YouTube: Ask Sam Harris Anything #2

by leavingwt 17 Replies latest jw friends

• 

  leavingwt

  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7qX_d4TDmz0

  The full video is an hour long. Specific topics are found at the times below.
  
  1. Eternity and the meaning of life 0:42
  2. Do we have free will? 4:43
  3. How can we convince religious people to abandon their beliefs? 14:52
  4. How can atheists live among the faithful? 19:09
  5. How should we talk to children about death? 21:52
  6. Does human life have intrinsic value? 26:01
  7. Why should we be confident in the authority of science? 30:36
  8. How can one criticize Islam after the terrorism in Norway? 35:43
  9. Should atheists join with Christians against Islam? 41:50
  10. What does it mean to speak about the human mind objectively? 45:17
  11. How can spiritual claims be scientifically justified? 50:14
  12. Why can’t religion remain a private matter? 54:52
  13. What do you like to speak about at public events? 58:09
• 

  unshackled

  Well damn...guess I was too late to make the cut. I had sent in a question yesterday regarding his tweet mentioned on this thread. (which I need to go catch up on)

  Thanks for posting, Donny.
• 

  leavingwt

  Referring to the scientific community, he says the following: "The penalty for pretending to know things that you don't know is huge."
• 

  AGuest

  Re "11. How can spiritual claims be scientifically justified? 50:14" (peace to you all!)...

  Mr. Harris stated:

  "Claims about being in a relationship with invisible others that may or may not exist"...

  and...

  "the attention of those very likely nonexistence invisible others...

  I truly don't get these kinds of statements. I mean, don't they suggest SOME level of uncertainty? If so, if an expert is not certain... by his own words... why do some say he is? Why not say what you mean ("invisible others that do NOT exist"... "those NONEXISTENT invisible others...")... if that's what you truly believe... so as not to be confusing?

  Not trying to start the debate all over again, truly. Try to understand what some SAY... versus what others SAY they say. Again.

  Peace!

  A slave of Christ,

  SA
• 

  agonus

  Why, then, does the scientific community tend to be somewhat hostile and dismissive toward the acknowledged "unknown", i.e. anything remotely paranormal? Isn't that stuff usually pretty hastily dismissed by Randi types? And I'm not talking about "God" necessarily.
• 

  PSacramento

  And Sam is qualified to answer these questions beacuse....?

  I like Sam, he makes emotional, albeit at time uneducated, points that are very common and do need to ba answered, again and agin by th elooks of it.

  He isn't a great debater, got schooled bigtime by WLC, but I think that is because he tends to debate outside his strengths.

  Sam is voicing his opinon, nothing more, nothing less.

  Sometimes he makes valid points and other times he doesn't, just like everyone else.
• 

  leavingwt

  Why, then, does the scientific community tend to be somewhat hostile and dismissive toward the acknowledged "unknown", i.e. anything remotely paranormal? Isn't that stuff usually pretty hastily dismissed by Randi types? And I'm not talking about "God" necessarily.

  That is a good question. IMHO, the simple explanation is that people have different standards, when it comes to EVIDENCE.

  If you'll give a specific example of something that Randi has hastily dismissed, we can take a closer look.

  I have a friend who is keenly interested in near death experiences and life after death (in a totally non-religious sense of the phrase). For him, the personal stories of those who died and were brought back to life by doctors, are sufficient evidence for him to believe that our consciousness can live on after our bodies die. For me, that evidence is not persuasive. Why is that? Why do these stories convince him, but not persuade me? I don't know the answer to that question. It seems that every single one of us follow a course that "makes sense" to us, individually. That is such a non-technical thought, and yet it seems true, in my experience. However, honesty compels me to admit that I do not know what happens after my body dies. Like everyone else, however, I must live my life, operating under a set of assumptions.
• 

  leavingwt

  PSacramento: If you visit the YouTube page for his video, you can leave a critical comment for Sam. Many have done so.
• 

  Terry

  Why, then, does the scientific community tend to be somewhat hostile and dismissive toward the acknowledged "unknown", i.e. anything remotely paranormal?

  The UNKNOWN is not a "something". It is IGNORANCE ....rather than....IGNORANCE of SOMETHING.

  Basing belief on evidence is relying on KNOWLEDGE.

  Science cannot work with IGNORANCE to form conclusions; it must rely on EVIDENCE.

  The "paranormal" is not SOMETHING; it is assertion without evidence OF SOMETHING. By evidence I mean testable, measurable, predicatable phenomena yielding data.

  I'm sure the spirit of your question is rather like having a "spare bedroom" in the house in case unexpected guests from out of town suddenly drop in.

  You see SCIENCE as refusing to have a spare bedroom because there are "no such things" as unexpected guests.

  I would gently chide you for this.

  SCIENCE is about KNOWLEDGE.

  Where SCIENCE separates from philosophy and religion is in its TESTABLE METHODOLOGY.

  Religion, for example, relies on AUTHORITY and not testing. A christian considers scripture citation as PROOF TEXT.

  This is laughable from the science standpoint because assertion is not foundation.

  In Science you start from scratch. You gather data. You observe. You hypothesize. THEN--having done your foundational work--YOU TEST.

  Once you come up with an observable (repeatable) "something" the NEXT STAGE kicks in: FALSIFIABILITY. There MUST BE a way to DISPROVE your Theory! Otherwise you can never KNOW (i.e. science) where you may be wrong.

  This is not so much refusing to have a spare bedroom as it is asking guests to phone in advance SO THAT they may be received AS GUESTS.
• 

  leavingwt

  I mean, don't they suggest SOME level of uncertainty?

  I think you are correct. He definitely leaves room for uncertainty. If I were to see an Indian man praying to Vishnu, I would probably assume that Vishnu is not listening. However, I could never be certain.