I CAME TO THIS VIDEO AND SAW ALL 5 PARTS BECAUSE I THOUGHT THIS GUY WOULD EXPLAIN THE ORIGIN OF LIFE, BUT ALL HE DOES IS MOCK OTHERS WHEN HE HIMSELF IS CLUELESS. HE JUST KEEPS TALKING ABOUT OTHER UNNECESSARY CRAP AND HE CONTINUES TO IGNORE THE SUBJECT.
Topics: DEADLY ARGUMENTS NOW ADDED For The Creationism-Evolutionism Debate (See Subchapter 10.2.2.), The Issue On The Criminal Liability Of Foretelling The END OF THE WORLD, Other Debated Issues, Terrorism, War, Law, Politics, Religion, Philosophy, Science, Others.
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Big brains, humans do not even come close to the size the brains of elephants or whales, sperm whales have huge brains, this is the only thing I don't see that Dawkins said, i don't understand, does this mean that sperm whales do math better than us? or write better poetry? Do elephants look at humans and think they are smarter than us in some way?
@ieguy3 I understand that part of it but it is demonstrable that Elephants have complex social behaviors very similar to what humans do but no technology and their brains are four times the size of ours, sperm whales have brains that are really impressive in size and function as well
@ieguy3 For some reason my answer didn't make it to posting so I'll repeat it. While I do think brain to body size is a factor but Elephants not only have a brain 4 times the size of human brain they also have complex social behaviors and communications that are very similar to humans just no technology and sperm whales have absolutely gigantic brains, neither one of these animals would seem to need such large brains to run their bodies since many animals just as large have really tiny brains.
@Moontanman Not sure about sperm whales, but orcas have complex language that includes grammar, something that used to make humans different. Physically they can all "broadcast" hundreds of miles for communication, which is something we've only begun to tinker with using the Internet, so there might even be lessons to be learned from whales in that area (if our small brains are capable). All that said, it does seem that brain size is only one small factor in what we would call intelligence.
@Moontanman e.g., if you modify a chimp to double its brain size, it might be able to do chimp things better and break mental boundaries in a chimp sort of way, but it would not have exactly the same result as doubling an australopithecus brain or a fish brain. And the particular parts of the brain that increased in size would also be significant.
On the other hand Elephantnose fish have brains even bigger than humans in relation to their body size, they are also social creatures and communicate through electricity they generate and send out signal in the water with. I'm just not sure that the brain to body size is a reasonable way to judge intelligence..
My opinion is, that religion basicly works like a placebo. You are told, that you will be happier with religion and because you believe it, you a r e in fact happier.
i study psychology and i oftan pounder why spiritual beliefs preserve mental health. there is evidence that those who live stress free lives are essentually more healthy then those with high stress lives. evidence seems to show that stress causes the immune system to be less affective. perhaps having a god takes away the stress of guilt, being able to repent or ask for forgiveness, allows the immune system to stay intacked (lack of a better word). maybe someone knows better than me. plz share
The excessive amount of the function there is in this time space continuum is evidence of us having a Maker because no other function ever existed without having a maker.
@Seekmosttoprophesy evolution should be given special treatment, in that it should be set aside from creationism, because it, unlike creationism, is backed by credible scientific evidence. Secondly, to say that something cannot exist without a maker, so there is a maker of it, is ignorant. so, what about that creator, he must need a creator, and that creator must need a creator. you are just pushing the question back. using god to plug up a question you don't understand is ignorant.
One only need to look at Ice Land. Which has one of the largest atheist populations. It also has one of the lowest crime rates and great mental health with the civilian community as a entirety. I respect Richard Dawkins because his logic and rational thinking is similar to mine and probably this explains why I can enjoy him speaking in the public. I have not read the book "God is a Delusion" but I don't have to if that makes any sense? since I use that same logic to deduce "no god" anyway.
i would call bullshit on the idea that religious people are more phycologically healthy, they are religious, this automatically takes away a massive amount of mental health
@blazereef Sorry but I'm afraid that the evidence shows religious people in general are on the whole happier than atheists. Look up 'Religion 'linked to happy life'' 'or a survey by Kosmin & Lachman (1993), showing showing that people with no religious affiliation are at greater risk of depressive symptoms than those affiliated with a religion. Of course correlation does not imply cause or that there will not be exceptions but the evidence does point towards religion equallying happiness.
@STEPHENWRAYSFORD33 It makes sense to me. If you believe that an all powerful being is everywhere in the Universe, taking care of those that follow him, damning those who don't, rescuing you from eternal nothingness and loving you no matter your actions then you probably would be a lot happier than someone who believes they evolved from apes, are merely mortal, have a fear evoking understanding that they will not last forever and cannot find a reason for why life exists in the first place.
@DrTorture28 Yes, faith in an afterlife must take away some of the pain when a loved one dies. Even simple things like singing in chruch have a good effect on the mind, singing makes us feel happy & relaxed. I think most atheists have to be wealthy & secure. For the poor, who make up the majority of the world, religion is probably there largest hope. It's worth noting that all the new atheists, Dawkins, Hitchens, Grayling, Dennett & Harris are all very educated, privallaged & wealthy white men.
@STEPHENWRAYSFORD33 i think you have to be quite educated to be a famous atheist in the first place, you have to know what you're talking about. it's just an unfortunate statistic that most people who are educated to that level are white and from a privileged background. but i do agree with the poor being much more likely to be religious than atheistic, however there is a fair share of atheists who are actually poor, and i think that number will slowly increase.
@DrTorture28 " I can see why Theists would be happier."
Yes I can see that too - if they are willing to live in a world of make believe that makes them happy than that would be fine if it stopped there!
Just as long as they don't go around condemning those that don't buy into their fairy tale. Plus trying to get science education to include their gibberish as an alternative to facts.
@BitchIStoleYourFish I wonder where this psychologist gets his data. I've heard other psychologists likening christianity to domestic abuse: the abuser says "you're nothing without me, worthless, you MAKE me hurt you, no one else could love you" and the victim half believes it, feels lost without him.
Statistics show the bald truth that christians commit more crimes (esp. rape) than atheists do, have more teen pregnancies, abortions, STDs: = indicative of maladjustment, not happiness!
With respect to art (at least visual art) production, it is not confined exclusively to humans. We have already seen its analogs in Michael, the gorilla who was raised with Koko.
I like Dawkins' explanation of our capacities thought. Presumably we evolved brains for advantageous reasons but the faculties we evolved necessitated a brain that would also be instantly good at many other things.
A cult???? umm maybe a coffee Monday....... or how about a Tuesday lunch where the free thinikiners get to talk about life.......... evolution... like me and my friends use to do in P.E. when we use to run the mile... yes about all religions... god delusions.. all kinds of things from the news... and so much
if a muslim walks into an airport and they tell him he needs to take off his terbin becasue they need to check the inside, there is an uproar because it part of his religion. well what if i believe that i need to carry a gun everywhere i go becasue if someone is doing the wrong thing, i need to kill them because thats what god wants me to do?
funny thing is that if creationism really got into the text books and education quality drops in America; with the rise of muslim in europe China might be the last bastion of rationality. Because the entire country is pretty much atheistic.
Have that psychologist considered that the reason religious people have shown slightly better mental health in terms of depression and such is, that they might have done their surveys in countries where religion is the norm and atheists and non-religious people feel like outcasts and are perhaps even shunned??
