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Comments by Saerain


1. 3QD interviews Richard Dawkins

Comment #179236 by Saerain on May 13, 2008 at 12:27 am

I certainly sat straight up in my chair when the first question was in regards to the Technological Singularity, easily my favourite subject to discuss with anyone at any time.

2. British Airways takes beef off the menu to avoid offending Hindus

Comment #178322 by Saerain on May 11, 2008 at 7:57 am

Note: we are wannabe-omnivores, but biological frugivores. That is, we are able to be omnivorous in a pinch but are still primarily optimised for frugivory and suffer by using a peripheral food as a staple.

We are quite far from true omnivores like raccoons, bears, and pigs.

Anyway, in regards to the article... I'd rather see cows properly extinct as they would have been without our (less than salvational) cultivation of them, much like toy-breed dogs, but that's me.

3. My Response to Rabbi Shmuley Boteach

Comment #177689 by Saerain on May 9, 2008 at 1:34 pm

16. Comment #177177 by AfraidToDie on May 8, 2008 at 5:40 pm

Sorry, based on the clip link provided by adonais, Rabbi Shitly is wrong on sex too. When I see a hot looking female walk by, I know better than to make my wife feel bad by gawking; but come on, if you don't take a sly double take on an obvious physical attraction, then that's no different than putting on Catholic Priest attire and claiming to be holier than the common man; it's a charade. Sorry RD, he's wrong about "sex and love" too.
When I see someone that is attractive to me, I point them out to my lover and say, 'Isn't (s)he gorgeous?' or something to that effect. We either agree or disagree, gawk or don't, then move on.

You're both wrong. So there.

4. Mental Disorders In Parents Linked To Autism In Children, Study Shows

Comment #176064 by Saerain on May 6, 2008 at 1:32 pm

Autism 'ain't' bad to begin with.

5. The Neanderthal Debate

Comment #175212 by Saerain on May 4, 2008 at 10:12 pm

1. Comment #174713 by healthphysicist on May 3, 2008 at 10:20 am

Just today I was watching a documentary series on T.V. called Miracle Planet. The show hypothesized that modern humans had language and Neanderthal did not. This was seen as the significant survival ace for modern humans.
As I understand it, Homo neanderthalensis was more than intelligent enough for language, but their mouths and throats would have been unable to produce quantal vowels, so any language they might have produced would have been quite lacking in versatility.

6. Bill Good Interviews Richard Dawkins

Comment #173443 by Saerain on April 30, 2008 at 7:18 pm

The people who call in on radio shows or stand up in audiences to frantically use Hitler and Stalin like rapid-fire air cannons scare the life out of me. Especially in audiences, I feel fear for the people sitting around the person who are visibly shaken by his or her behaviour.

I suppose this is why I don't work in airport security. I'm sure I'd be trying to get anyone who raises their voice above five decibles tackled.

7. Open Letter to a victim of Ben Stein's lying propaganda

Comment #165054 by Saerain on April 21, 2008 at 2:05 am

I don't understand why anyone would think that atheists think the Holocaust was justified, let alone acceptable. Even if you were to twist evolutionary theory to justify eugenics by euthanisation, you still couldn't use it to justify genocide -- especially because 'Jew' is a religious descriptor with little to no genetic significance.

8. Sex for diploma offer caught on tape

Comment #164264 by Saerain on April 19, 2008 at 10:36 pm

Someone, please give Texas its verbs back.

9. Interviews with Richard Dawkins and Michael Shermer

Comment #164223 by Saerain on April 19, 2008 at 6:27 pm

At 11:50, Richard says, 'There is this very, very long harping on an alleged connection between Hitler and Nazism,' when presumably he means to say 'Atheism and Nazism'. Oops!

10. Teacher Expelled Over Religion

Comment #162076 by Saerain on April 16, 2008 at 6:10 am

43. Comment #162062 by Double Bass Atheist on April 16, 2008 at 5:24 am

Question:
If Evolution is part of public school's core curriculum, how can a teacher simply refuse to teach said curriculum?
Answer:
Tennessee.

11. Inadequate, private and late apology with grotesquely inadequate excuse

Comment #159480 by Saerain on April 12, 2008 at 9:19 am

I am no psychologist, but in my experience situational frustration leads to slips of the tongue, not prolonged tirades. How odd.

