God's debris
by Scott Adams · first published 2004
41% recommend41% neutral18% critical
Why HN recommends it
A short philosophical novella built on a thought experiment about the universe and consciousness. Readers enjoy its imaginative premise and the idea that we are the universe understanding itself
Common criticism: Critics call it weak as philosophy and fiction, and dismiss it as a poor follow-up to Dilbert.
Summarised by Claude from recommending comments
God's Debris is the first non-Dilbert, non-humor book by best-selling author Scott Adams, creator of Dilbert. Adams describes God's Debris as a thought experiment wrapped in a story. It's designed to make your brain spin around inside your skull.
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"God's Debris" by Scott Adams. Yes the Dilbert guy. It's available for free download http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gods_Debris.
on “Ask HN: Good books?” ↗God's Debris. Available in pdf here: http://www.andrewsmcmeel.com/godsdebris/ Its written by Scott Adams, the guy who does Dilbert, but its completely different from Dilbert. Its basically an exploration of one…
on “Ask HN: Interesting (Non software) books?” ↗…Exhalation • Ted Chiang's Story of Your Life and Others • Ken Liu's Paper Menagerie • Borges's Ficciones • Smullyan's What is the Name of This Book? • Smullyan's Lady or the Tiger? • Douglas Adams's God's Debris Remember to support local booksellers when possible :) [2] https://bookshop.org
on “They're Made Out of Meat” ↗You may enjoy the short story “God’s Debris” by Scott Adams (who did the Dilbert cartoons). Free pdf below, although I went the Audible route. Free pdf: http://www.nowscape.com/godsdebris.pdf
on “Metaphysical experiments probe our hidden assumptions about reality” ↗…and gifted to several friends and acquaintances. - The Silmarillion: Incredible World-Building - The Master and His Emissary (Mcgilchrist) Dense, but rewarding. Considerably changed the way I think. - God’s Debris (Scott Adams, yes, THAT Scott Adams) Read it in undergrad and not sure if it was a JIT kind of thing, but it impacted me.
on “Ask HN: What's the "best" book you've ever read?” ↗Scott Adams has an imaginative novella on this called God’s Debris[0]. I read it years ago (when it was free). I remember enjoying it and liking the takeaway if not the full premise - “we are the universe trying to understand itself”. [0] - https://web.archive.org/web/20130121195252/http://www.andrew...
on “Human” ↗Always was a fan of Dilbert, but I especially enjoyed a short story he wrote called God’s Debris when I discovered it as a young undergrad. Sad news indeed.
on “Dilbert creator Scott Adams says he will die soon from same cancer as Joe Biden” ↗…people have ever figured it all out, except for maybe the Socratic notion that after much learning, you might know one thing: that you know nothing. Maybe humanity is doing something as described in God's Debris by Scott Adams: assembling itself into a higher order being, where instead of individual free will or knowledge, there is a shared version? That again sounds like intersubjectivity. All our argumentation…
on “Linus Torvalds: Git proved I could be more than a one-hit wonder” ↗God's Debris is by Scott Adams, not Douglas.
on “They're Made Out of Meat” ↗In the preface of God's Debris, Scott Adams assures the reader repeatedly that the book isn't really his idea of how the world works. When I read stories like this, I have to remind myself that it's not really how the world works.…
on “How a Physically Aware Internet Will Change the World” ↗The Religion War - Scott Adams Really great read though recommend reading God's Debris first for better understanding of the characters
on “Ask HN: What books are you reading” ↗…I still am not psychic according to the test on there. Also, I did find it fascinating, just the first essay I clicked “The Body of God” from 1922, seems astonishingly similar to Scott Adams’ novella God’s Debris. As well, the preface is shockingly similar to Adam’s antisemetic views, views on women’s rolls in society/ child-rearing, and views on male “self determination”/ self-actualization. Wonder how foundational…
on “How to summon and sell your soul to Satan and other devils” ↗I saw God's Debris by Scott Adams and now seriously doubt the quality of this list. Not helped by seeing the review of Der Kreativitäts-Code as being "Here’s a book I plan on reading". Disappointed by this list
on “McKinsey's 2024 annual book recommendations” ↗Feels vaguely reminiscent of Scott Adams' "God's Debris" which was also making the rounds in the 00's. Essentially just interesting thought experiments playing with the "what if" idea of a higher power.
on “The Egg (2009)” ↗> That’s a lot of energy that came from somewhere as well seemingly for no good reason. I never finished the book, but this reminds me of God's Debris by Scott Adams which explores a philosophy of pandeism (where God annihilated itself and became the universe).
on “James Webb Space Telescope reveals that most galaxies rotate clockwise” ↗