Comments by Rtambree

Comment #37051 by Rtambree on May 3, 2007 at 9:28 am

Excellent article - one of the best posted on this site in recent times. It's original, up to date, global, and combines social, political and economic factors.

The excutive summary: the religiosity is simply a function of security. There's nothing innate about it.

A consequence of its conclusion is that all the tomes by Dawkins, Dennett, Harris, etc won't be that effective until people feel more secure. But it may help rally or consolidate the atheists that form and convince the fence-sitters to choose a side.

702. Jordan opens children's museum

Comment #36970 by Rtambree on May 3, 2007 at 1:20 am

It's good to be the King.

703. Interview with Christopher Hitchens

Comment #36353 by Rtambree on May 1, 2007 at 1:29 am

More mainstream coverage for atheism. The theists must be sensing the end of the world is nigh.

704. Believe in God Spray

Comment #36229 by Rtambree on April 30, 2007 at 2:45 pm

I'm sure regular visitors to Richarddawkins.Net can make a killing selling stuff like this on ebay.

We know how they "think", right?

Let's see... I have some Triple-Blessed Holy Water...and last week I dug up an ancient artifact from Jerusalem that was mentioned in the Bible... and my cappucino froth looks like Jesus... and it is said objects touched by me can heal because an angel appeared to me and said so... and I can see your dead uncle standing behind you if you send me his photo and $50...

705. Just 120 Trillion Miles From Home

Comment #36225 by Rtambree on April 30, 2007 at 2:36 pm

It'll be easier to adapt the human body to other environments than to adapt those environments to us.

Downloadable intelligences in von Neumann probes?

Who knows? But the predictions of the 1950s, 1960s and 1970s have been overly optimistic? Where are Hotels in space? Holidays on the Moon? Three hour Sydney - London transit times? Paperless office? 10 hour working week?

706. Just 120 Trillion Miles From Home

Comment #36118 by Rtambree on April 30, 2007 at 8:17 am

On top of that, we'd have to survive the radiation of outer space - a lot of extremely heavy shielding, etc.

Transport technology hasn't changed in years. The Boeing 747 took us from London to Sydney in the early 1970s. It still does today. You could even argue we're going backwards in terms of transit times:

1. Waiting queues at airports are longer.
2. Concord is retired.
3. Space Shuttle (circa late 70s tech) is retiring.
4. Current space program is to go to the moon again - something that was done in the 1960s and hasn't been done for 30+ years.
5. Increased traffic congestion in cities makes A-B speeds slower.

Telecommunications have far surpassed all predictions, but transport technology has failed all predictions.

707. Hubble Celebrates Its Seventeenth Birthday with the Birth of a Star

Comment #36025 by Rtambree on April 30, 2007 at 1:13 am

8. Comment #36019 by h2g2bob

>The NASA website (nasa.gov) has lots of pictures

Yes, if you want to test the faith of an Abrahamic theist, show them the picture of the Hubble Ultra Deep Field with its thousands of galaxies each one containing hundreds of billions of stars, and then ask them if God really cares what you do in the bedroom?

That will test their faith just as much as a reading of TGD.

708. Hubble Celebrates Its Seventeenth Birthday with the Birth of a Star

Comment #35793 by Rtambree on April 28, 2007 at 10:05 pm

Proof that God is distant and impersonal to Deists, proof that God is great to theists and proof that stuff just happens to atheists.

709. A Brief History of Disbelief

Comment #35666 by Rtambree on April 28, 2007 at 6:50 am

This series is highly recommended! I've seen it twice - it's full of interesting and original perspectives on how atheism developed from Enlightenment times.

Also don't miss the Atheism Tapes by Jonathan Miller - a spin-off series of extended interviews.

I nominate Jonathan Miller as another Musketeer.

710. God Is in the Dendrites

Comment #35628 by Rtambree on April 28, 2007 at 2:42 am

>Either the brain naturally or through a malfunction manufactures religious delusions, or some otherworldly presence speaks to homo sapiens through the language of neurological pulses. Hot in pursuit of this undecidable proposition, neurotheology will keep on churning out data�but when it comes to the biggest questions, it will never have much to say.

