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- purelithium, on 07/21/2008, -31/+517The Dragon In My Garage
by
Carl Sagan
"A fire-breathing dragon lives in my garage"
Suppose (I'm following a group therapy approach by the psychologist Richard Franklin) I seriously make such an assertion to you. Surely you'd want to check it out, see for yourself. There have been innumerable stories of dragons over the centuries, but no real evidence. What an opportunity!
"Show me," you say. I lead you to my garage. You look inside and see a ladder, empty paint cans, an old tricycle--but no dragon.
"Where's the dragon?" you ask.
"Oh, she's right here," I reply, waving vaguely. "I neglected to mention that she's an invisible dragon."
You propose spreading flour on the floor of the garage to capture the dragon's footprints.
"Good idea," I say, "but this dragon floates in the air."
Then you'll use an infrared sensor to detect the invisible fire.
"Good idea, but the invisible fire is also heatless."
You'll spray-paint the dragon and make her visible.
"Good idea, but she's an incorporeal dragon and the paint won't stick."
And so on. I counter every physical test you propose with a special explanation of why it won't work.
Now, what's the difference between an invisible, incorporeal, floating dragon who spits heatless fire and no dragon at all? If there's no way to disprove my contention, no conceivable experiment that would count against it, what does it mean to say that my dragon exists? Your inability to invalidate my hypothesis is not at all the same thing as proving it true. Claims that cannot be tested, assertions immune to disproof are veridically worthless, whatever value they may have in inspiring us or in exciting our sense of wonder. What I'm asking you to do comes down to believing, in the absence of evidence, on my say-so.
The only thing you've really learned from my insistence that there's a dragon in my garage is that something funny is going on inside my head. You'd wonder, if no physical tests apply, what convinced me. The possibility that it was a dream or a hallucination would certainly enter your mind. But then, why am I taking it so seriously? Maybe I need help. At the least, maybe I've seriously underestimated human fallibility.
Imagine that, despite none of the tests being successful, you wish to be scrupulously open-minded. So you don't outright reject the notion that there's a fire-breathing dragon in my garage. You merely put it on hold. Present evidence is strongly against it, but if a new body of data emerge you're prepared to examine it and see if it convinces you. Surely it's unfair of me to be offended at not being believed; or to criticize you for being stodgy and unimaginative-- merely because you rendered the Scottish verdict of "not proved."
Imagine that things had gone otherwise. The dragon is invisible, all right, but footprints are being made in the flour as you watch. Your infrared detector reads off-scale. The spray paint reveals a jagged crest bobbing in the air before you. No matter how skeptical you might have been about the existence of dragons--to say nothing about invisible ones--you must now acknowledge that there's something here, and that in a preliminary way it's consistent with an invisible, fire-breathing dragon.
Now another scenario: Suppose it's not just me. Suppose that several people of your acquaintance, including people who you're pretty sure don't know each other, all tell you that they have dragons in their garages--but in every case the evidence is maddeningly elusive. All of us admit we're disturbed at being gripped by so odd a conviction so ill-supported by the physical evidence. None of us is a lunatic. We speculate about what it would mean if invisible dragons were really hiding out in garages all over the world, with us humans just catching on. I'd rather it not be true, I tell you. But maybe all those ancient European and Chinese myths about dragons weren't myths at all.
Gratifyingly, some dragon-size footprints in the flour are now reported. But they're never made when a skeptic is looking. An alternative explanation presents itself. On close examination it seems clear that the footprints could have been faked. Another dragon enthusiast shows up with a burnt finger and attributes it to a rare physical manifestation of the dragon's fiery breath. But again, other possibilities exist. We understand that there are other ways to burn fingers besides the breath of invisible dragons. Such "evidence"--no matter how important the dragon advocates consider it--is far from compelling. Once again, the only sensible approach is tentatively to reject the dragon hypothesis, to be open to future physical data, and to wonder what the cause might be that so many apparently sane and sober people share the same strange delusion. - bassman12593, on 07/21/2008, -8/+314"And thats part of my...
...foreign policy."
Fail. - sockpuppets, on 07/21/2008, -6/+263I hope you're not a Catholic priest.
