1. The Science of Religion and the Religion of Science

Comment #200472 by Auld on June 27, 2008 at 5:27 pm

Why did it take 5 years for this to be available?!

Still, better late than never...

2. Richard Dawkins and Lawrence Krauss

Comment #161141 by Auld on April 14, 2008 at 11:28 pm

Looking forward to understanding more about QP from Lawrence.

3. Hitler, Stalin, Mao, etc. were atheists, and they were terrible! Answer that!

Comment #81710 by Auld on October 25, 2007 at 4:27 am

So what if those atheists were terrible? It still doesn't mean that God exists!

So atheists are naturally vermin? So try and exterminate us! Hah!

4. A Rational Universe Implies a Creator, Science points towards Theism

Comment #81707 by Auld on October 25, 2007 at 4:16 am

The illusion that most religionists have is that god is rational, which is what led to a rational universe. This is a fallacy.

We happen to inhabit a rational universe. Humans are rational. As a result, humans were able to create a religion that is also rational. I.e. to posit a god that is able to give rational laws. It does not follow that science obtains its rationality from religion. Science is rational because humans are rational. Rationalism is not some supernatural phenomena.

5. Eugenie Scott on Intelligent Design and Young Earth Creationism

Comment #81536 by Auld on October 24, 2007 at 10:05 pm

"Did she get Ken Ham and Ken Hovind mixed up?"

I thought it should be KenT Hovind, and not Ken Hovind? ; )

In any case, I thought it was just a minor slip-up. No harm done. It was clearly unintentional. On the whole, a wonderful presentation.

6. Arguments Against Evolution

Comment #81503 by Auld on October 24, 2007 at 9:02 pm

"Ask them to explain some of the many design flaws in humans such as the backwards structure of the human retina"

They already have, they're saying it's actually a good way to avoid injury from intense light:

http://www.creationontheweb.com/content/view/1683

7. Arguments Against Evolution

Comment #81501 by Auld on October 24, 2007 at 8:58 pm

There should probably also be a thread entitled Arguments against Creationism.

For example, Creationists believe that all animals were created in 1 go, already specially designed. They also believe that once upon a time, the earth was perfect, i.e. no deserts and no uninhabitable places. These two beliefs are contradictory since it would negate the existence of polar bears and other such creatures which are well "designed" for extreme temperatures.

8. Debate between Christopher Hitchens and Alister McGrath

Comment #79313 by Auld on October 16, 2007 at 9:51 pm

Was Francis Collins there at that debate? In his opening, Hitch seemed to be speaking to him. I like how Hitch not only takes on his opponent on the stage but an eminent scientist in the audience as well! He even asked Francis to confirm that Homo sapiens had been around for about 250,000 years! What gall! How typically Hitchens!

9. Christopher Hitchens and Bill Donohue on Mother Teresa

Comment #66346 by Auld on August 29, 2007 at 6:27 pm

"The church kept her letters even though one of her dying wishes was to have them destroyed."

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e7Gv68wRC1Y

10. I'm gonna be a MOVIE STAR

Comment #65115 by Auld on August 22, 2007 at 11:48 pm

PZ Meyers,

Looks like you've sold your soul for 12 bags of a hundred silvers!! : D

11. Public Debate on Complexity and Evolution

Comment #63559 by Auld on August 14, 2007 at 8:03 pm

V,

You were saying you may have a link with Steve Jones on creationism? Hope you can share with us if you can still find it. I can't find it on Youtube.

Oh, and my version of Windows is Windows XP.

12. Public Debate on Complexity and Evolution

Comment #63557 by Auld on August 14, 2007 at 7:42 pm

"If you have a Windows machine, then Windows Media Player will play the MP3 file natively."

How does that work? Still having trouble downloading more than 30 minutes from the link. And the Rapidshare link doesn't seem to work for me either.

This podcast caused me to get more of Jone's boooks. (Almost Like a Whale and Single Helix) Nick Lane's book gets too technical around Chapter 2, but now I know there's such a thing as mitochondria. Pardon my ex-absolute-ignorance on mitochondria.

13. The Out Campaign

Comment #63532 by Auld on August 14, 2007 at 5:51 pm

The OUT campaign is unlikely to take off in Singapore, but it's certainly some vision.

I have a dream...

14. Richard Dawkins on Hardtalk

Comment #61572 by Auld on August 5, 2007 at 8:21 pm

Old chestnuts but RD has answered to the point.

Get the feeling that the he's improving with every interview. Less answering, but more listening to his interviewer and then asnwering to the point.

Got the feeling that BBC might have edited away the last part of the interview. Or is it just the Youtube version?

15. Richard Dawkins on Hardtalk

Comment #61556 by Auld on August 5, 2007 at 5:58 pm

Hey! Thanks for sharing the Youtube version!

Grateful beyond words.

16. Richard Dawkins on Hardtalk

Comment #61468 by Auld on August 5, 2007 at 8:57 am

V,

Thanks for your answer anyway. : )


Just a pity for me that I have to miss this. Ugh!

17. Richard Dawkins on Hardtalk

Comment #61243 by Auld on August 4, 2007 at 10:16 am

I am still having problems downloading this file. Why is that? This is the message I keep getting:

"500 Server Error
The following error occurred: [code=CACHE_FILL_OPEN_FILE] An internal error prevented the object from being sent to the client and cached. Try again later.
Could not open error file"

If anyone knows and would like to help, please reply in this thread. Thanks in advance!

18. Don't Know Much Biology

Comment #48990 by Auld on June 9, 2007 at 11:07 pm

The next time someone tries to sock you with
"Are you a materialist, then?", just reply,

"Are you an immaterialist? Then stop eating."

So tired of that question. Anyone has a better repartee?

19. Groundbreaking Research Has Scientists Talking With Apes

Comment #46622 by Auld on May 31, 2007 at 9:06 pm

Another observation would be that when the interviewer asked whether it liked coffee, it just replied by repeating the word "coffee". It should have replied "yes" instead if it truly understood the whole sentence.

20. Hitchens and Prager Debate

Comment #46015 by Auld on May 30, 2007 at 2:53 am

Sometimes the sound quality can affect your impression of the speaker. Dennis' recorded speech was crisp, clear and LOUD while Chris' recorded speech was muffled and soft. Could this have been intentional?

21. Television evangelist Falwell dies at 73

Comment #41351 by Auld on May 16, 2007 at 1:30 am

Some of you may not know this, but some fundamentalists hate him too. For being too liberal. Imagine that!

22. The Language of Ignorance

Comment #40764 by Auld on May 14, 2007 at 11:23 pm

I totally assumed that. As a result, I found his book extremely helpful to me in explaining the strenth of the evolution theory. Just skip the parts about his comments on religion and go straight to his thoughts on his areas of expertise -- namely DNA and the human genome vis a vis animal genomes. He totally upholds evolution.

Another comment is that other than a finanical motivation, it could also be a political one to prevent further persecution to his fields of study from Evangelical Christians.