12. Anti-evolution bill clears another hurdle

Comment #157278 by Saerain on April 8, 2008 at 8:18 pm

13. Comment #157176 by FightingFalcon on April 8, 2008 at 3:58 pm

Man, I love living in the North East of America where we don't have to deal with this garbage...
Indeed. I am constantly surprised by how much I do not recognise the country outside of New England.

16. Comment #157274 by koldito on April 8, 2008 at 8:03 pm

Paraphrasing Lewis Black, these people deserve to have fossils thrown at their heads.
'I would love to have the faith to believe that it took place in seven days, but I have thoughts, and that can really fuck up the faith thing. Just ask any Catholic priest. And then there are fossils. Whenever anyone tries to tell me that they believe it took place in seven days, I reach for a fossil, and go, "Fossil". And if they keep talking, I throw it just over their head.'
- Lewis Black

13. Who wants to kill the elderly?

Comment #153684 by Saerain on April 1, 2008 at 8:32 pm

21. Comment #153468 by Teratornis on April 1, 2008 at 1:45 pm

I quite agree that moderate religion enables extreme religion, and I wonder why we do not similarly condemn moderate drinking, which provides similar cover to problem drinking.
Oh, I agree, and I do condemn it equally, if not more so than superstition, and definitely more than any other detrimental consumption.

14. I always aim to misbehave

Comment #151638 by Saerain on March 29, 2008 at 5:38 am

I was twistedly amused by Hitchens' headband.

What a thread hijack, though.

15. 'We Make Our Own Heaven'

Comment #151435 by Saerain on March 28, 2008 at 5:30 pm

23. Comment #151415 by Nails on March 28, 2008 at 4:49 pm

Kids think freely anyway, so let them be kids.
And how!

Although however redundant, I do fail to see it as negative.

16. Happy Birthday, Richard Dawkins!

Comment #149946 by Saerain on March 26, 2008 at 10:52 am

I suppose this is the day to finally buy The God Delusion. I have generally assumed it would be pointless for an atheist to read it, but I have many times been told otherwise, so off I go to Amazon.com.

Happy Anniversary, Richard. May you, as Kurzweil says, 'live long enough to live forever'.

17. Sue Blackmore debates Alister McGrath

Comment #149067 by Saerain on March 25, 2008 at 4:32 am

I rather appreciated this gentleman's address to the professor.

18. Atheists claim censorship by billboard company

Comment #146620 by Saerain on March 19, 2008 at 8:24 am

35. Comment #146488 by Gymnopedie on March 19, 2008 at 6:18 am

In the US, it is absolutely illegal for a private or public company to discriminate on the basis of race, gender, religion, or social status. The law prevents KKK style little cities from taking hold.
That is true, but doesn't apply. Unfortunate as it is for us in this case, the law does not prevent a private company from refusing to advertise a message it opposes.

It would prevent it from refusing to advertise a message due to the race, gender, religion, or social status of the person approaching it with the message ('No, we won't advertise your spoons, we know you're atheists'), but not due to the content of the message itself.

19. Daniel Dennett Debates Dinesh D'Souza

Comment #145699 by Saerain on March 18, 2008 at 2:43 am

I partially agree. Dennett is an extraordinary thinker, but he just doesn't have the verbal skill for debate. It could be his age, but he seems to often forget what he is saying.

However, D'Souza shouts, bounces around like a terrier, and generally makes an obnoxious spectacle of himself. I wouldn't say he is a better debater, he's just berserk.

20. Immune system differences found

Comment #145660 by Saerain on March 17, 2008 at 11:53 pm

There are no Murkies crying 'omfg racism amirite' yet? Impressive.

21. New Atheists Are Not Great

Comment #145127 by Saerain on March 17, 2008 at 9:32 am

Atheists may be selling books, but they're not making converts. Christianity is --
Christianity makes more converts amongst those who are already religious. On the other hand, agnostic atheism is the default position one is born into, and the point is that Christianity is converting fewer atheists than ever before.

That is to say: the rate at which Christians are failing to convert new generations of atheists is surpassing the rate at which they are succeeding in converting other theists.