@balkan2k to me, it's easy to see why many religious people would on average have slightly better mental health than the average atheist. you know you're going to heaven when you die, you know there is a reason for everything, there is something out there infinately powerfull who loves you unconditionally, ect... what a comforting thought that must be.
@mightyafrowhitey Yeah, that might also have something to do with it. Although it's hard for me to understand, I never worry about those things personally.
Seriously though, in some countries it's damn hard to be both an outspoken and a closet atheist :-/
@mightyafrowhitey To believe in something that is conflicted has effects on nervous system. Being bombarded every month with justified reasons of Religion being a Scandal hence creates a noticable but not overwhelming disturbance in one's mind. over time it creates struggle and conflict in the brain. Yo u still think when you are asleep hence the mood when you wake up. your mind processes it during sleep.peace
Have that psychologist considered that the reason religious people have shown slightly better mental health in terms of depression and such is, that they might have done their surveys in countries where religion is the norm and atheists and non-religious people feel like outcasts and are perhaps even shunned??
@goog2k Fanastic observation! Carl Sagan is a hero of mine. He is the person, through the book Cosmos and later the TV series, who awoke in me an understanding and appreciation of the imensity and wonderousness of our cosmos. I say "our cosmos" because it about all of us. We are the stardust of which you speak. We are joined together more intimately than we ever care to remember and if only we saw each other in terms expressed by Dr Sagan we would live in a better world.
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Why do idiots like Dawkins and their followers consider themselves to be so called FREE-THINKERS assuming that anyone involved in science should automaticaly dimiss God.
What a bunch of ass licking, patronising and deluded idiots.
This prick knows there is not a single shred of evidence to prove the Theory of Evolution or that there ever was a single animal evolved from the diferent type/kind of animals.
Evolution within the same type of animals has always been there and does not require proof
"Why do idiots like Dawkins and their followers consider themselves to be so called FREE-THINKERS assuming that anyone involved in science should automaticaly dimiss God."
Religion does not make people do bad things, it is people's interpretation of religion what does.
Throughout my life i was lucky enough to have met and worked with many scientists, well educated and honourable people who believe in God. None of them were weak minded or lucking self respect. It is not luck of knowledge but the arrogance with which you generalize people, that is what truly deserves nothing but contempt.
"i - worked with many scientists - who believe in God"
Their careers as scientists do not lend any credence to their unjustified beliefs. One may be a scientist by trade yet not be a scientist by principle.
"None of them were weak minded"
The propensity for unjustified belief is a weakness we all share - to varying degrees.
"...the arrogance with which you generalize people - deserves nothing but contempt."
lolumad?
I would love to discuss further but no more space here.
"Religion does not make people do bad things - people's interpretation - does"
Religion (and you may argue this definition) is a set of beliefs and practices, founded on poor evidence, held by a group of people. By this definition, there is no such thing as "interpretation of religion". There is only "interpretation of holy documents (ex Bible)". Some religious beliefs (moderate christianity, astrology, UFO conspiracists) cause no overt harm. Many other beliefs do cause great harm.
@imnotbncre8ive It would seem from PeterTc's last comment that you had pushed him into a corner in which the only perceivable escape to him, and any other strongly religious person, was to refuse to reply intelligibly.
because there's probally not but if I do come to the gates before I go to hell I would ask give more evidence to athiest and agnostics some of us arent brain washed like the others.
it is true and maybe god will show you those moments that you could have believe in god. i believe everyone will have the chance to listen to god's words before the second coming. (except those in olden times, that im unsure of).
even in the most uneducated parts of the world, the word will be spread to everyone before the second coming.
lol i tried i just dont think stoning,raping,human sacrificing , and killing all you dont like. thats from the old testament oh and new testment tells of god destroying the planet and sending people he doesnt like into an never ending fire chamber is the way to eternal happiness. If you think is it is see a good luck
because even if god existed, ut yourself in his position for a second, Lets pretend you are a responsible adult, Do you take responsibility over what your children do?
Same goes for your greations, you must take full responsibility or you are irresponsible, this is why Heaven and hell are man made to impose rules over peasantry, it tells you that not only do you become punished in life but even in death, for a god to not have any responsibility is a pathetic one if you ask me
I agree. You have to question the logic of an all-powerful supreme being who creates man in his own image and then blames him for his own mistakes. The concept of God is a proposterous, mind-shrinking falsehood. Religion teaches us to be satisfied with not understanding the world in which we live.
@5anthonys and to be satisfied as being slaves i might add...Religion puts a sort of, anal lubricant of justification of accepting your position as a slave as the right thing to do lol...such people are weak minded and have no self respect for themselves, and i express nothing but contempt over relgious minded people, because they are below me in the food chain
Christopher Hitchens would agree with you on this point. He put it beautifully when he said that "the Archbishop of Canterbury does a perfect impersonation on a Welsh sheep". Furthermore, your point is very Darwinian - religiously minded people are below us in the food chain. Slavish.
"and to be satisfied as being slaves i might add...Religion puts a sort of, anal lubricant of justification of accepting your position as a slave as the right thing to do lol...such people are weak minded and have no self respect for themselves, and i express nothing but contempt over relgious minded people"
Eloquently put, good sir. I absolutely agree! Haha... anal lubricant
@imnotbncre8ive hehe, yeah i mean we live in reality and an age of self awareness now, it is sad that there are still people buying into religions and getting conned out of their money and more importantly "their time" all just so they can have their lube so that life doesnt seem to be so painfull, or to justify murder if they felt like it....But there are more realistic alternative's to all of those religion has to psychologically offer
I live in the US and i feel a sort of polarizing efect going on religiously speeking. As the NE gets more and more secular the SE gets more and more religious. The same is true between the far west (Califiornia is becoming more secular) and the midwest (Colorado, Wyoming, other rural states.) But I also believe there is an aftershock for the general christianity of the US in 19th and 20th centuries that causes people to claim to be christian or believe in god without actually reading the bible.
I can't reconcile Professor Dawkins' view that religious influence is increasing in the US. Skeptical Inquirer magazine had an article recently about the rapid decline of believers in the US. The Pew Research Center concluded that in thirty years, the number of believers in the US will mirror that of Western Europe today. Claiming increasing religious influence sheds a terrible light on the US. I hope Professor Dawking is wrong about that.
As for the fellow who says that, statistically, religious people tend to be happier than non-religious people, the data was gathered recently to support the opposite. He is basing that opinion on the absence of evidence--terribly irresponsible. See Free Inquiry magazine, October/November 2009 issue, OP-ED by Tom Flynn "It's Amazing What You Can Find by Looking" for info.
even if it were true, its fracing placebo effect !! Even placebo drugs do sometimes help, doesnt mean though you will not give them to ppl you cant help another way, will you ?
Right, he said it before that article was published, but the point is, he NEVER had evidence to back up what he said. I'm only offering evidence to refute what he says.
I do not believe in giving people false hopes, no. The placebo effect is false where true physical illnesses are concerned. Trust me, you can't think your way out of cancer.
@CZKing, if you're morally bankrupt you do. And what better way to ensure you are than to ask that you endorse other immoral ideas, like having your sins forgiven by proxy, or being responsible for the sins of your ancestors, etc. The utility of religion for those who promulgate it is that it allows you to collect the political power of large groups of morally bankrupt imbeciles that are easy to herd. We need to find a way to inoculate kids in primary school to the worst of religion's memes.
