1/7 - Is There An Afterlife? Debate w/ Christopher Hitchens

[ian2008931]

I love it!!! Rabbi's first statement hahahaha =D

[WeirdGuy4928]

Did anybody else notice that while answering the first question, rabbi Wolpe didn't actually answer the first question?

[theBartone9119]

If there is a disembodied afterlife, it would be absolutely horrible. Without a body, there is no reproductive organs, no taste buds, and no brain producing chemical reactions (no dopamine, oxytocin, or vasopressin for example)...This means no sex, no tasting great food, no enjoying music (dopamine being released in your brain is why people enjoy music), and no feelings of love (oxytocin and vasopressin are the bonding hormones). Why would you want to live without sex, food, music and love?

[johnbenjamin12]

"...Religion is totalitarian, in its theory and its practice: it claims to know things it cannot know and it claims to have powers it cannot have."

[ralax3]

This is the best debate I've ever watched. All the guests are incredibly smart and funny. It's a great and funny debate at the same time. Of course, Hitchens is the best of them. I watched all the parts of this debate.

[ralax3]

This is the best debate I've ever watched. All the guests are incredibly smart and funny. It's a great and funny debate at the same time. Of course, Hitchens is the best of them.

[LibertarianINT]

I really dislike when theists can't be honest about what their religion is. To avoid the usual traps withing their doctrine, they try to make the concepts and tenets seem like abstract philosophical notions, completely not in line with established dogma stemming from years of tradition.

They very clearly cannot accept much of the outlandish claims of their faith, yet rather than re-evaluate their belief system, they reinterpret it into a watered down version of their religion. Just let it go.

[DRSVIDEOZ]

Viewer Uses "1080p"

It's not very effective

[esraretin]

definitely disturbing content amn dying and arguing about afterlife

[jonny7748]

Too many variables for now to get him back so we should take what he and other great teachers have given us, and not waste it. Certainly we should be paying enough attention to realize he is gone and others still exist who are willing to speak out. He also lives on in the many writings, and interviews like these. To be remembered is all we can hope for, as in the Torah which never mentions afterlife. I an atheist who used to teach humanistic Judaism while living in Jerusalem did progress away.

[honeystreet59]

@jonny7748 What do you mean by humanistic Judaism ?

[jonny7748]

@honeystreet59 It means to remove the supernatural and stick to the science and doing your best to help others. Religion is removed and only in reference mentioned as mythology.

[MrHitchslap]

I find this afterlife talk amusing because we know what happens when you're dead, your brain stops working; consciousness is ceased yet we postualte this spiritual element that ofcourse is very mysterious, can't be known etc. But we can add this supernatural part to any piece of scientific information but ofcourse we especially add it here due to our natural opposition to death.

[twooffour]

@MrHitchslap

At the end of the day, it comes down to evidence - the evidence so far linking all mental states to brain states points to what you said; some valid evidence of afterlife or OBE would change that.

[InteGrayting2]

@MrHitchslap I agree. If you have to hang your theory on any subject to "anything is possible" then it is probably wrong.

[writersblock26]

@InteGrayting2 Well, at the very least, such a theory would be inherently weak.

[DarcProxy]

Today i thought "Hey, lets check how good old Hitch is doin... damn.".

[dopeasfuckk]

Not many, if any, have made me reconsider my views more than Christopher Hitchens.

[catchsight]

sad to see Hitchens pass-my favorite athiest-very sharp wit, broad knowledge, most charming guy I've disagreed with.

[detahdomo]

LOL 11:08

[Felhaven]

So, how's that cloning research coming alone? I think i found our first subject. We need hitchens back.

[thisguy803]

i cant believe this hasnt even been out for a year. i must been a hitchen addict

[mike23984]

RIP Hitchens. I'm glad we still have dawkins with us.

[krapptacular]

He made you realy think about things indeed, and no way around what he is saying.

[C0mm0nS3ns3]

No video games in heaven fuck that i want to live forever.

