1. Interview with Richard Dawkins

Comment #134191 by Venice on February 27, 2008 at 11:30 am

Okay. I have to agree with Sam Harris's comment at the Athiest Conference last Novemeber. The meme about Stalin, Hitler, Polpot is not going away. No matter how many of these debates I hear the religious always bring that up as a trump card (or so they think). Sigh. I suppose on the other hand it is good to see they have been reduced to that and not much else.

2. Cal scientist reflects on Darwin's genius

Comment #126418 by Venice on February 13, 2008 at 7:56 am

Really good essay. I think one of the few people who gives Darwin the credit he deserves and really drives home the real importance of his idea is Daniel C. Dennett. I'm sure this link is on this website somewhere, but its worth reposting.

He is such a good lecturer. It's a damn shame you can't adopt grandparents, I can only imagine what conversations his family has at dinner table.

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=2393547403945995297

In addition; his book Darwin's Dangerous Idea is an awesome read.

3. Daniel Dennett Debates Dinesh D'Souza

Comment #93930 by Venice on December 4, 2007 at 1:18 pm

Its really unfair to say that about Dennet.This just isn't his kind of forum. He is not a debater, he is a scholar, and an incredibly brilliant one at that. I remember he had some serious trepidation about getting out on the forfront of this and for the longest time he disagreed with Dawkins on his harshness. Put frankly, Dennett is too nice of a guy.

A good debater not only knows how to use logic to explain his ideas, he also know hows how to incite an emotional response from the audience, which Dsouza does very well. Everything from the joke about the podium at the begining (which came off very incongruent, but still worked strangley) to his use of metaphors as answers, which of gave the illusion of an adequate response. These are all tactics, and clearly Dsouza has rehearsed them. He pulled them off well, despite his funny looking oversized jacket, wierd ticks and overall twitchy mannerism.

I've seen Dennett in debates before. He was interviewed by Robert Wright once and it quickly turned into a debate. Wright is incredibly rude, interrputs him and doesn't let him talk numerous times and Dennett is (I think) way too polite about it.

Dennett had a lot of trepidation about getting into the forefront on these issues, and for the longest time he disagreed with Richard Dawkins because he thought he was too harsh. Eventually Dennett started on the offensive too because I think he realized these issues far too important (I'm really glad he did too). But he isn't seasoned for this kind of stuff I think, and despite being one of the greatest intellectuals of our day, I think he is too mild mannered for this.

Dsouza may have had a lot of tricks, but no serious thinker can take him seriously. He is at best a sharp tongued preacher with no new ideas to bring to the table.

On the other hand, 100 years from now I am willing to bet people will still be talking about Dennett's ideas.