This is odd, how come so many of the audience asking questions are Irish or Scottish?
Irish and Scottish people are more inclined to become free thinker and atheist?
Or after fighting the English empire and the Church of the English for centuries, I guess a lot of Irish and Scottish people just denounce everything that is English, including their oppressive religion that is Christianity.
I like his explanation of why Americans are so religious... but I would argue that Canadians are even more ethnically mixed, yet much less religious. Does anyone care to weigh in?
I've heard it put that the Canadians immigrated by choice, and kept in touch with families, whereas the puritans went to America after being kicked out of Britain, so had little contact 'back home'.
Not saying it's right, but I've heard more than a few people put it forward.
One thing Dawkins was never asked, nor he brought it up, was that people like him are at the top echelon intellectually. Perhaps the top 0.1 percent or less. Those with the intelligent levels lower at various extent is unlikely to be capable of making this type of reasoning. That is why religion will always be important for the majority, unless one day there is a biological and medical way to improve people's intelligence permanently.
It's called good education. The large majority of Japan doesn't believe in a god, they have one of the lowest crime rates and some of the best education in the world.
Same for a few countries in Europe and a few others around the world. Education is key!
I have been in education business all my life. There are many students do well in schools but are deeply religious. Therefore, not buying the story of the Western God or gods is a different kind of intelligence. Japanese believe in some kind of gods, not the Christian God. Many people just can't take the idea that there is nothing after death.
I realize there are religious people who do well in school but statistics show the better educated you are the less likely you are to believe in a god. And no most of Japan does not believe in a god, only about 2 million Christians.
Well yea people can't stand the idea of ceasing to exist, that's part of why there is religion.
The whole history is pretty much covered in a book called "Number." But, yes it is in agreement with you. The reason we have a base 10 number system is because we have ten fingers.
What species between us and apes are you referring to? There have been about a dozen hominids (human like species) in the past 5 million years. One of the last were the Neanderthals and Homo Sapiens did breed with them. How did the Neanderthals die? It's speculated that the war loving Sapiens killed them.
JaniLPU, It has been speculated that humans have bred with chipanzees. There was one chimp in particular that had very human qualities, such as only walking upright, that was believed to be a cross breed. Chimps share over 90% of our DNA.
I've worked in the field of psychology for several years and I concur that religious delusions are abundant in psychological disorders. I used to ask schizophrenic patients whose voice they heard and they always replied either God, the devil, or my mother.
That is very interesting. I would like to discuss it at length with you. My own intuition is that the schizophrenic spectrum of illness, should be extended to encompass those who have, as they say. Personally experienced God.
Well, this is what humans have been saying for ten thousand years actually. Native Americans would go through rituals to produce psychosis. Doing so would turn them into holy men (shamans).
I distinctly remember listening to a schizophrenic patient talking once and having an epiphany, "This is how the book of Revelation was written!"
I don't know if that would be that earth shattering. The moderatly sized university that I went two had a large 3 story library to house it's academic journals.
The information is there though. I know because I wrote a research paper on alternatives to the modern medical model with a title like "The journey of the shaman" with probably two pages of citations.
That guy asking the question about 2:30 is a bit of a fail psychologist :/ i'm in Psychology as well and the evidence shows vastly than you're faaar less likely to have a mental health problem as an Athiest/Agnostic.
@Iwuffpantera And if you have any friends in psychiatry or a mental health facility they will tell you 9/10 people's delusions are religious in nature. Though it's tough to say whether delusional people are drawn to religion or religion makes them delusional.
@andid that is a good question and i think in the vast majority of cases religion causes the delusion, or rather brainwashing from a young age. if you get taught as a kid that there's a big man in the sky watching you, you'll believe it just like you believe in santa... anyone who knows about mental health knows how trusting kids are of the information their parents give them, religion just takes full advanage of that and i think it's disgusting, it's like mental abuse.
@Iwuffpantera I would ask here, which is the cause and which the effect, if indeed they may be understood as such? It sounds, at any rate, as if a naturally unstable mind is more likely to seek and stick to religion. A related phenomenon has to be the prediliction to believe in conspiracies and so forth. That's the same kind of thinking as religious thinking on a fundamental level, is it not?
@Iwuffpantera I would ask here, which is the cause and which the effect, if indeed they may be understood as such? It sounds, at any rate, as if a naturally unstable mind is more likely to seek and stick to religion. A related phenomenon has to be the predilection to believe in conspiracies and so forth. That's the same kind of thinking as religious thinking on a fundamental level, is it not?
The species between us dying out and our emergence are not seperate issues.
The reason we are so "Human" and less of our parental species is that we were better suited for survival and adapted to a changing enviroment quicker than they.
Likewise for Apes, though they adapted to their little niche.
Initially in our species we could breed with Apes, but as we became more and more "Human" and they more and more "Ape", we could not.
This is because our genes are no longer similar enough =)
To answer your first question, we cannot breed with apes for the same reason a lion cannot breed with a house cat or a shark cannot breed with a trout (despite both being fish). Because we are too genetically dissimilar.
We are similar enough to be related, but we are not similar enough to breed. That's one of the things that defines us as a separate species.
We are related to all mammals, but cannot breed with dogs. We are related to a lot of incompatible species, apes are just the closest.
To answer your second question, the common ancestor did not "die out" per se, but "became" apes and humans--morphing over time into new species.
This is a bad metaphor in some ways, but I think it conveys the basic point:
Let's say you take a gallon of water. You boil half of it into steam and you freeze the other half. The water didn't "die out"...rather it changed into steam and ice. The steam and ice are very different, have very different properties, yet came from the same shared source.
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Romans 1:20 For since the creation of the world God's invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature—have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that men are without excuse.
that last question just confused the shit out of me. how dawkins could extract a decent short anwerable question out of it is just magical. and he had to stop the guy too.. lol
Once humans became able to form language, the rest just followed... The ability to use language as a form of communications in life is by itself a huge mathematical problem which requires a brain that is able to think mathematically.
The fact that language works in nature means that maths is natural.
I liked the point from the pyscologist about religious people being emotionally healthier, he forgot to mention so are stupid people and that most religious people are in fact stupid and have a consistantly lower intellect than the non religious, many tests have been conducted to prove this.
I think there are probably cases where religious people can be granted exceptions from rules. I have heard of people who think their souls gets stuck on the paper if you take a camera picture of them so maybe they would lose out on eternal life for this reason. Since these people might get nightmares or get mad if you take their picture maybe they could be given a special driver's license.
But why make it a simple Religious justification? Why not generalize it and say "if you don't want your picture taken then you don't have to?" I imagine simple social anxiety and self-consciousness may give people nightmares as well.
How would such people get a passport? You need a fucking picture for that. So I guess such people you'll rather find somewhere in the bushes where civilisation isn't present at all.
richard dawkins is one of the greatest people i have ever encountered. he is clearly exceptionally intelligent and could quite easily spend his life relaxing reading/writing books and doing research in oxford laboratories but instead has put his energy to changing the world and persuading millions of idiots to pick up a science book. where would we be without him
Thanks Piro for the videos. I have been an atheist for over 35 years and I wish we had clubs and social gatherings. Problem with us atheists are is we know the truth and that is that. No need to re-enforce what we already know because everything we see in science and the world does it for us. Nature is beautiful!