[q1w2e3r4ge5t6y7u8i9o]

I just found out Hitchens died a week ago... that made me sad, I'll always remember Hitch as the one who stood up against the ultimate stupidity!

Bye Hitch!

[SkullKing11841]

@q1w2e3r4ge5t6y7u8i9o I only found out about Hitch a month after he died and I'm sad he's gone.

I like how he just says it no matter if it's going to offend someone or not to get 100% of his point across, people are to polite.

[Razomir]

@q1w2e3r4ge5t6y7u8i9o That is Hitch's afterlife. His intellectual legacy that he has left for us :)

[IvanTheHealer]

@q1w2e3r4ge5t6y7u8i9o he now knows what the afterlife is. what if God DOES exist and he just met him. lol @ that thought

[FreeThinker148]

Sam was right nothing Hitch does is boring LoL

[Rospandan]

when my grandma died... i think i turned atheist.. not imediately but after two weeks of crying and praying at night (wich i had never done before that moment) it was obvious to me there was no god. or if there was he would be such a douche to me to not give me an explanation, not let me say good bye to my grandmother.. and let her suffer before she died.. I miss her i really do but i don't think shes in heaven nor hell.. she "lives" in my memory just as i will live in someone elses when i die.

[DAVIL963]

Although I personally do not believe in afterlife, I do not deny the possibility. Even from scientific perspective, almost everything we know of our universe is about "matter" which constitutes about 5% of entire universe, and even in this case we done know much. For rest of 95%, we have absolutely no idea about what is going on. We all ignore possibility for any kind of afterlife because we as a human have tendency to label the ideas that we do not understand as "Bullshit."

[TheLydianRocks]

@DAVIL963 Nonsense, it's the opposite, or are you under the impression more people don't believe than do? If you were right then these types of talks wouldn't take place,

[TomFynn]

@DAVIL963 We ignore the idea of an afterlife, since neither dark matter nor dark energy in any way give rise to the slightest possibility that there has to be one. In the same way that dark matter nor dark energy also do not enable pink unicorns, chemtrails, UFO abductions and a perpetuum mobile.

[robobrain10000]

Who is the moderator?

[rapid303]

consciousness is just a chemical reaction

[rapid303]

the idea of an afterlife derived from the mankind's need for immortality nothing more than a false sense of immortality

[rapid303]

the only thing eternal about us is electricity

[TheGreatIndoors1979]

I was just in tears a hour ago upon discovering Christopher Hitchens' death. While revisiting the numerous videos that now have become his legacy, I realized that on certain moments I already cracked a smile, especially with this debate.

Hopefully, his words, audio- & videofiles will fight off that feeling of emptiness for a long time to be.

[squamish4244]

Unlike the question of the existence of a God, the afterlife is something that can and should be scientifically researched.

[mistermatt157]

What I would have given to have been in that room (or any when Hitch was speaking).

Rest in peace, and thank you, sir.

[standswithawine]

Thanks for everything, Hitch. we will miss you. :(

[stratelite]

R.I.P. The most intellectual speaker/writer of our time, Christopher Hitchens.

[FireMonkeyX]

1080p...it does nothing.

[Mike12784]

Is it just me or are there 4 atheists on that panel? Like most "sophisticated theologians", the two Rabbi's seemed to have defined god into some metaphorical existence that is really only appropriate as a rhetorical or literary device.

[KDN888]

RIP Christopher Hitchens

[zegamingz]

one thing that always kinda bothers me about these religious debates is that a lot of the time the topic is just too specific. if i was on the panel, before saying anything at all, i would feel obliged to say something like "well before i start i should say that imo the question of "is there an afterlife?" is just splitting hairs. its worrying about minutiae, and missing the point entirely. i think the bigger, more important question is "does the supernatural exist in the first place?"

[squamish4244]

@zegamingz Perhaps frame the debate as, "Is there evidence that consciousness is not entirely dependent upon brain function?" Because you can go a lot of places from there.

[truckcompany]

Sam Harris is actually quite witty, people need to give him more credit for that :D

[SultanOfSwords]

Search for Hamzah Andreas

[rfranklinw1]

guy in the blue shirt is babbling nonsense

[lagutoboy82]

There is no afterlife for Jews.They murder,steal and lie so why are they even debating the afterlife?

