Well, how about the idea that humans, unlike animals, have an overpowering need for knowledge? I’ve read that somewhere.” “So have I,” said Valentine. “But the issue is that man, at least the average man, can easily overcome this need. In my opinion, the need doesn’t exist at all. There’s a need to understand, but that doesn’t require knowledge. The God hypothesis, for example, allows you to have an unparalleled understanding of absolutely everything while knowing absolutely nothing . . . Give a man a highly simplified model of the world and interpret every event on the basis of this simple
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Much of mans reasoning is defense against existential dread. He is also positing a difference between knowing and understanding m.
