Sam Harris: Science can answer moral questions

http://www.ted.com Questions of good and evil, right and wrong are commonly thought unanswerable by science. But Sam Harris argues that science can -- and should -- be an authority on moral issues, shaping human values and setting out what constitutes a good life.

TEDTalks is a daily video podcast of the best talks and performances from the TED Conference, where the world's leading thinkers and doers give the talk of their lives in 18 minutes. Featured speakers have included Al Gore on climate change, Philippe Starck on design, Jill Bolte Taylor on observing her own stroke, Nicholas Negroponte on One Laptop per Child, Jane Goodall on chimpanzees, Bill Gates on malaria and mosquitoes, Pattie Maes on the "Sixth Sense" wearable tech, and "Lost" producer JJ Abrams on the allure of mystery. TED stands for Technology, Entertainment, Design, and TEDTalks cover these topics as well as science, business, development and the arts. Closed captions and translated subtitles in a variety of languages are now available on TED.com, at http://www.ted.com/translate. Watch a highlight reel of the Top 10 TEDTalks at http://www.ted.com/index.php/talks/top10

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  Science & Technology

[dannyboy3033]

Religion is man made, that's why there's so many of them and why it hugs the borders of old empires. If you were to fall ill and had the choice of two hospitals, one religious where people gather around your bed and pray for you and maybe sprinkle holly water on you or one that uses the products of science, alert to the most current thinking and technology which would you choose? Science constantly questions itself unlike religion and is the reason humanity has progressed to where it is.

[MrSwood78]

i would so loooove to see Sam Harris discuss/debate morality with Stefan Molyneux. Sam is a great speaker and i agree with many of his points, but very interesting that he never discusses the morality of government.

[03chrisv]

Sam is really reaching here. The day that science attempts to answer moral questions and act as a moral compass for how we should live our lives is the day it steps out of its scope and becomes a belief system itself. Real science is simply a TOOL that is used to understand the natural world, its laws, how they all operate together, and how we can apply them for creating new technologies/medicines. Science cannot have any input, opinion, or say on philosophical and moral values.

[sacredlunatic]

Make them look bad? You have to be kidding. Harris does not want to nuke Muslims. How ridiculous.

[poorfatmarvin]

I am the Ted Bundy of String Theory!

[poorfatmarvin]

Not to add confusion to what is a basic idea, but ALL living things have shared ancestors. Chimps and orangutans are just the closest relatives we have.

[poorfatmarvin]

Glad you chose the "cool" group rather than the "truth" group.

[Socrates Ofny]

Harris came out against gun control after the sandy hook massacre. He is a disgusting bigot. He wants to drop nuclear bombs on Muslims. Most recent mass murders were Atheist. Atheism is an infection like rabies. Both Harris and Dawkins , the reformed atheist who converted to agnosticism, are mainly entertainers who mainly refuse to debate people they know will make them look bad. They are money grubbers taking a bunch of not very bright atheists for a ride.

[Arrin Stoner]

I do not agree with Sam Harris on all of his thoughts but this is pure genius!

[Pythagoras211]

Science will not provide us with moral facts. It won't because people don`t want to know the truth about their moral lives. The same thing can be seen in mainstream psychology, where people are being told that they're biological machines that don`t have free will, and that mental disorders are mostly the result of genetic factors outside of their personal control. Nobody wants to take responsibility for depression for example, so people are willfully ignorant of its root causes.

[kragseven]

Humans and monkeys didn't come from the same ancestor. We are closest related to chimps and orangutangs but do not share a parent. Humans are a single line of great apes . There is no missing link

[mastertheillusion]

Religion holds a false argument. And science is not about what we want or prefer, its about exploring data and drawing conclusions and having others do the same, and other versions arrive as knowledge keeps progressing forward the truth forever marchs on, via exploration. Religion tells you 'we know' when we do not.