Richard Dawkins: "Evolution is a fact!" (Barnes and Noble, NYC, 2009-10-21)

[scarfunk1]

Job done, FACT :)

[jackhwo1]

Ironically I precieve Dawkins as a God...

[ToadsMGodes]

@Prophiscient Well said, sir!

[ShakinJamacian]

Is Dawkins against all religious stances? Because the more I think about the origins of the universe and life today all potentially being chance by a big bang to be a little absurd. Not nearly as absurd as a man in the clouds, though. Not that a bang didn't happen, though. I think that makes me a deist. I'd like to think the patterns in the cosmos, in much life, implies that there is a greater force at work here than mere chance lining it all up in such a way.

[elatus]

@ShakinJamacian Evolution isn't chance. There are selective pressures that guide a species in a particular direction. Much like the laws of physics guides stellar and galactic evolution. Look at it this way, our planet and our species evolved in the universe as it is, thats why it looks perfectly tuned for us. I'm probably not articulating this that well, but it basically boils down to the "anthropic principle", check it out on wikipedia.

[ShakinJamacian]

@elatus Perhaps I meant to imply that the idea of chance being the progenitor of all things that led to what we have now is too ridiculous for me. All of the stuff we have and understand now have rules, have reason. What I'm more puzzled at is the first pixel in the image of the universe we know. It's confusing and puzzling to ponder about, as no science or theology properly explains that. All the options are lacking finality in truth, so I sit on the view of I don't know. There may be more here

[elatus]

@ShakinJamacian It probably wasn't chance, it might be inevitable given laws that we have yet to uncover. For all we know, big bangs could be common. But it seems like the one thing it most likely wasn't, was the intent or will of an intelligence. So far reality has given us no reason to believe that there are any intelligences that are not products of the universe. First cause was most likely a simple event and not from an unimaginably complex being that had no first cause.

[johnwang8]

@20123253 create another god and we'll wait and see by luck if life with occur on that planet oh and a whole new moon, couple of planets and galaxies etc etc. wow it works with god too! Difference is, scientists realize they havent found conclusive evidence, whereas you godists believe you have. :)

[20123253]

@johnwang8 QURAN states it all. how life came and how life will end. what quran states about the future is happening, what it mentions about earth is being discovered by scientist if these criterias are all being met then why be so ignorant.

[20123253]

@johnwang8 your statement about god is stupid. you cant see god but he has sent down his word which was the quran the last of all revelation. remember this you can see a piece of rock and you can see the moon, now make it happen.

[20123253]

@johnwang8 you people need to see and believe. explain this. how do you know what your breathing is air, how do you know heat is making you feel warm, how do you know its wind thats blowing at you.how does one hear sound you cant see it but you believe it sound, how do you know gravity exists yet you cant see it but you fools believe it. you speak of light try and stop light from travelling. i cant see ALLAH but with a 100% i can say he exists, because he is in the form of light.

[20123253]

@Prophiscient so that means we were monkeys then, well today's monkey are finding it difficult to say a single letter in any language despite having the 98% of huamn genetics, where in the other hand a fucking parrot having no genetics whatsoever to a human can fucking say a word or two. so explain. oh and the next multi million years human will fly and monkeys will become humans is that what you trying to say you surely win the noble prize of explaining evoloution.

[7373walker]

@20123253 The universe was created so there must be a creator. Circular argument is circular.

[20123253]

@7373walker you can pick up an object and find as well as trace back from whom it was created by but when you pick up a human and a fish it was created by a rock that has no brain logic or solving matter that does not understand anything. how does a jellyfish with no brain determine colour hwo does jelly fish live with out a heart but yet they are alive so GOD exist.

[johnwang8]

@20123253 evidence for God or gtfo please. you get one chance. if your evidence is not evidence, I will not respond.

[7373walker]

@20123253 I feel sorry for you. You should try to keep an open mind about evolution and biology. You've already decided everything is created so there is no evolution so there is a creator. Each animal was 'created' by its parents and there has been an immense amount of time for the animals to gradually change into what we see today.

Rocks aren't created. They arise during planetary accretion. We know how stars, galaxies and planets formed and they were not created.

Please learn more

[20123253]

@7373walker Dont feel sorry for me i have read science and psychology perfectly well to have this conversation. Evolution cant say an object comes from nothing. its created by its parents your correct , but a rock hits the world and what it causes is destruction not life form. in the last 300 years we have had a number of meteorite hit earth but new life forms or species have not existed besides the destruction and eradication so how can you define life with the appearance of a rock.

