God's Debris

Although I know Scott Adams' personal philosophy is disorganized, I spotted this offer for a free copy of his short book God's Debris, so I thought I'd check it out. Philosophy interests me, after all.

It was interesting to read, although somewhat uncomfortable, so I invite you to read it and join in the game that Mr. Adams suggests in his prologue: see if you can spot the mistakes. What is your personal philosophy? Unless you have an extremely integrated view of existence and your own consciousness, I expect that at some point you will be floundering in confusion, unable to avoid accepting one or more of Mr. Adam's ideas (or his character's ideas . . . I know enough about Mr. Adams to know that it's rarely wise to assume he believes the same thing he portrays). You will find yourself helplessly saying, "well I guess that makes sense" without really knowing why.

Blindly accepting ideas because you guess they make sense is one of the most dangerous activities you can ever engage in. However, Mr. Adam's book is weird and ludicrous enough that I don't think it's dangerous; it's exactly the opposite of dangerous. Reading God's Debris will help you learn how to entertain ideas without accepting them by allowing you to exercise your skill in philosophical detection.

So, I do recommend reading it if you have some spare time and feel like flexing your mental muscles; it's an extremely important exercise. Why? Because, as Mr. Adams puts it (amazingly, getting it dead right):

"Ideas are the only things that can change the world. The rest is details."