Communicator (communicator) wrote,
Communicator
communicator

'All living things are born at random, and will die by chance'

Recently the Pope has been openly critical of evolution. According to Ratzinger he doesn't accept that the universe is 'the random result of evolution and therefore, at bottom, something unreasonable' (of course that isn't what evolutionary theory says at all, but never mind).

Meanwhile on Dalziel and Pascoe on Monday, Dalziel was guilty about pressuring another cop to take a risk which resulted in his death. Pascoe said 'All living things are born at random, and will die by chance'. It's a quote from Sartre 'Being and Nothingness'. It stood out from the script, as a beautiful sentence.

I like it because it's true. Is it a more beautiful idea too? If you had the choice between being a random fluctuation of the universe, and a creature made by another entity, which would you prefer? I honestly think I prefer to be born by chance than to have been made. Or perhaps I just like that idea because I think it's true.

ETA the full quote from Sartre is something like 'all living things are born at random live in weakness and die by chance'. Is this sadder? Better? I prefer the short version I think.
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  • Phew what a scorcher

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  • Phew what a scorcher

    I see Gove has backed down on climate change and it's back in the curriculum again.

  • GCSE Computer Science

    My book is now for sale

  • LJ Settings

    At the moment I have set up this journal so that only friends can comment. I hate doing this, but I was just getting too much Russian spam.