551. Dumb and Dumber: Are Americans Hostile to Knowledge?

Comment #127788 by righton on February 15, 2008 at 3:50 pm

Compare us to Rome?

552. Dumb and Dumber: Are Americans Hostile to Knowledge?

Comment #127776 by righton on February 15, 2008 at 3:42 pm

I think its really funny when people say america is a falling empire.

Ya were on the edge of failure and destruction over here.

553. Dumb and Dumber: Are Americans Hostile to Knowledge?

Comment #127558 by righton on February 15, 2008 at 12:07 pm

If I had a pretty lady avatar I would be worried more about condescension than directly not being taken seriously. Im sure some people would be more forgiving when responding to my remarks if I had a pretty lady avatar.

554. Pleas for condemned Saudi 'witch'

Comment #126901 by righton on February 14, 2008 at 1:02 pm

I dont think rawandi is a muslim. Ive seen people ask him that a lot on here and I think its funny.

555. New meat-eating dinos identified

Comment #126897 by righton on February 14, 2008 at 12:55 pm

Why does it seem like we have found so many dinosaur fossils but only a few of neanderthal and other closely related species to H. sapiens fossils. Seems like we would find more since dinosaurs lived before/during these other species.

BTW, im an atheist. Im just wondering about this.

556. Pleas for condemned Saudi 'witch'

Comment #126892 by righton on February 14, 2008 at 12:46 pm

Oh I thought it was cause you are a muslim.

jk

Thats really interesting. Probably a good idea you didnt go, sounds dangerous and not a fun place to be.

557. Pleas for condemned Saudi 'witch'

Comment #126890 by righton on February 14, 2008 at 12:37 pm

rawandi,

Can I ask why you visited saudi? Just curious.

558. Pleas for condemned Saudi 'witch'

Comment #126868 by righton on February 14, 2008 at 11:27 am

rawandi,

holy shit. Are you serious? Its crazy how you dont here about stuff like this unless you go there.

559. Pleas for condemned Saudi 'witch'

Comment #126858 by righton on February 14, 2008 at 11:10 am

"Among her accusers was a man who alleged she made him impotent."

Ann Coulter made me impotent

560. Charles Simonyi Professorship in the Public Understanding of Science

Comment #125836 by righton on February 12, 2008 at 6:32 am

I think Michael Behe would be great for this position. ;)

561. Hitchens and Boteach Debate on God

Comment #125047 by righton on February 10, 2008 at 8:14 pm

Comment #125041

"For example, he claims to believe in evolution so long as it is guided by God, but he then goes on to make the, "where are the transitional species?" argument."

I have gotten this same thing many times when talking to christians. They will say they believe in evolution but they will continue to come up with arguments against it. It usually turns out that they only believe in parts of evolution, like "micro-evolution". I dont think the words "micro" and "macro" evolution should be used by scientists because they are misleading. A few of the christians i have talked to will say that they think micro evolution is possible but cannot not lead to a new species. They also think that macro evolution means some kind of large change(macro) into a new species.

562. Are the 'New Atheists' avoiding the 'real arguments'?

Comment #124570 by righton on February 9, 2008 at 9:09 pm

"The devil himself believes in 95% of the Nicene Creed"

"Satan is not looking forward to the day of resurrection"

Shroomer,

You know what satan believes and thinks?

563. Are the 'New Atheists' avoiding the 'real arguments'?

Comment #124254 by righton on February 8, 2008 at 11:26 pm

Cartomancer,

That was a pleasure to read.

564. Are the 'New Atheists' avoiding the 'real arguments'?

Comment #124239 by righton on February 8, 2008 at 10:27 pm

Shrommer

How about just one piece of evidence that your god exists.

565. Are the 'New Atheists' avoiding the 'real arguments'?

Comment #124238 by righton on February 8, 2008 at 10:20 pm

There is so much wrong in Comment #124231 by Shrommer that I dont even know where to start

566. Are the 'New Atheists' avoiding the 'real arguments'?

Comment #124235 by righton on February 8, 2008 at 10:17 pm

"God's love is what is bringing Muslim radicals to their senses and taking the hatred out of their hearts."

Really? Gods love is doing a really bad job of this.

567. Help Build The Reason Project Archive!

Comment #124081 by righton on February 8, 2008 at 9:57 am

"So the right to criticise someone is only granted if you have achieved an equal or greater amount than them in life?"


Yep, why, is there something wrong with that?

568. Help Build The Reason Project Archive!

Comment #123883 by righton on February 7, 2008 at 8:40 pm

gnarl,

That made no sense at all. stop.

Go to the above link lorienRyan posted, learn about what The Reason Project is about, then come back and make your criticism, thats all im saying. The criticisms above were ignorant comments made without understanding the projects aims.

Please correct me if im wrong.

Also, I only said "Sam Harris for president" because it would be great to have an atheist president not because im some kind of SH fanatic. I cant believe I got so much criticism for this. You guys are pathetic.

569. Help Build The Reason Project Archive!

Comment #123568 by righton on February 7, 2008 at 11:02 am

"Looks like righton is some sort of Sam Harris fanatic."

