Douglas Noel Adams (March 11, 1952 - May 11, 2001)According to Wikipedia, Adams "was an English author, comic radio dramatist, and amateur musician. He is known most notably as author of the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy series. Hitchhiker's began on radio, and developed into a 'trilogy' of five books (which sold more than fifteen million copies during his lifetime) as well as a television series, a towel, a comic book series, a computer game and a feature film that was completed after Adams's death. He was known to some fans as Bop Ad (after his illegible signature), or by his initials 'DNA'.
"Adams was a self-declared 'radical atheist', though he used the term for emphasis, so that he would not be asked if he in fact meant agnostic. He stated in an interview with American Atheists that this made things easier, but most importantly that it conveyed the fact that he really meant it, had thought about it a great deal, and that it was an opinion he held seriously. He was convinced that there is no God, having never seen one shred of evidence to convince him otherwise, and devoted himself instead to secular causes such as environmentalism. Despite this, he did state in the same interview that he was 'fascinated by religion.' [...] 'I love to keep poking and prodding at it. I've thought about it so much over the years that that fascination is bound to spill over into my writing.' His fascination he ascribed to the fact that so many 'otherwise rational... intelligent people... nevertheless take it [the existence of God] seriously'.
"One analogy that Adams put forward on the subject of religion was that of the 'sentient puddle'. This analogy is intended to refute the suggestion that the existence of God and His love for mankind would be proven by the fact that the world is perfectly designed for our needs. He compared such thinkers to an intelligent puddle of water. He said the puddle is pleased with itself and certain that the hole in the ground it occupies must have been designed specifically for it since it fits so well in it. The puddle looks up to the sun above and worships its divine benefactor. The fate of the puddle is to exist under the sun until it has entirely evaporated".
Adams also said this about religious belief:
"Isn't it enough to see that a garden is beautiful without having to believe that there are fairies at the bottom of it too?"
Some other Adams quotes:
A common mistake that people make when trying to design something completely foolproof is to underestimate the ingenuity of complete fools.
Anyone who is capable of getting themselves made President should on no account be allowed to do the job.
The knack of flying is learning how to throw yourself at the ground and miss.
For a moment, nothing happened.Then, after a second or so, nothing continued to happen.
If it looks like a duck, and quacks like a duck, we have at least to consider the possibility that we have a small aquatic bird of the family anatidae on our hands.
In the beginning the Universe was created. This has made a lot of people very angry and been widely regarded as a bad move.
It is a mistake to think you can solve any major problems just with potatoes.
He felt that his whole life was some kind of dream and he sometimes wondered whose it was and whether they were enjoying it.
He inched his way up the corridor as if he would rather be yarding his way down it.
Human beings, who are almost unique in having the ability to learn from the experience of others, are also remarkable for their apparent disinclination to do so.
Humans are not proud of their ancestors, and rarely invite them round to dinner.
I love deadlines. I like the whooshing sound they make as they fly by.
I may not have gone where I intended to go, but I think I have ended up where I intended to be.
I'm spending a year dead for tax reasons.
If somebody thinks they're a hedgehog, presumably you just give 'em a mirror and a few pictures of hedgehogs and tell them to sort it out for themselves.
It is a rare mind indeed that can render the hitherto non-existent blindingly obvious. The cry 'I could have thought of that' is a very popular and misleading one, for the fact is that they didn't, and a very significant and revealing fact it is too.
Life is wasted on the living.
Space is big. You just won't believe how vastly, hugely, mind-bogglingly big it is. I mean, you may think it's a long way down the road to the drug store, but that's just peanuts to space.
That young girl is one of the least benightedly unintelligent organic life forms it has been my profound lack of pleasure not to be able to avoid meeting.
The impossible often has a kind of integrity which the merely improbable lacks.
The mere thought hadn't even begun to speculate about the merest possibility of crossing my mind.
The ships hung in the sky in much the same way that bricks don't.
There is a theory which states that if ever anyone discovers exactly what the Universe is for and why it is here, it will instantly disappear and be replaced by something even more bizarre and inexplicable.There is another theory which states that this has already happened.
Time is bunk.
We demand rigidly defined areas of doubt and uncertainty!
You live and learn. At any rate, you live.
