Wednesday, April 06, 2005

Creation myths

Stephen Jay Gould used the story of baseball's supposed invention to identify a common trend in society - namely a preference for creation myths over evolutionary change.

The Cooperstown-enshrined myth of Abner Doubleday inventing baseball has endured - facts notwithstanding. Not particularly surprising, other creation myths have persisted against even greater challenges from reality.

Maybe a comparable myth will spring up around this blog at some point in the future? Seems that springing into existence in one fell swoop is preferable to the slow (dare I say evolutionary) buildup of disconnected thoughts that it will inevitably turn out to be.

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