D'Souza's statement is correct, but misleading.

22. New Atheists Are Not Great

Comment #145121 by Saerain on March 17, 2008 at 9:20 am

I had actually hoped that Tony Snow was a marginally intelligent man outside of the very difficult job of apologising for the Bush administration, but now evidently he is just finding other insufferable men to defend.

23. Richard Dawkins on The Alan Colmes Show

Comment #144422 by Saerain on March 16, 2008 at 3:47 am

Those callers were amazing. I thought people like that were myths.

24. Lords Approve Abolition Of Blasphemy

Comment #139701 by Saerain on March 6, 2008 at 12:11 pm

I fondly recall when my young sister, as the age of five, very expertly deduced that Santa Claus, the Easter Bunny, the Tooth Fairy, God, and the Queen were mythical figures.

25. What's the Point of the Archbishop of Canterbury?

Comment #138825 by Saerain on March 4, 2008 at 8:12 pm

As Letts was saying around 22:40, it seems the Archbishop feels a duty to protect all time-worn superstition from the cold-hearted secularists of his 'spiritually weakened' country. I have encountered a startling number of people with this mindset. With them in mind, I would not be surprised to see religion at some point reverse its tendency to fracture, instead coming together against the likes of us as their common enemy.

Here's to the Church of Abrahamadharmatao.

26. Richard Dawkins' US Tour begins this week

Comment #138023 by Saerain on March 3, 2008 at 6:50 pm

As long as we're naming specific cities, why not Hell, Michigan, just for comedic value?

27. Richard Dawkins' US Tour begins this week

Comment #138018 by Saerain on March 3, 2008 at 6:40 pm

4. Comment #137994 by Radesq on March 3, 2008 at 6:05 pm

Stanford, Berkeley, Columbia, NYU closer to the Bible belt?

Yeah, I realised that about ten minutes later and wondered what I was thinking. I seem to subconsciously include much more of the country in that term than it popularly covers.

28. Richard Dawkins' US Tour begins this week

Comment #137989 by Saerain on March 3, 2008 at 5:55 pm

I was really rather hoping he would come to Massachusetts, as I do love attending such things, but I suppose that wouldn't be of much use when he appears to be targetting closer to religious hubs (without going directly into the Belt).

29. Christopher Hitchens on Real Time with Bill Maher

Comment #136852 by Saerain on March 1, 2008 at 9:27 pm

By the way, Hitchens is going on about Obama's church, yes? Has he talked about this at more length anywhere else? I'm not sure I understand what better alternative he sees in this particular election.

He has expressed his support of Giuliani in the past, and I can't say that I understand where they would see eye-to-eye except on their similarly belligerent stance the war. Very strange.

30. Christopher Hitchens on Real Time with Bill Maher

Comment #136845 by Saerain on March 1, 2008 at 9:04 pm

I quite like Maher when he is not wasting time on celebrity antics, although that seems to usually be filler material.

As far as the American media goes, he is one of the few closest to being on 'our side'. I think we can debate amongst ourselves on the other issues later. Right now we have religious tension across the globe like we have not seen in some time, and I'm content to find allies there first.

Besides, his views on medicine are not superstitious, they're just ill-founded. I get the distinct impression that he has never been formidably challenged on it. He doesn't strike me as the type who would remain unswayed by a good debate.

Then again, I am sometimes told that I have too much confidence in the human brain.

31. Earth's Final Sunset Predicted

Comment #136209 by Saerain on February 29, 2008 at 2:19 pm

36. Comment #135365 by Dr Nev on February 28, 2008 at 9:51 pm

Bugger! Round about this period of time religion will finally be eradicated and we will all be living in harmony and then we melt! Gee!
Shit, maybe that is what the Christians mean, without realising it. If we reject God, we burn into extinction. If we accept God, we die in war or disease much sooner.

32. Interview with Richard Dawkins

Comment #134401 by Saerain on February 27, 2008 at 6:09 pm

Who is this Gad fellow she keeps referring to?

33. The coming religious peace

Comment #131991 by Saerain on February 23, 2008 at 7:51 pm

Even our atheists are sometimes among the antiscientists. I met an atheist the other day who dismissed evolution as quackery, yet proposed no alternative, stating only:

'They never found the missing link, buddy!'

