1. Comment #157087 by Quetzalcoatl on April 8, 2008 at 2:46 pm

Don't have time to watch this all now, damn it! From skimming it, it sounds fascinating.

Completely off topic- Paula, you sound nothing like I expected you to!

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2. Comment #157106 by the great teapot on April 8, 2008 at 2:57 pm

Bloody hell Paula,
You're a natural, you should be on telly.

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3. Comment #157114 by Jiten on April 8, 2008 at 3:00 pm

Just watched the Intro so far and a lavish intro for Richard but none for Paula.I still don't know WHO she is.(I of course know her from her contributions here.)Maybe it has been mentioned already in some other thread of which I'm unaware.

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4. Comment #157122 by Paula Kirby on April 8, 2008 at 3:05 pm

Jiten: Just watched the Intro so far and a lavish intro for Richard but none for Paula.I still don't know WHO she is.(I of course know her from her contributions here.)Maybe it has been mentioned already in some other thread of which I'm unaware.

Well, to be fair, it wasn't really me those 850 people in the audience were interested in! :-)

I was introduced as having moved to the Highlands about 7 years ago, and as being a former Christian, now atheist. I think that summed it up pretty well!

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5. Comment #157131 by Steve Zara on April 8, 2008 at 3:13 pm

Bloody hell Paula, You're a natural, you should be on telly.

I used to be a lecturer, and was also involved in a course teaching communication skills. In my experience, it takes a lot of practice and ability to make things look as easy as Paula did.

Also, Richard is on superb form. What a way with words! I think, though, there may be some hint of the cold getting to him in his delightfully fed-up reaction to the "why are there still chimps" question.

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6. Comment #157139 by the great teapot on April 8, 2008 at 3:19 pm

Steve,
I don't doubt it takes hard work, but I could practice and train for a month of sundays and get nowhere near that level of competence.

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7. Comment #157144 by Vadjong on April 8, 2008 at 3:22 pm

I have to be up in three hours, but I'm gonna watch this now.

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8. Comment #157145 by Steve Zara on April 8, 2008 at 3:23 pm

I don't doubt it takes hard work, but I could practice and train for a month of sundays and get nowhere near that level of competence.

The right training can work wonders. I have seen shy mumbling people turn into clear confident speakers at the end of a course (mind you, that was weekly lessons over a year).

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9. Comment #157147 by the great teapot on April 8, 2008 at 3:28 pm

Where do I sign up?

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10. Comment #157148 by Bonzai on April 8, 2008 at 3:28 pm

The right training can work wonders. I have seen shy mumbling people turn into clear confident speakers at the end of a course..

Don't know about courses. Being an exhibitionist would help, or pills.

I have always been a very confident public speaker. I have been in debates, poetry recitation contests and singing contests since I was a child and now I also teach. Stage fright has never been a problem to me. I have been told that I am somewhat of an exhibitionist in public though privately, one on one I can be very shy..

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11. Comment #157156 by Star Spangled Eagle on April 8, 2008 at 3:38 pm

Fantastic video. Well done Richard. Well done Paula. If only the player was a bit better.

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12. Comment #157157 by spoox on April 8, 2008 at 3:40 pm

Direct links to the .FLV video files since I saw people mentioning problems with the embedded/Flash player. Can be downloaded and played locally using a Flash player or using any random player if you have the FLV directshow filter installed (Windows):

http://www.library.uhi.ac.uk/dawkins/dawkins intro.flv
http://www.library.uhi.ac.uk/dawkins/dawkins talk.flv
http://www.library.uhi.ac.uk/dawkins/discussion_part1.flv
http://www.library.uhi.ac.uk/dawkins/discussion_part2.flv

Files are appx 25MB, 185MB, 82MB, 161MB.

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13. Comment #157163 by BigJohn on April 8, 2008 at 3:44 pm

Is this available in some other format?. It is either it is too small or too pixellated. Sorry to complain.

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14. Comment #157169 by Benjamin P. on April 8, 2008 at 3:46 pm

Just started watching this. Until here, I must say Richard is brilliant in explainend Evolution shortly and to the point. Every child could understand this. I wonder if creationists put their fingers in their ears, if he talks or how ignorant they really are.

