hell’s handmaiden

I don’t quite understand why Thomas Malthus is so consistently bashed these days. What he said should be nothing controversial to a biologist or to an ecologist, nor to an anthropologist or a historian. Populations do tend to rise until something stops the trend. Yet Malthus is the demon maverick with a pessimistic bent and a penchant for wishing the worst for humanity. He is the bad guy. He’s the misanthrope. He’s the guy who shouldn’t be taken seriously because he has a bad attitude about people.

I’m fond of most of these tricks, but I still have a few favorites.

33) Overwhelm him with your knowledge of science, using examples: “And because of entropy you have to press the nozzle on the spray can. The nozzle is entropy.”

45) Insist that the Bible is meant to be taken literally — all except that verse he just showed you.

51) If a plane crashes killing 300 passengers and crew, but one little girl survives with only third-degree burns, tell him that this miracle proves the existence of God.

is up at A brood comb. Don’t miss Philosophical Insults (Frances), way down at the bottom. Very fun.

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Judge for yourself on each and every one. For myself, sometimes one has to indulge in a little wishing that the world is weirder than we’ve imagined.

1) an odd biochemical component to the placebo effect

2) The horizon problem

3) impossibly energetic cosmic rays

4) spooky action at a dilution

5) Dark matter

6) Viking’s methane

7) tetraneutrons

the pioneer probes are speed freaks

9) dark energy

10) the Kiuper Cliff

11) The WOW! signal (– and I don’t mean Wendy’s album)

12) variable constants

has the Carnival of the Godless this go ’round.

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