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Playing catch up

Posted: Mon Jan 13, 2003 2:43 pm
by GregFl
I just got "The Lucifer Principle" on Friday and am about a third of the way thru it.My first impression was very positive for style and content and I could not put it down. Right now at this point he seems mired down a bit in throwing anecedotal history at the reader to support his theories.This theory of his itself is quite interesting, that nature itself is on its own journey and that individuals themselves are expendable in natures' quest to evolve and survive.The other theory, that evil is an invention of nature to help further its own quest is interesting as well. I haven't formulated an opinion yet and hope to finish the book by the end of the week.HOWEVER, when he claims that nature is on a quest, doesn't he assign an intellect to nature? If not, what is the source of the direction of nature?I have always tended to think that natural selection was a biological function of need and individual survival , not a group dynamic. He tends to strongly contradict this thought.More reading........."Outside of a dog, a book is man's best friend. Inside of a dog, it's too dark to read." -Groucho Marx

Re: Playing catch up

Posted: Tue Jan 14, 2003 1:40 pm
by Jeremy1952
GregFlQuote:HOWEVER, when he claims that nature is on a quest, doesn't he assign an intellect to nature? If not, what is the source of the direction of nature?this is exactly the problem I have with the whole enterprise, said better than I have been able to say itQuote:"Outside of a dog, a book is man's best friend. Inside of a dog, it's too dark to read." -Groucho MarxThis is on my mouse pad, courtesy of amazon.com.

god/nature

Posted: Wed Jan 15, 2003 10:41 am
by GregFl
Yes.To me, and I will put a qualifier right here because I am not even half way thru the book, when someone takes all of these attributes formerly assigned to god and assigns them to nature and then claims mother nature is on its own survival quest, then I tend to think they are replacing God with Nature. Sort of the old "god is nature" argument but repackaged by Mr. Bloom.Not believing in God, I have a hard time replacing nature with the concept which Mr. Bloom seems to have done.I have not been compelled to jump on his bandwagon yet, but there is always the second half of the book. In any event, I am enjoying the read. He is a good writer.