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15. Comment #157171 by black wolf on April 8, 2008 at 3:49 pm

That's cool. Dawkins expresses my thoughts on the 'Why' question in almost the exact words I've used on this site a while ago. 'Just because a language allows a question to be formed doesn't mean that it's a meanigful question or that it deserves an answer'. Very nice. I sort of feel flattered.
No, I don't think he quoted or paraphrased me. ;)

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16. Comment #157172 by Vaal on April 8, 2008 at 3:51 pm

Very good Paula. I know how difficult public speaking is, and you didn't seem nervous at all, and came across as very relaxed and fair. I did expect you to have a Scottish accent, as my nieces are English and have lived in Elgin for years now, and I can scarcely understand them. Your voice carried very well and was clear and pleasant.

Good to hear Richard explaining so clearly, nice to hear him reading from his book and coming across as so reasonable and concise. I was pleased to see the reaction from the audience.. however, still going through the questions... so, catch up later..

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17. Comment #157178 by Chuk15 on April 8, 2008 at 4:06 pm

Links are not working for me. Did a check on http://downforeveryoneorjustme.com/ And the links came up not found.

If anyone's got a solution, I'm listening.

Other Comments by Chuk15

18. Comment #157181 by Melissa on April 8, 2008 at 4:08 pm

I was lucky enough to be there, what a great afternoon! One of the abstracts from RD's writings that Paula asked him to read was one of my favourites: the way that atoms are lined to form diamonds, it was just breathtaking, scientific beauty in action.

Paula, I'm the woman who approached you and RD at Inverness airport and mumbled something along the lines of "I have read all your books" then blushed every shade of red. How embarassing!

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19. Comment #157182 by Matt7895 on April 8, 2008 at 4:08 pm

Paula, you have a lovely voice. You came across as very pleasant and well spoken, and you didn't seem at all nervous! Well done.

Relieving to see Richard talking again, last time I saw him he was on the BBC's 'Big Questions' Sunday morning religious programme, and he wasn't allowed to talk much.

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20. Comment #157184 by Bollwerk on April 8, 2008 at 4:10 pm

Looks like their server is overloaded or slow or I'm too far away here in California. It is taking forever after I click on the links.

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21. Comment #157190 by decius on April 8, 2008 at 4:17 pm

Pity. A totally clueless encoding, resulting in an extremely poor image quality and a large file size at the same time.
Rather infuriating that library staff wouldn't know how to handle digital media.

Brava Paula!

Other Comments by decius

22. Comment #157192 by The Science Pundit on April 8, 2008 at 4:22 pm

I'll have to check out this "RichardDawkins.net" that he recommends at the end of the Talk video.
;-)

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23. Comment #157194 by Diacanu on April 8, 2008 at 4:24 pm

Dammit, I'm on my old computer, and can't crack open any of those weird ass new-fangled formats!

Can someone rip it to Mpeg?

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24. Comment #157196 by decius on April 8, 2008 at 4:30 pm

Diacanu, I see no point in processing any further this junk. Hopefully a better format will be made available.

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25. Comment #157198 by Peadar on April 8, 2008 at 4:32 pm

Well done Richard and Paula! It's a pity that the last questioner of the Q&A session was a religious zealot. You could feel the tension in the theatre. However Richard's response that he was hallucinating was priceless.

I think the moderator could have done a better job of time keeping. Too much time was devoted to the gentleman extolling biblical prophesy. These seemed to deflate the general intellectual discourse of the Q&A session. However, overall it was well worth watching.

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26. Comment #157205 by Szymanowski on April 8, 2008 at 5:01 pm

Argh the guy asking about the LHC in part 2 has a verbosity issue! I'm still waiting for him to finish...

... aha :)

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27. Comment #157211 by Szymanowski on April 8, 2008 at 5:20 pm

The Christian questioning at the end! is a Scottish incarnation of Alister McGrath! His voice goes up! at the end of every clause! like he is constantly surprised!

(sorry, this is totally off-topic... I found all the female Scots accents very sexy btw!)