[AxeHomeless]

3:10 Harris starts

[Domzdream]

'the party's over but you have to leave'.

I love that.

[Domzdream]

Hope is faith. We hope there is an afterlife. But noope. Theists simply believ in this because they want this heaven to be real. So they hope it's true. But wanting something to be true DOES NOT MAKE IT REAL.

[Porkytool5]

@Domzdream agreed, i really wish there was a god, i TRULY do, but i dont think there is

[Domzdream]

@Porkytool5

hehehe. Fair enough.

But depending on which god. If it's a god who's ACTUALLY loving, caring, forgiving and understanding, then sure.

But if it's the christian/islamic god, then fuck that. This is cantenkerous, emotionaly driven, spoiled, evil, jealous, hateful god of vengeance, who NEEDS your love. Key word, 'needs'. What god needs things?

Theists are so silly in their thinking.

Imagine an eternity kissing this asshole's ass. christ!

[MrBadumtish]

George Carlin said that if he had to pray to someone, he'd pray to Joe Pesci, cause Joe Pesci looks like the kinda guy who can "get shit done". So, here goes:

Dear Mr.Pesci, please make Hitchens better.

Thanks, sincerely yours,

YouTube Atheists.

[jasmac04]

Oh my god! For lack of a better expression! Haha they are all wonderful speakers and just such a pleasure. Just having Hitchens there makes this debate totally unfair in the way of secularists haha. That Hitchslap knocks even me off my computer chair and im not even in that auditorium. Love it!

[gunning4fools]

Christopher Hitchens on form as always.

[Konicava]

Atheists accept death, while religious people are in denial.

[Theknopf]

WITH HITCHENS THE TRUTH LIES CLOSE TO THE GRAVE!

AFTER LIFE AS ISLAM Kill a Jew go to heaven!

CHRISTIAN CRUSADES kill for Christ the Jews and Muslims AND GO TO HEAVEN.

THE RAPTURE destroys the present hoping for RAPTURE!

THEY ARE ALL DANGEROUS THE RABBI ON THE CROSS KILLING OTHER JEWS! SAM HARRIS IS ON TOP OF IT!

[Tretothee350z]

Sorry, I dont mean to demean Hitchens state--I do feel sorry for him--but the first point made is out of ignorance like usual. What IS REVEALED as the word of God, we take as literal truth. "The light of the gospel of the glory of Christ" is really there. It is a self authenticating divine glory. An ineffable, distinguishing, evidential excellency revealed to 'us' that gives a foundation (entirety of scripture) for what we believe. Just as we must look to nature for any conception of the divine.

[joemoe23]

@Tretothee350z jesus was a metaphorical representation of a typical sun god worship. Saying that I also believe that jesus was a real person who definetely made waves but wasn't the deity that the roman empire created around him to subdue a fast growing truth movement in that era.

[Tretothee350z]

@joemoe23 The entirety of the Old testament was a representation of the Jesus the Christ. The animal slain to cover the nakedness of Adam and Eve in genesis, that was Christ. Isaac who was to be sacrificed on Mt Moriah (same mountain in Rome), that was Christ. Moses, a baby in a basket, parallel to Christ who was rescued from Herod. Further, Moses lead the people of God, out of Egypt and the domain of slavery. It was but a shadow of Christ leading His people out of the domain of slavery to sin.

[TomFynn]

@Tretothee350z "It is a self authenticating divine glory." i.e. made up.

[Dhalamar]

Did anyone else bump it up to 720p and not notice ANY change in video quality? :P Still ... in all seriousness, awesome videos. :)

[D0ug91]

This is too civil... I almost expect Dawkins to run out near the end and screech with his dog-whisle like argumentation.

[storagedog33]

Debate for what?

[EllyMcCormack]

The irony is, everyone on that stage are jews.

[dbes02]

@EllyMcCormack What is ironic is that the definition of being a votary of a particular religion would be blood-related, and not based on what someone actually thinks or does.