Typical gutless fence-sitting at the end.

711. Scientists look to disrupt the brain chemistry of violence

Comment #35616 by Rtambree on April 27, 2007 at 10:15 pm

4. Comment #35554 by Steelman

Or why not screen the fetus?

"Yes, Ms Smith, the tests do confirm you are pregnant with a boy, but I highly recommend aborting in your case, as your baby has a 84.9% chance of developing psychopathy due to a abnormal mutation of a gene on the Y Chromosone"

712. Kennedy lectures on challenges facing K-12 science education

Comment #35399 by Rtambree on April 27, 2007 at 4:05 am

Economics is a pseudo-science. It's based on false assumptions (humans as rational utility maximising entities).

Humans and society are too complex to reduce to a set of laws in a textbook. It's the three-body problem, the butterfly problem (sensitivity to initial conditions), and the billiard ball problem.

The history of science is the history of discovering the simplest things (geometry first) steadily getting more complex.

By the time you get to brains or society, we haven't a clue (distant stars and quantum particles are easier to model). Freud was wrong. Marx was wrong. Every economist who's had some grand scheme to rescue socity has been wrong - it hasn't worked. There are too many exceptions to the rules, too many hidden variables, too many unforseeable events.

Agreed about Howard & Costello in government - far too many lawyers and beancounters in parliament.

713. Iran arrests 300 'insufficiently veiled' women

Comment #35394 by Rtambree on April 27, 2007 at 3:54 am

We in the west still have some of these residual gender laws & customs... all evidence of a common Abrahamic ancestry...

1. At a wedding, the father of the bride hands over the bride to the husband. White dress represents virginity.

2. Catholic nuns, Amish, etc cover their heads.

3. Men can go bare chested in public, but women can't (except on some European beaches). Bikinis are two piece, whereas men only have one-piece.

4. Nudity is highly censored in Hollywood movies, whereas violence isn't. Just look at 300.

5. Female promiscuity is still regarded by most westerners as more problematic than male promiscuity.

Of course, it's 1000% better than the Middle East, but it's still interesting to note these minor traces of misogynistic Bronze Age thinking that still lurk within our own cutlture. Perhaps we'll be rid of them within 100 years, whereas the Middle East will need several hundred years.

714. New Planet Could Be Earthlike, Scientists Say

Comment #35389 by Rtambree on April 27, 2007 at 3:46 am

Now religious pilgrims have a new land to flee to. Can a Space Shuttle be renamed 'The Mayflower'?

715. Was Muhammad Epileptic?

Comment #35188 by Rtambree on April 26, 2007 at 2:08 pm

Will Hitchens go on a book promotion tour through the Middle East?

716. The God disunion: there is a place for faith in science, insists Winston

Comment #35021 by Rtambree on April 26, 2007 at 1:49 am

74. Comment #35011 by grandpop

>I am convinced that Robert Winston is a closet atheist.

Yes, I'm willing to entertain this hypothesis more than the compartmentalising one (which requires more explanation).

It might be that Winston just likes the Jewish customs and can't disassociate beliefs from culture for fear of upsetting friends and relatives.

If he is religious, it's a very weak form - similar to Einsteinian Deism- i.e. 4 or 5 on Dawkins' 7-point scale.

I'd just wish he'd clarify his position.

Professor Christof Koch at Caltech is another eminent biologist (neurology) who likes religious customs and can't quite bring himself to shed his beliefs.

717. Fighting Words: A wartime lexicon

Comment #35019 by Rtambree on April 26, 2007 at 1:41 am

Just released on Amazon UK today.

718. Potentially habitable planet found

Comment #34855 by Rtambree on April 25, 2007 at 1:10 pm

Religious pilgrims take note. Name a Space Shuttle the 'Mayflower', and off you go.

719. Study: Religion is Good for Kids

Comment #34854 by Rtambree on April 25, 2007 at 1:08 pm

Bollocks

720. Jesus 'Love-Bombs' You

Comment #34853 by Rtambree on April 25, 2007 at 1:08 pm

Another postcard from the asylum

721. The God disunion: there is a place for faith in science, insists Winston

Comment #34833 by Rtambree on April 25, 2007 at 11:49 am

It's amazing that you can still rise to the top of society, even the first eschelon of science, and still hold crazy wishy washy cognitively dissonant beliefs...

