For awhile now I’ve been trying to build up a list of fictional selections that may be of particular interest to atheists, agnostics, skeptics, and humanists, and share those which I found especially worthwhile. Today’s selection is spot on, smack in the middle of my desired conceptual territory, and (for reasons that remain unclear to me, possibly an overabundance of typos) a 99¢ bargain in the Kindle store.
The basic premise of the book is that people of faith might be easily persuaded to ostentatiously demonstrate the strength of their untestable metaphysical commitments by placing individual monetary bets for each of them. Also, artificial intelligence might be perfected and then harnessed to create a new generation of theistic electrical appliances, some of whom are outstandingly motivated to go beyond their mundane uses.
In order to whet your literary appetite, I’d like to tear a page out of the book to help get you started:
After this auspicious beginning, Edgar eventually goes on to set up a place where people of faith can show just how much they value their faith claims:
As the book goes on, the metaphysical betting business proves increasingly lucrative, and we discover that Edgar is a humanist in addition to being a skeptic. That is all I will say for now, lest I spoil the plot, but if you want more snippets from the book before you bet your bottom/dollar, you may find them here.
Share and enjoy!
