PZ Myers Discussion (6/10) - Richard Dawkins

[KmokriV1]

Well, atlesst britain has got something to be proud of, Richard Dawkins, one of the most intelligent people in the world I bet

[KmokriV1]

Richard Dawkins is the biggest twat that ever lived.

[webbess1]

Did they actually go through the trouble of choosing identical outfits for this interview?

[saitamme]

@CartesianTheist supernatural = superstition because supernatural claims never can be proven. so i say when something is believed to be true and also lacks evidence it is superstition, you smug fuck. remember, the burden of proof is on you, not me, i make no claims without empirical evidence. your ambiguous "theistic" claims are useless, maybe they make you feel deep or spiritual, but it's nonsense.

[saitamme]

these institutions do NOT teach superstition as discipline. and your attempt to conflate philosophy with superstition is lame. maybe bob jones university is what you're thinking of. religion deals with the supernatural, you're being dishonest if you say it doesn't. teaching comparitive religion is not an endorsement of the supernatural.

[saitamme]

@CartesianTheist you can get a phd. in astrology, but it doesn't legitimize it. don't flatter superstition by conflating it with philosophy. and yes, i do think theology (the study of make believe?!) is pointless. don't confuse this with the study of comparitive religions (no one believes in greek mythology anymore, but the stories are fascinating).

[DR000]

@CartesianTheist

Their religion is irrelevant. Atheism does not look at scientists as its prophets, whom guide our theistic views, that is absurd. Though, I can point out that the top scientists of the world are atheist. We are now living in a time where atheism is somewhat more accepted than the days of those scientists you listed. Higher education leads to less religiosity. I don't doubt a causal link.

[DR000]

@CartesianTheist

God isn't real you fucking dipshit. You're just mad that scientists actually do useful work.

[saitamme]

@CartesianTheist i know, the fine points of abracadabra just go over their heads. they just completely miss the philosophical complexities of apollo's chariot, astrology, alchemy, divining rods, transubstantiation, reincarnation, feng shui...these guys sure are philistines.

[drummerkid1993]

PART 5 does not work :(

[Jaredinator]

Oh, let that stroke your big ugly hooked nose jewish ego Ben Stein, Dawkins had NO idea who you were!

[PapaWilk]

@Jaredinator whoa, I'm surprised such a bigot is watching a video like this

[Jaredinator]

@PapaWilk I'm surprised someone would reply to that. Congratulations on letting your opinion be KNOWN!

[freedomland11]

@Jaredinator...is that an insult to Ben Stein, or Dawkins? I'm soo confused...

[Jaredinator]

@freedomland11 DEFINITELY Stein. I love Dawkins.

[nbachmann]

For those of you who don't know, Richard Dawkins was kicked out of the screening when they found out who he was.

[quaternio]

@nbachmann That's incorrect. Myers was kicked out, Dawkins was allowed to watch the whole movie. Both Dawkins and Myers later speculated that it was because Myers was expected to be there, whereas Dawkins was just there as a "+1," and the attendants orchestrating the screenings did not realize who Dawkins was.

[Kan2209]

I jsut took 10 minutes to watch expelled, and immediately, after only a few phrases it's easy to disagree with th hwole film, it is absolutely horrible garbage. I odnt mind people watching it, but I could almost feel my brain being violated and tarnished by false claims and misleading.

[chaOsMastaGuru]

It's funny how things happened exactly opposite to what PZ hypothesized.

[Neanderthalcouzin]

It's awn!

[obdami]

Did they coordinate their attire ahead of time or was it just a chance event?

[manicottimonster]

... and then hilarity ensues!

[RottingintheMidwest]

Oh my... so fucking hilarious. It is a LOLocaust hearing Myers and Dawkins discuss going to the screening of Expelled and questioning whether or not Dawkins would be allowed in or not.

[ayeaye360]

Totally."We'll have another conversation afterwards...It should be enlightening" heeheehee

[GoodbeyonDevil]

@RottingintheMidwest absolutely brilliant xD

[matereymate]

props to both!

[Rhine0Cowboy]

Well, scientists are sometimes the subject of attacks on what constitutes proof in the scientific sense.

The difference is that scientists will readily admit and defend the position that certainty is and always should be proportional to the weight of the evidence.

[OhRlyRly]

@Rhine0Cowboy The real difference is, If God showed up tomorrow with all the questions of physics and the origins of the universe explained and his "fingerprint" evident at the very beginning, science would accept the new info and adjust accordingly, and sadly slip into obsolescence. Whereas if said god didn't reiterate ALL of the ancient campfire stories of the myriad of religions there would be people trying to blow up said God in the name of their God.....

[Drekoguk]

Wow this all happened just before the whole Expelled debacle. Kinda neat to see it all in context.

[Logicel]

After the fact, Myers turned out to be the one that was expelled from a viewing of that IDiot film! And clever, wonderful Myers wrote an entry at his extremely popular blog shortly after, which became one of the most viewed blog entries in the history of the Web. And the film has since then flopped in a major way.

[Doazic]

I'd like a source to back up the "most viewed blog entry" statistic.

[Logicel]

"...and a look at BlogPulse, which tracks the popularity of items in the blogosphere, shows that PZ's original post on the matter is currently the fourth most popular blog post in the world."

Excerpted from: uk/2008/03/expelled-from-expel­led-pz-story-goes.html

[Doazic]

I remember that night vividly. First time I've gotten a phone call telling me there's a commotion on the internet.

[Logicel]

People appreciate irony at its deliciously best as was the case in Myers being expelled from Expelled while the world's most famous atheist waltzed right in. I still crack up thinking about it!

However, my earlier phrasing was somewhat inaccurate, as PZ Myers' original post was one of the most popular blog entries in the world for several days (and not necessarily in the history of the web, but kept statistics are a bit patchy in that regard anyway).