Saturday, April 22, 2006

Is Herman Melville God?

One of the all-time dumbest ideas to float to the surface in the cesspool of screwy thinking is the so-called Bible or Torah Code. Supposedly sentient human beings claim that a careful reading of the Bible will yield patterns of codes that foretell wondrous things that could not possibly be due to random chance. Yeah, right.

Unfortunately for these nit-wits, there is a little thing called the Scientific Method--which has the capability of putting these incredibly silly ideas to rigorous testing. What a concept! Guess what? There is actually a statistically greater chance that these same wondrous patterns can emerge from another famous book (and, by the way, one that is a helluva lot better written): Moby Dick.

That's right folks, you are far more likely to discern the mystical foretelling of the Kennedy assassination in Herman Melville's classic tale than in Leviticus. If you want proof, go to Brendan McKay's brilliant website that shows up these frauds for what they are: pin-heads. So if you really want some insight into human nature, read Moby Dick. After all, in the beginning, there was the White Whale.