What is this, anyway? I get it all the time. Out of about 96 thousand transitional fossils, which two do they want to link, and with how many generations?

The only thing missing belongs in their skulls.

34. My Argument With God

Comment #131772 by Saerain on February 23, 2008 at 8:22 am

19. Comment #131644 by Slyer on February 22, 2008 at 8:52 pm

Even if you say that all the 20% that are unknown are all atheist and agnostics the statistics are still in our favour. 80% of answered were religious, 20% were atheist/agnostic/unknown.
America is 20% atheist/agnostic yes?
20% only if you limit your count to the 18-25 age bracket. Taking the entire population into account, a mere 3-9% are atheistic in this great nation of mine, including all those who answer noncommittally in censuses. But considering it was less than 1% before my generation was born, perhaps I should be prouder.

Of course, if the largest age bracket in prisons in 18-25, then your point holds.

35. Fleabytes

Comment #130077 by Saerain on February 20, 2008 at 3:25 am

Absolutely marvellous. I have never seen this 'Wee Flea' around, however. Perhaps I am either too new or too inactive.

36. Atheists An Increasingly Outspoken Minority

Comment #129494 by Saerain on February 19, 2008 at 7:59 am

16. Comment #129290 by John Sands on February 19, 2008 at 12:52 am

Jodie Foster an Atheist? Well for a moment I thought that all actors were overpaid idiots!

[Sighs.]

37. Cutting Edge: Baby Bible Bashers

Comment #129441 by Saerain on February 19, 2008 at 6:23 am

'Hoi daddy whaen ye geddawn back brintheeink.'

I had to take a ten minute break after that.

38. Ayaan Hirsi Ali asks for protection

Comment #128505 by Saerain on February 17, 2008 at 9:01 am

Robotaholic, I have seen more typographical errors from you than those you are playing hothead against while snapping their typos back at them. Simply an observation. I have Grade-A irony detection.

12. Comment #128005 by Teratornis on February 15, 2008 at 9:22 pm

I believe the exact quote involved taking bullets.
'And though it is not usual for me to be able to speak for the majority, I think I can say, that, Ayaan, there isn't anyone in this room who wouldn't very proudly stand between you and anyone who wished you harm.'
- Christopher Hitchens, Atheist Alliance International Convention, 2007

Not that it matters, of course. The implication was clear, so in a way you are right.

39. Ben Stein Wins Intelligent Design Money

Comment #128054 by Saerain on February 16, 2008 at 1:12 am

28. Comment #127993 by KingofallSamurai on February 15, 2008 at 8:54 pm

If you watch the trailer (link in the above article to movie's website), they've been very naughty.

There's a clip of Richard Dawkins saying:
"As a scientist, I'm pretty hostile to a rival doctrine ..."

However, it is blatant from the way he sounds at that point, that they have cut off the end of his sentence - presumably explaining what sort of rival doctrine. Instead, they are trying to make it sound like he is opposed to the very concept of rival doctrines ...
Truncated and out-of-context quotes drive me nutty. Comedy shows do this sort of thing occasionally and the audience can tell and it's fine, but this is just viciously fraudulent. When I first saw the first trailer, I hoped that they had gotten the clip from an existing interview that could be fully quoted in refutation, but it seems Dawkins has never uttered the words 'rival doctrine', so they must have conducted the interview on their own.

Should scientists really have to travel with their own cameraman to be sure these things don't happen? Incredible.

40. Debate between Richard Dawkins and Madeline Bunting

Comment #127205 by Saerain on February 15, 2008 at 3:35 am

Poor Dawkins always gets into these types of situations.

41. Hitchens and Boteach Debate on God

Comment #125111 by Saerain on February 11, 2008 at 1:48 am

I skipped Boteach's arguments just like I do D'Souza's, until Gillman's two questions. I do not usually skip the opposition, but when it comes to D'Souza and Boteach I simply cannot listen to their screeching voices. If they had subtitled Boteach's words, I would have been able to mute and read, but listen to him I cannot.

By the way, I presume that everyone noticed, but Boteach didn't answer the first question from the audience. The question was, 'Is it possible to talk about the existence of God without asking the question "When you say "'God'", what do you mean?"' but he answered the question within the question, rather than the question itself.