The biggest problem with us is when we talk about our dis-beliefs, we get alienated at work and society.
What a great man Richard Dawkins is. I stand in awe of his bravery against discrimination, his drive to fight the good cause and his obvious intelligence. What a great man. He is a light in the darkness of ignorance.
i went to a christening this morning. first time i've set foot in a church in 10 years. i expected to find it at least interesting and to perhaps understand why people go to church. it left me dumbfounded and bemused as to why people bother. i felt utterly empty listening to what was being said and it reinforced everything i already thought. the most elegant and beautiful thing in existence is evolution.
His last statement deserved a round of applause.
Gazjohnful 2 weeks ago
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Dead-to-the-spirit deluded "God Delusion" author & blithering fool scientist goon Richard Dawkins another "leader" given 2 the profane masses is another useful idiot 4 Jesuit machinations
Jesuitical; pertaining to the Jesuits or their principals; designing; cunning; deceitful; prevaricating
The Jesuit Order completely altered the education system 2 suit their Evo-Hoax Agenda to discredit the Bible
Papal Rome cant have their Counter Reformation Despotism 2nd Dark Age until Bible is destroyed
SpencerBenedict2nd 3 months ago
I CAME TO THIS VIDEO AND SAW ALL 5 PARTS BECAUSE I THOUGHT THIS GUY WOULD EXPLAIN THE ORIGIN OF LIFE, BUT ALL HE DOES IS MOCK OTHERS WHEN HE HIMSELF IS CLUELESS. HE JUST KEEPS TALKING ABOUT OTHER UNNECESSARY CRAP AND HE CONTINUES TO IGNORE THE SUBJECT.
once2ice 4 months ago
@once2ice You NEED A PRIEST!!
wondergundy 3 months ago
@once2ice Sorry, I don't think thats the case. He is just answering what he is being asked for and I think thats fair enough.
rocco7050 2 months ago
@once2ice 2/10 troll
manonthemount 2 months ago
@once2ice
Maybe you need to watch again.
Domzdream 1 month ago
Comment removed
once2ice 4 months ago
omfg the way he just connected the human brain to the computer was fucking insane i love this guy
Kurasks 5 months ago
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NEW BOOK FOR DEBATES AND GOVERNANCE
Topics: DEADLY ARGUMENTS NOW ADDED For The Creationism-Evolutionism Debate (See Subchapter 10.2.2.), The Issue On The Criminal Liability Of Foretelling The END OF THE WORLD, Other Debated Issues, Terrorism, War, Law, Politics, Religion, Philosophy, Science, Others.
Websites: balanceddiet1.yolasite.com
See Figure 4, which is THE MEANING OF THE PYRAMID, at figure4etc.yolasite.com
See Announcements at announcements-balancedway.weebly.com
etc.
TheServiceWeb 5 months ago
Big brains, humans do not even come close to the size the brains of elephants or whales, sperm whales have huge brains, this is the only thing I don't see that Dawkins said, i don't understand, does this mean that sperm whales do math better than us? or write better poetry? Do elephants look at humans and think they are smarter than us in some way?
Moontanman 7 months ago
@Moontanman Big brain in proportion and relation to size of body
ieguy3 7 months ago
@ieguy3 I understand that part of it but it is demonstrable that Elephants have complex social behaviors very similar to what humans do but no technology and their brains are four times the size of ours, sperm whales have brains that are really impressive in size and function as well
Moontanman 6 months ago
@ieguy3 For some reason my answer didn't make it to posting so I'll repeat it. While I do think brain to body size is a factor but Elephants not only have a brain 4 times the size of human brain they also have complex social behaviors and communications that are very similar to humans just no technology and sperm whales have absolutely gigantic brains, neither one of these animals would seem to need such large brains to run their bodies since many animals just as large have really tiny brains.
Moontanman 6 months ago
@Moontanman Not sure about sperm whales, but orcas have complex language that includes grammar, something that used to make humans different. Physically they can all "broadcast" hundreds of miles for communication, which is something we've only begun to tinker with using the Internet, so there might even be lessons to be learned from whales in that area (if our small brains are capable). All that said, it does seem that brain size is only one small factor in what we would call intelligence.
HitfulVids 5 months ago
@Moontanman e.g., if you modify a chimp to double its brain size, it might be able to do chimp things better and break mental boundaries in a chimp sort of way, but it would not have exactly the same result as doubling an australopithecus brain or a fish brain. And the particular parts of the brain that increased in size would also be significant.
HitfulVids 5 months ago
@HitfulVids I understand that brain complexity plays a role but whale brains and elephant brains are indeed as complex as ours.
Moontanman 5 months ago
On the other hand Elephantnose fish have brains even bigger than humans in relation to their body size, they are also social creatures and communicate through electricity they generate and send out signal in the water with. I'm just not sure that the brain to body size is a reasonable way to judge intelligence..
Moontanman 6 months ago
the people asking questions at his shows are better heard than seen.
glennjridge 8 months ago
My opinion is, that religion basicly works like a placebo. You are told, that you will be happier with religion and because you believe it, you a r e in fact happier.
Lightfeatherwing 8 months ago
i study psychology and i oftan pounder why spiritual beliefs preserve mental health. there is evidence that those who live stress free lives are essentually more healthy then those with high stress lives. evidence seems to show that stress causes the immune system to be less affective. perhaps having a god takes away the stress of guilt, being able to repent or ask for forgiveness, allows the immune system to stay intacked (lack of a better word). maybe someone knows better than me. plz share
Mystro1989 8 months ago
Evolution should not be given special treatment.
The excessive amount of the function there is in this time space continuum is evidence of us having a Maker because no other function ever existed without having a maker.
Seekmosttoprophesy 9 months ago
@Seekmosttoprophesy evolution should be given special treatment, in that it should be set aside from creationism, because it, unlike creationism, is backed by credible scientific evidence. Secondly, to say that something cannot exist without a maker, so there is a maker of it, is ignorant. so, what about that creator, he must need a creator, and that creator must need a creator. you are just pushing the question back. using god to plug up a question you don't understand is ignorant.
parkerthehicks 6 months ago
I <3 Richard Dawkins
000TSC000 9 months ago
One only need to look at Ice Land. Which has one of the largest atheist populations. It also has one of the lowest crime rates and great mental health with the civilian community as a entirety. I respect Richard Dawkins because his logic and rational thinking is similar to mine and probably this explains why I can enjoy him speaking in the public. I have not read the book "God is a Delusion" but I don't have to if that makes any sense? since I use that same logic to deduce "no god" anyway.
LambdaQuarks 11 months ago
I love this audience, highly intelligent.
wheetcracker 1 year ago
@wheetcracker Absolutely! And the interviewer did a good job too. Wish Dawkins would do more interviews like this one.
Jacksilver2 10 months ago
Please, chicks dig math. They're the best gold diggers.
SQuiRR3LM0nk3y 1 year ago
Theists are the majority. Therefore the numbers will show they live longer. I would like to see the evidence though.
stevjen1 1 year ago
Religion is not an excuse - too right.
quatfro 1 year ago
i would call bullshit on the idea that religious people are more phycologically healthy, they are religious, this automatically takes away a massive amount of mental health
blazereef 1 year ago 2
Comment removed
STEPHENWRAYSFORD33 1 year ago
@blazereef Sorry but I'm afraid that the evidence shows religious people in general are on the whole happier than atheists. Look up 'Religion 'linked to happy life'' 'or a survey by Kosmin & Lachman (1993), showing showing that people with no religious affiliation are at greater risk of depressive symptoms than those affiliated with a religion. Of course correlation does not imply cause or that there will not be exceptions but the evidence does point towards religion equallying happiness.
