645370622007-07-30T13:18:00.000-06:002007-07-30T13:18:00.000-06:00Much becomes clear, I think, when you remember tha...Much becomes clear, I think, when you remember that before becoming a cartoonist, Adams was not in engineering or even IT but in <I>management</I>. Anyone can write Dilbert (the character), but it takes first-hand knowledge to write the Pointy Haired Boss.Larry Hamelinhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08788697573946266404noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28755195.post-74940137212528469132007-07-30T12:53:00.000-06:002007-07-30T12:53:00.000-06:00Let's turn this sucker on its head:In order to bel...Let's turn this sucker on its head:<BR/><BR/>In order to believe there is a God, doesn't one have to be 100% certain He exists? Otherwise, one is demonstrating a propensity to retain illusions that one has a God-like intellect to know for certain everything. If agnosticism is the only intellectually defensible position, then <I>agnosticism is the only intellectually defensible position</I>. The theist -- especially one who chooses one Scriptural truth such as accepting the divinity of Jesus Christ -- then is acting with <I>identical</I> arrogance. Spinoza's non-scripturally specific, non-anthropomorphized God isn't a viable option either, under that logic, because it still requires 100% certainty.<BR/><BR/>Under this logical construction, the only way to get around this is to call faith as much of a choice as atheism. In which case, having been made on equally firm/loose footing, they are <I>equally respectable</I>. Faith being a choice, if it is made under the terms of the W.A.E. it is little more then a Cover Your Ass choice, like choosing not to steal even if one is 99.9999% certain that absolutely nothing will stop you.<BR/><BR/>What an ass.James F. Elliotthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16747033407956667363noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28755195.post-41700804741324956682007-07-30T10:57:00.000-06:002007-07-30T10:57:00.000-06:00Deer Lowered.The fact that SA bills himself as a p...Deer Lowered.<BR/>The fact that SA bills himself as a philosotainer (i.e., a self-consciously half-baked maven of pseudo-profundity), not to be confused with popularizers of philosophy (Law, Warburton, Bagini, et al.), should tip anyone off that he's just an imitation highbrow feces-agitator.<BR/><BR/>Sorry, I liked his blog last year, for about a week. Then I kept reading for another week or two, hoping it would get better, before I realized he was doing the same thing on his blog that he was doing with his comic strip: making fun of people. The difference being that his readers, rather than imaginary office personnel, were now the collective butt of his "jokes."<BR/>But I'm not bitter.<BR/><BR/>IIRC, I started, then quit, reading his blog around the time he and PZ Myers had their little spat.Steelmanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09612062887585525213noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28755195.post-56102474261344357892007-07-30T10:26:00.000-06:002007-07-30T10:26:00.000-06:00I didn't know that believing in Spinoza's God was ...I didn't know that believing in Spinoza's God was enough to get into heaven?Chrishttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08324751751266266009noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28755195.post-59607131191259295082007-07-30T07:16:00.000-06:002007-07-30T07:16:00.000-06:00The stupid. It burns. :banghead:The stupid. It burns. :banghead:Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com