[IsupportWikileaks]

@dbes02 Well, welcome to Zionism friend.

[whinda4702]

God can do what He wants and the real Christian understanding of this is that we are all sinners and deserve death. The fact that we breathe is common grace from God. God can choose to bring death anytime and any way He wants because we have all transgressed His law and because God is perfect He can not tolerate imperfection. By receiving Christ we are viewed as righteous and when God looks at the believer He sees Christ and not our sin, Even though we still may sin.

[Roenazarrek]

@whinda4702 Curious that he would give us life in such a manner as to be born deserving to die.

[dbes02]

@whinda4702 You can believe your fairy tale of gods and sin and whatever. If you follow the typical Christian version it's internally contradictory anyway (eg, change in laws from Torah to NT, Problem of Evil makes nonsense of the god concept). But just as you are not held by the rules/beliefs of say Islam, I'm not held by your infantile rules/beliefs.

Your "get out of sin card" sounds just like the "safe zone" in a children's game of tag -- but then religious belief is essentially childish.

[alexface211]

It's sad to think that Christopher Hitchens won't be with us for much longer. :/

[richter75]

IM watching this after 1 gram of coke, the brain is a muscle.. But still i didnt come up with anything more interesting than this.

"Our minds are much to limited to grasp the greatness of God"

Yeah, right. Spoken like a virgin.

[madenew000]

atheists and jews? the topic does not suit them as none of them believe in afterlife nor do they know anything about it. there's nothing to learn from these guys, really!

[BillKiernan]

i know he's making a larger point but i'm kind of dissapointed hitchens goes on about the catholic church. he's surrounded by jews.......

[BillKiernan]

"before you entered this world, could you imagine..tunafish, and teeth, and...of course not, it's literally unimaginable" um...well yeah, it's unimaginable because you didn't exist. what a nonsensical statement.

[writersblock26]

Thank you for posting this, ilisbaani.

[BigNOLAdude]

Skepticism, logic, and rational contention from half the panel. Deconstructionist nonsense from the other half. Might one guess which is which before viewing?

Quite comforting that we are within a generation of dispensing with the need for debate on this subject.

[ritter89]

These god debates are becoming very boring/redundant because 90 percent of them are between "believers" who argue for a monotheistic deity and "skeptics" who argue against it. Much more interesting to me (an agnostic who leans towards atheism) is the question of how inanimate matter became conscious. Pure materialistic reductionism runs into the same logical and evidential absurdities as Christian/Jewish/Muslim dogma. I'd like to watch a debate between Dean Radin and Harris

[TAz69x]

@ritter89 Daniel Dennett might answer your question. Animate and Inanimate are really just classification terms coined by humans.

Harris covers this in some detail in his writings about his fMRI research, and how the chemical elements are just stairways of protons/neutrons quantities [discounting isotopes], starting with Hydrogen with 1 proton.

Carbon's 4 valence electrons are mathematically the natural construct for informational and structural stability for organic forms to form over time.

[TAz69x]

@TAz69x Harris' current research involves consciousness being an inevitable result of evolution granted long-enough planetary stability to compile, and is not uniquely possessed by humans alone.

Information processing appears to be the basal requisite of consciousness, which would allow silicon and metallic elements to merit consciousness as well.

Humans are nothing more than senses that organize input information through a central nervous system; simple chemistry and physics.

[LadyScorpio39]

@BLUEEYESSEVEN

what?????

[LadyScorpio39]

Get well christopher!

we want you here for as long as possible! we need you here on earth to speak the truth with honesty, to speak out for the rights of the innocent women and children who suffer at the hands of religious fanatics, especially in the muslim world.

[metalreign81]

Notice how sickly Hitchens is---

You wanna know how he can improve his health?

You guessed it-----Pat Robertson's age-defying protein pudding-----

it will save your life!

and your afterlife! WOOOOOO!!