STEPHENWRAYSFORD33 1 year ago
@STEPHENWRAYSFORD33 It makes sense to me. If you believe that an all powerful being is everywhere in the Universe, taking care of those that follow him, damning those who don't, rescuing you from eternal nothingness and loving you no matter your actions then you probably would be a lot happier than someone who believes they evolved from apes, are merely mortal, have a fear evoking understanding that they will not last forever and cannot find a reason for why life exists in the first place.
DrTorture28 1 year ago
@DrTorture28 Yes, faith in an afterlife must take away some of the pain when a loved one dies. Even simple things like singing in chruch have a good effect on the mind, singing makes us feel happy & relaxed. I think most atheists have to be wealthy & secure. For the poor, who make up the majority of the world, religion is probably there largest hope. It's worth noting that all the new atheists, Dawkins, Hitchens, Grayling, Dennett & Harris are all very educated, privallaged & wealthy white men.
STEPHENWRAYSFORD33 1 year ago
@STEPHENWRAYSFORD33 i think you have to be quite educated to be a famous atheist in the first place, you have to know what you're talking about. it's just an unfortunate statistic that most people who are educated to that level are white and from a privileged background. but i do agree with the poor being much more likely to be religious than atheistic, however there is a fair share of atheists who are actually poor, and i think that number will slowly increase.
bassetts1899 1 year ago
@STEPHENWRAYSFORD33 And don't get me wrong, I am an Atheist. But I can see why Theists would be happier.
DrTorture28 1 year ago
@DrTorture28 " I can see why Theists would be happier."
Yes I can see that too - if they are willing to live in a world of make believe that makes them happy than that would be fine if it stopped there!
Just as long as they don't go around condemning those that don't buy into their fairy tale. Plus trying to get science education to include their gibberish as an alternative to facts.
mtbee9 1 year ago
@mtbee9 Ignorance is bliss.
MRfullon 1 year ago
@MRfullon " Ignorance is bliss."
I don't see how facts and evidence equate with ignorance - That is what religion is all about.
mtbee9 1 year ago
What a brilliant man.
Rael0505 1 year ago
dawkins should have said to the psychologist: in other words, ignorance is bliss period.
BitchIStoleYourFish 1 year ago
@BitchIStoleYourFish I wonder where this psychologist gets his data. I've heard other psychologists likening christianity to domestic abuse: the abuser says "you're nothing without me, worthless, you MAKE me hurt you, no one else could love you" and the victim half believes it, feels lost without him.
Statistics show the bald truth that christians commit more crimes (esp. rape) than atheists do, have more teen pregnancies, abortions, STDs: = indicative of maladjustment, not happiness!
queenastilon 1 year ago
With respect to art (at least visual art) production, it is not confined exclusively to humans. We have already seen its analogs in Michael, the gorilla who was raised with Koko.
imnotbncre8ive 1 year ago
I like Dawkins' explanation of our capacities thought. Presumably we evolved brains for advantageous reasons but the faculties we evolved necessitated a brain that would also be instantly good at many other things.
mikeyman211 1 year ago
A cult???? umm maybe a coffee Monday....... or how about a Tuesday lunch where the free thinikiners get to talk about life.......... evolution... like me and my friends use to do in P.E. when we use to run the mile... yes about all religions... god delusions.. all kinds of things from the news... and so much
nromk 1 year ago
if a muslim walks into an airport and they tell him he needs to take off his terbin becasue they need to check the inside, there is an uproar because it part of his religion. well what if i believe that i need to carry a gun everywhere i go becasue if someone is doing the wrong thing, i need to kill them because thats what god wants me to do?
kiddhitta 1 year ago
@kiddhitta
Sadly, we kind of already have that with the Sikh's kirpan. Pretty damn scary.
PurushaDesa 1 year ago
@PurushaDesa that is pretty terrible
kiddhitta 1 year ago
funny thing is that if creationism really got into the text books and education quality drops in America; with the rise of muslim in europe China might be the last bastion of rationality. Because the entire country is pretty much atheistic.
BlueCrystalGem 1 year ago
DREAM TEAM:
Richard Dawkins + Matt Dillahunty = Undefeatable debating machine
drche420 1 year ago
nice
infinitty88 1 year ago
Have that psychologist considered that the reason religious people have shown slightly better mental health in terms of depression and such is, that they might have done their surveys in countries where religion is the norm and atheists and non-religious people feel like outcasts and are perhaps even shunned??
balkan2k 1 year ago
@balkan2k to me, it's easy to see why many religious people would on average have slightly better mental health than the average atheist. you know you're going to heaven when you die, you know there is a reason for everything, there is something out there infinately powerfull who loves you unconditionally, ect... what a comforting thought that must be.
mightyafrowhitey 1 year ago
@mightyafrowhitey Yeah, that might also have something to do with it. Although it's hard for me to understand, I never worry about those things personally.
Seriously though, in some countries it's damn hard to be both an outspoken and a closet atheist :-/
balkan2k 1 year ago
@mightyafrowhitey To believe in something that is conflicted has effects on nervous system. Being bombarded every month with justified reasons of Religion being a Scandal hence creates a noticable but not overwhelming disturbance in one's mind. over time it creates struggle and conflict in the brain. Yo u still think when you are asleep hence the mood when you wake up. your mind processes it during sleep.peace
sushanalone 1 year ago
Have that psychologist considered that the reason religious people have shown slightly better mental health in terms of depression and such is, that they might have done their surveys in countries where religion is the norm and atheists and non-religious people feel like outcasts and are perhaps even shunned??
balkan2k 1 year ago
He is da man, no doubt.
J0RDSKI 1 year ago
Sagan said, "We are star stuff" and "a way for the cosmos to know itself."
All the atoms on earth and in our bodies came from supernova that blew up over 5 billion years ago.
Aren't we all just walking, talking stardust -- this cosmos become AWAKE and looking back at itself? -- and aren't we intimately connected to it all?
We are this wonder called life become AWAKE
Please enjoy the dance.
And ultimately there's nothing that separates us from others in this grand mystery. Please be kind.
goog2k 1 year ago 18
@goog2k Fanastic observation! Carl Sagan is a hero of mine. He is the person, through the book Cosmos and later the TV series, who awoke in me an understanding and appreciation of the imensity and wonderousness of our cosmos. I say "our cosmos" because it about all of us. We are the stardust of which you speak. We are joined together more intimately than we ever care to remember and if only we saw each other in terms expressed by Dr Sagan we would live in a better world.
Tapiola2007 8 months ago
@Tapiola2007 Exactly.
Maybe we should make a new annual "Our Cosmos" Remembrance Day. . . . in the dance
goog2k 8 months ago
This comment has received too many negative votes show
Why do idiots like Dawkins and their followers consider themselves to be so called FREE-THINKERS assuming that anyone involved in science should automaticaly dimiss God.
What a bunch of ass licking, patronising and deluded idiots.
This prick knows there is not a single shred of evidence to prove the Theory of Evolution or that there ever was a single animal evolved from the diferent type/kind of animals.
