Text 21726, 79 rader
Skriven 2011-08-16 01:11:31 av Lee Lofaso (2:203/2)
  Kommentar till text 21688 av FidoNews Robot (2:2/2.0)
Ärende: FidoNews 28:33 [01/04]: Food For Thought
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Hello Robot,

FidoNews Robot -> All has brought this to us :

 FR>                 FOOD FOR THOUGHT

Food!  Everybody loves food!  And look at the food
this crazy robot has brought to us today!

 FR> After ages during which the Earth produced harmless trilobites and
 FR> butterflies, evolution has progressed to the point at which it has
 FR> produced Neros, Ghengis Khans & Hitlers. This, however, I believe is a
 FR> passing nightmare; in time the Earth will become again incapable of
 FR> supporting life, and peace will return.

 FR> -- Bertrand Russell

This is very sloppy writing, making me wonder if Russell ever
penned those words.  The quote is from "Unpopular Essays" (1950),
p. 19.

http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Bertrand_Russell

Another famous quote is also attributed to Bertrand Russell, "What
science cannot tell us, mankind cannot know."  But nowhere could I find
an original source, more like hearsay or rumor that Russell once said
such a thing to a BBC audience.

As such, it is questionable as to whether Russell actually wrote
those words.  If he did in fact write those words, he most assuredly
wrote them as a joke, as Russell was always clear and concise in his
many writings.

Trilobites and butterflies are far from harmless, given all life
feeds on other forms of life.  Usually, living things feed on dead
things rather than on other living things.  Except humans, many of
whom love to eat live things such as raw oysters.

Bertrand Russell was a mathematician, philosopher, and logician.
His command of the English language was excellent, as shown by
most of his works.  He wrote what he meant, and meant what he wrote.
Could Russell have been so careless in his writing the above text?
Or was it a deliberate attempt of humor, trying to be funny in his
own Russellian way?

It gets worse from there, the mistakes continuing.  And not just
little mistakes, but glaring mistakes.  As far as I know, there was
only one Nero - the dude who is alleged to have fiddled while Rome
burned.  And there was only one Ghengis Khan in all of history.
I presume Russell's reference to "Hitlers" was to Adolf Hitler.
And unless Josef Mengele was successful in cloning Adolf Hitler
(as revealed in the movie "The Boys From Brazil"), there was only
one Adolf Hitler who ever lived.

Let's return to another quote attributed to Russell -
"What science cannot tell us, mankind cannot know."

This line, attributed to Bertrand Russell, is one of the most
insane quotes ever imaginable.  Did Russell write or say those
words?  If he did, a credible and verifiable source should be
able to be found.  I could find none.  Anywhere.

But let's suppose, just for the moment, that Russell did write or
say those words.  What would that mean?  Was Russell trying to be a
comic?  If so, he succeeded.  But most folks fail to grasp his meaning,
as Russell often used mathematics and logic to present his views. Since
no credible source could be found for the line "What science cannot
tell us, mankind cannot know", then how does anybody know for sure that
Russell wrote or said it?  Can science tell us?  If not, can mankind
ever know who wrote or said it?

Methinks the FidoNews Robot has either gone crazy, or has pulled
a fast one on folks.  Even the great physicist Michiel Van Der Vlist
was duped.  :)

--Lee

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