- Ringleader, on 07/20/2008, -35/+279When Bill accepts the Academy Award for best documentary, I hope he raises that statue high and shouts out an NFL style "THANK YOU JESUUUUUUS!"
- AZTriGuy, on 07/21/2008, -3/+241Why do we have so many links to videos on Youtube with "HD" in the description? YouTube and "HD" do not even belong in the same sentence
- bigbill780, on 07/21/2008, -18/+204Definitely better action sequences than Dark Knight.
Why so... religious? - timbococ, on 07/20/2008, -37/+212Duplicate. Also, why watch it YouTube quality when you can see it HD...?
http://www.apple.com/trailers/lions_gate/religulou ... - inactive, on 07/20/2008, -35/+172Bless me father for I have sinned - it has been "40 years" since my last confession... great line!
- Shaman760, on 07/21/2008, -34/+170My 8 year old and I just set a date to go see it when it comes out.
- GrammerPants, on 07/21/2008, -35/+169Um no this is the best movie trailer this summer: http://www.apple.com/trailers/wb/watchmen/high.htm ...
- username7410, on 07/21/2008, -6/+140I'm sure your 8 year can't wait to see a documentary on religion!
- xwfilm, on 07/21/2008, -9/+131That...was awesome.
- zizzy, on 07/21/2008, -0/+99While I certainly agree, I hope you're aware that you just used those two words in the same sentence. Twice.
- t3hmyth, on 07/21/2008, -43/+133I'm a Born-Again Christian, but Bill Mahrer looks like he's made an AWESOME film. Also, I must say, "Expelled" was a really BAD documentary...
- inactive, on 07/21/2008, -2/+68Your 8 year old what?
Girlfriend?
Golden retriever?
Single malt scotch? - Tallon29, on 07/21/2008, -2/+66I suppose there would be no harm in entertaining that possibility, until lawmakers and world leaders begin to receive instructions from invisible, incorporeal, floating dragons on how our children should be educated and how our nation should be governed. I would be especially contentious when the instructions of these creatures--of which we have no proof that they even exist--began to sway millions to begin to favor laws which are not in humanity's best interests, or which hinder scientific progress.
- Backstab, on 07/21/2008, -6/+65Expelled was a mockumentary about how intelligence design is dumb, right?
- MJG2007, on 07/21/2008, -3/+60Who are these people you hang with that pray to Al Gore, Bush, talk show hosts, and the government?
I had no idea the Internet was available at mental institutions. - wreckosaurus, on 07/21/2008, -8/+64http://www.losingmyreligion.com/essays/interview_h ...
One of the best arguments I've read on atheism. - inactive, on 07/21/2008, -3/+56I would hate to be you *right now*.
- inactive, on 07/21/2008, -12/+64I'd like to thank Jesus Christ, Jehova God almighty, for my number one hit single. It's called "Suck yo' mama." Peace out. WHITE PEOPLE DIE!
- t3hmyth, on 07/21/2008, -2/+54Not because it's "invalidating" my beliefs, but because Maher has shown that he's taken both sides of what he's doing. Not only is he going to talk with those who see religion as an "opiate for the masses" but he's also challening the beliefs of various faiths, something that a religious person should be prepared to do. If they can't, well, then this community is right in stating that they have no logical reason to belive in it. And above all, he's going to make it funny.
- egoideal, on 07/21/2008, -3/+55That's funny, considering you believe in a religion that calls atheists and agnostics evil and immoral. And logic and reason are ALWAYS better than blind faith.
- eers2snow, on 07/21/2008, -3/+54This will, without a doubt, bring out the Harry Potter protesters.
- Halsfield, on 07/21/2008, -3/+52i loved the incredibly overweight guy that was saying something like, if you start debating my god, well then you and i got a problem. dense in all meanings of the word.
- LaChupacabra, on 07/21/2008, -30/+78Religion; It's like wearing sunglasses at night.
- CarISagan, on 07/21/2008, -13/+59Oh yes, I remember when I wrote this, good times!
- ferrell, on 07/21/2008, -5/+51That's nice. I was born alright the first time.
- Mononuclear, on 07/21/2008, -2/+48There are several quicktime alternatives that you can install to play qt media but not have to install quicktime itself.
- Namakemono, on 07/21/2008, -2/+47Sagan's "Demon Haunted World" should be required reading for all high school freshmen.
