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Archae

(46,337 posts)
Mon Jun 12, 2017, 10:46 AM Jun 2017

I'll probably get major league slammed for this, Dean Koontz is a horse's ass.

I knew he could be a bad writer, but I didn't know he could be this stupid.

#1848: Dean Koontz

Dean Koontz is a rather famous author of fiction. He is also a creationist, something that occasionally shows up in his novels, for instance Breathless (2010), where the following is stated by one of the main characters:

“They say – here are fossils showing the horse in its stages of its evolution. But they’re only assuming the fossils are related. These fossils may more likely be of different species instead of stages of the same one [yes, it’s the “no transitional fossils” argument]. They prove nothing. The other species became extinct. The horse didn’t. And the assumption that these fossils are arranged in the correct order, showing progression in certain features, can’t be supported with evidence. Neither carbon dating nor any method of fixing the period of a fossil is precise enough to support that arranged order. Again, they’ve been assumed to belong in that order, but mere assumptions do not qualify as science,” and later: “ut the tiniest worm on earth could not have evolved from a one-celled organism in four billion years even if there had been a mutation in every one of those millionths of a second.”

Anyone with a minimal understanding of evolution would presumably discover some errors in these assertions. What is, of course, particularly sad is that readers who don’t know the basics of evolution might be fooled into thinking that Koontz has the faintest idea about what he is talking about.

But then: these passages are from works of fiction; can we really conclude anything about Koontz’s own beliefs from them? Well, Koontz also contributed a jacket blurb to Stephen Meyer’s book Darwin’s Doubt. That’s right: that Stephen Meyer. Koontz says: “Meyer writes beautifully. He marshals complex information as well as any writer I’ve read and far better than most. This book – and his body of work – challenges scientisim with real science and excites in me the hope that the origin of life debate will soon be largely free of the ideology that has long colored it.” Yeah. Thinking that what Meyer is doing has anything to do with “real science”, and that it is the scientists, and not the creationists, who are driven to errors by ideological bias: That qualifies you for an entry here.

http://americanloons.blogspot.ca/2017/06/1848-dean-koontz.html

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I'll probably get major league slammed for this, Dean Koontz is a horse's ass. (Original Post) Archae Jun 2017 OP
"Scientism" WTF is that? Phoenix61 Jun 2017 #1
You use a hypotheical, that I knew to actually exist. Archae Jun 2017 #2
He's always been an idiot. Dave Starsky Jun 2017 #3
Denial ain't just a river in Egypt... Wounded Bear Jun 2017 #4
He really likes dogs. leftyladyfrommo Jun 2017 #5
Never was a big fan. Dr Hobbitstein Jun 2017 #6

Phoenix61

(17,006 posts)
1. "Scientism" WTF is that?
Mon Jun 12, 2017, 10:55 AM
Jun 2017

I will never stop being amazed by how apparently intelligent people can get so emotionally attached to an idea that no amount of factual data will get them to let go of it. They remind me mostly of a 4 year-old who believes in Santa. Doesn't matter if there is a fireplace or not, he's bringing them Christmas. Magical thinking is fine, if you're 4, not so cool when you're an adult.

Archae

(46,337 posts)
2. You use a hypotheical, that I knew to actually exist.
Mon Jun 12, 2017, 11:00 AM
Jun 2017

Decades ago, I knew a guy who was about 10 years older than I was, (I was in my 20's,) at work, he believed in Santa Claus.

I mean, the whole thing!
North Pole, elves, flying reindeer, the works!

You see, "He saw Santa on the roof!" when he was a child.

I asked if he could have had a particularly vivid dream, "NO! IT WAS REAL!"

Creationists are very much like this, except they get their original idea from some fundy church, and will defend that belief, no matter how much actual evidence is found.

Dave Starsky

(5,914 posts)
3. He's always been an idiot.
Mon Jun 12, 2017, 11:07 AM
Jun 2017

The stupid man's Stephen King.

I was a huge horror fan as a kid and tried to suffer through some of his work. I gave up after the second one including a car chase.

A car chase.

In a book.

leftyladyfrommo

(18,868 posts)
5. He really likes dogs.
Mon Jun 12, 2017, 11:38 AM
Jun 2017

I think many well known authors would surprise you if you got to meet them. Some of the most famous are real jerks and some are pretty crazy.

What they write and who they are can be pretty far apart

I figure anyone who likes dogs as much as he does can,t be all bad.

.

 

Dr Hobbitstein

(6,568 posts)
6. Never was a big fan.
Mon Jun 12, 2017, 11:44 AM
Jun 2017

I read Watchers as a kid, and found it intriguing. I also enjoyed Lightning (as a kid). Couldn't get into ANYTHING else he wrote.
Nowhere near as good as Stephen King, John Saul, or Clive Barker...

I thought I read that he was a rabid Republican as well...

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