PZ Myers Discussion (10/10) - Richard Dawkins

[tadeckert7]

I love this. Mostly because there is no argument about whether evolution is true, but the ACTUAL controversies in evolution. It's a beautiful scientific discourse.

[perderabo11]

this is one of the most interesting discussions i have heard with dawkins, i love the theoroetical side of evolution discussed between two academics , while watching creationists try disprove evolution is like watching them try bring down a jumbo jet by throwing shit at it. mildly entertaining but pointless

[JesusGodDamnRocks]

Is there anyway to find out who the one person is that gave this a thumbs down?

[dawkinsr0ttweiler]

@JesusGodDamnRocks I guess that was a slip of the mouse - and someone somewhere probably feels really bad about it...

[Tapiola2007]

Two points:

1) I agree with kjg28 - it's staggering that so many people consider the poisonous ranting of self-appointed preachers more important and more persuasive than the insights people such as Dawkins and Myers are offering us here.

2) All responsible people should make it their goal to see science and education promoted more and more so that these ideas become widely understood and accepted for what they are - the truth about ourselves and the world we live in.

[kashphlinktu]

What a fantastic discussion!

[BirdFantastic]

seriously, I could listen to this all day.

[fyourcouchnigga]

I do. I've been listening to this conversation everyday since it was released. When I get up in the morning I bring my laptop into the shower and listen to it as I wash the filth of my body. Then at breakfast i have my laptop on the table as I eat my granola. When Im driving to work I have my laptop in the passanger seat playing it as i weave through traffic honking my horn. When Im at work, I have it playing as I talk to clients on the phone. Finally when I'm ready for bed I put my computer...

[Scofield0085]

lol

[Entertainmentwf]

higher languages which are more complex than the machine code would suck very much. Assembly programming sucks LOL.

[v4lgrind]

But they are. Assembler is very direct and small simple operations. It's easy to see what each operation will do. High lever languages makes the jobs you want to do much easier to complete, but at the same time they abstract away the underlaying machine so that you no longer has any idea how the job gets done in the CPU.

And assembler programming is fun in moderation. :)

[Entertainmentwf]

I knew that quite well.. LOL.

[ctvwr]

@v4lgrind

From my perspective as an ignorant hobbyist, Assembler is baffling and mind fucking. So I disagree sir!

[v4lgrind]

@ctvwr:

Look up "Brainfuck" the language on Wikipedia.

[ctvwr]

@v4lgrind

Yeah I've heard of it. There is even a LOLcatese language or something like that.

[bullpup1337]

@ctvwr better to compare it to Turing Machines than assembler. The idea is, that the instruction set ( ~Aminoacids) is very limited, in comparison with the high level language. You can do the same thing, but the constructs involved in higher level languages are far more complicated (e.g. loops, functions, polymorphism etc.) in comparsion to "read one byte/write one byte/move left/move right".

[gungner78]

At 3:00 you can clearly see Myers´s aura. :D

[easyTree77]

Lol; yah. Particularly on his right hand :D

[johnthekeane]

No,no...they#re his guardian angels! :D

[ThePipersNicks]

No, he's a dead jedi! :D

[bdf2718]

One of Dawkins' most important insights, expressed here, is that a gene has to be beneficial not just in an individual but in the wider gene pool.

Dawkins is one of the most important thinkers in our time.

[watwur]

funny from 3.00 to 3.10 pz myers has a aura around him

[jitteringjr]

Must be his spirit showing through. LOL

That proves it God is real

[Clausfarre]

Thanks for the upload. An amazing set of videos. Right up there with the 'cat's friends with dogs' videos.

This is definitely one of my favorite subscriptions.

[VoteNixon2008]

I'm an undergraduate in biology and I've gotten sick of "Framing" science to people I meet. Creationist just cannot compare to the volume of information and discoveries coming out of biology and related fields.

Religion may bring benefits to some people but when's the last time you heard a Bishop discover a new drug?

Has the Pope released any papers on gene therapy lately?

Have creationists given any lectures on the conservation of wildlife?

[kjg28]

Indeed...it is amazing to me that people respect their preachers more than these guys. It's sad and represents a failure of our educational system. (btw, I'm also a biology major :)

[SeeProfileForDetails]

@VoteNixon2008 inventing drugs go against god. when god gives a person cancer this is god punishing the sinner. when a man gets in a car accident and dies, this is god torturing him for sinning and having gay sex.

[reznor12]

@SeeProfileForDetails Shit! I'm gonna get hit by a car? Should i dump my bf? Or just stop crossing roads? :P

[SweetOldBob]

Much more enjoyable than PZ's recent request for defense for insulting "crackers". Visual composition could be improved by removing the table between the chairs so they lean in towards each other, and place the camera with the window behind it, so the window light falls on the speakers - you might have even been able to open the window shades. Sound level is good. Professional content though - like rubbing elbows with the giants whose shoulders on which we wish we were capable of standing.

[CognosSquare]

This is a fantastic video. Thank you for posting this.

[Mjhavok]

Great discussion. Enjoyed it.

[Mjhavok]

"When we speak as Darwinians"

I hate when he says shit like that. I know when he says it he means special emphasis on natural selection but it just seems like hero worship and fetishist.

[Mjhavok]

"I am not a Darwinist, just as most of my colleagues in the Department of Physics are not Newtonists, and most of my friends who study genetics are not Mendelists. All three of these terms refer to the ideas of famous men (Charles Darwin, Isaac Newton, Gregor Mendel) who made enormous contributions to science. But in all three cases, the modern sciences have advanced well beyond anything envisaged by their founders.

Call me an evolutionary biologist. "

-Larry Moran, Prof of Biochem at Toronto

[Andrewbrajkovic]

This is a very good point! Let's not call our work thus far after the Darwin is in vain. I am a not a scientist, just studying these for my own benefit. Thanks

[HeroesFail]

What's with the glowing aura around them?!

[paceetrate]

It is the light of awesomeness.

No actually it's probably just a trick of the camera because of the window behind them. ;P

[richarddawkinsdotnet]

The windows were so blown out, we had to try and bring them down. This creates a bit of a 'halo' effect around them, but is better than a huge bright window. Or I could be wrong, and it really IS the "Light of Awesomeness, as paceetrate said. :) -Josh

[Poleschs]

@richarddawkinsdotnet I knew there was something divine about (around?) those great people.

[PurushaDesa]

It's a miracle. God's an atheist.

[TheSupercool19]

@HeroesFail science

[ScottishAtheist]

Loved this. Thanks for uploading!