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28. Comment #157214 by Styrer- on April 8, 2008 at 5:45 pm

Oh Paula. You overwhelm me.

Not only were you yourself a magnificent, professional and genuinely engaged interviewer, but you also brought out some of the very best of Richard that I have had the pleasure to see in quite a while.

Please accept my most sincere thanks for doing this.

For Richard - what a privilege it always is to hear him speak about how we arrived here and how we should really consider ourselves so very lucky to be reflecting on our origins at all.

Hyperbole and special pleading be damned - this is one of the best Dawkins interviews I have ever seen, and that Paula, fellow RD.nettist, was its driving force simply adds to the pleasure.

Thank you so much.

Styrer

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29. Comment #157258 by Ed-words on April 8, 2008 at 7:26 pm

The best arguments against a PERSONAL God's

existence for me can be found in the

godawful history of religion.

He wouldn't be that bad a CEO!

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30. Comment #157261 by robotaholic on April 8, 2008 at 7:30 pm

Paula you're fabulous! I'm so impressed. Thanks so much. I am so enjoying this. I will never look at crystals the same way again either. :)

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31. Comment #157262 by Diacanu on April 8, 2008 at 7:36 pm

Nooo! Not youtube! Not quicktime! Someone, please, for the love of mercy!! Mpeg it for me!!

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32. Comment #157264 by xdrive on April 8, 2008 at 7:38 pm

Paula, you're a fantastic interviewer. Excellent job. I watch these interviews by the shitton™ and your style and questions are great. Thanks a bunch.

Richard, thanks for doing this with a frog in your throat. It was worth it.

Regards.

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33. Comment #157265 by Cartomancer on April 8, 2008 at 7:39 pm

Another fine Richard Dawkins performance undoubtedly, and Paula comes across just as lovely in person as she does on here. I have to say, though, that I'd have preferred a little more conversation, a little less reaction, maybe...

(Note to self, stop paraphrasing Elvis lyrics)

I understand the importance of taking audience questions, but I think it makes the event seem rather disjointed and scattergun in its approach when that goes on for over twice as long as the material that the questions are actually supposed to be on. I'm not a fan of soundbytes and brief, off-the-cuff responses when I know that Richard is capable of a far more in-depth discussion of the issues. Relying on the spontaneous whimsy and prejudice of the audience to set the agenda just generates a grab-bag of unrelated and undeveloped tangents. It also lets in amusing but intellectually barren crackpots like our hallucinating friend at the end there - when we could have had someone ask a meaningful question about something important. If Paula had remained in control, I'm sure the later parts of the discussion would have been much more profitable and interesting.

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34. Comment #157271 by Styrer- on April 8, 2008 at 7:54 pm

I'd have preferred a little more conversation, a little less reaction, maybe...

(Note to self, stop paraphrasing Elvis lyrics)

Now, Cartomancer, the fact that you can even conceive of such musically-related humour makes me dubious about your protestation of a music-absent life...

If I add in your self-composed 'Model of a Major Modern Atheist', I begin to wonder about the veracity of e-life...and if you even knew what I meant by 'Bops'!

Hmm.

Styrer

Other Comments by Styrer-

35. Comment #157273 by Cartomancer on April 8, 2008 at 8:01 pm

Now, Cartomancer, the fact that you can even conceive of such musically-related humour makes me dubious about your protestation of a music-absent life...

Oh lyrics I'm fine with. They're just words after all, just like poetry. No problem with words or poetic metre. It's things like tune, melody, rhythm, harmony, beat, polyphony and so forth I have no idea where to start on. In fact I could hardly tell you what those words are supposed to mean and how to distinguish one from another. I can hear music - I just don't know how it gets that way...

And bops? Well, anywhere you can find drunken eighteen year old undergraduates I'm there...

Other Comments by Cartomancer

36. Comment #157279 by RationalistHomeTchr on April 8, 2008 at 8:20 pm

Great job, Prof. Dawkins, carrying on despite your lost voice. I so much admired Paula's portion, too: the questions, the order of the questions, and the selections to be read -- all superb and well thought out.

