roshni comments on Rationality quotes: October 2010 - Less Wrong

4 Post author: Morendil 05 October 2010 11:38AM

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Comment author: [deleted] 13 October 2010 05:42:11PM 3 points [-]

Who knows truly? Who here will declare whence it arose, whence this creation? The gods are subsequent to the creation of this. Who, then, knows whence it has come into being?

Whence this creation has come into being; whether it was made or not; he in the highest heaven is its surveyor. Surely he knows, or perhaps he knows not.

Not sure if this will qualify as a rationalist quote, but these are the last few lines from the Creation Hymn in the Rig Veda, the oldest of the Hindu sacred texts & estimated to be composed around 1100 BC. I like the note of uncertainty, rather rare among religious texts.

Comment author: gwern 13 October 2010 06:10:10PM *  6 points [-]

In its original, atheist Carvaka writings contained much verse (as Indian philosophy/theology usually does); see http://www.humanistictexts.org/Carvaka.htm In translation, they almost sound like senryū:

 If a beast slain as an offering to the dead
will itself go to heaven,
why does the sacrificer not straightway offer his father?
Comment author: sketerpot 13 October 2010 08:49:07PM *  6 points [-]

Reminds me of the doctrine that some Christians have, where anybody who dies before a certain age automatically goes to heaven, while people above that age can go to hell. The question then becomes: why don't parents kill their children, thus saving them from the all-too-likely possibility of eternal torture?

(Fun fact: most people who believe in hell can be made very uncomfortable if you look at the unfortunate implications of what they believe.)

Comment author: Desrtopa 19 October 2010 11:28:25PM 7 points [-]

I was once in a debate in which I pursued that point at some length. I don't think most people who believe in Hell find that particular point more difficult to rationalize than most of their other religious beliefs, but I bring it up because it led to a quote which, while only tangentially relating to rationality, strikes me as pretty memorable.

"That seems like an awfully selfish reason not to kill a million babies."

Comment author: NihilCredo 20 October 2010 05:12:44PM 0 points [-]

I once read about a radical Christian sect in the early modern era that would kidnap newborn children, baptise them, and immediately kill them. I'm quite annoyed that I can't seem to remember the source, and particularly whether it was a real or fictional sect.

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