Evolution within the same type of animals has always been there and does not require proof
PeterTc 1 year ago
@PeterTc
"Why do idiots like Dawkins and their followers consider themselves to be so called FREE-THINKERS assuming that anyone involved in science should automaticaly dimiss God."
lolumad?
imnotbncre8ive 1 year ago
@imnotbncre8ive
Religion does not make people do bad things, it is people's interpretation of religion what does.
Throughout my life i was lucky enough to have met and worked with many scientists, well educated and honourable people who believe in God. None of them were weak minded or lucking self respect. It is not luck of knowledge but the arrogance with which you generalize people, that is what truly deserves nothing but contempt.
PeterTc 1 year ago
@PeterTc
"i - worked with many scientists - who believe in God"
Their careers as scientists do not lend any credence to their unjustified beliefs. One may be a scientist by trade yet not be a scientist by principle.
"None of them were weak minded"
The propensity for unjustified belief is a weakness we all share - to varying degrees.
"...the arrogance with which you generalize people - deserves nothing but contempt."
lolumad?
I would love to discuss further but no more space here.
imnotbncre8ive 1 year ago
@PeterTc
"Religion does not make people do bad things - people's interpretation - does"
Religion (and you may argue this definition) is a set of beliefs and practices, founded on poor evidence, held by a group of people. By this definition, there is no such thing as "interpretation of religion". There is only "interpretation of holy documents (ex Bible)". Some religious beliefs (moderate christianity, astrology, UFO conspiracists) cause no overt harm. Many other beliefs do cause great harm.
imnotbncre8ive 1 year ago 2
@imnotbncre8ive
i would love to discuss this further but
loluidiot !
PeterTc 1 year ago
@imnotbncre8ive It would seem from PeterTc's last comment that you had pushed him into a corner in which the only perceivable escape to him, and any other strongly religious person, was to refuse to reply intelligibly.
DrTorture28 1 year ago
This has been flagged as spam show
"I'm an atheist with respect to the Judeo-Christian God, because there is not a shred of EVIDENCE in favor of the Judeo-Christian God."
~ Richard Dawkins
...Dawkins, that's because you have not visited my channel.
Eye2EyeIIIV 2 years ago
im afraid of dying because 1. ill never come back 2. there is no heaven or hell 3. it'll be boring
jileel 2 years ago
@jileel
Not more boring than it was before you were born. It will be about as boring as being in a coma.
chiggevara 2 years ago
lol that would suck though technally we know what its like to be dead but we cant remember(before we were born)
jileel 2 years ago
what if there is and what makes it so certain that there is no heaven or hell
Shaunthesushi 2 years ago
because there's probally not but if I do come to the gates before I go to hell I would ask give more evidence to athiest and agnostics some of us arent brain washed like the others.
jileel 2 years ago 3
it is true and maybe god will show you those moments that you could have believe in god. i believe everyone will have the chance to listen to god's words before the second coming. (except those in olden times, that im unsure of).
even in the most uneducated parts of the world, the word will be spread to everyone before the second coming.
Shaunthesushi 2 years ago
lol i tried i just dont think stoning,raping,human sacrificing , and killing all you dont like. thats from the old testament oh and new testment tells of god destroying the planet and sending people he doesnt like into an never ending fire chamber is the way to eternal happiness. If you think is it is see a good luck
jileel 2 years ago
did god promote evil? state please
Shaunthesushi 2 years ago
read the old testament and tell me what he did wasnt jacked up
jileel 2 years ago 4
@jileel
i dont see anything about god making evil good
Shaunthesushi 2 years ago
because even if god existed, ut yourself in his position for a second, Lets pretend you are a responsible adult, Do you take responsibility over what your children do?
Same goes for your greations, you must take full responsibility or you are irresponsible, this is why Heaven and hell are man made to impose rules over peasantry, it tells you that not only do you become punished in life but even in death, for a god to not have any responsibility is a pathetic one if you ask me
MadMAn12gauge 1 year ago 3
I agree. You have to question the logic of an all-powerful supreme being who creates man in his own image and then blames him for his own mistakes. The concept of God is a proposterous, mind-shrinking falsehood. Religion teaches us to be satisfied with not understanding the world in which we live.
5anthonys 1 year ago
@5anthonys and to be satisfied as being slaves i might add...Religion puts a sort of, anal lubricant of justification of accepting your position as a slave as the right thing to do lol...such people are weak minded and have no self respect for themselves, and i express nothing but contempt over relgious minded people, because they are below me in the food chain
MadMAn12gauge 1 year ago
Christopher Hitchens would agree with you on this point. He put it beautifully when he said that "the Archbishop of Canterbury does a perfect impersonation on a Welsh sheep". Furthermore, your point is very Darwinian - religiously minded people are below us in the food chain. Slavish.
5anthonys 1 year ago
@MadMAn12gauge
"and to be satisfied as being slaves i might add...Religion puts a sort of, anal lubricant of justification of accepting your position as a slave as the right thing to do lol...such people are weak minded and have no self respect for themselves, and i express nothing but contempt over relgious minded people"
Eloquently put, good sir. I absolutely agree! Haha... anal lubricant
imnotbncre8ive 1 year ago
@imnotbncre8ive hehe, yeah i mean we live in reality and an age of self awareness now, it is sad that there are still people buying into religions and getting conned out of their money and more importantly "their time" all just so they can have their lube so that life doesnt seem to be so painfull, or to justify murder if they felt like it....But there are more realistic alternative's to all of those religion has to psychologically offer
MadMAn12gauge 1 year ago
@5anthonys agreed.
mightyafrowhitey 1 year ago
Long live the United Atheist League!
AndreGDJ 2 years ago 3
It's the United Atheist Alliance! Science damn you!
DarthSkater6 2 years ago 3
I live in the US and i feel a sort of polarizing efect going on religiously speeking. As the NE gets more and more secular the SE gets more and more religious. The same is true between the far west (Califiornia is becoming more secular) and the midwest (Colorado, Wyoming, other rural states.) But I also believe there is an aftershock for the general christianity of the US in 19th and 20th centuries that causes people to claim to be christian or believe in god without actually reading the bible.
kamguia10 2 years ago
I can't reconcile Professor Dawkins' view that religious influence is increasing in the US. Skeptical Inquirer magazine had an article recently about the rapid decline of believers in the US. The Pew Research Center concluded that in thirty years, the number of believers in the US will mirror that of Western Europe today. Claiming increasing religious influence sheds a terrible light on the US. I hope Professor Dawking is wrong about that.
chansetwo 2 years ago
well he said that one year ago...before this study was published...
CZKing 2 years ago
He is fortunate to have this immense knowledge and to be able to share with us.......Thanks Dawkins!
Lima547 2 years ago 52
As for the fellow who says that, statistically, religious people tend to be happier than non-religious people, the data was gathered recently to support the opposite. He is basing that opinion on the absence of evidence--terribly irresponsible. See Free Inquiry magazine, October/November 2009 issue, OP-ED by Tom Flynn "It's Amazing What You Can Find by Looking" for info.
jamesharrel 2 years ago 2
even if it were true, its fracing placebo effect !! Even placebo drugs do sometimes help, doesnt mean though you will not give them to ppl you cant help another way, will you ?
CZKing 2 years ago
Right, he said it before that article was published, but the point is, he NEVER had evidence to back up what he said. I'm only offering evidence to refute what he says.