- username7410, on 07/21/2008, -7/+50Because it's a trailer more a documentary, not Terminator 4.
- username7410, on 07/21/2008, -10/+52You a RealPlayer kinda man?
- praisethelard, on 07/21/2008, -1/+43Didn't you see the title of the Youtube movie? It is HD!
- thepolkapunk, on 07/21/2008, -36/+76Why? Because quicktime is bloatware I refuse to install on my machine.
- cruzlee, on 07/21/2008, -0/+40I take my 8 year old Scotch to every movie I see.
- MJG2007, on 07/21/2008, -5/+45Well, I think it might have something to do with people who are religious and can't just worship in peace, but instead feel compelled to shove it down our throats. If they aren't trying to make their religious views the law of the land, they are showing up on my door step asking me questions that are none of their business, or trying to indoctrinate people with school prayer and thinly disguised religious dogma being passed off as real science.
It would be nice if people could just live and let live. You rarely, if ever, see atheists showing up and demanding churches teach science, but churches have no problem demanding we teach religion. - ngmcs8203, on 07/21/2008, -1/+37Jesus Camp was great as well.
- FatherG, on 07/21/2008, -2/+38protip: vlc plays .mov
- forceeffect, on 07/21/2008, -17/+52Because they vote and win elections that speak for the rest of us and lead to a crashing economy and a pathetic international reputation. :(
Like figuring out Santa Claus isn't real, it's time for our leaders to do the same about God. All gods. - alkajazz, on 07/21/2008, -6/+39Can't wait for this movie. I'm glad hes taking a stab at religion as a whole. Not just the Christians.
- flashback99, on 07/21/2008, -4/+36I love it when the religious try to make sense of atheism / agnosticism. An exercise in futility.
- HeyArnold, on 07/21/2008, -6/+38So, you think this is awesome because its invalidating your beliefs?
I just need you to elaborate. - MisterNipples, on 07/21/2008, -1/+33Do you really want to risk going to invisible dragon hell. Why not just worship it "just in case"?
- caborobo, on 07/21/2008, -2/+33You don't have much of a sense of humor do you?
- carbog, on 07/21/2008, -29/+60What exactly is this movie supposed to do? Are you gonna try to talk people out of religion using reason? That's obviously not going to happen.
Why can't people just believe what they want to believe and be left alone. I personally am not religious, and strongly believe that I am right. But someone else might have the opposite view and believe that they're absolutely right and that I'm an idiot.
Trying to convince religious people that their stupid is just as annoying and inconsequential as trying to convince an atheist that they're going to hell. Everyone just live your lives believing what you want and let everyone else belive what they want.
Now using religion as a foreign policy, that's a whole other story. - inactive, on 07/21/2008, -1/+32Carl Sagan on weed:
"I can remember the night that I suddenly realized what it was like to be crazy, or nights when my feelings and perceptions were of a religious nature. I had a very accurate sense that these feelings and perceptions, written down casually, would not stand the usual critical scrutiny that is my stock in trade as a scientist. If I find in the morning a message from myself the night before informing me that there is a world around us which we barely sense, or that we can become one with the universe, or even that certain politicians are desperately frightened men, I may tend to disbelieve; but when I’m high I know about this disbelief. And so I have a tape in which I exhort myself to take such remarks seriously. I say ‘Listen closely, you sonofabitch of the morning! This stuff is real!’ I try to show that my mind is working clearly; I recall the name of a high school acquaintance I have not thought of in thirty years; I describe the color, typography, and format of a book in another room and these memories do pass critical scrutiny in the morning. I am convinced that there are genuine and valid levels of perception available with cannabis (and probably with other drugs) which are, through the defects of our society and our educational system, unavailable to us without such drugs." - inactive, on 07/21/2008, -5/+36Being less susceptible to superstition does not make one person better than another. But it does make the more rational.
- JoeDiggsIt, on 07/21/2008, -1/+31Thank you very much for that.
- Charlotte_Web, on 07/21/2008, -16/+45Meh... the Watchmen trailer was a lot better than this.
- AZTriGuy, on 07/21/2008, -0/+27You, sir, are a gentleman and a scholar. Guilty as charged.
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