h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

I thought I'd pop round and say 'Hi'. I posted a challenge in the 'Problem with evil' thread, and I want you to know that it springs from a genuine sense of .

You quote the wizard's second rule, in the context of the response to terrorism, and I agree with you very strongly there.

On the 12th September last year I wrote a guide entry (A638840). In it I said, among other things:

"The Americans were attacked by something which was not in their world view. That world view has changed.

"But is has changed to the world view of the attackers.

"So anything the US now does is WITHIN the world view of their attackers.

"The best response would be to do something outside the world view of their attackers. Usually one only gets outside a world view by being outside the times. This is called 'the historical perspective'. It is easy to be wise after the event.

"But we are IN these events, and I have had the terrorism-world-view for far too long to find it easy to think of another world view.

"But I am very clear that the only thing that would work is something the terrorists do not expect.

"And I do not believe that the US is capapble of doing that. The only questions are where, when, for how long, and how many mega-tons."

Sadly, worryingly, a year later, nothing has changed my opinion on that.

All the best, and if I challenge your thinking, please challenge mine back.

Ben

Thank you for giving me the link to that article. It is very good. Thank you for challenging me too. I'm still figuring out my philosophy, and I like having the weak points pointed out to me.

More and more I'm realizing that we need to change. Hatred can't continue, greed and the consumerism that fuels it can't continue, the killing can't continue.

Gonna go eat dinner. I'll post more in a few minutes.

Hey, I am still figuring out mine. With some of the weak points in it, I just end up having to say "it's a fair cop, guv - I don't have no alibi for that one" - for example the concept of an omnipotent and omniscient god who permits evil in order to find out what happens if you give people free will.

I don't believe in the judeo-christian god anyway, so I leave that as a gap in my philosophy and move on.

Bon apetite!

B