Francis Collins - Evangelical & Geneticist
John Polkinghorne - Theist & Physicist.
Robert Winston - Theist & Medical Professor
Abdus Salam - Muslim & Nobel Prize winning Theoretical Physicist.

And there's Alastair McGrath - Chemist, Sam Harris (atheist proponent but irrationally soft on Buddhism), Ken Miller - catholic and biologist.

It's weird for several reasons -

1. Compartmentalising - psychologically weird.
2. Dissonant thinking is no impediment to rising up the academic ranks. There are regulars to this website who are probably on welfare or in low paying jobs who think more clearly than these pillars of society.
3. Religiousity is no impediment to scientific advancement.
4. Science is no necessary impediment to religiousity (although statistically over large groups of people it it e.g. 92% of the members of the National Academy of Sciences are atheists or agnostic).

722. The God disunion: there is a place for faith in science, insists Winston

Comment #34764 by Rtambree on April 25, 2007 at 6:57 am

36. Comment #34761 by savroD

>This guy wants the stage, He's quite obviously jealous of RD.

I can't see this being a motivation. Winston has a mantlepiece full of Gongs, is a Member of the House of Lords, has his coconut on the idiot box every other week, has regular exposure in the country's newspapers, and is giving David Attenborough a run for his money of most DVD Box sets.

Just last week there was a program on TV about Robert Winston learning to play the saxophone. Surely he can't be envious of Dawkins.

723. Vote for the Time 100 - Are They Worthy?

Comment #34742 by Rtambree on April 25, 2007 at 4:14 am

Paris Hilton and Richard Dawkins on the same list? 'nuff said.

724. The God disunion: there is a place for faith in science, insists Winston

Comment #34733 by Rtambree on April 25, 2007 at 2:47 am

Compartmentisation is an interesting psychological phenonomen. For most people, science literacy correlates with atheism, but for a few people (such as Collins, Winston), they can embrace two incompatible worldviews simultaneously without the brain shortcuiting.

Strange.

725. The God disunion: there is a place for faith in science, insists Winston

Comment #34716 by Rtambree on April 25, 2007 at 1:52 am

I've always struggled to understand exactly what Robert Winston is (1) criticising and (2) advocating.

Sometimes his criticisms seem to be merely of style i.e. Dawkins is too "harsh". Fair enough, everyone's entitled to be a literary critic. There was a bit of that from fellow atheists at the Beyond Belief conference.

But Winston's own views are really vague. At times he says he likes Jewish customs, that science can't answer everything, etc, etc, but it's all very vague what he actually believes and why. I've heard him at a writers' festival and he's 'all over the shop' on religion. He wrote a whole book on the subject but managed to avoid actually explaining what he believes - an astonishing feat of obfuscation.

It's a pity - because he's such a high profile scientist - Lord of Parliament, Professor, BBC Broadcaster, and all round likeable fellow.

There's a Winston talk nearby at UCL London later this month - I'll go and try to actually pin him down in the Q&A.

726. 'The Day They Kicked God out of the Schools' & Rebuttal

Comment #34534 by Rtambree on April 24, 2007 at 11:57 am

53. Comment #34517 by krogercomplete

>God (if he existed at all) could have caused all the bullets to stop in mid-air miraculously.

Afterall, Keanu Reeves did it at the end of the Matrix.

727. The Video: Bill O'Reilly Interviews Richard Dawkins

Comment #34342 by Rtambree on April 23, 2007 at 8:31 pm

32. Comment #34338 by LeftCoast

>but I do agree with the NYT review that Dawkins has yet to take on the stronger theist arguments

What are these stronger theist arguments? Bring 'em on!

We're sick of hearing the same ten objections. Let the theists have the stage. Let them present their strongest, clearest arguments and their best evidence.

(And we'll try not to fall about laughing).

728. One Hell of a Religious Read

Comment #34324 by Rtambree on April 23, 2007 at 7:48 pm

Hmmm.... so long as he doesn't embarrass the atheist movement, it's all good publicity in getting the message out there, challenging people to think, and exposing them to ideas that the media normally won't touch.