[leopoldmarsh]

@20123253

You have an astonishingly poor understanding of evolution if that's what you think. You're implying that every time a meteorite has struck the Earth, every single animal in existence died at that moment. Something nonsensical like that. The fact is, animals who survived these extinction level events go on in the aftermath of disaster to adapt and evolve to fit in their new environments. They then breed and multiply.

[20123253]

@leopoldmarsh oh i have an astonishingly poor understanding did you even understand the question properly. forget having this convo because your so ignorant i cant bother with such people that always want to have their way to be correct. may ALLAH(swt) put you on to the right path.

[leopoldmarsh]

@20123253

Oh, I'm ignorant? Says the theist?

Well, perhaps if your wording and syntax weren't so abysmal I'd properly understand what you were attempting to inquire about.

Allah isn't real. He is, however, probably the most unpleasant character in all of fiction.

[leopoldmarsh]

@20123253

"You're" not "your".

"You're" is a contraction of "you are", whereas "your" is a possessive pronoun.

[leopoldmarsh]

@20123253

And please, the only major impact event (I can think of at the top of my head) to occur in the past 300 years happened in Siberia. The impact was enormous and destructive, yet nobody died.

[7373walker]

@20123253 I never said rocks created life. The attempt at metaphor with meteorites destroying, not creating, life is useless. I'm just saying that not everything is created, which is what you claimed.

We are fairly certain that life first began somewhere in the oceans but the exact way in which it did is not known (though there is no lack of ideas, testing them may prove impossible). The Great Oxygenation Event is fairly good proof that life existed on Earth billions of years ago.

[87Freethinker]

I dont know Why? People can say things like "Down Syndrome peope aren't human".I think, they have to get there brains examined...

[peuterschmidt]

@BLARG51 Down's Syndrome is caused by an extra 21st chromosome

are they not human?

[johnwang8]

@peuterschmidt good question. phenotypically they are still human. genotypically they contain genes 99.999 percent genes synonymous with humans. also, remember, it's a duplication of chromosome 21, therefore is genotypically equivalent to the human chromosome 21. So yes they are human. Furthermore, humans all have mutations, are we all not humans.

[kyekire]

@spencerBenedict2nd evolution is a widely accepted scientific fact there's this thing called separation of church in state, it means we don't teach religion as facts in public schools we teach facts as facts.

[kyekire]

Evolution could arguably be a law nature meaning a generalization describing recurring facts or events in nature.

[daNDayati]

@Prophiscient sadly they don't know what they are talking about.. and they are fighting a battle to keep themselves and others ignorant... 

[Tris67]

we haven't evolved from present day apes.. at least read a little bit instead of making yourself looks stupid.

[TheBrradsullivan]

7 people are goona be pissed when they find out santa clause isnt real either!! ; )

[DataSe7en]

thats crazy about those fish at the end

[CODproR19]

@ApprenticeOfAnubis lol thats right

[CODproR19]

Of course Evolution is a fact, only a retard would ignore all the overwhelming evidence of evolution.

[pburto]

He mentions the Kindle at Barnes and Noble, who sells the competing Nook. I bet they cringed a little when he did that. ;-)

[RedSandStudios]

@pburto Well people would rather have a Kindle :P Just the name Nook makes me have strange thoughts.

[tonycatman]

I love this man and hope he lives forever.

[SoleyNSilent]

@tonycatman Maybe he'll "evolve" into something immortal.

[AntiMatterWave]

@tonycatman It's the brilliant, intelligent people like him who will not pass on their genes. It's the stupid, moronic, backstabbing, lying others who will, therefore unfortunately people like Richard Dawkins will one day be gone and we'll all become creationists. Evolution will destroy the human race

[Surtak]

@AntiMatterWave

Then explain how we got people like him in the first place.

[AntiMatterWave]

@Surtak Genetic mutation?

[Surtak]

@AntiMatterWave

Ok, I should specify.

Explain how we consistently get thousands of people like him over hundereds, even thousands, of years.

[AntiMatterWave]

@Surtak Honestly I was kind of joking

[Surtak]

@AntiMatterWave

Ah. Well, in that case, you may carry on.

:P

[preemptivestrike20]

Mafia Geek @ 0:10

[MrMilagroqq]

thanks for sharing this vid. Who was the cameraman Stevie Wonder

[comebesideme]

Once you understand the difference between a theory and a scientific theory, only then will you appreciate the power of the theory of evolution and any other scientific theory. Calling the theory of evolution a fact would be grossly underscoring its credibility.

