NetNews Usenet Archive 1992 #27/NN_1992_27.iso/spool/sci/skeptic/19999

Internet Message Format | 1992-11-20 | 2.0 KB

Path: sparky!uunet!elroy.jpl.nasa.gov!nntp-server.caltech.edu!SOL1.GPS.CALTECH.EDU!CARL
From: [e-mail] (Carl J Lydick)
Newsgroups: sci.skeptic
Subject: Re: 2 vs 14, P vs J, etc. [was: Would "Noah's Ark" have been large enough?]
Date: 20 Nov 1992 20:33:55 GMT
Organization: HST Wide Field/Planetary Camera
Lines: 27
Distribution: world
Message-ID: <[e-mail]>
References: <[e-mail]>
Reply-To: [e-mail]
NNTP-Posting-Host: sol1.gps.caltech.edu

In article <[e-mail]>,
[e-mail] (Joe Slater) writes:
=
=jds>> Only in the sense that Webster's and the Oxford Dictionary are
=jds>> complementary. They're two separate collections based on the Mishna.
=jds>> Mind you, they don't pretend to be identical, or even similar, while
=jds>> the Christian Bible does.
=
=CJL> Sounds to me like multiple authorship is also a normal state of
=CJL> affairs. Perhaps someday someone will decide to merge the two talmuds.

=Why? They're collections written down over a couple of hundred years by a few
=people who grew concerned that falling standards of education meant that
=memorising fifty meg (or whatever) of debates was no longer a safe way of
=ensuring error-free transmission.

Well, you referred to them as "collections."  Who was the single author of all
the stuff that was "collected"?  Sounds to me like the oral traditions probably
had MANY authors.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Carl J Lydick | INTERnet: [e-mail] | NSI/HEPnet: SOL1::CARL

Disclaimer:  Hey, I understand VAXen and VMS.  That's what I get paid for.  My
understanding of astronomy is purely at the amateur level (or below).  So
unless what I'm saying is directly related to VAX/VMS, don't hold me or my
organization responsible for it.  If it IS related to VAX/VMS, you can try to
hold me responsible for it, but my organization had nothing to do with it.