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Essential Viewing

Discussion in 'Fred's House of Pancakes' started by Alric, Nov 22, 2006.

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  1. Alric

    Alric New Member

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    15 hrs of video. Each minute essential.

    http://beyondbelief2006.org/Watch/

    Steven Weinberg, Lawrence Krauss, Sam Harris, Michael Shermer
    Joan Roughgarden, Richard Dawkins, Francisco Ayala, Carolyn Porco
    Stuart Hameroff, V.S. Ramachandran

    "Just 40 years after a famous TIME magazine cover asked "Is God Dead?" the answer appears to be a resounding "No!" According to a survey by the Pew Forum on Religion & Public Life in a recent issue of Foreign Policy magazine, "God is Winning". Religions are increasingly a geopolitical force to be reckoned with. Fundamentalist movements - some violent in the extreme - are growing. Science and religion are at odds in the classrooms and courtrooms. And a return to religious values is widely touted as an antidote to the alleged decline in public morality. After two centuries, could this be twilight for the Enlightenment project and the beginning of a new age of unreason? Will faith and dogma trump rational inquiry, or will it be possible to reconcile religious and scientific worldviews? Can evolutionary biology, anthropology and neuroscience help us to better understand how we construct beliefs, and experience empathy, fear and awe? Can science help us create a new rational narrative as poetic and powerful as those that have traditionally sustained societies? Can we treat religion as a natural phenomenon? Can we be good without God? And if not God, then what?

    This is a critical moment in the human situation, and The Science Network in association with the Crick-Jacobs Center brought together an extraordinary group of scientists and philosophers to explore answers to these questions. The conversation took place at the Salk Institute, La Jolla, CA from November 5-7, 2006."

    Open your mind!

    Cheers,
     
    #1 Alric, Nov 22, 2006
  2. efusco

    efusco Moderator Emeritus
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    Thanks, but no thanks....15 hrs of one-sided religious propaganda. What's the audience? Christians who need a someone else to tell them that they what they believe is what they should believe? Or to instill fear into those who don't believe in an effort to convince them to suddenly believe?
     
    #2 efusco, Nov 22, 2006
  3. Alric

    Alric New Member

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    Evan. These are mostly scientists discussing the question of how to deal with the irrationality of religion. I think you got it backwards.. :)
     
    #3 Alric, Nov 22, 2006
  4. efusco

    efusco Moderator Emeritus
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    I guess I got it backwards, but the same questions work....who it the target. You'll not convice people of faith that God doesn't exist with scientific talk, and those who don't believe probably don't need 15 hours of reinforcement. Might be interesting in a lecture/classroom setting just for discussion and such, but I, for one, can't force myself to sit in front of a computer screen for 15 hours of porn so much as something like this!!
     
    #4 efusco, Nov 22, 2006
  5. Alric

    Alric New Member

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    <div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(efusco @ Nov 22 2006, 01:11 PM) [snapback]353059[/snapback]</div>
    Of course. This is just a matter of viewing preference. This will appeal mostly to geeks like me that enjoy listening to smart people discussing tough problems. I'll post a link to a good short section that exemplifies what the conference is about.

    Here!

    http://onegoodmove.org/1gm/1gmarchive/2006...zy_old_aun.html
     
    #5 Alric, Nov 22, 2006
  6. hyo silver

    hyo silver Awaaaaay

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    Thanks for the links, Alric. I don't know when I will find the time to watch it, but I am glad these discussions are taking place in a public forum, and are preserved for those of us who are interested.
     
    #6 hyo silver, Nov 22, 2006
  7. Oxo

    Oxo New Member

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    <div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(hyo silver @ Nov 22 2006, 01:27 PM) [snapback]353101[/snapback]</div>
    If this subject interests you, you should be reading Dawkins' latest book THE GOD DELUSION. It has some amazing facts about religions in general, about the Bible, and many related subjects. It's one of the most fascinating books I've read for a long time.
     
    #7 Oxo, Nov 22, 2006
  8. richard schumacher

    richard schumacher shortbus driver

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    Thanks!

    Before we can make religion unnecessary we must understand the needs that it serves. These discussions are a starting point.
     
    #8 richard schumacher, Nov 22, 2006
  9. hyo silver

    hyo silver Awaaaaay

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    <div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Oxo @ Nov 22 2006, 04:46 PM) [snapback]353192[/snapback]</div>
    I was about a third of the way through when it had to go back to the library. Normally I devour whole books at a sitting, but this required and deserved more thought. I'll pick up where I left off when the other patrons are finished with it.
     