[comebesideme]

Evolution is not a fact, it is greater than that, it's a scientific theory. Richard Dawkins is making a foolish mistake by calling it a fact (or wanting to call it a fact). In order to be a scientific theory the idea has to pass the hypothesis test and continue to describes facts and make predictions from then on. A fact is strong, but encompassing a whole array of facts is stronger still. The confusion lies in differentiating between a theory and a scientific theory.

[jib1000]

@comebesideme Evolution is a fact. Its is also a theory. Facts are data. You can't do a lot with a fact. A theory is indeed more powerful. But to observe a speciation event is to observe the fact of evolution. That piece of data is a fact that supports the theory of evolution. He is EXACTLY right in calling it both a theory and a fact.

[jazzx251]

@comebesideme

Yes. But, Dawkins knows that the word "Theory" allows ignorant fools to call it by its more popular definition of "hunch".

He just wants to clean up the confusion.

[fLRedSpade]

that girl that took the second question was really annoying

[SmervinMervin24]

@2DRonaldo I'm curious as to what experiment was done to prove it, it would help me out a LOT in my essay

[liberator222]

Richard Dawkins is a badass

[solowinterwolf]

Dawkins' perseverance in his efforts to educate us is nothing short of heroic.

[WisenedGnome]

I love being free from Christianity.

[Wordlaw12]

@WisenedGnome

Me too

[usr02777299922670684]

@WisenedGnome and what`s about ISLAM and Qur`an?

[MarcusEFN]

@usr02777299922670684 Islam has to be the great evil of all religions... But like all other religions... The world would be better without it

[sk8tafrnk]

@WisenedGnome You're such a sinner.

[MarcusEFN]

@WisenedGnome I hear ya mate

[TyGould18]

@WisenedGnome You were a christian?

[RaitoDenki]

@TyGould18 i know i was.

[TyGould18]

@RaitoDenki Cool

[Boomx2Brian]

4:36 His impression of Ray Comfort is spot on!

[crazyinsane500]

It's understandable that Dawkins has to dumb down scientific words to scientific illiterates, just as long as he stops calling evolution a fact. That's only good when talking to ignorami, but not intelligent people. Remember Dawkins, it's a theory, and does it's job well.

[Wordlaw12]

Best 11 minutes I seen in a long time.

[revolver3838]

i love the way the Americans love his accent. when he says bollocks they all repeat it!!! im English i love Dawkins and i love Americans too!!!

[warren52nz]

The quote below is from Microbiologist Graeme Finlay, a Creationist, and is edited slightly to make it fit without changing the meaning significantly. Creationists who doubt the veracity of Evolution would be well advised to look up Dr. Finlay (this publication is online).

Doing so will help prevent you being the object of ridicule in public forums such as these when you deny Evolution exists.

[warren52nz]

Our genome contains 6,000 to 10,000 derelict genes or pseudogenes that no longer produce functional proteins. Some are

disabled versions of genes which remain functional in other species. Others are

inactive copies or duplicated fragments of functional genes. Each pseudogene is

unique. It is the product of a random, unrepeatable originating event that occurred during the history from which humanity arose. Pseudogenes therefore provide unambiguous evidence for the animal ancestry of humans.

[WarmWeatherGuy]

The Law of Evolution can be stated this way:

Variation + Heritability + Differential reproductive success = Evolution

We have a theory of gravity (General relativity) and a law of gravity (an equation given by Newton F = GMm/(r*r)). Gravity is also a fact.

Likewise we have a theory of evolution (natural selection) and a law of evolution (given above). The law of evolution is demonstrated by genetic algorithms (not biological but computer code, google it). Evolution is also a fact.

[CelestiaalTeapot]

That tie is fucking wicked :)

[blazereef]

@Prophiscient hes willfuly ignorant, anyone with jesus in their name is bound to be this way

[blazereef]

do people need to go and see dawkins to ask how evolution is not random, is it that hard to click on google? go to scientists for the full science but to understand natural selection is very simple

[blazereef]

@Prophiscient "honestforjesus" man the irony of that name

[blazereef]

@Prophiscient he forgets, those morals were around way before jesus

[coasterpro]

Evolution is both a theory and a fact. The theory of evolution explains the fact of evolution. We cannot describe the explanation itself as a fact because all scientific theories are provisional with respect to the evidence. Now, that said, there does come a time when a theory becomes so well tested that it's as good as any of its individual contributing facts. Evolution is such a theory. But the explanation is still a theory, and will always be a theory. It doesn't graduate to something else.

