George Smith's Styrofoam Pod Thread

[Michael Stuart Kelly]

LW Hall (and others) made a suggestion I heartily endorse: to open a thread for George Smith, since a lot of discussion about him occurred on another thread. Rather than delete posts or move them, I decided to copy them. It is a double gush-value thread.

Note that his first post below refers to a post in the other thread.

Michael

[George H. Smith]

But you're quite right, he is common-sensical and he's perfectly sane. . . most of the time.

Jeeez -- a few unfortunate incidents with my chainsaw many years ago, and people never let you forget.

Ghs

(Note from Administrator: This post has been copied from here.)

[Victor Pross]

George! Wow, good to see you here...so to speak. We have just been speaking very highly of your book on some other thread: we think you are the dude that wrote the definitive book on athesim!

(Note from Administrator: This post has been copied from here.)

[Michael Stuart Kelly]

George,

Welcome to OL. It's an honor.

Michael

(Note from Administrator: This post has been copied from here.)

[Roger Bissell]

Yes, George, welcome, and I hope you won't hold it against me some day. :-)

REB

(Note from Administrator: This post has been copied from here.)

[jordanz]

But you're quite right, he is common-sensical and he's perfectly sane. . . most of the time.

Jeeez -- a few unfortunate incidents with my chainsaw many years ago, and people never let you forget.

Ghs

Is this THE George Smith? I'm thrilled you're here. Atheism: The Case Against God was a transformational book for me.

(Note from Administrator: This post has been copied from here.)

[Mike Hardy]

I expect that George Smith would be entertained at having been described as a "normal person."

Oh god..... George Smith is normal??? I had no idea! He's been outed!! -- Mike Hardy

(Note from Administrator: This post has been copied from here.)

[George H. Smith]

Is this THE George Smith? I'm thrilled you're here. Atheism: The Case Against God was a transformational book for me.

I don't know if I am THE George Smith, but I am certainly THAT George Smith.

I'm glad you enjoyed ATCAG. Unfortunately, my transformational powers appear to be spent; nowadays I mainly annoy people.

Ghs

(Note from Administrator: This post has been copied from here.)

[Victor Pross]

George, why don't you let me do a caricature drawing of you...reaching out to God. Only God's hand will be seen. He will be reaching out to you, as if you were Adam.

(Note from Administrator: This post has been copied from here.)

[jordanz]

I'm glad you enjoyed ATCAG. Unfortunately, my transformational powers appear to be spent; nowadays I mainly annoy people.

Ghs

Well, you've done enough transforming on me to give you a credit on any future annoying you might do.

(Note from Administrator: This post has been copied from here.)

[Peri]

George H. Smith! I stand in awe of you and your rapier wit and rich and wonderful intellect!

(Note from Administrator: This post has been copied from here.)

[George H. Smith]

I wish to thank everyone for the kind remarks and warm greetings.

I am beginning to believe that I have found safe harbor -- that no one will ask me if I have read PARC.

Well, after being hounded on SOLO, I finally read the damned thing a few weeks ago. I was repeatedly assured this would result in a profound personal transformation, but no such transformation occurred. I am the same person I was before I read the book. In case anyone is puzzled by this, I have an explanation, to wit:

After getting through the first few chapters of PARC, I went to my basement to do some laundry. There I found a humanoid-shaped "pod" that looked as if were made of styrofoam. Well, at first I assumed that this pod had been placed there by my landlord, who uses my basement to store a lot of miscellaneous junk, so I didn't think much about it. But later, after I had read a few more chapters and returned to the basement to use the dryer, I noticed that this pod had taken on some distinctive facial characteristics that looked a lot like me. Naturally, I found this quite disturbing, and something told me I should do something about the pod before I fell asleep. I therefore took a rake, hacked the pod to pieces, and disposed of them.

I believe that, had I not destroyed the pod, I would have become a changed man. But I discovered it in time, so here I am -- the same person I was before reading PARC.

Ghs

(Note from Administrator: This post has been copied from here.)

[Michael Stuart Kelly]

George,

Dayaamm!

PARC didn't change you?

Maybe you didn't read it right. You might try reading it again...

Michael

(Note from Administrator: This post has been copied from here.)

[George H. Smith]

PARC didn't change you?

Well, I have experienced one disturbing tendency. I find myself, more or less against my will, mentally composing a poem. It begins: "How do I hate the Brandens? Let me count the ways."

Maybe I caught a virus or something. Let us hope it progresses no further than this.

Ghs

(Note from Administrator: This post has been copied from here.)

[Michael Stuart Kelly]

George,

PARC sure changed David Brown (The Only) - and in only one read.