Id call it a man crush. This does not mean that I agree with everything he says or that I wouldnt criticize his ideas. He has written two great books and he is a scientist, like me, so I have a lot of respect for him.

570. Help Build The Reason Project Archive!

Comment #123549 by righton on February 7, 2008 at 10:39 am

Paceetrate,

As long as its constructive criticism.

"Has Sam completed his PHD yet, if not, at this rate he never will?"

This probably wont help.

Neither will repeating what five other people already said on the thread, Thats mindless.

By the way, with regards to your insults, go fuck yourself.

571. Help Build The Reason Project Archive!

Comment #123513 by righton on February 7, 2008 at 9:37 am

"Is this really how the net work? I have a feeling this is a bit like the old "dot-com" thinking: Building a "portal". "

"Has Sam completed his PHD yet, if not, at this rate he never will?"

"Isn't the secular web ( http://www.infidels.org/ ) already doing similar things?"

WTF?

Take you negative Nancy, Debbie downer attitudes eslewhere please.

If you have achieved more than Sam Harris, then, please by all means tell us your ideas. If not please SHUT THE F___ UP

What a bunch of losers.

572. Help Build The Reason Project Archive!

Comment #123511 by righton on February 7, 2008 at 9:29 am

Sam Harris for president.

This sounds like a great project and Im looking forward to seeing it in the future.

573. Christopher Hitchens Debates Timothy Jackson

Comment #123241 by righton on February 6, 2008 at 4:58 pm

Riley,

I have found the exact opposite. On countless occasions. Even my own family.

Again,

If your going to eliminate half of the beliefs of a religion then why do you need it at all.

Or, doesnt eliminating half of the bleiefs further discredit it.

I am an atheist. I work at a hospital. I was in the bathroom yesterday and a guy had his shirt off and was washing his hair in the very small bathroom sink. He was using the hand soap and his head was completely lathered. His coat and shirt were hanging over the stall and he had a bag with him also. At first I was kind of frightened because he kept making wierd noises. As I was leaving the bathroom I saw him standing up with a head full of soap, scrubbibg his head. I also noticed he did not have a towel and would have to use paper towels to dry off.
I started feeling very sorry for the guy so I quickly walked over to the cafeteria and borrowed a towel from them and broght it to him.

Some people would think they did this only because jesus taught them to treat people like this. I of course did not.

People are good natured without religion. I dont need to incorporate the supernatural into every good deed I do for other people. I helped someone I did not know and it made me feel good. Thats all, no need for Jesus or other imaginations.

So if you eliminate hell and all of the other "bad" parts of religion and reduce it to thinking that it helps you feel good and makes you a kinder person and this also turns out to be false, what do you have?

Its kind of pathetic to think that you cant be kind to others or have deep love for someone else or feel good about life without thinking that its becuase Jesus taught you to do this.

574. Christopher Hitchens Debates Timothy Jackson

Comment #123207 by righton on February 6, 2008 at 3:39 pm

This guy was definitely a liberal christian. It seemed as though he did not want to debate the existence of god. He focused on how religion is overall a good thing for society. His representation of religion/christianity was not the christianity that most people believe in in the US. It was like the softer version of christianity. Then from this standpoint he can argue the point of "we just want to be good people, whats wrong with that."

I think by using this tactic he dodged a lot of the arguments. If your going to eliminate half of the religion then why do you need it at all.

575. Letters: Theology has no place in a university

Comment #122917 by righton on February 6, 2008 at 9:18 am

Rawandi

"Not to mention the 90,000 animals that went on Noah's ark, and of course the "remains" of the ark which were "found" were the size of the boat from Gilligan's Island."

They found the Ark? Who claimed this?

576. Blasphemy

Comment #122718 by righton on February 5, 2008 at 9:28 pm

They also do an fMRI while the patient is praying. I wonder who they got these ideas from???

577. Blasphemy

Comment #122713 by righton on February 5, 2008 at 9:18 pm

Hey did anyone see this weeks "House" TV show. House rips religion the whole time. Calling people who believe "irrational" and something about blind faith giving false hope. Its pretty good.

578. 'Irrational Atheist' trounces God-deniers

Comment #122651 by righton on February 5, 2008 at 6:26 pm

""Vox Day" shouldn't just be ignored. For the sake of intellectual honesty, he should be crushed."

No he should be ignored.

579. 'Irrational Atheist' trounces God-deniers

Comment #122647 by righton on February 5, 2008 at 6:10 pm

Steve,

I definitely think you should write a book. I have thought of mentioning it to you a few times.

I have never met/emet someone who knows as much as you do on such a diverse array of topics. You have amazed me time and time again on this website.

Anyway, please do write a book and good luck with that.

Michael

580. Letters: Theology has no place in a university

Comment #122544 by righton on February 5, 2008 at 12:27 pm

I wonder what the AF stands for? :)

581. Blasphemy

Comment #122540 by righton on February 5, 2008 at 12:20 pm

Rawandi,

Wow, thats amazing. There are so many things that we dont know are going on. Where did you hear about that?

