Richard Dawkins:Lecture1. Waking up in the universe (5 of 7)

[Stacetheist]

I wish the distances he was listing for our ancestors were more relevant to N.American locals. But I get the BIG picture. ;->

[wthbrosiff59]

who the fuck has proof that bacteria goes back 3.5 thousand million years.....

[DrMontague]

Geologists.! You dozy fuckwited creationist.

[VerumAdNauseam]

It's sad that people with little or no scientific education believe they're qualified to criticize it.

[Kimbahley]

"Here we have the zebra and the rhino... not to scale"

lol. The toy zebra is about 3 times the size of the rhino and smaller than the lion. The insects are the size of the mammals, and some of the animals are the same size of the branches that represent the millions of years they have evolved. I love that he finds it necessary to point out that it's not to scale.

[DaveAllenDaveAllen]

I think he means the actual tree is not to scale, not the models at the ends of the branches.

[MovieClipUploads]

He meant the branches, which signifiy how close they're related to each other.

[Ramanujan88]

the names of our anccestors are beautiful! I wonder when names started to evolve out of human brains and tongues, and what did they call themselves and their brothers? It's all so fascinating...

[Nykytyne]

Dawkins is adorable, I love him.

[RajahBrooke]

He is just cuddly isn't he :-P

[Twicebakedtaters]

Wow, He truly puts science on a pedestal.

"Scientists" do not have disagreements. People do. The interjection of culture into his critique of humanity is quite revealing. He has a subjective mistrust or disdain for what it is to be human. He tries in vain to live his life by "science" This is of course delusional. His nature is subjective.

It will be his intellectual downfall. Very strange for such an intelligent human not to recognize his humanness and it's value.

[Drakon222]

Scientist do have disagreements sometimes. It's not going to be a downfall for anyone to live by science, really. You're in for a downfall if you don't understand anything scientific and resort, for example, to literally interpreting the Bible and basing your world view on it. Then you may resort to arrogance, ignorance and violence. What's this "value" of humanness anyway and how does Dawkins not recognize it?

And if you put science off the pedestal - what are you going to put on it instead?

[UPCHUKKER]

I can relate to homo habilis...even a little hairy, she still looks a little like me. But the creatures prior to homo habilis gets too ape-like and animal-like. Wow..we have been messing around on this planet a long time. And as a living species we're still alive even though we have spent a lot of anger and killing power to eradicate ourselves. We are all cousins, so killing someone else is equivalent to killing family!

[kwolf002]

Richard Dawkins is sooooooooo hot

[Erech01]

im an atheist and i cannot see how communism could work:/ you would have to eliminate greed, a system of no classes:/!!! that just couldnt work

[DrMontague]

This is because you live under a system that demands greed. Before industrial capital we used to live under an economic system called feudalism. Millions of us live in fear of losing our jobs, paying mortgages. I find it amazing that we have things to make our lives easier and yet millions are stressed by overwork and millions live in poverty.

[DrMontague]

The reason people find communism difficult to grasp is because they have been fed propaganda from their childhood, they are told such a system is impossible and evil. We are never educated that there is that there is alternate economic system that would benefit all mankind. Creationist are deluded by propaganda, however atheists can also be deluded by the propaganda of the capitalist media.

[Erech01]

tbh, i only heard of communism recently, personly i find no attraction to it, or most political views, for me politics creates more problems than it solves

[only1duk]

Well said Dr.Montague

[Bigturns33]

Right communism is not atheistically based at all. Its a philosophy which in coorprets economics, but there are many types of communism. In philosophy itself country's like America and Britain have lots of communist philosophy within government and economics, so its a philosophy. For example Britain in national health care and these things. America is going that way to. In my opinion, its a philosophy that could work but not in the principle of human wanting and needing and jealousy.

[Erech01]

true

[DrMontague]

The capitalist system of economics produces greed, this is brought about because millions of people through out the world are strapped for cash, this in turn makes them try to accumulate as much as they can. If people didn't have to worry about mortgages, their jobs, their gas and electricity bills, petrol prices etc then greed would disappear. BTW you need to differentiate between communism and socialism. Amazing millions suffer in a world of plenty and we call ourselves civilized!

[Erech01]

'The capitalist system of economics produces greed,'

agreed, greed is a horrible thing.