It made him even more creative than he already was. Here is a post from a discussion thread in May, 2005, in answer to a question from Phil Coates:

> [Phil:] David, Let me get this straight: You don't like the book?

Coates, imagine yourself buried up to your neck in sand in the desert. Fire ants are crawling all over your face. The sun is beating down. Once every five minutes, a midget runs up and kicks you in the ear. It is a constant struggle to survive the pain, the humiliation. The vultures hover. All seems lost.

Yet, somehow, you endure. You endure. Life is a value. The way out is through. A stitch in time saves nine. The human spirit is undefeatable. You are determined. The day is almost over. Night is coming. If only you can last until morning, you think, you will find a way to escape. But, whatever, you must hang on. You must not give in to the constant searing pain. And you know you can hang on. You have managed so far. Despite it all. Despite everything your nemesis could subject you to.

Then he returns, to check up on you; he himself, the man who put you in this position. "Eh?" your foe says wonderingly. "Still alive? Resilient chap, are ye? The ants, the midgets haven't done ya in yet? Huh."

You smile a little smile of incipient triumph. This enemy, you know, wishes to defeat you not by killing you outright but by persuading you to forsake your life yourself. He wants you to give up and die because you choose to die. If you can survive his taunts, you know, then you can survive until the next morning...and then you can escape, and win.

"So. Tough guy, eh?" he says. "Well well well." He rummages around in a briefcase he happens to have brought with him.

"Hey look, just to help pass the time...how about a little reading before I leave you for the night? Ah let's see...here's something. A little tome I've been perusing by a guy named James Valliant, The Passion of Ayn Rand's Critics.... So. To begin. 'It is a truth not universally acknowledged, that a single man in possession of a poor philosophy must be in want of an objective premise...' "

Your brain congeals in terror. Oh God no. No. No. No. Anything but that. Please God no, not that prissy fussbudget and those roiling, turgid excrescences he calls a case...no...no...no...not that, anything but that!!!

You're dead in an hour.

Michael

(Note from Administrator: This post has been copied from here.)

[Chris Grieb]

George; Many years ago you were on a tv show where you debated a preacher who worked in New Orleans. The preacher worked on Bourbon Street. I understand he stopped being a Christian. Do you know anything about this? Did you have anything to do with it? Is ATCAG still in print? Folks have any of you noticed were not talking about Adam Reed.

(Note from Administrator: This post has been copied from here.)

[George H. Smith]

George; Many years ago you were on a tv show where you debated a preacher who worked in New Orleans. The preacher worked on Bourbon Street. I understand he stopped being a Christian. Do you know anything about this? Did you have anything to do with it? Is ATCAG still in print? Folks have any of you noticed were not talking about Adam Reed.

In 1974, shortly after my book was published, I debated Bourbon Street Bob Harrington on the "Tomorrow Show," hosted by Tom Snyder.

Snyder interviewed me alone for the first 20 minutes, after which Bourbon Street Bob joined in for the rest of the hour.

Although I cannot positively confirm this, I heard that poor Bob was caught with his pants down in a motel room with an underage girl. After his wife divorced him and he left the ministry, he became a car salesman. I also heard that he attempted to make a comeback (with the ministry, not with underage girls) some years later, but that the attempt fizzled out.

Except for a brief interruption after Nash Publishing went belly-up (actually, it was absorbed by "Books for Libraries," which dropped a number of controversial titles from its list), ATCAG has remained in print since it was first published in 1974. This was the hardcover edition published by Nash. For some reason, the Prometheus paperback does not mention the original edition, which has left some people with the impression that the book was published several years later than it actually was.

For those interested in book trivia, here are a few more details: My original contract with Ed Nash (who originally envisioned more of a monograph than a book) was for 4 months; in fact, the mansuscript took 14 months of full-time writing to complete.

As I explain in "My Path to Atheism" (in Atheism, Ayn Rand, and other Heresies), the opportunity to write the book was quite accidental. I was due to leave Los Angeles to return to the University of Arizona, but Roy Childs (whom I had recently met) didn't want to lose his partner in conversation. Roy knew of a monograph (titled The Case for Atheism) that I had written and published (under the aegis of the UA Students of Objectivism) while I was in college. Roy used this to set me up with Ed Nash, and after that it took less than a week for me to have a contract in hand, signed, and ready to go. This kept me in L.A. for Roy's amusement.

I got an advance of $2150 -- not much to live on for 14 months, to say the least. Nash had originally offered $2000, but I got him to throw in an additional $150 so I could purchase a typewriter. I ended up with Nathaniel Branden's Adler typewriter -- the same typewriter that he had used to write some of his articles during his years with Rand. I was very fond of that massive hunk of German engineering, which had a weight that was roughly equivalent to a Buick, both because of its reliability and its interesting provenance.

