Editing God's Debris

{{Short description|2001 novella by Scott Adams}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=March 2025}}
{{Infobox book  | <!-- See Wikipedia:WikiProject_Novels or Wikipedia:WikiProject_Books -->
| name           = God's Debris
| image          = God's Debris.jpg
| image_size = 200px
| caption  = Cover of ''God's Debris''.
| author         = [[Scott Adams]]
| illustrator    = 
| cover_artist   = 
| country        = United States
| language       = English
| genre          = 
| publisher      = [[Andrews McMeel Publishing, LLC]]
| release_date   = 2001
| media_type     = 
| pages          = 
| isbn           = 0-7407-4787-8
| congress= MLCS 2006/02411 (B)
| oclc= 56622703
| followed_by    = [[The Religion War]]
}}

'''''God's Debris: A Thought Experiment''''' is a 2001 novella by ''[[Dilbert]]'' creator [[Scott Adams]]. The introduction disclaims any personal views held by the author, "The opinions and philosophies expressed by the characters are not my own, except by coincidence in a few spots not worth mentioning."<ref>''God's Debris'', page X</ref>

''God's Debris'' espouses a [[philosophy]] based on the idea that the simplest explanation tends to be the best. The book proposes a form of [[pandeism]] and [[monism]], postulating that an [[omnipotence|omnipotent]] God annihilated Itself in the [[Big Bang]], because an [[omniscience|omniscient]] entity would already know everything possible except Its own lack of existence, and exists now as the smallest units of [[matter]] and the law of [[probability]], or "God's debris".

==Synopsis==
The main character, the Avatar, defines God as primordial matter (like [[quarks]] and [[lepton]]s) and the law of [[probability]]. He offers recommendations on everything from an alternative theory for [[Kepler's laws of planetary motion|planetary motion]] to successful recipes for [[personal relationship|relationships]] under his system. He proposes that God is currently reassembling himself through the continuing formation of a [[collective intelligence]] in the form of the [[Human|human race]], modern examples of which include the development of the internet; this is related to the idea of the [[Omega Point]]. In the introduction, Adams describes ''God's Debris'' as a [[thought experiment]], challenging readers to differentiate its scientifically accepted theories from "creative baloney designed to sound true" and to "[t]ry to figure out what's wrong with the simplest explanation".<ref>''God's Debris'', page XI</ref>

=== Levels of consciousness ===
The chapter "Fifth Level" (p.&nbsp;124) describes five levels of human awareness, or consciousness.
* Level 1: [[Consciousness]] at birth: pure [[innocence]], [[self-awareness]].
* Level 2: Awareness of others, and acceptance of authority (a [[belief system]]).
* Level 3: Awareness that some beliefs may be wrong, but not sure which ones.
* Level 4: [[Skepticism]] and adoption of the [[scientific method]].
* Level 5: Avatar level, understanding that the human mind is a [[Maya (illusion)|delusion]]-generating machine, and that science is another belief system, albeit a useful one.

== Philosophical roots ==
The book subscribes to the [[George Lakoff|Lakoffian]] point of view, in that the mind is viewed as a "delusion generator" rather than a window to true understanding. As [[George Lakoff]] said: "Our ordinary conceptual system, in terms of which we both think and act, is fundamentally metaphorical in nature." The particular philosophy espoused has been identified as a form of [[pandeism]], the concept that a god created the universe by becoming the universe.<ref>Knujon Mapson, ''Pandeism: An Anthology'' (2017), p. 31-32.</ref>

== Publication ==
Given Adams' fame as the author of the ''Dilbert'' comics, publishers were wary of publishing any book by Adams without ''Dilbert'' content. The book was therefore released initially as an [[e-book]] in 2001, with comparatively small "publishing" costs. It was released in hard-cover format in 2004.<ref>{{cite web |title=God's debris : a thought experiment |url=https://marketplace.copyright.com/rs-ui-web/mp/advanced-search/journal/result |publisher=copyright.com |access-date=27 February 2023}}</ref> In 2023, Adams announced in a pinned tweet that he had re-published the book for free for his subscribers, and would shortly publish an AI-voiced audiobook version.<ref>{{cite tweet|url=https://twitter.com/ScottAdamsSays/status/1646614336193069060 |title= I just published the full text of my mind-bending book God's Debris on Locals, free for my subscribers. I will publish an AI-voiced audiobook version there soon. It's a new world.|user=ScottAdamsSays|number=1646614336193069060|date=April 14, 2023}}</ref>

== See also ==
*''[[The Religion War]]'', the follow-up to ''God's Debris''
*[[Brahman]]
*[[Advaita Vedanta]]
*''[[The Footprints of God]]'', novel written by author [[Greg Iles]].
*''[[Eureka: A Prose Poem]]'', work by [[Edgar Allan Poe]].
*''[[The Last Question]]'', short story by author [[Isaac Asimov]].
*[[God becomes the Universe]]
*[[Occam's razor]]

==Notes==
{{reflist}}

==External links==
*[http://www.andrewsmcmeel.com/catalog/detail?sku=9780740747878 Information at Andrews McMeel Publishing] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131026164314/http://andrewsmcmeel.com/catalog/detail?sku=9780740747878 |date=2013-10-26 }}
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20130121195252/http://www.andrewsmcmeel.com/godsdebris/ Non-free online copy of the book from the publisher (might have been free in the past)]

{{Scott Adams}}

[[Category:2001 American novels]]
[[Category:2001 science fiction novels]]
[[Category:American science fiction novels]]
[[Category:American speculative fiction novellas]]
[[Category:Books by Scott Adams]]
[[Category:Andrews McMeel Publishing books]]
[[Category:Thought experiments]]
[[Category:Pantheism]]
[[Category:Deism]]
[[Category:Novels about God]]