Rant on.<\/p>\n
I like a good fairy tale.\u00a0 The characters are often two-dimensional, true–they are good or bad, rarely a mix–but the good always wins and the bad always loses in some terrible way.\u00a0 To any reasonable adult, it’s obvious the story is just that, a story.\u00a0 A bit of fiction with no connection to reality.\u00a0 And yet there are plenty who want to believe in fairy tales well into adulthood, no matter the evidence against them.<\/p>\n
I watched a video the other day by comedian Ricky Gervais in which he discussed one of the more famous such fairy tale:\u00a0 Noah’s Ark<\/em>.\u00a0 He made fun of the story in general, not really attacking its lack of reality much.\u00a0 He did make at least one interesting point, though.\u00a0 According to the story, God looked down at Earth and saw it was filled wicked people.\u00a0 So he decided to flood the Earth and wipe everything out, allowing only Noah and his family and two of every animal to survive.<\/p>\n Wait, what?\u00a0 Humans are being wicked, so all of the animals will be wiped out except for two?\u00a0 This is the kind, loving God of Christianity committing near genocide on every single species on the planet.\u00a0 This seems a little irrational at best.<\/p>\n Also, it’s not particularly feasible.\u00a0 If the population of a species is down to one pair, the species is done with.\u00a0 Doomed.\u00a0 Assuming the pair is male and female, they can procreate, sure, and then…well, the kids are only going to have each other or their parents for potential mates.\u00a0 In humans, this is taboo, and for good reason.\u00a0 The offspring of inbreeding often has a lot of problems.\u00a0 Some of the offspring might come out okay–it’s always a possibility–but their still only going to have close relatives to continue the species.\u00a0 It just isn’t viable.<\/p>\n The ark would not be big enough to fit two of every species anyway.\u00a0 Mr. Gervais alludes to this, gesturing at the classic image of the animals marching in a two-by-two line to the ark.\u00a0 There’s already a pair of giraffes in the boat, and they’re taking up a bit of space.\u00a0 A boat large enough to hold two of every species hasn’t been built yet with modern technology, Noah would not have been able to do so.\u00a0 Even if he did, food supply would be short, especially for the herbivores.\u00a0 The omnivores and carnivores might be okay, but only at the expense of cutting down that immense population of animals on the boat.<\/p>\n