Richard Dawkins Lecture - University of Washington -10/08/09 - Part 1

This is the Q&A section from the University of Washington lecture on 10/08/09. All that proceeded this was Dawkins reading excerpts from his new book "The Greatest Show on Earth".

Part 1

Category:

Science & Technology

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• atheism
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[stephenhammy]

I was there. His newest book is amazing and I'm excited to lend it out to some people. Hope they don't steal it though because I got it signed at this event!

Dawkins is very important to this generation. His writing should be read by every human being on this Earth.

[jasonjasonjason1]

You're lending out your signed book? You are a braver soul than I, sir. ;)

[toneshun]

that's cool! I wonder if he would sign any other older books which he released (blindwatchmaker, god delusion, etc.)??

Also, do they have a bookstand there selling the book/cds? I haven't got my book yet and am going to see him on Friday, just wondering..

hope you got your book back asap! =p

[jasonjasonjason1]

At the event I went to they had a bookstand where they were selling like 7 of his books (including the ones you listed above). I was able to get Selfish Gene signed, which was awesome ;)

Have fun on friday!

[Eye2EyeIIIV]

Different education:

CREATION (Genesis) => Meaning of Life, Standards, Marriage, Laws, Absolute Truth, Absolute Logic, Orphanages, Hospitals, Gospel, God's Word

EVOLUTION => Abortion, School Violence, Communism, Humanism, Nazism, Racism, Rejection of Israel as God's chosen country [since there is no God], Secular Lifestyle, Secular Media, Premarital Sex, Pornography, Homosexual Behavior, Lawlessness, Man's Opinion

[jasonjasonjason1]

"While I may not agree with what you say, I'll defend to the death your right to say it."

I think you're misguided, misinformed, and I think it's very sad that you feel so threatened by science; but I marked your comment 'not spam' because I don't believe in censorship for anyone. I would ask, though, that you'd listen to a few of these lectures as opposed to merely searching for key words and copy/pasting your spiel before moving on to the next lecture. Might be informative.

[danielkiang271]

I saw him at Berkeley the day before. It was awesome being able to speak face to face with him.

[josephjstern]

Your question is a little like asking how "storm" arises from "non-storm". A storm is not something fundamentally different from peaceful weather, whose origin requires some miraculous leap. It is only a way in which the same matter that makes up peaceful weather can be organized into a self-sustaining pattern. Life is something like that: a way for ordinary inanimate matter to be organized into self-sustaining units of replication. The origin of such organization is itself subject to evolution.

[MadMAn12gauge]

yeah what is ironic is that creationists say nothing can come from nothing, but the only excuse they have for god is that god was allways there......And to me that is just as rediculous as saying maybe life was just allways there too, a creator needs a designer, otherwise spontaneous ignition is the only ultimate possibility, even for the example of where god came from, maybe he wasnt designed and just spontaneously occured, so either way "something came from nothing"

[josephjstern]

or "fire" from "non-fire", for that matter.

[jasonjasonjason1]

How life arose from non-life has nothing to do with evolution. Though Dawkins obviously doesn't believe in a god, evolutionary theory doesn't necessarily predict that one doesn't exist. Even if we were to prove beyond a shadow of a doubt there were a god, it still wouldn't change our understanding of evolutionary processes. Evolution doesn't create life, it only explains the processes that life goes through when there is life. Where that life came from is an entirely separate matter.

[loveroflife365]

"Racism is far less prevlalent ..." Richard Dawkins

Richard, what planet are you referring to?

On "moral code" ... it is "subtle and shifting"; "in the air" ... according to Dawkins.

Frankly, I've never heard more psuedo intellectual bunk in all my life. This tops it all.