1. Functional Neuroimaging of Belief, Disbelief, and Uncertainty

Comment #97201 by Prodigy on December 11, 2007 at 5:44 pm

Not bad. Does anyone know if Sam is still going ahead with that free will book he was thinking about writing?

2. Daniel Dennett Debates Dinesh D'Souza

Comment #93655 by Prodigy on December 3, 2007 at 8:39 pm

To the people saying that Sam Harris would do better I don't agree with you. Sam isn't going to be able to pin him down when he's constantly spewing so much babble that it's hard to keep up with. However, if it was a text debate like some of Sam's recent ones it would be a smackdown.

In a a text debate D'Souza would get pinned down on what exactly he believes, there would be no mistake. I think Sam would expose D'Souza's GIANT non-sequitur for what it is. D'Souza claims the world not having a creator is non-rational. Sam would likely then nail him down on just what his supernatural claims are. He would show that even if the universe does have a creator there is no evidence to suggset he is all knowing and wants to be prayed to. Furthermore he would show why D'Souza's acceptance of Jesus Christ as this creator is completely without merit.

3. The Problem with Atheism

Comment #75858 by Prodigy on October 3, 2007 at 10:30 pm

I really respect and admire Sam's work but I disagree with him that we don't need a label. He mentions that we don't refer to those that are not racist in a specific or categorical way. He then says in the same way atheists do not need a categorical term.

What I think he misses in this point is that fifty years ago calling yourself non-racist was a strong and needed statement. At the time not everyone believed in equality. Putting yourself in a category that was for equal rights actually helped bring change. By the same token I think today there is nothing wrong with categorizing your non belief of the supernatural.

Sure it would be great if you didn't have to categorize your non belief when it is the reasonable way of thinking. The truth is however that the reasonable position is not the default. Non belief also isn't going to become the default position unless rational thought is pushed. If the term atheism can spread the message I see it as much more of a positive than any sort of negative.