And he dodged the second question by attacking Hitchens, when Hitchens didn't even ask it.

But I love that the audience laughed every time Gillman reacted to Boteach.

42. The real danger in Darwin is not evolution, but racism

Comment #115739 by Saerain on January 24, 2008 at 3:17 pm

The man Tony Compolo wants is Carleton Coon, not Charles Darwin.

The various racialist movements tend to actually hold something of a grudge against Darwin for not 'addressing' their points.

Also, Henri, I think your girlfriend is glad to have whatever kind of breasts she has, but I don't think she is proud of them.

Similarly, I am pleased by my pale complexion. It is something I enjoy the appearance and function of -- like my figure, my sexual endowment, or my youth in general. To say that I am 'proud' to be young would be strange, wouldn't it? Youth is not an accomplishment.

To be proud of an inherent feature is no different than being proud to have been born at all. One is not proud of being born. One is glad to have been born.

A bit semantic, perhaps, but it seems to me that the root of the disagreement between you and MPhil is due simply to two conflicting understandings of the word 'pride'.

43. Mother Nature is Not Our Friend

Comment #108009 by Saerain on January 5, 2008 at 8:18 pm

Diacanu astounded me on the first page of comments. Somehow an encouragement to stop being so taboo about 'veering from nature' became an endorsement of Nazism's blonde ideal. Go figure.

44. Beyond Belief 07: Enlightenment 2.0

Comment #103962 by Saerain on December 27, 2007 at 11:45 am

I don't think the smaller audience is necessarily due to Dawkins' absence, but rather because the subject is not an inherently confrontational one such as science versus religion.

45. THE FOUR HORSEMEN - Available Now on DVD!

Comment #103789 by Saerain on December 26, 2007 at 9:34 pm

I would definitely have liked to hear Dawkins and Hitchens go into the last disagreement that Hitchens was nudging into as they ran out of time.

46. Ayaan Hirsi Ali versus Timothy Garton Ash

Comment #98797 by Saerain on December 14, 2007 at 11:02 am

My thoughts precisely, on the title.

47. Ayaan Hirsi Ali versus Timothy Garton Ash

Comment #98792 by Saerain on December 14, 2007 at 10:37 am

To Mitchell Gilks: The short and ugly bit is a strange remark, but I do not see how it is smug.

He should have said that she would catch less attention, which is, unfortunately, true, and it seems that he would agree that it is a shame. But it is only a matter of first impression, after all, and an accepted social truth that has been stated over and over again about every attractive male or female public figure in existence.

So I think he was close to correct in saying it, while she was also quite right to be distressed by it.

To Summer Seale: I think not. Fear is the emotion of the producers who censored what was said and the host who squirmed uncomfortably while it was said. Timothy and Ayaan were appropriately staunch.

48. Ayaan Hirsi Ali versus Timothy Garton Ash

Comment #98787 by Saerain on December 14, 2007 at 10:20 am

I am unsure what people mean about him speaking slowly or being smug or 'wimpy' (quite a childish sentiment, is it not? Not to mention in contradiction with 'smug'). I thought he was a pleasure to listen to and made his points clearly and strongly.

Though I did find his disagreements with Ayaan ill-supported and frankly trivial. I came under the impression that he sought small points of mild disagreement simply to be able to call it a debate.

As long as we are criticising mannerisms, I suppose, only the host irritated me, if anyone. But that is also being trivial.

Let us stick to either disagreeing with them or being inspired by them to say something further.

49. Richard Dawkins on 'Have Your Say'

Comment #98200 by Saerain on December 13, 2007 at 8:49 am

What is that despicably evil, cartoonlike grin Morris gives after Dawkins' comment at about 29:40?

My word....

50. Atheists' sign sparks controversy

Comment #97656 by Saerain on December 12, 2007 at 1:37 pm

It feels good to be in the southwest of Massachusetts at the moment. I kind of grew up as a Massacticutian. A Connectichusettsian.

I loved the, 'We believe that Christ is the reason for Christmas.' I laughed very hard. Either she was quoted far out of context or that is a non-sequitur I'll be giggling about for days.

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