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“The tendency to create powerful things with unintended consequences started not with the invention of the steam engine or AI but with the invention of religion. Prophets and theologians have summoned powerful spirits that were supposed to bring love and joy but occasionally ended up flooding the world with blood.”
― Nexus: A Brief History of Information Networks from the Stone Age to AI
― Nexus: A Brief History of Information Networks from the Stone Age to AI
“Support for democracy is the province of ideologists and propagandists. In the real world, elite dislike of democracy is the norm. The evidence is overwhelming that democracy is supported only insofar as it contributes to social and economic objectives, a conclusion reluctantly conceded by the more serious scholarship.”
― Who Rules the World?
― Who Rules the World?
“The first contradiction in the nontract deals with the Ten Commandments, contrasting Exodus 20:13, “Thou shalt not kill,” with Exodus 32:27, “Slay every man his brother.” The bible is filled with killings and mass murders that are committed, commanded or condoned by deity. If this is not a contradiction, then all squares are round.”
― Godless: How an Evangelical Preacher Became One of America's Leading Atheists
― Godless: How an Evangelical Preacher Became One of America's Leading Atheists
“There’s our nation with its cult of meritocracy that judges your worth by your IQ and your number of degrees. A nation that spews bilge about equal economic potential while, as of 2021, the top 1 percent has 32 percent of the wealth, and the bottom half less than 3 percent, where you can find an advice column headlined “It’s Not Your Fault if You Are Born Poor, but It’s Your Fault if You Die Poor,” which goes on to say that if that was your lamentable outcome, “I’ll say you’re a wasted sperm.”[18”
― Determined: A Science of Life without Free Will
― Determined: A Science of Life without Free Will
“SHOULD WE KILL? Exodus 20:13 “Thou shalt not kill.” Leviticus 24:17 “And he that killeth any man shall surely be put to death.” versus Exodus 32:27 “Thus sayeth the Lord God of Israel, Put every man his sword by his side, …and slay every man his brother, …companion, …neighbor.” I Samuel 6:19 “…and the people lamented because the Lord had smitten many of the people with a great slaughter.” I Samuel 15:2, 3, 7, 8 “Thus saith the Lord… Now go and smite Amalek, and utterly destroy all that they have, and spare them not; but slay both man and woman, infant and suckling, ox and sheep, camel and ass… And Saul smote”
― Godless: How an Evangelical Preacher Became One of America's Leading Atheists
― Godless: How an Evangelical Preacher Became One of America's Leading Atheists
Ismael’s 2025 Year in Books
Take a look at Ismael’s Year in Books, including some fun facts about their reading.
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