    #9 hyo silver, Nov 22, 2006
  10. Alric

    Alric New Member

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    #10 Alric, Nov 22, 2006
  11. Wildkow

    Wildkow New Member

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    Never mind.
     
    #11 Wildkow, Nov 22, 2006
  12. Alnilam

    Alnilam The One in the Middle

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    <div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Alric @ Nov 22 2006, 08:49 AM) [snapback]353043[/snapback]</div>
    Well, I clicked on the link above and it got me to their site. When I clicked "View" on the first segment I got about a five minute "Making connection" notice and finally when it said "Done" I had a blank screen with nothing to see. I have QuickTime and a number of other viewers on my machine so it should have accessed them. I tried the second segment and got the same result.

    I'd like to see this. I know Weinberg, Harris, Shermer, Davies, Dawkins, Druyan, Tyson and Porco and am quite interested in hearing them talk together. Any hints?
     
    #12 Alnilam, Nov 26, 2006
  13. Alric

    Alric New Member

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    <div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Alnilam @ Nov 26 2006, 03:32 PM) [snapback]354226[/snapback]</div>
    Hi Alnilam,

    Instead od streaming you can try saving the file and then viewing it. Right cick on the links and save the file somewhere in your HD.

    Cheers,

    Alric
     
    #13 Alric, Nov 26, 2006
  14. hjon71

    hjon71 Junior Member

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    All discussions about whether or not God exists are mute.
    Those who believe will probably always believe, those who don't probably won't.
    The only point I want to make is CHOOSE. Don't sit on the fence.
    I choose God. And, in the end, we will all know the truth.
     
    #14 hjon71, Nov 26, 2006
  15. EricGo

    EricGo New Member

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    <div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(hjon71 @ Nov 26 2006, 06:42 PM) [snapback]354265[/snapback]</div>
    Why ?

    Enjoy your delusion as best you are able. Seems to me that whether other people decide to play along or not is not your concern, or your business.

    Stay out of my personal affairs, unless I invite you.
     
    #15 EricGo, Nov 26, 2006
  16. Stev0

    Stev0 Honorary Hong Kong Cavalier

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    <div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(hjon71 @ Nov 26 2006, 05:42 PM) [snapback]354265[/snapback]</div>
    As a Fundamentalist Agnostic ("I don't know, and you don't, either"), I have to disagree with that.

    As for choosing - choose WHICH god(s)? Christian? If so, Catholic, any one of the dozens of flavors of Protestant? Jewish? If so, should I go Orthodox, Conservative, or Reform? Muslim? Which type? Maybe Hindu? Wiccan? And if I choose Atheist, then what DID create the Earth? And if you say "The Big Bang", what created THAT?

    No, it's much easier to just say "None of the above".
     
    #16 Stev0, Nov 26, 2006
  17. Alric

    Alric New Member

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    <div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Stev0 @ Nov 26 2006, 10:02 PM) [snapback]354315[/snapback]</div>
    Science has not answered that question yet. But, it has anwered many other similar ones. Like where did life come from and how it evolved. It is true science can not disprove the existence of God but it has made it unnecessary and highly improbable, so far.

    This is Bertrand Russel's teapot argument. Someone can say there is a teapot in orbit around the sun. This would be very hard to disprove but we have no reason to think it is true. Same goes for fairies, werewolves and the Abrahamic God.

    Cheers,
     
    #17 Alric, Nov 26, 2006
  18. Alnilam

    Alnilam The One in the Middle

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    <div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Alric @ Nov 26 2006, 11:39 AM) [snapback]354229[/snapback]</div>
    Alric,

    That was the ticket! Got all 10 sessions and am anxious to start.

    There is so little learned discussion on the media these days. There used to be PBS mini-series featuring panels of experts who debated many, especially political, issues over several weeks. The best series I remember featured Mortimer Adler in Aspen, CO discussing his Great Ideas, one by one with a panel that was magnificent in its ability to think clearly. Now we have reality TV that deals with the most unrealistic aspects of life and plumbs the depth of our shallowness.

    Thanks for pointing this series out!

    Bob
     
    #18 Alnilam, Nov 26, 2006
  19. Alric

    Alric New Member

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    #19 Alric, Nov 27, 2006
  20. hjon71

    hjon71 Junior Member

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    <div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Stev0 @ Nov 26 2006, 09:02 PM) [snapback]354315[/snapback]</div>

    You can disagree if you like, but you have made a choice. Agnostic.
    Which really means "I think something/someone did it but I can't be sure."
    Which is, FENCE SITTING.
     
    #20 hjon71, Nov 27, 2006
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