[Jomina1]

I know you wrote this long ago, but just had to interject in here a comment I heard once that has stuck with me. Out of all the species on the earth, humans are the only ones who have to pay in order to live on a planet they were born on.

That's a pretty striking comment, really, and though there are arguments for and against that kind of thought (i've thought of a lot of pro/cons) the fact remains that it is a truth, and gets people thinking about HOW life is lived

[DrMontague]

Try explaining this even to many of Dawkins' supporters i.e. they too will fight tooth 'n' nail to hold onto this imbecile system that has millions suffering, then claim they are on the side of reason and science. They then wonder why people turn to religion. Simple as Marx stated 'it is the opiate of the people'.

[JESUSISLORDAMEN]

what do you mean by that and tell me what is the alternative to captalism? im not a fan of captalism I have to say

[forza599]

Then throw away your computer, your books, your medicine, send millions of people back into poverty and starvation across the planet, replace democracy with theocracy and dictatorship and watch as nearly all the progress in human society of the past 200 years falls to pieces.

Capitalism is not always pretty and we work every day to improve it and protect ourselves from the inevitable failings but its power to increase democracy and quality of life for all is unparalleled in human history.

[DrMontague]

Then the capitalist propaganda machine has reallly sucked you in. So when children starve to death in a world that has abundence of food tell them how wonderful it is. It's a crime.

[forza599]

A hell of a lot more of them would be starving now without. And PLEASE, I've spent plenty of time in the 3rd world and have seen more poverty in a week than most Americans will ever see in their lives so don't talk down to me as if you have some special knowledge of the world's suffering. If you want to see starvation visit the USSR at the height of its wonderful socialist system.

PS my views on economics are based on BOOKS written by many different ECONOMISTS over many different time periods.

[DrMontague]

1.Then you really are sucked in by the propaganda. If the former USSR were truely communist then there would have been no poverty and every one would have lived high quality life styles. The USSR was a totalitarian regime not a communist way of life. However we need to ask why revolutions occur, we need to understand the the events that lead up to revolution. Revolution occur when millions of people beome dissaffeted. as with the French revolutions.

[DrMontague]

2 in the 1930s we had the great depression millions throughout Europe and America were living in the most disgraceful poverty. This eventually lead to war with the rise of Hitler. The end of the war saw the development of the eastern block countries where an attempt to start a new social order against the exploitation of the capitalist system. Even present day capitalism is now failing i.e. the credit crunch. people are having their houses repossessed etc. Should they all live on the street?

[DrMontague]

If capitalism was such a brilliant system then we would not have had the WWII. Capitalism had made millions of peoples lives misery. What do you think these people should have done? Starve! Should people have just watched their children starve and hope that thing would get better. There was no shortage of food or materials back in the 30s but millions suffered. The same applies now. We will see more unrest and a rise a crime as the credit crunch bites even deeper, youmight become a victim of it

[RajahBrooke]

It is an interesting point, but then we are the only species to have developed a culture that exists above and beyond our instincts. The market, such as it is, has evolved in its own way to accommodate our complex interactions, wants and needs. We only have limited resources, and it needs to be shared out somehow. I am for human solidarity and a certain amount welfare (free healthcare and education at the point of need, etc.). Sadly, no fundamentally different model has ever worked in the past.

[JESUSISLORDAMEN]

I agree but what is your alternative?

[tkmasala]

probably, possibly, about, all words that Dawkins uses to explain our origins. Sounds very precise... I'd like him to pull out a transition of something evolving into something else.

[DrMontague]

tkmasala. Are you Kunt Hovind's retarded son? I don't debate or try to educate retards. I leave that to SEN teachers.

[Erech01]

everyone is a transitional being........

[skotoseme]

i'm sure he would like to pull that out too, but it takes thousands of years for organisms to change so much that they cannot or do not interbreed (speciation), which i assume is what you're talking about. we've only been paying attention for a century and a half. there are examples of animals that are well on their way to becoming separate species, but i don't think you're interested.

i quite enjoy tikki masala, however..

[DrMontague]

I know someone who well on the way to becoming an absolute twat.

[skotoseme]

surely you don't mean me!

[DrMontague]

Nope it's someone I know personally :)

BTW I can make Indian curries as good as you can get in a British Indian Restaurant or Take Away as I resarched their methods of making the sauces. The amount of oil they use in each dish is shocking. I recommend just having one curry a fortnight if you need to keep an eye on weight or fat you carrying, or should I say Currying.

