Sam Harris

Inexplainable complexity does not indicate a superior intelligence above but does indicate an inferior one below.

On reading this line, my alarm bells started ringing.

My concern is not necessarily with the substance of the proposition, but with the form.

It’s pithy and has the sort of symmetry (superior-above / inferior-below) that the mind recognises as well-turned.  It generates a certain aesthetic pleasure that can disarm the critical faculties. 

Winning turns of phrase and formulations can be vectors of enlightening insights, but equally they can be vectors of illogic and lies.

Stuarte - 12 May 2011 12:47 PM

On reading this line, my alarm bells started ringing.

My concern is not necessarily with the substance of the proposition, but with the form.

It’s pithy and has the sort of symmetry (superior-above / inferior-below) that the mind recognises as well-turned.  It generates a certain aesthetic pleasure that can disarm the critical faculties. 

Winning turns of phrase and formulations can be vectors of enlightening insights, but equally they can be vectors of illogic and lies.

Concerning all specualtions spiritual, conceptual thought is nothing but illogic and lies.