The inanity of "The Mistake of the Machine" by G.K. Chesterton

"The Wisdom of Father Brown"

Excerpts from "The Mistake of the Machine"

By G. K. Chesterton


"The [...psychometric...] has been guaranteed by some of the best American men of science."


(A precursor to the "modern" lie detector machine. His remarks speak to why they are inadmissible as court evidence and only verify the "facts" of a witch hunt.)

"What sentimentalists men of science are! ... and such more sentimental must American men of science be! Who but a Yankee would think of proving anything from heart throbs? Why, they must be as sentimental as a man who thinks a woman is in love with him if she blushes. That's a test of the the blood, discovered by the immortal Harvey; and a jolly rotten one, too"

(His remark about Yankees applies to ALL scientists.  His is the usual parochial arrogant British dismissal of people of the "foreign countries" - Hrrmph! Bah, Hum-bug! (see the remarks about sticks, below). Only a very few British scientists are in their Academy of Science and fewer still have won the Nobel Prize (if there were one for arrogance, the British and Americans would be neck and neck)

Who, but an Englishman "would think of proving anything from heart throbs"? Chesterton must really have had his head in the sand. He seems to overlooked the work of Alexander Muirhead (1848–1920), Chesterton's contemporary ( (1874 – 1936), who he is credited with recording the first human electrocardiogram.

Scientists are often sentimentalists, rummaging around with all sorts of theories that get left by the wayside or discarded by newer theories. For example, the raging debate on why the dinosaurs disappeared, each as likely as another. Personally, I think the dinosaurs were bored to death listening to the scientists quarrel.)




 "There's disadvantage in a stick pointing straight. What is it? Why, the other end points the opposite way. It depends whether you get hold of the stick by te right end."

( Where the stick is pointed is only as good as the person who points it, i.e., a tool is as useful as the person who uses it and interprets the results. Chesterton should take his own advice about sticks - he points, but the stick points back to him)



"No machine can lie", said Father Brown, "nor can it tell the truth

( Machines are disinterested and insensitive. There is a reason why they are called Automatons. Artificial intelligence is that, artificial. Garbage in/garbage out (GIGO) does not take into account the errors introduced by the limitations for the interpreter (inventor)).









In another story, G.K. dismisses adherents of protestant sects as non-Christians.

(Typical Catholic arrogance. Ecumenicism, as long as recognize the primacy of the Pontiff and you do it the Catholic way.)

In yet another story in the same book, G.K. mentions that Atheists cannot succeed because they have no center

(What utter rubbish. Brights have a perfectly good center - the wondrous natural universe around us. People who have their "center" in the supernatural and mystical are, as Dawkins puts it, delusional.  "God moves in mysterious ways" is only a cop out for someone who does not want to take responsibility for themselves.)


Hrrmph! Bah, Hum-bug! Chesterton is so one sided and biased that I threw the book in the trash.  Reason, as it is for all Christian apologists, is not his forte. False premises can be used to prove anything.

à tout à l'heure
“Fall Down Seven Times, Get Up Eight"
(Bright)