[BoozyBeggar]

Haha, DrMontague, I knew there was a reason I liked yourComments: you're a communist. For those that don't know, communism is altruistic idealism, albeit naive (imho), but if there were some way to unnaturally select out greedy genes from people, it just might work. I've even thought of a kind of communist/capitalist hybrid with salary caps for billionaires (drops them down to 'lowly millionaires).

[DrBen]

Democratic Socialism you mean then, that thing that's been around for decades? Well done for thinking it up.

[BoozyBeggar]

Yeah, since I posted that comment I've learned a bit about various political systems, DS included. Did you know MLK was a demsoc? Interesting...

[gmihut]

with EVOLUTION not REVOLUTION!

[DrMontague]

Here's a wonderful quote...

[DrMontague]

Praise of communismIt's sensible, anyone can understand it. It's easy. You're not an exploiter, so you can grasp it. It's a good thing for you, find out more about it. The stupid call it stupid and the squalid call it squalid. It's against squalor and against stupidity. The exploiters call it a crime but we know: It is the end of crime It is not madness, but the end of madness. It is not the riddle but the solution. It is the simplest thing so hard to achieve.

Bertolt Brecht.

[tacopylas]

Unfortunately, communism doesn't work, mostly because it gives the government too much power, and it undermines the individual and his/her rights and powers. Socialism has already failed the economical and societal test, rather quickly, and not entirely from the Cold War. I'd wish you wouldn't support socialism, as it's regularly associated with atheism, and thus immoraliy, by conservatives. I'd go with libertarianism.

[gmihut]

...that is the ONLY price of SALVATION.

[gmihut]

Will you pay for a cours in biology,math, chemistry,fizic,biofizic,astro­nomy...and so on ...for every child in the world?

[DrMontague]

Now your political ground. There is no reason for anyone in this world to suffer hardship. If money is the problem let us get rid of this pathetic monetary system we have. Let us fight for a system based on humans needs and requirements and not profit i.e. smash the filthy capitalist system.

[tacopylas]

No need of that, we just need to lick that greed problem. I'm fairly certain that, by bringing people into a critical, compassionate, creative worldview, altruism and utilitarianism will be seen as beneficial (i.e. profitable). We are entirely capable of feeding, clothing, sheltering, protecting, medicating, and educating the whole of humanity while keeping the capitalist system.

[DrMontague]

This is why I argue that even Richard Dawkins et al are brainwashed from birth and therefore indoctrinated into believing that capitalism is perfectly natural and shouldn't be challenged. Therefore in my opinion this can be applied to religion i.e. leave it as it is perfectly natural!

[DrMontague]

TRUE Communism is non of the things you have said, this means you too have been indoctrinated to hate the idea of it. by whom? answer the capitalist media propaganda machine. What you have been lead to believe to be communism were in fact TOTALITARIAN regimes. A system that needs exploits human labour for its survival cannot have humanity in its interest. Other must suffer whilst some don't.

[DrMontague]

tacopylas you claim communism gives government to much power. Look at the USA ,look at their capitalist's government's power. They are a law unto themselves. They went against the united nation over Iraq. Bush called it an 'irrelevant debating shop'!

[tacopylas]

I know where you're getting at with the corruption of capitalist nations, although I'm not exactly certain how a system without capital would work in the modern world without giving a certain group of people too much power to begin with. The idea (to me, at least) seems too prone to political oppurtunists. I'm just curious, seeing as nobody has given me a way to differentiate between a working socialist system and the totalitarian regimes of the Cold War.

[tacopylas]

I'm not saying capitalism is immune to oppurtunists, or that the system is a very good one, but I just don't see how communism could manage in the next century. How exactly can we have a communal system of goods and services without undermining individual rights? Again, no sarcasm or cynicism, just curiousity.

[DrMontague]

Well if Karl Marx analysis of economic history is correct then we should see a dramatic world change within a few years. Remember that the former Eastern block countries before their transition to so called communism were feudal economies communism.

[DrMontague]

These countries attempted to jump fro feudalism to communism. But according to Marx Capitalism gets into crisis when the whole word is under industrialised capital. What is the world going through now? All countries are now gradually turning into fully fledged capitalist economies e.g. India and China. Once this has happened the West will find itself in deep crisis. Marx dialectical materialism could be working it way through.

