Daniel Dennett - Breaking the Spell 1/9

[eternalgracenote]

Oh good....I thought I got tricked into watching a 1990s instructional driving video.

[early2it]

I like the way its acknowledged by everyone that it is a spell....

[JasonHervey]

Shermer is a douche bag who wont even look at evidence or acknowledge it, especially when it comes to flying saucers. Stanton Friedman has made him look like an idiot on more than one occasion.

[BrokenCurtain]

To be fair, Shermer probably can't look at the evidence because he has tears in his eyes from all the laughing.

[Transplanar]

Might want to fix the title of these videos here. That's Michael Shermer, not Daniel Dennet.

[Branstrom]

Might want to increase your attention span a little, to discover that Dennett is the one who gives a talk after the introduction by Shermer...

[rtarbinar]

daaaaayum, that music is SO FUNKY!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Masenko]

Haha, Shermer is the man.

[jloo222]

i cant remember, around 2:35 i think

[irishmauddib]

He is not dismissing it. The book itself says they arent "selfish". They are mindless of course. This was just artistic license to come up with a good title for a book. As Shermer says, we just call it selfish because it maps in some ways to such behaviour in ourselves.

[jloo222]

We're arguing semantics now, that's all.

[irishmauddib]

Youre the one that said "of course they are selfish" not me. Clearly they are not, they just have a set of behavioral pathways that lend themselves to such a label, which is exactly what Shermer points out here and its exactly what you wrongly pulled him up on.

[jloo222]

"selfish" meaning the gene is the focal point of natural selection as opposed to the individual.....I made that comment 9 months ago and dont even remember what this man said, but I assume he dismissed the idea casually? i dont have time to watch it again now. correct me if im wrong.

[irishmauddib]

You appear to be wrong. In fact considering what he said, and considering what you are now saying, I have no idea what you even meant any more by your opening comment on this video.

Maybe when you do find the time you can go back over it and rectify or clarify your initial post.

[jloo222]

I'd have to watch it again. I must not have been paying close attention and responded. My initial post was most likely based on the notion that this man dismissed the idea of natural selection, like I said already. Sometimes (most of the time) I'm listening to this stuff at work and pay only casual attention.

[jloo222]

no, shermer said it, not dennett.

[t0kt0k]

Oh. Well don't you think he's probably read it? Like, maybe he was actually referring to the title of the book in that comment?

[jloo222]

It would appear obvious wouldn't it? But what's to make of his disagreement? Natural selection of the gene isn't a definitive theory but it's pretty damn close. It's a broad statement of science to disagree with it without being prepared to elaborate. He just dismissed it casually.

[t0kt0k]

Could you give the time when he says that? I must have missed it.

[jloo222]

"genes arent of course selfish"....yes they are. go read The Selfish Gene by Richard Dawkins.

[t0kt0k]

Did you just tell Daniel Dennett to go and read Richard Dawkins?

[UbiquitousChe]

I think that the mention of Al Gore was from TED Talks. Search for Tony Robins TED Talks and you can probably find it.

Gore cracked me the hell up. It was class.

[jamesrobertdobbs]

Oh Baby!!

[schmiggen]

Hmm... cheese sandwich... sounds like a good idea (brb youtube!)

[papasitoman]

What's with the cheezy, early 80's porn theme? :)

[operationmongoose]

Love Dennett. That "cheap porno" intro music had me laughing too.