When I finished EOF in December of 2004, I wrote Sam a congratulatory email. He responded with thanks and directed me to this forum, if I was interested in discussing the ideas promulgated in the book. I have not tried to communicate since.
I met and talked with Sam a bit after his presentation at The Council for Secular Humanism in Buffalo, NY. last year. He answered a short follow-up e-mail. At the time he said he tries to look at his e-mails, but can’t really spend the time following these forums.
[quote author=“Rod”]I met and talked with Sam a bit after his presentation at The Council for Secular Humanism in Buffalo, NY. last year. He answered a short follow-up e-mail. At the time he said he tries to look at his e-mails, but can’t really spend the time following these forums.
Rod
Wow that guy is my hero…I hope I can meet and actually exchange words with him some day….
[quote author=“hampsteadpete”]When I finished EOF in December of 2004, I wrote Sam a congratulatory email. He responded with thanks and directed me to this forum, if I was interested in discussing the ideas promulgated in the book. I have not tried to communicate since.
Ditto here—though I had a brief (2 or 3?) email exchange with him.
I don’t know their names, but I believe the “journalists” who visited Ahmed Shah Masoud (The leader of the northern alliance in Afghanistan, mortal enemy of Osama Bin Laden, assassinated by suicide bombers posing as journalists) said shortly before visiting him to “interview” him.
Sam may be reticent to communicate with everyone who asks for an audience, given his message. I wish it weren’t so.
I wrote Sam an email in December 2004 when I finished TEOF and expressed my deep appreciation for his wonderful work. I asked him a few questions about his future work and I also admonished him for that piece in the book advocating the use of torture in certain situations, and also wondered why he was so hard on Noam Chomsky?
Sam replied with information on the research he was presently involved with in the neuroscience area, stating that his ultimate hope was to develop a secular system of ethics based on the research he was presently doing. He urged me to join the forum for further discussion of points in the text including the Chomsky issue.
I wrote back to inform him that I too was trying to work out an ethical framework that accompanied the onset of human-type language - an ethical system that evolved naturally and was innate to the human experience. Also told Sam that if I finished my work before he finished his, I’d let him know.
[quote author=“stardusk”]and I sent him a few mails…I guess he is really busy…more’s the pity it would have been great to have received a mail from him…
Keep in mind he’s probably a tad more busy now than he was back in late ‘04.
Yeah, all this and a PhD, in a large and interesting area no less. I’m not gonna bother the guy. Hell, when I’m busy I may not even read my email for days.
I suspect he may lurk here, or even post as an alias occasionally. If he posted as himself, the topic would get buried in the fan/hate mail.
[quote author=“stardusk”]and I sent him a few mails…I guess he is really busy…more’s the pity it would have been great to have received a mail from him…
He snubbed you because he’s better than you—just like everybody else.
