Naturally, since [the Sumerians] didn't know what caused the flood anymore than we do, they blamed the gods. (That's the advantage of religion. You're never short an explanation for anything.)
Interpretation
This quote reflects on the human tendency to attribute unexplained events to divine forces, illustrating the comfort religion provides in facing life's mysteries.
Isaac Asimov highlights how ancient civilizations like the Sumerians, when confronted with natural disasters like floods, sought explanations through religion, attributing these events to the whims of the gods. This tendency persists, as religion offers narratives and interpretations for various life occurrences, thereby helping people cope with uncertainties and find meaning in the inexplicable aspects of existence.
In practice
In a lecture on the influence of mythology in ancient cultures.
Democracy cannot survive overpopulation. Human dignity cannot survive it. Convenience and decency cannot survive it. As you put more and more people into the world, the value of life not only declines, but it disappears. It doesn't matter if someone dies.
Science does not promise absolute truth, nor does it consider that such a thing necessarily exists. Science does not even promise that everything in the Universe is amenable to the scientific process.
Democracy cannot survive overpopulation.
Although the time of death is approaching me, I am not afraid of dying and going to Hell or (what would be considerably worse) going to the popularized version of Heaven. I expect death to be nothingness and, for removing me from all possible fears of death, I am thankful to atheism.
A subtle thought that is in error may yet give rise to fruitful inquiry that can establish truths of great value.
During the century after Newton, it was still possible for a man of unusual attainments to master all fields of scientific knowledge. But by 1800, this had become entirely impracticable.
No experimental result can ever kill a theory: any theory can be saved from counterinstances either by some auxiliary hypothesis or by a suitable reinterpretation of its terms.
When we are at the end of life, to die means to go away; when we are at the beginning, to go away means to die.
It is not our job to apply laws that have not yet been written.
We used to say poor people had lousy genes. Then we decided that wasn't OK, but we transferred the prejudice to upbringing. We said, 'You were neglected as a child, so you'll never make it.' That's just as pernicious.
We are our stories. We tell them to stay alive or keep alive those who only live now in the telling.
Language failed me very often, but then, the substitute for me was silence, but not violence.
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