I must say that I prefer this format hugely to many more-adversarial formats. At the beginning, the Prof. had the ability to talk about interesting stuff (thanks to Paula) and to fully answer questions. Of course it's great that there was a chance for the audience to ask their own questions, and that some contentiousness arose at that point...although I wanted to reach into my monitor and shake the questioner who, after being asked to be brief, asked o - n - e w - o - r - d per minute questions and then interrupted himself to preface the questions! Sheesh!

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37. Comment #157286 by SmartLX on April 8, 2008 at 8:45 pm

Yes, too much time was given to the man who wanted to list fulfilled prophecies (of course, he should have had one or two ready to go right off the bat).

That said, if as he implied there are specific fulfilments which are commonly presented to Christians as evidence, why haven't they been thrown at us lately?

The most likely reason is that they are only accepted by already devout Christians and are thus no good for proselytising, but what if this is something most Christians don't even want skeptics to touch?

Does anyone know which prophecies the guy would have mentioned if he'd been able? I'd like to see whether there's a means of internal reinforcement of the faith here which could be freshly undermined.

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38. Comment #157288 by room101 on April 8, 2008 at 9:06 pm

Wow, wow and WOW.

I echo everyone's praise, Paula. You brought a warmth and charm to the setting and I credit this incredibly engaging talk by Richard to not only the format (agree wholeheartedly with Cartomancer), but also to your presence.

Cartomancer - I agree, it's so nice to let Richard be Richard - to let him expound on Paula's questions and not get caught up in having to explain evolution or gene sequencing in ridiculous 15 second sound bytes (ala Fox news interviews) or ping-pong back and forth between a theist and moderator.

It upsets me how someone can listen to this wonderful talk and still choose NOT to enlighten themselves and remain in the dark.

Other Comments by room101

39. Comment #157291 by StephenH on April 8, 2008 at 9:10 pm

Thanks spoox

If you follow that advice and download the flv files, i get good audio quality.
I play them with VLC media player

Thank you, Richard & Paula for such a good debate, despite Richard's croaky voice.

Longer sessions allow more detail. Some very clear explanations

Other Comments by StephenH

40. Comment #157295 by Styrer- on April 8, 2008 at 9:22 pm

Richard

I haven't seen you this on form for a while.

Superb, sir.

When you stand up and talk, even the tossers take note.

Keep standing and talking. You're getting through.

Fuck, we're going to miss you when you're dead.

Please crack on while you can. There is no-one waiting in the wings, as far as I can see.

Best,
Styrer

Other Comments by Styrer-

41. Comment #157296 by chuckgoecke on April 8, 2008 at 9:23 pm

Paula, Great Job! I loved how, in your honest lay-person manner, you brought out the best of what an honest lay person could get out reading and following Richard. Magnifico!

One question that was, I guess, sort of technical, was the one the chinese gal( I think from her accent) asked about why genes get their ages reset each generation? I think there is a technical answer, something about telomeres, but it escaped me right now.

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42. Comment #157300 by Styrer- on April 8, 2008 at 9:33 pm

It's things like tune, melody, rhythm, harmony, beat, polyphony and so forth I have no idea where to start on.

Whereas all of these things, I now note, are not unusual to your posts here, and to the crafted way you make your point.

I think you might find a new area of reality to explore if you take your heart to some of the most emotional singers, as a start.

Give Tim Buckley a shot, and move on to his son Jeff if you acquire even the smallest of taste.

I really cannot imagine a world without music. And a world without the Buckleys is a rather tough proposition for me.

But that's just me.

Best,
Styrer

Other Comments by Styrer-

43. Comment #157320 by room101 on April 8, 2008 at 11:00 pm

Paula:

I'm assuming friends, family, and co-workers have heard of this event and will be viewing this (or have already)...

I'd be interested to know how your new-found celebrity, as it were, has affected you if at all? Hopefully it's mostly praise, and none of your co-workers have left bible verses stuck to your cubicle wall with a knife.

