Science and religion with David Berlinski: Chapter 5 of 5

[chaos5252]

These guys make political interviews and debates look like a couple of 2 year-olds fighting over a toy.

[bradchesney11]

I assume that my toothbrush will be by the sink when I go to brush my teeth.

I have faith that my toothbrush will be by the sink when I go to brush my teeth.

Thank you, Judeo-Christian God of dental hygiene!

Mr. Berlinski just can't mention "Judeo-Christian" enough in his politicized arguments while consistently omitting the other Abrahamic religion of Islam.

[bradchesney11]

I assume that my toothbrush will be by the sink when I go to brush my teeth.

I have faith that my toothbrush will be by the sink when I go to brush my teeth.

Thank you, Judeo-Christian God of dental hygiene!

Mr. Berlinksi just can't mention "Judeo-Christian" enough in his politicized arguments while consistently omitting the other Abrahamic religion of Islam.

[TheWorldFarOff]

Upon Thomas Jefferson...All men are blasphemous, especially in the company of close friends & confidants. Jefferson never publicly professed a hatred for Christianity, nor did he tolerate blasphemy in others. What we have here, with such private {intimate} quotes that are in fashion, is an illustration that Thomas Jefferson was a contradictory fellow. He did father 5 children with a light-skinned-teenaged Negress who just happened to be his late wife's half-sister after all.

[procommenter]

[“(If Massachusetts should) see fit to citizenize monkeys, it will furnish no reason why we should allow them such rights in the streets of Charleston.” — Mr. McQueen of S. Carolina, 1850, fr. p. 179 "An American Glossary, Vol. I" by Richard Thornton, Frederick Ungar Publishing Co., New York © 1962]

[TheWinepusher]

This has got to be the finest interview by UncKnowledge.

[youngloenoe]

Very interesting interview!!

[snopro54]

Utter nonsense

[BridgetWillard]

By the time I got to the end of this video I was crying. What a moving exchange.

[drmcmoney]

I took it on faith that this guest had to something intelligent to say and was sorely mistaken!!

[EntinludeX]

Wait, have we established supernatural omniscience as a natural scientific fact yet?

Gee, I guess NOBODY knows EVERYTHING and that's why FAITH isn't called SCIENCE. Uh,huhhh. Remind me, why do the faithful use fire-extinguishers, seat-belts, crosswalks, & storm cellars if their place in the mythical afterlife paradise is so bloody secure?

(Vadervoice)I find your lack of faith disturbing..

[anangbhai]

That emoticon at the end really convinced me of your snarky intellectual argument. This is why I hate atheists and I am one. Every one of them irritating and full of ironic pomposity. Did you cry when you realized username truthiness was already taken you conformist hack?

[Blademaster865]

@anangbhai an atheists who enjoys challenging his ideas, in additions to others, I like it. Good to have you in this world!

[Nyarl3]

An excellent interview. Berlinski didn't elaborate some of his points with as much philosophical rigour as I might have liked, but I know his basic arguments and in large part agree with them. I really love his point about the Old Testament at the end of the interview. Sometimes you might hear someone (usually young) say that the Bible, the OT in particular, is worthless as a literary work, and ought not even be bothered about. Berlinski calling that absurdity what it is is heartening.

[oilhammer04]

One of my wife's English professors in graduate school became exasperated by his students ignorance of the Scriptures and held up a Bible and told them they should read it because if it's influence on or literature. This was at a secular University. I doubt if you would hear this anymore. This was in the 1980s.

[alanforrester]

The assumptions don't have to be defended, they just have to survive criticism. Keeping positions that survive criticism is not faith. Faith would be keeping assumptions that have succumbed to criticism, like the idea that God can be used to explain morality, which was refuted in Plato's dialogue Euphythro before Jesus was born.

[Truthiness231]

How do I know my desk doesn't come to life when I leave the room? How do I know gravity will work if I jump off a building (no not a regular building, I'm not crazy; just gotta find a really, really high building)? How do I know if the next thing out of David's mouth won't be as silly as the last?

I just take it on faith...after all, it's much easier to get an answer from old stories than to try to prove reality with math; I mean, who knows if math is right? Science could be built on a lie.. =P

[mebe84]

@Truthiness231 i don't see why u feel it's necessary to ridicule berlinski. he is merely restating philosophical thought that has been around, as he said, since the greeks. it is also part of hume's philosophical thought, and as u may know hume is well thought of by hitchens and the like. as for math, i'm sure berlinski's knowledge of mathematics exceeds your own.

[mebe84]

@Truthiness231 if u object to the argument, perhaps u should consider giving a valid form to your objection,lest u seem arogant or foolish. i could give u a logical,valid objection to berlisnski's argument if u like

[monkeywolf]

@Truthiness231 Too bad nothing you said proved anything the guy, who has multiple degrees and a much more extensive career than you, wrong. Fail.

[LeGioNoFZioN]

thoroughly enjoyed this thanks Hoover Inst.

[fusionsoul]

Ayn Rand argued against many of these points, distinguishing faith and mysticism from rationality and science. I understand that the question of the existence of God cannot be answered as of yet, but to equate not expecting a chasm to open beneath your feet with faith implies that anything that cannot be proved 100% or understood is a function of faith.

Real Science is a mechanism of investigation and finding proof. Faith is belief without proof. Our "assumptions" are based on real life data.

[glennd7962]

Just so y'all know, CSPAN has the vid of Chris HItchens making mincemeat of this guy's truly insipid arguments - do a search, easy to find. Also, Berlinski is on the board of the Discovery Institute, the folks who are peddling Intelligent Design (creationism) for the fundos. The head of the Discovery Institute admitted publicly several years ago that their ideas can't stand academic scrutiny. What a joke, how did he get on this normally august show?