Richard Dawkins on scientific truth, outgrowing God and life

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Pepe
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11 Dec 2019, 4:41 am

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Richard Dawkins on scientific truth, outgrowing God and life beyond Earth


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Richard Dawkins is one of the world's most famous atheists. An evolutionary biology at Oxford and best-selling author of The God Delusion - his new book 'Outgrowing God - A Beginner's Guide' aims to inform young people about religion and atheism. He talks to Krishnan about why he wrote it, his passion for scientific truth and whether he thinks there's life outside of Earth.


"I respect you to believe in your ridiculous beliefs."
"I'm a scientist and not a politician and I care about what is true."

"Why are there so many old people in church?
They are cramming for the final."

"Eistien and Hawkins both used "god" language,
But what they meant about that is that which we don't know."
"Einstien did not believe in a personal god."
"Hawkings and Einstien were definitely atheists."
"Nationalism, another great evil."


https://youtu.be/RKjiSu4zD5Y



TwilightPrincess
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11 Dec 2019, 11:12 am

I read The God Delusion by Richard Dawkins a couple of weeks ago.

It was interesting to consider the notion of god from an evolutionary standpoint.

I was also surprised to see him quote a Jehovah’s Witness publication in there. Basically, the publication repeatedly points to interesting animals and plants in nature (such as a hummingbird). Then the book says (over and over again): would such a creature be designed or could it come about by chance?

Of course, Dawkins points out that evolution via natural selection is not the same thing as chance and then goes on to demonstrate how some traits would be favored, leading to gradual changes over time. Rigid creationists seem to think that evolution is like a bunch of different parts swirling around in a tornado and miraculously becoming a 747. Silly.

So good and exciting to see that absurd book properly dealt with. Even with my limited exposure to science, I couldn’t help but roll my eyes whenever it was being discussed as I was growing up.

Religious groups should not be able to keep their kids from learning about evolution. It impedes their understanding of a variety of topics and could even limit their futures, especially if a kid is naturally gifted in science.


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Pepe
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11 Dec 2019, 9:19 pm

Twilightprincess wrote:
I was also surprised to see him quote a Jehovah’s Witness publication in there. Basically, the publication repeatedly points to interesting animals and plants in nature (such as a hummingbird). Then the book says (over and over again): would such a creature be designed or could it come about by chance?


Dawkins made a good youtube video about the development of the eye.
He was talking to kids, from memory.
Might be something for someone you know.
I will see if I can find it again.



Pepe
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11 Dec 2019, 9:22 pm

Richard Dawkins was so young here.

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Creationists and supporters of Intelligent Design like to point to what they call the "irreducible complexity" of the eye as proof of the existence of a designer/creator. In other words, they like to say that complex components of our physiology like the eye could not have come about through a process of evolution because they are not of any use until everything is in place and working. In this excerpt from his lecture "Growing Up In The Universe: Climbing Mount Improbable", Professor Dawkins demonstrates how something complex like the eye can indeed evolve.



https://youtu.be/Nwew5gHoh3E



Pepe
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12 Dec 2019, 2:42 am

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Richard Dawkins: outgrowing God

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Dawkins is one of the world’s most famous scientists, a best-selling author, and a hugely controversial figure. His books on evolutionary biology inspired millions. His book The God Delusion was also a bestseller but started a new phase of his career, as an outspoken critic of all things religious


-Religion has a real hold in America.
-Anti-evolution has a real hold in America.
-The number of people who profess religion is going down in America.
-25% of people say they have no religion.
-Anti-science culture in parts of America.
-"Twitter", the public lavatory of modern times.
-Moral standards are improving.
-Racism and slaver was a natural state of affairs.
-Treatment of non-human animal will improve. "A no-brainer".
-The human brain has a natural affinity with religion.
-Humans deeply, chronically irrational.
-The science of irrationality and learning how to overcome it.
-We are all susceptible to a certain degree of irrationality.


https://youtu.be/qvRrQisGv8g



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12 Dec 2019, 2:54 am

What does Dawkins have to say about Trump? Does he suffer from Trump Derangement Syndrome? (This would have considerable bearing on how I would evaluate any of his statements on any political subject.)


