Pascal raised the question: How do you know whether God exists? He said, if I assume that he exists and he does, I’ll make out OK. If he doesn’t, I won’t lose anything. If he does exist and I assume he doesn’t I may be in trouble. That’s basically the logic.
On this issue of human freedom, if you assume that there’s no hope, you guarantee that there will be no hope. If you assume that there is an instinct for freedom, there are opportunities to change things, etc., there’s a chance you may contribute to making a better world.
That’s your choice.
Noam Chomsky, in an interview with David Barsamian, in Chronicles of Dissent