Hitchens' approach is different - more political and historical, rather than scientific.

729. The Video: Bill O'Reilly Interviews Richard Dawkins

Comment #34319 by Rtambree on April 23, 2007 at 7:39 pm

23. Comment #34318 by yoursdhruly

>are there popular shows in the US that would give him a longer time

Charlie Rose is about the best in the USA. Usually an hour with no smart-arse interruptions, ad breaks, inane celebrities, stupid gags, endless applause, time-filling band banter, etc. Rose is a good listener. Dawkins will be on early next month - 8th May and all episodes are web archived.

I think Charlie Rose is only mildly religious - a moderate, so there won't be many fireworks.

730. The Video: Bill O'Reilly Interviews Richard Dawkins

Comment #34309 by Rtambree on April 23, 2007 at 7:12 pm

16. Comment #34305 by filthyatheist

Yes, the less you need God, the less you believe in Him.

Social welfare is more effective than rational argument in notching up the number of atheists, although it takes a lot longer.

Presumably the more impatient atheist advocates on this site want to see results in their lifetime, but it may be hundreds of years before our species grows up.

Afterall, there was an interuption of nearly 2,000 years between classical Greece and the Renaissance. The Dark Ages were at their worst when Christianity was its most pervasive.

731. Brian Lehrer interviews Richard Dawkins

Comment #34307 by Rtambree on April 23, 2007 at 7:06 pm

This was a better interview, although regulars on this site will have heard it all before:

1. Why do so many people believe?
2. Don't people need to believe?
3. What's the survival advantage of religion?
4. Why do you think religion does more harm than good?
5. Different terms for atheism e.g. Humanism & Brights
6. Is Dawkins spiritual?
7. Isn't the Big Bang also a Creation?
8. How can you be so certain there's no God?
9. Are atheists discriminated against?

All autopilot stuff - press #3 for the Zeus argument, press #9 for the teapot, press #7 for the consolation versus truth retort.

If someone here could do a good Dawkins accent, perhaps he could give Dawkins a hand with the PR.

732. The Video: Bill O'Reilly Interviews Richard Dawkins

Comment #34289 by Rtambree on April 23, 2007 at 6:15 pm

Tell me the entire history of the universe and life on Earth and the arguments against religious thinking in 2 minutes (while I continually butt in) and, I'm sorry, that's all we've got time for, thanks for coming on the show.

I'm sick of the sound-byte format. Is it just so a program can brag about the numer of guests it has had on the show?

Hopefully, the Charlie Rose show next month will allow Dawkins to speak in sentences (maybe even paragraphs if we're lucky), not in rushed phrases of 5 seconds max.

Chomsky makes the point about this type of TV media format perpetuating the status-quo. If you've only got a short time between ad breaks, you can't state any position other than the accepted one, because otherwise, you'd have to lay down the premise, give a background and context to your argument, quote facts and statistics, deal with the exceptions and qualifications to your statement, and counter the objections.

Anyway, what's Britney Spears up to?

733. Pope abolishes limbo

Comment #34267 by Rtambree on April 23, 2007 at 5:07 pm

102. Comment #34262 by BAEOZ

Floods & fossils...

That's easy - the mammals could all climb to higher ground as the floodwaters rose and therefore they're the last to be fossilised. The humans could climb the highest and are therefore found in the highest position in the fossil beds. The dinosaurs were slow movers and became among the first of the large animals to be fossilised.

There's always a religious explanation in response to anything you throw up. You can't possibly combat the full range of logical fallacies they'll deploy against you: differential thresholds of evidence, confirmation bias, hyper-active pattern recognition, loose metaphorical scriptural interpretations, etc, etc.

Don't get sucked into the belief that you can engage them with rational arguments. It's a waste of time.

You've got to admire their creativity though, in dodging inconvenient facts.

734. Atheists split on how to not believe

Comment #34265 by Rtambree on April 23, 2007 at 4:55 pm

81. Comment #34258 by blods

>It's not us....

Hear hear. Well written blods.

Furthermore, as atheism is the default position of every baby ever born, it can hardly be labelled as "militant".