The original title of the book was the same as my earlier monograph, i.e., The Case for Atheism. When I mentioned this title to Nathaniel Branden, he said that he liked the title The Case Against God better; he thought it was more dramatic. I agreed, but when I mentioned this new title to Sylvia Cross (my editor at Nash), she said that she wanted to have the word "atheism" somewhere in the title. I immediately said, "Well, how about Atheism: The Case Against God -- and that was that.

The original print run was 4500 copies. All except around 700 of these were sold in pre-publication, so the hardcover version is somewhat rare. I know of a dealer in Los Angeles who sold a copy in good condition (with dustjacket) for $200, and that was over ten years ago.

Ghs

(Note from Administrator: This post has been copied from here.)

[Chris Grieb]

George; Thanks for the info. The name Bob Harrington came back to me after I did the post. I'm glad to hear that ATCAG remains in print. I don't think we ever met but I was once at BFL when there was a phone call from Roy Childs to you so we've almost met. Folks we've stopped talking about Adam Reed.

(Note from Administrator: This post has been copied from here.)

[Rich Engle]

George,

Fantastic to have you here...

It looks like this thread is turning into the Ask George Corner. Cool.

OK, here's the thing... this whole pod issue is disturbing. Now, I'm not sure who is who. You know, the pod might have been the one using the rake. Am I communicating with the pod?

If so, I suggest you, the pod, read PARC. We were all supposed to, and you're no exception, Pod-Boy.

I didn't read it. Not going to. Valliant is smarmy. The extracts alone, and his posting... Goddamn lawyers.

Point is, if the pod reads PARC, we might get George back.

(Note from Administrator: This post has been copied from here.)

[Ellen Stuttle]

Oh god..... George Smith is normal??? I had no idea! He's been outed!! -- Mike Hardy

Larry has a T-shirt from M.I.T. On the front is a small M.I.T. logo. On the back is the announcement, "Yes, I'm normal," followed by some mathematical symbolism I suppose Mike Hardy would recognize. Maybe we should get one of those T-shirts for George. Or if George doesn't want to wear it, maybe the styrofoam pod will reform from the pieces and we can dress the pod in the T-shirt.

Ellen

___

(Note from Administrator: This post has been copied from here.)

[Michael Stuart Kelly]

(scratching head...)

I dunno... That styrofoam pod stuff sounds like a real identity crisis.

I wonder what Rand would have said. Maybe something about God or the Brandens or social metaphysics? Styrofoam metaphysics?

(did I just hear thunder?...)

Michael

(Note from Administrator: This post has been copied from here.)

[Rich Engle]

It could be that George's landlord is a fundamentalist, and got hip to all of George's Gawd-less blast-pheeming.... constructed some kind of crude voodoo doll out of packing material.

Fundamentalists do weird stuff like that, even though they're not supposed to.

I mean, once you've banged 17 yr. olds in a trailer, the world is your oyster soup. :devil:

rde

Unitarian, and also Satan's Little Helper

"You want identity crisis? I'll show you identity crisis..."

(Note from Administrator: This post has been copied from here.)

[George H. Smith]

Maybe we should get one of those T-shirts for George. Or if George doesn't want to wear it, maybe the styrofoam pod will reform from the pieces and we can dress the pod in the T-shirt.

Ellen

My favorite "message" T-shirt was one I purchased many years ago in a speciality shop near UCLA. It sticks in my mind because I visited Barbara Branden once while wearing it. It made her laugh, shake her head, and say something to the effect of "That about sums it up."

The message read: "Life is an audition."

My second favorite T-Shirt was an elaborate Monthy Python shirt, one that was specially designed for their final performance at the Hollywood Bowl. This performance is sometimes played on cable television; if you ever see it, look for me in the audience.

Having been a Python fan for decades, ever since their shows were originally aired on PBS, I sometimes wonder what this says about my "sense of life." I have encountered many Objectivist-types who are dedicated Python fans, so maybe there is some kind of logical connection. Has anything substantial ever been written on the Objectivist view of humor?

Ghs

(Note from Administrator: This post has been copied from here.)

[Victor Pross]

http://www.objectivistliving.com/forums/in...?showtopic=631#

George, I understand you are a George Carlin fan...do you dig Lenny Bruce? I wrote about him above.

(Note from Administrator: This post has been copied from here.)

[reason.on]

Has anything substantial ever been written on the Objectivist view of humor?

Yes, volumes and volumes from the brightest of Objectivist lights--Ellen Moore, Jason Alexander, and now pretty much the whole group of blighted children who live low in the cornfield down the road.

Toi hoi hoi.

(Note from Administrator: This post has been copied from here.)