I do not believe in giving people false hopes, no. The placebo effect is false where true physical illnesses are concerned. Trust me, you can't think your way out of cancer.
jamesharrel 2 years ago
Well I cant really know if he has something to back up his words...
Anyway, im glad that recently collected data tells otherwise... At least we dont have to worry about "but we are happier than you" "argument"
(btw i see mistake in my previous post, there should have been "...you will give..., does it ?", we both are on the same side ;-)
CZKing 2 years ago
@CZKing, if you're morally bankrupt you do. And what better way to ensure you are than to ask that you endorse other immoral ideas, like having your sins forgiven by proxy, or being responsible for the sins of your ancestors, etc. The utility of religion for those who promulgate it is that it allows you to collect the political power of large groups of morally bankrupt imbeciles that are easy to herd. We need to find a way to inoculate kids in primary school to the worst of religion's memes.
ananiasacts 2 years ago
This is odd, how come so many of the audience asking questions are Irish or Scottish?
Irish and Scottish people are more inclined to become free thinker and atheist?
Or after fighting the English empire and the Church of the English for centuries, I guess a lot of Irish and Scottish people just denounce everything that is English, including their oppressive religion that is Christianity.
That's my guess. :P
Mel Gibson - " For freedom !!!"
TheLamelyNamed 2 years ago
This interview took place in Edinburgh, Scotland.
SMSBJM1981 2 years ago 4
I think the UK as a whole have more or the less the same view in general
weepaul666 2 years ago
I like his explanation of why Americans are so religious... but I would argue that Canadians are even more ethnically mixed, yet much less religious. Does anyone care to weigh in?
biglmac 2 years ago
I've heard it put that the Canadians immigrated by choice, and kept in touch with families, whereas the puritans went to America after being kicked out of Britain, so had little contact 'back home'.
Not saying it's right, but I've heard more than a few people put it forward.
Winterdenni 2 years ago
One thing Dawkins was never asked, nor he brought it up, was that people like him are at the top echelon intellectually. Perhaps the top 0.1 percent or less. Those with the intelligent levels lower at various extent is unlikely to be capable of making this type of reasoning. That is why religion will always be important for the majority, unless one day there is a biological and medical way to improve people's intelligence permanently.
gtjhuang 2 years ago
It's called good education. The large majority of Japan doesn't believe in a god, they have one of the lowest crime rates and some of the best education in the world.
Same for a few countries in Europe and a few others around the world. Education is key!
refuckulate420 2 years ago 2
I have been in education business all my life. There are many students do well in schools but are deeply religious. Therefore, not buying the story of the Western God or gods is a different kind of intelligence. Japanese believe in some kind of gods, not the Christian God. Many people just can't take the idea that there is nothing after death.
gtjhuang 2 years ago
I realize there are religious people who do well in school but statistics show the better educated you are the less likely you are to believe in a god. And no most of Japan does not believe in a god, only about 2 million Christians.
Well yea people can't stand the idea of ceasing to exist, that's part of why there is religion.
refuckulate420 2 years ago
maybe first, man learned to count to ensure their basic farming needs.
CAMARA99 2 years ago
The whole history is pretty much covered in a book called "Number." But, yes it is in agreement with you. The reason we have a base 10 number system is because we have ten fingers.
brucegrenehan1 2 years ago
What species between us and apes are you referring to? There have been about a dozen hominids (human like species) in the past 5 million years. One of the last were the Neanderthals and Homo Sapiens did breed with them. How did the Neanderthals die? It's speculated that the war loving Sapiens killed them.
brucegrenehan1 2 years ago
JaniLPU, It has been speculated that humans have bred with chipanzees. There was one chimp in particular that had very human qualities, such as only walking upright, that was believed to be a cross breed. Chimps share over 90% of our DNA.
brucegrenehan1 2 years ago
Chimps actually share over 99% of our DNA :)
AtheistBrit 2 years ago
95%
kid29a 2 years ago
Quite right, sorry. They used to think 98.5%, now they think more like 94-95%. Thanks for the correction! :)
AtheistBrit 2 years ago
I've worked in the field of psychology for several years and I concur that religious delusions are abundant in psychological disorders. I used to ask schizophrenic patients whose voice they heard and they always replied either God, the devil, or my mother.
brucegrenehan1 2 years ago
That is very interesting. I would like to discuss it at length with you. My own intuition is that the schizophrenic spectrum of illness, should be extended to encompass those who have, as they say. Personally experienced God.
FLUSEM666 2 years ago
Well, this is what humans have been saying for ten thousand years actually. Native Americans would go through rituals to produce psychosis. Doing so would turn them into holy men (shamans).
I distinctly remember listening to a schizophrenic patient talking once and having an epiphany, "This is how the book of Revelation was written!"
brucegrenehan1 2 years ago 2
Why didnt you publish?
Doing so would open the flood gates.
FLUSEM666 2 years ago
I don't know if that would be that earth shattering. The moderatly sized university that I went two had a large 3 story library to house it's academic journals.
The information is there though. I know because I wrote a research paper on alternatives to the modern medical model with a title like "The journey of the shaman" with probably two pages of citations.
brucegrenehan1 2 years ago
That guy asking the question about 2:30 is a bit of a fail psychologist :/ i'm in Psychology as well and the evidence shows vastly than you're faaar less likely to have a mental health problem as an Athiest/Agnostic.
Iwuffpantera 2 years ago 12
@Iwuffpantera And if you have any friends in psychiatry or a mental health facility they will tell you 9/10 people's delusions are religious in nature. Though it's tough to say whether delusional people are drawn to religion or religion makes them delusional.
andid 1 year ago
@andid that is a good question and i think in the vast majority of cases religion causes the delusion, or rather brainwashing from a young age. if you get taught as a kid that there's a big man in the sky watching you, you'll believe it just like you believe in santa... anyone who knows about mental health knows how trusting kids are of the information their parents give them, religion just takes full advanage of that and i think it's disgusting, it's like mental abuse.
bassetts1899 1 year ago
@Iwuffpantera I would ask here, which is the cause and which the effect, if indeed they may be understood as such?
ehwood99 1 year ago
@Iwuffpantera I would ask here, which is the cause and which the effect, if indeed they may be understood as such? It sounds, at any rate, as if a naturally unstable mind is more likely to seek and stick to religion. A related phenomenon has to be the prediliction to believe in conspiracies and so forth. That's the same kind of thinking as religious thinking on a fundamental level, is it not?
ehwood99 1 year ago
@Iwuffpantera I would ask here, which is the cause and which the effect, if indeed they may be understood as such? It sounds, at any rate, as if a naturally unstable mind is more likely to seek and stick to religion. A related phenomenon has to be the predilection to believe in conspiracies and so forth. That's the same kind of thinking as religious thinking on a fundamental level, is it not?
ehwood99 1 year ago
Im interested in evolution but there are afew questions i have.
How come we cant breed with apes?
How come the species inbetween apes and humans died out and apes and humans have not?
Thanks for responses!
JaniLPU 2 years ago
The species between us dying out and our emergence are not seperate issues.
The reason we are so "Human" and less of our parental species is that we were better suited for survival and adapted to a changing enviroment quicker than they.
Likewise for Apes, though they adapted to their little niche.
Initially in our species we could breed with Apes, but as we became more and more "Human" and they more and more "Ape", we could not.