[FIGHTFANNERD3]

on an a  emotional level right there he fails

[LikeOMG4real]

When Harris talks all I hear is blah blah blah.. I'm sure he's a good philosopher but I can't stand him. :)

[EliLuxith]

@LikeOMG4real What? Why? He makes a great point.

[stress4rmbk]

that David guy, seems soo sure and claims to knowwww! the rabbii said it well ppl claim to know things datt they cant possibly know lol thak god for Hitchens

[SolDeSaBelle]

I subbed cause although you've got a mere 10 videos on your channel, they are all excellent ^^ 100% awesomeness, that's fairly rare! Keep it up !

[ilisbaani]

@SolDeSaBelle Oh, well thank you :)

[DeepHauz13]

of course is a mystery at the heart of the "stuff". of COURSE we are not just made of material.

[Scrapheap71]

hmmm, this has to be one of the more civil debates between Hithcens and believers. Maybe it's because Jews aren't as aggresively trying to get converts.

[ilisbaani]

@Scrapheap71 I guess the cancer is taking a toll. Physically, mentally and emotionally.

[Assaultpredator]

@ilisbaani

...? mentally? Really?

You just not like him or what is your reason for saying so?

[ilisbaani]

@Assaultpredator i knew someone that had cancer and went through all of what Christopher is going through. It takes a mental toll as well.

[ilisbaani]

@Assaultpredator did you think my comment was derogatory towards Christopher or something? he even said himself that his cancer has taken a mental toll. He cant write as much as he used to anymore. Having snake venom mainlined into his body affects his cognitive abilities.

[Assaultpredator]

@ilisbaani

Yea I guess I read it that way, you'd be surprised the filth that some "Christians" will say.

I thought of "mentally" as more of his sharp wit, which while his endurance and stamina wear down quickly, I still think he can take those sharp Hitchslaps at people ;)

[1961axis]

@ilisbaani There now, you've stated the bone-crunchingly obvious, we can all go about our business without the dark cloud of ignorance hanging over us.

[twooffour]

@ilisbaani

He said something about "chemo brain" in the first stage of treatment.Nothing beyond that, as far as I'm aware.

[alastairblakepeters]

@Scrapheap71 i think it is made even more sad if people are just physical. if that is the case, then what makes Christopher 'Christopher' is disappearing and eventually completely gone.

[phildirt3]

im so sad for his illness

[phildirt3]

theists always make jokes because they ve got nothing....

[TheBestGuitarSoloEVR]

i hate during panels and lectures these lame jokes which get huge amounts of nervous laughter, i've always hated it

[BigMikeMcBastard]

@TheBestGuitarSoloEVR Rabbi Shmuley Boteach is the worst for that. He makes really bad jokes which often don't elicit any audible laughter, and then he'll practically chastise the audience for not "getting" his joke.

[Mindaslight]

Was Hitchens swatting a fly? And I'm not referring to the Rabbi's. That is a given.

[ilisbaani]

@Mindaslight I saw the debate live. It sure seemed that way.

[TAz69x]

The brain's an organic computer, that doesn't function normally when altered chemically or structurally, and not at all when disassembled...

obviously no afterlife!

Consciousness emerges in the interaction of 2 or more neurons, to which the brain stem I believe attributes the foundation for consciousness.

=3

[ilisbaani]

@TAz69x yeah, i agree. Harris talks about this more in another part of the video. I'll upload the rest of it on the weekend.

[TAz69x]

@ilisbaani thx man

Thx for the uploads too! It's nice to see Hitchens in somewhat better health than the last time; I thought we'd lost him in about February...

T_T

[smithhedgehog]

@TAz69x but what drives the energy of the brain-stem?

[TAz69x]

@smithhedgehog What?

[alliant]

@TAz69x

bla bla bla, cocksure textbook copy and paste. think for yourself and you'll find things are less obvious.

THIS to me is obvious

[TAz69x]

@alliant LOL, you're fucking hurtin'

nothing more pathetic than a baseless-ass shot at plagiarism

[alliant]

@TAz69x

what in GODS name are you blathering about?

[TAz69x]

@alliant if you can't read that reply you truly are retarded