735. Pope abolishes limbo

Comment #34233 by Rtambree on April 23, 2007 at 3:10 pm

When is the Pope going to decree that the Vatican should be abolished?

"My fellow Catholics. I'm sorry to announce we made a slight error with this...err.. religion thing. We looked into it after the Limbo fiasco, and we actually couldn't find any evidence for any of it. Sorry about that. Hope you weren't inconvenienced. I officially declare, as my last act as Pope, that the Catholic Church be disbanded and liquidated. I'll put a FOR SALE sign up outside St Peters tomorrow, and give all the wealth in the church coffers to the poor in Africa. I advise all cardinals, priests and fellow clergy do to the same with their assets. Good night and good luck."

736. 'The Day They Kicked God out of the Schools' & Rebuttal

Comment #34207 by Rtambree on April 23, 2007 at 2:02 pm

>20. Comment #34202 by Jack Rawlinson

>I am waiting for a satisfactory answer from God.

The trouble is, it's always possible for the nutjobs to conjure up a "reason" to explain the omnipotence paradox, or the problem of evil.

Here's ten ways around it just off the top of my head...

1. He's testing us.
2. He gave us free will.
3. All will be neatly sorted out and compensated for in the next life (God, the accountant).
4. Satan is responsible for the evil - he's testing us in a cosmic chess game for souls.
5. God does it to punish the wicked here and now and the people suffering (or their country) had it coming because they supported gays or stem cell research or something.
6. It's all part of God's plan.
7. The Lord works in mysterious ways.
8. Who are we to question the Lord?
9. Find some quote from the scripture that vaguely corresponds if your pattern-seeking brain is hyperactive.
10. The innocent victims are in a better life now in Heaven - God called them to be with Him.

And so on... the possibilities are endless.

Rationality doesn't work.

737. Atheists split on how to not believe

Comment #34138 by Rtambree on April 23, 2007 at 10:27 am

57. Comment #34133 by briancoughlanworldcitizen

Well done, Brian. The credit is all yours. A century ago, these type of debates were in the hallowed halls of Oxford, now the battlegrounds are videos on Youtube, webcasts, podcasts, blogs, public email conversations, plethora of documentaries, etc.

Have you considered doing your own "The God Who Wasn't There" DVD Documentary? You're very good at it. I live in London, right next to Lewis Wolpert at UCL, - I can interview a few of the pantheon for you. It could be a collaborative effort. I'm sure other visitors are in Pasadena, Boston, etc, where other pantheon members can be interviewed. You could compile it all, add titles, slides, graphics, charts, edit it, polish it, and as well as being in a unique perspective to give a Swedish (Enlightened secular country) perspective for all those people that think America is the only way.

738. Pope abolishes limbo

Comment #34091 by Rtambree on April 23, 2007 at 7:31 am

>Now explain to me how luck, mutations and natural selection increase genetic information.

Ah - the ol' information increase question. I've heard this one so many times from religious folks. Most of them don't know what it even means - they just parrot it as a seemingly obvious intellectual refutation of evolution.

It's a classic case of starting with your conclusion and then just finding any half-baked phrase that seems to support it so you can delude yourself that you've reached your conclusion rationally.

In the past it was "where's the missing link" or "the eye couldn't evolve by chance".

Now it's "information can't increase".

In the future, it'll be something else. Whatever.

739. Pope abolishes limbo

Comment #34045 by Rtambree on April 23, 2007 at 5:25 am

The Popes remind me of Dungeons & Dragons Dungeon Masters - the congregation are the role-players and, as Jolly Wally above notes, they just pull the rules and scenarios out from underneath their robes: ascent of Mary, sale of indulgences, etc.

740. In the beginning

Comment #33934 by Rtambree on April 22, 2007 at 6:06 pm

Sounds like we're going backwards to before 1859 again.

Atheism and secularism peaked in the 1960s and 1970s, and we're having a (hopefully temporary) setback.

Chin up. At least Copernicus & Galileo aren't being challenged yet.

741. Atheists split on how to not believe

Comment #33929 by Rtambree on April 22, 2007 at 5:54 pm

Humanist Chaplain sounds like an easy job. You're too religious for the atheists, and too atheist for the religious. So who's knocking on your door?

