Idea Ripper // ArchiveCards: 1555 [Live] | Updated: 2026-10-14
Card #c435IR // #c435Verbatim excerpt
Jubal is giving Mike a casual theology lesson: while religions said many things, most of them said, God made the World. Mike seizes the word. Mike pointed triumphantly at Jubal. Thou art God! And Jubal's instant reaction: Jubal slapped a hand to his face. Oh, Jesus H. What have I done?

— Source: Stranger in a Strange Land (Robert A. Heinlein)

[Use when]

A movement's founding doctrine turns out to be a paraphrase, a mistranslation, or a casual remark taken literally, and nobody can put it back.

[Why it matters]

The book's core doctrine, the grenade that rewrites responsibility, possession, sex, jealousy, and violence for an entire movement, begins as a mistranslation in a living room. The interesting question is not whether the philosophy is true; it is what happens socially when a doctrine that dissolves the boundary between self and universe is adopted by people. Jubal knows instantly that the word has escaped him.

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