The vengeful god hypothesis

 “I have never killed any one, but I have read some obituary notices with great satisfaction.

~Clarence Darrow
During my ca. 40 year career as a research scientist, I arrived at something I called “the vengeful god hypothesis.” In developing testable hypotheses about the various research problems I tackled, I had to acknowledge that there was an alternative outcome that would falsify my assumptions. In fact, this is how all scientific hypotheses work: they must be testable by experiments that are capable of falsifying the hypothesis. But I jokingly referred to this outcome as “the vengeful god hypothesis,” as only a vengeful god would visit this outcome on me.
The God of the Old Testament is a vengeful god, smiting humans by the millions. Definitely not a “pro-life” god. But it appears that there is a vengeful god in operation in the age of COVID, as several anti-vaxxer pandemic denialists have been smitten. I don’t exactly rejoice when I read this, but I shake my head at the eternal foolishness of men. https://www.huffpost.com/entry/bob-enyart-coronavirus-death-right-wing-radio-host_n_613fffcbe4b0dda4cbd2b3a4

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