The Atheist's Guide to Reality_ Enjoying Life Without Illusions - Alex Rosenberg [161]
Thou shalt not kill, 103
Thucydides, 212, 267, 268, 304
time asymmetrical, see asymmetrical process
time order, 15
time symmetrical, see symmetrical process
tit-for-tat strategy, 129–32, 134, 141
benefits of, 131
tobacco smoking, 243
Todd, Peter, 329
Tomasello, Michael, 323
tool making, 272
top predator, us, 211–12
toxic chemicals, 258
Toynbee, Arnold, 304
tragic sense of life, 283
trajectory of human cultural evolution, 259
transference, 303
transmittance, 157, 158
Tremlin, Todd, 327
trick questions, 270
Tuchman, Barbara, 257
Tversky, Amos, 268–69, 329
twentieth century, 239, 254, 297
two cultures, 299–300, 305
ultimatum game, 133
unavoidable inequalities, 297
uncertainty of paternity, 138–39
uncontrollable jealousy, 138–39
unearned inequalities, argument for, 297
unenforceable promises, 137–38
unfakeability, 138–39
unhappiness, 312
United Nations, 102
United States of America, 5, 75, 299
Constitution, 252
Universal Declaration of Human Rights, 103
universe, 2, 21, 91, 179
accelerating expansion of, 40
beginning of, 236
purpose of, 43, 46
starting point, improbable, 34, 35
University of Chicago economists, 267, 271
unpredictability of arms races, 256
untrustworthiness of consciousness, 146–63
Urey, Harold, 67, 319
Ussher event, 91
Ussher, Bishop, 91
vacuum of space, 167
value, 18
intrinsic, 98, 279
Van Inwagen, Peter, 330
variation, 12, 13, 62, 64, 68, 256
velocity, 168
verbal contracts, value of, 137
vicars, 7
Vice Versa, 221
virgin brides, 254
viruses, 69
visual cortex, 150, 231
vocabulary of designs, goals, ends, and purposes, 281
Voltaire, 251
von Neumann, John, 123
wacky interpretative theories, 304
Wade, Nicholas, 322
Waiting for Godot, 284
Walt Disney (company), 144, 191–92, 221, 327
War and Peace (Tolstoy), 10
Warsh, David, 329
Washoe, the chimp, 199
wastage, 64, 73–76, 78
wasted effort, your, 30
“watchmaker” argument for God’s existence, 43
Watson, IBM computer, 187–89, 326
ways of knowing, 306
weak force, 36, 39
Wealth of Nations, The (Smith), 298
weather prediction, 256
Wegner, Daniel, 324
Weinberg, Steven, 318
whales, 122, 229
“whodunit” stories, 12
wiggle room, 53
Wikipedia, 5, 316–17, 319, 321, 324, 327
willpower, 151–54, 286
Wilson, E. O., 329
wireless receivers, transmitters, 221–22
wisdom, nonexistence of, 57, 299
World Lit Only by Fire, A (Manchester), 257
World War II, 51
worry about, nothing to, 93
Y chromosome, 86
yellow sensations (in blindsight), 150–51
yellow triangles, 175, 175–76
yield sign, 175, 175–76
your mother’s face, 183–84
Yucatán peninsula, 15–16, 75–76
Zeno’s paradoxes, 228
zero adaptations, 50, 52, 53, 57, 67, 70
Copyright © 2011 by Alex Rosenberg
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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Rosenberg, Alexander, 1946–
The atheist’s guide to reality : enjoying life
without illusions / Alex Rosenberg. — 1st ed.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 978-0-393-08023-0 (hardcover)
1. Atheism. 2. Scientism. I. Title.
BL2747.3.R67 2011
211'.8—dc23
2011019961
W. W. Norton & Company, Inc.
500 Fifth Avenue, New York, N.Y. 10110
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Table of Contents
PREFACE
Chapter