This is because our genes are no longer similar enough =)
sketchydc 2 years ago
To answer your first question, we cannot breed with apes for the same reason a lion cannot breed with a house cat or a shark cannot breed with a trout (despite both being fish). Because we are too genetically dissimilar.
We are similar enough to be related, but we are not similar enough to breed. That's one of the things that defines us as a separate species.
We are related to all mammals, but cannot breed with dogs. We are related to a lot of incompatible species, apes are just the closest.
NekoMouser 2 years ago
To answer your second question, the common ancestor did not "die out" per se, but "became" apes and humans--morphing over time into new species.
This is a bad metaphor in some ways, but I think it conveys the basic point:
Let's say you take a gallon of water. You boil half of it into steam and you freeze the other half. The water didn't "die out"...rather it changed into steam and ice. The steam and ice are very different, have very different properties, yet came from the same shared source.
NekoMouser 2 years ago
Thanks man.
JaniLPU 2 years ago
i just love this man.
n0thingness 2 years ago 4
This comment has received too many negative votes show
Romans 1:20 For since the creation of the world God's invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature—have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that men are without excuse.
markpianoman 2 years ago
Please stop quoting your faith head rubbish - quoting book that we don't believe in isn't going to convert anyone so stop wasting your time
diehardmclean 2 years ago 13
that last question just confused the shit out of me. how dawkins could extract a decent short anwerable question out of it is just magical. and he had to stop the guy too.. lol
otherwise, very interesting.
kittygirl792 2 years ago
God is a fictional character, like money she brainwashes the masses!!!
tonsils77 3 years ago
This comment has received too many negative votes show
You're just too silly, even Dawkins admits that GOD exists
part2themovie 2 years ago
You cannot be too silly, even The Life of Brian should have been a little silly-er.
tonsils77 2 years ago 5
he?
carryall69 2 years ago
never post again
carveyournamein 2 years ago 5
Rejoice, you got a thumbs up which means you're not the only idiot on youtube.
part2themovie 2 years ago
He never said that, you sneaky liar.
mattyrm 2 years ago
"You're just too silly, even Dawkins admits that GOD exists "
Go die ,you ugly demagogue!
shurednichso 2 years ago
Once humans became able to form language, the rest just followed... The ability to use language as a form of communications in life is by itself a huge mathematical problem which requires a brain that is able to think mathematically.
The fact that language works in nature means that maths is natural.
tiberux 3 years ago
I don't want to offend, but hey, if you were to preach in private - this wouldn't have been a problem at all.
You don't impose the weight of belief in the public space - all you have to reply is that it's your private belief and choice.
That's it, but hey, you have to respond as if all of it is common general knowledge, all of us should know. Well, no we shouldn't.
All you do is keep religion private, and respect our right of not to want to listen to your beliefs.
No offense meant though.
DesiDude666 3 years ago
this clearly is the forum for people who haven't had it for quite a while, it's obvious
7plus77 3 years ago
Replaced that brain with horse manure, I see.
There's more to life than eating, defecating, mating and sleeping, you do know that, don't you?
DesiDude666 3 years ago
I liked the point from the pyscologist about religious people being emotionally healthier, he forgot to mention so are stupid people and that most religious people are in fact stupid and have a consistantly lower intellect than the non religious, many tests have been conducted to prove this.
freezatron 3 years ago
BOOOOOO!!!!!!
diuryl 3 years ago
great argument, I am now religious.
S0NYSUX 3 years ago
thanx.
diuryl 3 years ago
thanks for posting
metquawhocares 3 years ago
Richard Dawkins is a wonderful guy.
I think there are probably cases where religious people can be granted exceptions from rules. I have heard of people who think their souls gets stuck on the paper if you take a camera picture of them so maybe they would lose out on eternal life for this reason. Since these people might get nightmares or get mad if you take their picture maybe they could be given a special driver's license.
Just an example...
drandersw 3 years ago 2
But why make it a simple Religious justification? Why not generalize it and say "if you don't want your picture taken then you don't have to?" I imagine simple social anxiety and self-consciousness may give people nightmares as well.
DevoutGuardian 3 years ago
How would such people get a passport? You need a fucking picture for that. So I guess such people you'll rather find somewhere in the bushes where civilisation isn't present at all.
Dorfkanal 3 years ago
If someone is that susceptible to going mad, I sure as hell don't want them driving. Imagine the road rage lol.
JrRdLsY 3 years ago 2
No shit! Excellent point. And who cares if they have anxiety of stolen souls. They need to provide identification just like everyone else.
neuronmage 3 years ago
Thanks pironiro, five stars for each and faved the series.
Your effort is appreciated.
mtheoryrules 3 years ago
What an incredible man! Thank you, mr Dawkins (and the uploader)!
Sandolainen 3 years ago 2
richard dawkins is one of the greatest people i have ever encountered. he is clearly exceptionally intelligent and could quite easily spend his life relaxing reading/writing books and doing research in oxford laboratories but instead has put his energy to changing the world and persuading millions of idiots to pick up a science book. where would we be without him
pastyfacial 3 years ago 3
i wish i had his brain
iainlonuk 3 years ago 3
Thanks Piro for the videos. I have been an atheist for over 35 years and I wish we had clubs and social gatherings. Problem with us atheists are is we know the truth and that is that. No need to re-enforce what we already know because everything we see in science and the world does it for us. Nature is beautiful!
The biggest problem with us is when we talk about our dis-beliefs, we get alienated at work and society.
Richard Dawkins is a hero to me. Thankyou
halohms 3 years ago 5
just recently found a nice site:
atheistnexus (dot) org
it's like facebook, but for agnostics and atheists only.
Dorfkanal 3 years ago
Thanks for the link. Just joined it. Looks like a good group. Just watched the video Still a Lie - Awesome.
halohms 3 years ago
i joined another site that sounds like atheist nexus.
its--- atheistrevolution (dot) org
quietAtheist20 3 years ago
thx for the link!
Dorfkanal 3 years ago
This has been flagged as spam show
im soOoo bored right now =( goto my profile and msg my msn name if u want to talk h
Teltic 3 years ago
What a great man Richard Dawkins is. I stand in awe of his bravery against discrimination, his drive to fight the good cause and his obvious intelligence. What a great man. He is a light in the darkness of ignorance.
TheSlavesOfReligion 3 years ago 21
i went to a christening this morning. first time i've set foot in a church in 10 years. i expected to find it at least interesting and to perhaps understand why people go to church. it left me dumbfounded and bemused as to why people bother. i felt utterly empty listening to what was being said and it reinforced everything i already thought. the most elegant and beautiful thing in existence is evolution.
colin61314 3 years ago 2
This comment has received too many negative votes show
This guy is so full of gorilla shit. I can't believe this guy is an evolutionary engineer.
gorrilafacelift 3 years ago
@gorillafacelift
Find me a university with a course in "evolutionary engineering" and I'll consider your post with more than a "pfft!".
elvenator 3 years ago 4
What the fuck is a "evolutionary engineer"? Go read The Selfish Gene and then maby you'll understand evolution.
dommoer 3 years ago 3
lol. I think Hitler was.
shaybshay 3 years ago
I'm terribly sorry, but he's not extremist, he's the silent majority. People who are actually rational, and not kooks or crazies.
Simpson654 3 years ago 6