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12 Dec 2019, 3:15 am

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Pepe
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12 Dec 2019, 3:21 am

Darmok wrote:
What does Dawkins have to say about Trump? Does he suffer from Trump Derangement Syndrome? (This would have considerable bearing on how I would evaluate any of his statements on any political subject.)


<Neutral mode activated>
He doesn't like Trump.

BTW, Dawkins is an evolutionary biologist, not a political commentator.



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12 Dec 2019, 3:34 am

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12 Dec 2019, 3:38 am

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12 Dec 2019, 7:09 pm

Darmok wrote:
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Richard Dawkins coined the word: "Meme",
BTW. :wink:

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A meme (/miːm/ MEEM[1][2][3]) is an idea, behavior, or style that spreads from person to person within a culture—often with the aim of conveying a particular phenomenon, theme, or meaning represented by the meme.[4] A meme acts as a unit for carrying cultural ideas, symbols, or practices, that can be transmitted from one mind to another through writing, speech, gestures, rituals, or other imitable phenomena with a mimicked theme. Supporters of the concept regard memes as cultural analogues to genes in that they self-replicate, mutate, and respond to selective pressures.[5]

Proponents theorize that memes are a viral phenomenon that may evolve by natural selection in a manner analogous to that of biological evolution. Memes do this through the processes of variation, mutation, competition, and inheritance, each of which influences a meme's reproductive success. Memes spread through the behavior that they generate in their hosts. Memes that propagate less prolifically may become extinct, while others may survive, spread, and (for better or for worse) mutate. Memes that replicate most effectively enjoy more success, and some may replicate effectively even when they prove to be detrimental to the welfare of their hosts.[6]

A field of study called memetics[7] arose in the 1990s to explore the concepts and transmission of memes in terms of an evolutionary model. Criticism from a variety of fronts has challenged the notion that academic study can examine memes empirically. However, developments in neuroimaging may make empirical study possible.[8] Some commentators in the social sciences question the idea that one can meaningfully categorize culture in terms of discrete units, and are especially critical of the biological nature of the theory's underpinnings.[9] Others have argued that this use of the term is the result of a misunderstanding of the original proposal.[10]

The word meme is a neologism coined by Richard Dawkins.[11] It originated from Dawkins's 1976 book The Selfish Gene. Dawkins's own position is somewhat ambiguous: he welcomed N. K. Humphrey's suggestion that "memes should be considered as living structures, not just metaphorically"[12] and proposed to regard memes as "physically residing in the brain".[13] Later, he argued that his original intentions, presumably before his approval of Humphrey's opinion, had been simpler.[14] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Meme



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12 Dec 2019, 10:13 pm

-Amerikan biologists in a state of war.
-"Intelligent Design" (I.D.) Creationism under another name.
-Popular phobia against Atheism.
-Educated theologians, from the Pope down, are in support of evolution.
-Evolution is fundamentally hostile to religion.
-Boils down to one argument: Living creatures are too complex to have arrived by chance, therefore, there must have been a designer.
-Darwinism, a smooth ramp of gradual, step by step increment.
-The god theory is incapable of doing the job required of it.
-Religion: Here is a notion you aren't allowed to say anything bad about.
Your not.
Why not?
Because you just are not. (Doughlas Adams).
-Religion corrosive to science.
-An inner conviction that an asteroid killed the dinosaus.
-It has been privately revealed that an asteroid killed the dinosaus.
-Was brought up to have total and unquesting faith, that an asteroid killed the dinosaus.
-Bush: Atheists cannot be considered as patriotic citizens.
-Democrats and Republicans parade their religion if they want to become elected.
-Thomas Jefferson: In every country and every age, the priest has been hostile to liberty.
-We are all atheists about most of the gods. Some of us go just one god further.
-Meta-analysis: Bell concludes: The higher one's intelligence, the less likely one is religious.
-Top American scientist who believed in a personal god: 7%. The vast majority, Atheists.
-Agnostic: Atheist respectable.
-Atheist: Agnostic aggressive.
-Atheism for the intelligentsia, but ordinary people not "ripe" for it.
-"Tooth fairy" agnostic.
-"Non-theist"
-The scientific world view is so much more exciting.
-"My god is a little god and I want him to stay that way."




https://youtu.be/VxGMqKCcN6A