July 15, 2014

Jerry Coyne is a treasure

On Evolution is True, Jerry Coyne's blog web site (he gets furious if you call it a blog), I found this today. He'd been musing about the fact that a quote from Steven Pinker now adorns a Chipotle bag:
Notice, too, that they chose an idealistic and happy quote (like Chinese fortune cookies, none of which ever have fortunes that say, “You suck!”).  I suppose that’s what makes people associate good feelings with the restaurant. It will be a cold day in the Yucatán when they put an atheist slogan on a burrito bag.
I’d love to see this one, for instance:
Pretending to be certain when one isn’t—indeed, pretending to be certain about propositions for which no evidence is even conceivable—is both an intellectual and a moral failing.
—Sam Harris 
*For non-Americans, Chipotle is a chain that purveys bland and Americanized Mexican food.
I love Jerry. He's a smart, militant atheist/biologist who really knows his stuff -- and he's funny, to boot.

1 comment:

Anna Guess Pick said...

Funny - that's a good quality to have.

[It's possible the above quote could be found on a fortune cookie.]