[HonestforJesus]

@Prophiscient Do unto others as you would have them do. Love ly enemy. He who is without sin, cast the 1st ston turn the other cheek. These are morals that transcend the barbaric time period that Christ lived in. These morals didnt come from mere human beings.

[UtopiaMinor666]

@HonestforJesus well, out of the three you mentioned, only one is morally just and rational: do unto others as you owuld have done unto you. This single solitary line predates christianity by centuries, and is found in the dialects of confucious, its also found in buddhism. Love thy enemies is irrational, and is not moral. And he who cast the first sin is only as good as the person who is saying it, and no one is without sin, not only that, but its an impossible feet to manage.

[imightjustbefunny]

haha commmmoon

[HonestforJesus]

@Prophiscient God revealed creation in his Wrd. I am just pointing out that just because there areslight variations now doesn't mean that it has been happening for billions of years. It could be a recent occurance. And it must be because of the account of creation god revealed to us.

[ozowen]

@HonestforJesus

Aaargghh. It happened billions of years ago. The evidence shows this. God is the cause but the genesis story is hardly history, unless you are happy about a flat earth, a dome above it, water above the dome and under the disk of the earth.

Unless you're OK with the two different orders of creation. Unless you are cool with mega rated evolution happening since the mythical Flood.

[ozowen]

@HonestforJesus

I agree that He revealed creation in the Word. But He says nothing about how or when. All the Genesis myth really points to is a Creator God who is anxious for a moral commitment. Oh, and it is also a better answer to the Babylonian myths that it derives from and parodies while restating.

[HonestforJesus]

@Prophiscient If a tree extends as far as your eye can see that doesn't mean it streches on for billions of acres. Just because microevolution happens now doesn't mean its bee happening for billions of year.

[Myung13]

@HonestforJesus

jesus is a homojew.

[ChaseKittens]

@HonestforJesus Actually, yes, "macro" evolution (in quotes as you creationists create the false dichotomy from micro evolution) is observed quite well in science. Fossils change steadily as we go further down into the earth's layers. Furthermore, we've observed speciation in the lab and in agriculture, of one species being separated into two groups that are bred apart enough to become incompatible.

[BelfastAtheist]

@HonestforJesus

Haha, your comments are hilarious. Lord knows why people voted them as spam!

[HonestforJesus]

Microevolution is a fact. But macroevolution hasn't been observed.

[BullInTheHeather1]

Incredible! An entire Richard Dawkins video without a single furious, confused rant by a creationist to poison the atmosphere of the other postings.

[firegod001]

@Prophiscient

I was about to say that myself, but then I saw your comment. Theory is as high as it goes. Evolution is a fact. The THEORY of evolution is how we attempt to explain how evolution works.

[qaplatlhinganmaH]

Slaves, obey your earthly masters with deep respect and fear. Serve them sincerely as you would serve Christ. (Ephesians 6:5 NLT)

Christians who are slaves should give their masters full respect (1 Timothy 6:1-2 NLT)

[qaplatlhinganmaH]

2 Peter

Lot, who in Gen.19:8 offers his two virgin daughters to a crowd of angel rapers and later (19:30-38) impregnates them, was a "righteous man." 2:8

[marcarmstrong88]

lol i agree wot person goes a see a "god" and comes up with question u can just google and find on the 1st page.

[jeremyfinds]

Unless You Repent You Will Die in Your Sin - Jesus Christ

[FaaarLeft]

Perception, I think, has role in evolution. Perhaps some mechanism in the reproductive function is affected by one's perceptions and understanding on how to survive in the world. This might explain the reasonable amount of positive mutations that occur in nature.

[FatherofMan25]

thanks very much for the upload!!

[Pelonetillo]

yeah, he didnt seem to put much effort into that response.

[Pelonetillo]

evolution as a whole wouldnt really fit into a law, but components of the evolutionary process would.

[muadkak]

@MeNicki He was going into a rather obscure point of human biology, so I would guess that yes the skip was on purpose, as it seemed to go straight to the next question.

[chrisocony]

yes he was going into a rather obscure point (all caps follow) on the origin of humans, whether humans were some prepubescent-type off-shoot of apes; i was very interested

but it is great, thanks for the upload, he probably shouldn't go public with his meeting with amazon but truth is always best