[gmihut]

EDUCATION isw the answer but will you pay for it?

[warriorprince1010]

Evolutionism...the theism of atheism. Evolutionism...an anti god fantasy.

[DrMontague]

Not you again. I thought I had blocked you. You're a cretin, and you're blocked for being a cretin.

[Hottides]

The sooner religion and the idea of 'god' is exterminated, the better. Either 'god' will perish, or humanity will.

[gmihut]

You formulate EXACTLY what I wat to say...!

Nothig less and nothing more...

[DrMontague]

Hi jennconspiracyYou should now be unblocked. Again my apologies.

[DrMontague]

DNA isn't that evidence? warriorprince1010 If you start to slag off every intellectual effort with Kent Hovind's type creationist claptrap I will block u. U will then have to download these vids yourself then upload them, then u can make all the creationist clap trap comments u want. You have been warned!

[warriorprince1010]

We have no evidence for evolution whatsoever im afraid. Richard dawkins is aware of this, thats why he never tries to show any evidence for evolution. He simply skirts the issue.

[PolliFaxToaster]

give your fairy tales a rest. this is science. i think you should learn more about the scientific process before you share your crackpot ideas once again. science doesnt work off of 'proofs' as it does of collected and tested evidence. before you dismiss science again, take a look at your computer, your plumbing, any pills you take or printed text you read (or dont). anything manufactured. re-evaluate your silly supernatural attitude and embrace reason and understand.

[tennisplayer103]

dont take drugs... they do bad things to u and f**k up ur brain

[DrMontague]

tennisplayer103. Religion! The opiate of the masses, the sigh of the oppressed creature. KM

[BoozyBeggar]

If you want to know what warriorprince looks like, in case you happen to run into him, he'll be the one wearing a dunce cap.

[Malquey]

Not only is this very informative, his voice is so soothing...I just want to drift off into evolutionary biology land.

[DrMontague]

I've viewed your comments else where on these lectures.I take it your a creationist cretin. You have no freedom of speech here as u yourself would want to ban free speech and knowledge. You r however free to download and upload these vids yourself and then u can make all the brain dead comments u wish. your blocked

[Malquey]

Good job. Also, he show know that a theory is a a concept put together with facts. So what is a theory, a bunch a facts put together to explain something. In this case, where life comes from and how it changes over time. Also, thanks for posting this. Superb.

[thebaal]

Richard is quite intelligent, however, evolution is just a theory, and not fact, regardless of how you twist it. Your belief in a theory does not make that theory fact. It is good to have opinions though I guess.

[ThaGMan51]

We actually have more evidence of evolution than the "theory" of gravity. Why does mass create gravity and are there gravitons? We actually do not know how gravity works. But why don't people challenge the weaker theory of gravity?I wouldn't even give creationism or intelligent design the proper name of a scientific theory. It is pure and utter theology that tries to answers thing in a one liner "god did it,the bible says he did it,don't question it." This is not how science operates.

[stasis101]

Even more, the fact that science isn't able to prove everything yet, and even if there are some gaps remained to be explained, it really just isn't a freecard to say, 'See, creationism, intelligent design, "insert any other religion based philosophy", is right!' This is just an invalid way of reasoning.

[stasis101]

Besides, although Evolution is a theory, it's not a belief. Maybe it's semantics but people from a relegious angle just always seem to have to compare people who are using the scientific method as people who follow a belief called science. This however is just because they can't seem to grasp what it is like to not worship a deity and follow a religious belief. It's a fundamentally different way of looking at the world and quite hard to marry in a discussion.

[DrMontague]

Agree

[shanoballs]

Dawkins is a smart dude, evolution rules!

[Neely005]

Why wouldn't alien species have DNA? Wouldn't they just have different alien DNA?? Can someone explain why Dawkins believes that DNA is unique to life on this planet?

[sectorzen]

Aliens would also have genes, which would probably be composed of different molecules than DeoxyriboNucleic Acid. How about Weird Alien Acid, or WAA. ((c) 2007)

[30packetsofketchup]

"Anything is possible if you dont know what you are talking about"

[2Dlion]

Genius

[sarahdatblygu]

OMG! - I'm in love. So fit.