Author of the incredible book Determined:
“Yup. I had a crisis of trying to make sense of theistic determinism. The Exodus story. Moses goes to Pharaoh and says, “Let my people go.” And Pharaoh says, “No way.” And Moses brings a plague upon Egypt. And Pharaoh says, “Okay, I give up. You can all go.” And then, at least in the version I was raised with, “God hardened Pharaoh’s heart” and made him say, “I changed my mind, nobody’s going anywhere.” So now, in comes the second plague, and Pharaoh says, “I give up.” And God intervenes again, and at the end we’re asked not only to judge Pharaoh but, while we’re at it, kill all the firstborns and the horses and whatever poor schmucks have been forced to be in the army running those chariots across the Red Sea. And justice has been served.
But wait a second—God interfered. But then God judged them, and that’s very confusing. And when I was thirteen, it became crystal clear. I remember one night waking up at two in the morning and thinking, “None of that makes sense. None of it’s for real. It’s nonsense.” And I’ve been incapable of a shred of spirituality or religiosity since then.”
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I'll see the Northern California stereotype of people saying, “Well I don't subscribe to any organized religion but I'm a very spiritual person and I think of nature as personified.” And I know that I'd love to be able to believe that and take comfort from that. But I'm an utterly hard-nosed materialist and incapable of anything else.
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Nobel-Winning Daniel Kahneman, RIP:
I think preventing misery is a much better and more important objective than promoting happiness.
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