742. Here Comes the Fourth Musketeer.

Comment #33900 by Rtambree on April 22, 2007 at 2:31 pm

Clinton.

I don't know why sections of the left defend Clinton.

Clinton's policies killed tens of thousands of people - arm sales to Turkey (on the Kurds), economic sanctions on Iraq, bombing Iraq, bombing Africa, arm sales to Israel, and a whole lot of union-smashing, right-wing, pro-religion domestic policies. The only reason Clinton appears to look good is because he's wedged between two lunatic Bushes.

It's an easy way to keep moving the country to the right along the political spectrum - give the people a choice between ultra right and ultra ultra right e.g. shall we give medium-sized tax cuts for the rich (Democrats) or large tax cuts for the rich (Republicans)? Shall we bomb three countries (Democrats) or five countries (Republican)?

Put the US Democrats into any other western country and they'll appear well to the right of the most conservative parties on health, education, religion, foreign policy, corporate friendliness, etc.

743. Street Evangelist Saves 300 Souls From Enjoying Park

Comment #33887 by Rtambree on April 22, 2007 at 1:04 pm

47. Comment #33880 by briancoughlanworldcitiz

Well done on the video yet again, Brian. Good job. I hope Dawkins pins a medal on your chest.

744. Gay hate church to picket VT gun rampage funerals

Comment #33886 by Rtambree on April 22, 2007 at 1:02 pm

90. Comment #33854 by MorituriMax

>Back to the guns thing, they got banned in Australia, wow that worked.

Yes, it did work. Since they got banned, they haven't had a major massacre since.

http://www.converge.org.nz/pma/gunaus.htm

The USA's gun-related homicide rate is off the chart compared to other western countries. The relationship is simple: the more guns there are, the more they'll be used. By you. Against you. Accidently. On Purpose. Even the Vice-President couldn't help himself.

745. Street Evangelist Saves 300 Souls From Enjoying Park

Comment #33822 by Rtambree on April 22, 2007 at 2:56 am

Streetpreachers.

I think atheists could declare victory if the worst extent of religion was a few crazy 'end is neigh' placard holders in parks.

If there were no more religious nutters with political power or in the mainstream media, then a few residual fruitcakes (they'll always be some) will be tolerable.

The Onion has done some good ones over the years.
Here's one I like...

http://www.theonion.com/content/node/51849

746. Here Comes the Fourth Musketeer.

Comment #33689 by Rtambree on April 21, 2007 at 6:03 am

31. Comment #33660 by briancoughlanworldcitizen

>We have the trinity people. Dawkins-Harris-Sagan.

Haven't we been here before? I'm getting a feeling a deja vu.

Dennett is the one true Prophet as he is obviously the reincarnation of Darwin, returning to His people, as the prophecy foretold. Dennett is merciful and all-knowing and hallowed be His name.

747. Gay hate church to picket VT gun rampage funerals

Comment #33687 by Rtambree on April 21, 2007 at 5:57 am

>Wish we could answer this tripe:-( Any ideas?

The secular countries of Scandinavia have fewer shootings than the religious country of America.

Ideas? A video showing comparisons between secular countries' standard of livings and social indices versus religious countries.

748. Here Comes the Fourth Musketeer.

Comment #33680 by Rtambree on April 21, 2007 at 5:02 am

If you took the best comments on RichardDawkins.Net over the last few months, you'd have a great, original, nuanced, and more wide-ranging book than any of these. Furthermore, it would deal with secondary arguments and issues, rather than just all the usual first-level stuff.

749. A debate on people who profess no religion

Comment #33384 by Rtambree on April 20, 2007 at 1:36 am

3. Comment #33381 by DavidJGrossman

>I'm sure that if they didn't have to spend all that money on child molestation lawsuit settlements, they'd be using it for philanthropic purposes.

Good one, Dave.

750. Gay hate church to picket VT gun rampage funerals

Comment #33382 by Rtambree on April 20, 2007 at 1:34 am

Hmmm - how can we get more publicity and stir up more controversy? I know, we'll picket the most sensitive high-profile events we can find and the media will hypocritically play along... putty in our hands.