Other Comments by room101

44. Comment #157321 by ZekeCDN on April 8, 2008 at 11:07 pm

That was terrific. I really liked the way the format of the "Talk" section allowed Richard to elaborate beyond the usual sound bite reply when the question warranted. And I hope Paula lets us know when the offer from the Beeb arrives!

One tiny disappointment: I wish the moderator's face had been visible when the Professor responded (somewhat viscerally) to his "Why do we still have apes then?" question. I wonder if he thought he was asking an insightful question ... or if he knew it was a common creationist canard?

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45. Comment #157331 by Paula Kirby on April 8, 2008 at 11:49 pm

Thanks, everyone, for your very kind comments!

Matt7895: Relieving to see Richard talking again, last time I saw him he was on the BBC's 'Big Questions' Sunday morning religious programme, and he wasn't allowed to talk much.

Maybe, but watching The Big Questions has made me realise that I missed a trick and should have asked him whether it's true he's the devil incarnate! ;-)

Room101: I'd be interested to know how your new-found celebrity, as it were, has affected you if at all? Hopefully it's mostly praise, and none of your co-workers have left bible verses stuck to your cubicle wall with a knife.

No, no bible verses! I work in a small team, and only one of my colleagues is a Christian, and a very moderate, very nice one at that. And no sign of celebrity either!

As for the format, well, I do think it's infuriating when interviewers ask a question and then don't give the interviewee chance to answer it properly. Some questions can't be answered within 20 seconds. If the issues are remotely complex, the interviewee simply has to be given the chance to build up his or her response properly, and to present a range of thoughts that make up his or her case. It's different, perhaps, if the speaker is a dull, incoherent rambler - but that was self-evidently NOT the case here!

Other Comments by Paula Kirby

46. Comment #157336 by JDAM on April 9, 2008 at 12:03 am

Just want to express my profound thanks to Richard and Paula, but particularly Richard who I hope does not endure prolonged suffering for the forcing of his voice during this absolutely wonderful and enlightening engagement. Paula, I got the definite impression that you must be some sort of professional TV or Communications person.
I'll be playing this over and over. Some really great questions, too. I also want to say to decius that your avatar is priceless!!

Other Comments by JDAM

47. Comment #157340 by Logicel on April 9, 2008 at 12:23 am

What a lovely team of two Richard and Paula make. Bravo to both of you!

I plan on linking to this vid frequently when discussing the atheist viewpoint with believers. Thank you very much for this invaluable presentation.

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48. Comment #157344 by AllanW on April 9, 2008 at 12:48 am

Many congratulations to both RD and Paula.

Dawkins' knowledge, passion and integrity shone through the handicap of his voice. Paula appeared relaxed after the first few moments (understandable) and did her job here well.

I've yet to see the second part of the questions but already the radio show host seems to have revealed himself as either a religiot or just plain vacuous. His handling of the questions is not great so far which is disappointing as his fulsome introduction promised more.

The responses from the audience are revealing, aren't they? Polite applause for some witticisms, polite silence for most of the talk and then generous applause for a few responses from Dawkins that contained real nuggets of information presented with authority and insight. I didn't sense that people (apart from the already committed :)) were put off by the frank and open nature of the arguments and the words used. In other words they were remarkably adult about it.

I'm looking forward to finishing the viewing tonight.

Other Comments by AllanW

49. Comment #157357 by Philip1978 on April 9, 2008 at 1:27 am

Paula,

Now that you are a tv star, do you do autographs? :)

I thought that was one of the best interviews I have seen in a long time. I remember the Marcus Brigstock interview and I kept thinking it was too short for Richard to really delve into his life's passion, Evolution and Science. I mentioned in that thread that there is one thing I could watch a tremendous amount of its scientists being highly enthusiastic about science!

This is the reason I am so pleased with the interview is that Richard was in his element and Paula I think you did a magnificent job in asking the right questions in the professional way that you did. I love hearing about science from people who REALLY know what they are talking about and I love watching them get enthusiastic about it, so BRAVO to the pair of you!

Cheers Tons!

Philip

Other Comments by Philip1978

50. Comment #157364 by Backslidden on April 9, 2008 at 1:53 am

This man is a hero

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