…letting your mind build an epic, cosmic battle out of the creative and professional tension such a situation engenders! Duh.

Take a look at how lucky you really are, man. Most people have to fully construct an archnemesis for themselves in order to imbue their actions with the comic book-level of apocalyptic urgency we all so deeply desire to recognize as characterizing our lives. That’s a lot of cognitive labor, and just to get started! It takes that much more upkeep to continuously remind ourselves of the fictional narrative threads we’ve decided to let ourselves believe in (ere we fall into the humdrum regularities of day-to-day existence, whose escape was our goal to begin with). The payoff, of course, is the mythological significance our deeds attain when measured against this melodramatic, imaginary backdrop.

But you, Sean? You already have a REAL Sean Carroll running around out there doing good science and writing books and making your name connote HIS work. And now, he’s stepped onto your turf. I had a similar experience when, after having made a name for myself among my peers and professors, another “Doug” showed up to my program. He was competent and likable (a fine example of Doughood, it must be said) so I let him stay–but only after using my power to ensure that he would be known as The Lesser Doug, or Doug #2, or No-Not-That-Doug, etc. What mattered was simply that the public invocation of his name immediately establish him as a sort of derivative of my own, Original Dougness. This was achieved by me actively promoting the comparison and praising Other Doug for his own strengths in everyday conversation. All I had to do was make sure that the last impression with which others walked away from the conversation–the final thought, the synthesis achieved through our seemingly innocent, amiable chatter–was something to the effect of, “Yeah, new Doug is a Doug, but there’s really only one Doug in the way that, you know, Doug is.”

In light of the amount of fun you could be having with this, can you honestly do no better than gripe? Your motivation must not be to become recognized as the leading Sean Carroll in human endeavor X; it must be to relish in plotting the slow destruction of your rival. Remember, YOU’RE Sean Carroll the blogger/scientist. Who’s this guy? Why, he’s Sean Carroll *too*.

After that, never, ever allow his face to slip out from under your boot any farther than is allowed by the slim margin of possible praise you’ve already defined for his blogging career.

http://arxiv.org/abs/0901.2853

[Better check version 1]

You could consider changing your name to Mr. Jennifer Ouellette and be done with it.

I expect that the new Sean Carroll will prove to be somewhat more politically radical – and palatable – as his new countenance mildly promises. As for the obsolete Sean Carroll? I found him working as Oprah Winfrey’s personal physical trainer, somewhere far away:

http://www.oprah.com/oafhost/bgreene

So much for cosmology, eh?

Wow. I’ve dreamed about correcting one of my heroes. But when the day finally comes, man, it’s just indescribable. I’m king of the comment-osphere!

I’m sure it will evolve.

I do think you’re taking the wrong approach to this. You should welcome – and take credit for – this other fellow’s accomplishments. He is working his *** off to build up your CV!

Funny, I came across that confusion, too, as I have books by both of you.

Maybe you could set up a conference for literarily active folks by the name “Sean Carroll”. It would be an energy-saver for visitors, who could great you all collectively with a “Hi, Sean Carrolls!”

Michael Ruse

That’s from the other Sean Carroll website. Sean, I would be very glad at your place. There’s always a chance that Darwin could be mistaken and choose you rather than your namesake

Oh, poooor baby. I feel soooo sorry for you.

Please! That’s nothing.

I don’t know what *my* parents were thinking.

And we’re Irish for god’s sake!