582. Letters: Theology has no place in a university

Comment #122533 by righton on February 5, 2008 at 12:13 pm

"When surveying books which claim to be messages from God, one Book stands out�"the Christian Bible. Former agnostic Josh McDowell details this in his book Evidence That Demands a Verdict and I will show many proofs on this website that the Bible is actually a supernatural book, inexplicable by natural, “human-only” means."

I could quote that entire site.

I am sick, disgusted, saddned, angered and ammused all at the same time.

583. Letters: Theology has no place in a university

Comment #122530 by righton on February 5, 2008 at 12:08 pm

Anna,

That site was so disgusting.

584. Letters: Theology has no place in a university

Comment #122455 by righton on February 5, 2008 at 9:32 am

"We are limited by time and space. God is not."

He2 knows a lot about god, maybe he is god.

585. Sprinting down the evolutionary highway

Comment #122197 by righton on February 4, 2008 at 10:45 pm

"us having manipulating our environment such that much of anything counts as unfit for survival."

Its not about being unfit for survival its about having reproductuve advantages. Yes, almost anyone can still have offspring in our manipulated environment but selection is still acting, just in a little different way. Dont forget that evolution is subtle, its more about gene frequencies (which are changing all the time) than the suvival of a specific individual. A specific gene can still give someone a selective advantage over another one in todays environment.
The chances of evolving into another species is still pretty much impossible because a large group of humans would have to be isolated from the rest of the population for many thousands of generations before you could start telling differences.

586. Functional Neuroimaging of Belief, Disbelief, and Uncertainty

Comment #122185 by righton on February 4, 2008 at 9:35 pm

your link doesnt work

587. 'Irrational Atheist' trounces God-deniers

Comment #122173 by righton on February 4, 2008 at 9:04 pm

You are all sheep. It makes me sick.

588. Some non-Christians feel left out of election

Comment #122167 by righton on February 4, 2008 at 8:55 pm

Obama for prez

589. 'Irrational Atheist' trounces God-deniers

Comment #122165 by righton on February 4, 2008 at 8:50 pm

This thread is dumming everyone down. I think we should start ignoring it. It is going nowhere and we have much better things to dicuss on other threads.

590. Sprinting down the evolutionary highway

Comment #122079 by righton on February 4, 2008 at 3:36 pm

I do hate it when people say we stopped evolving. The frequenceies of a specific gene in the worldwide population are always changing and certain genes of course can still give someone a selective advantage for reproduction over a variant of the same gene.

591. Sprinting down the evolutionary highway

Comment #122077 by righton on February 4, 2008 at 3:30 pm

Its too hard to define the selective pressure.

Because of things like wellfare and other things that help the people who do not thrive as well as "successful" people, the most fit dont have an advantage.

Actually statistics show that more of the lower class/poorer/uneducated people have more kids than upper class/educated.

Im not saying that the lower class are genetically inferior but what exactly constitutes the selective pressure. You could make the argument that poorer people have a selective advantage in the sense that they are having more children.

592. Sprinting down the evolutionary highway

Comment #122048 by righton on February 4, 2008 at 2:37 pm

A lot of you probably already know this but I will tell you anyway.

Most people carry a few mutations in important genes. What gets around this is the fact that we have two copies of almost all of our genes(one from mom and one from dad) so if one is bad the other one makes up for it. When inbreeding happens it increases the chances of getting two copies of the same mutation thus causing a genetic disease.

593. 'Irrational Atheist' trounces God-deniers

Comment #122038 by righton on February 4, 2008 at 2:24 pm

This thread is dumming everyone down. I think we should start ignoring it. It is going nowhere and we have much better things to dicuss on other threads.

594. Sprinting down the evolutionary highway

Comment #122029 by righton on February 4, 2008 at 2:16 pm

"I wonder whether the widespread habit in muslim populations of marrying cousins is restricting genetic diversity in those groups? "

It absolutely is. I work in a lab that does research on growth hormone insensitivity which is usaully caused by mutations in the growth hormone receptor.

We get samples from all over the world from people with very short stature, between 3-4ft final height. A great majority of these cases come from pakistan. We also get a lot from south america/ecuador where people live in small communities. Also, Utah.

595. Sprinting down the evolutionary highway

Comment #122018 by righton on February 4, 2008 at 1:55 pm

Sorry, off topic.

Someone should do a study on the link between alzheimers disease and religion.

I would hypothesize that it would be more prevalent in the religious and less prevalent in the atheist. My initial hpothesis is backed up by the religious not using the critical thinking parts of thier brains as much as atheists. An inactive brain has been linked to an increase in alzheimers.

596. 'Irrational Atheist' trounces God-deniers

Comment #122016 by righton on February 4, 2008 at 1:47 pm

WASTE OF TIME

597. 'Irrational Atheist' trounces God-deniers

Comment #121999 by righton on February 4, 2008 at 1:26 pm

"All I ask, all the vast majority of the billions of people of faith on the planet ask, is to be left alone to believe what we choose to believe and live how we decide to live. But the Unholy Trinity have no intention of leaving me alone".

I can just see dawkins, hitchens and harris, egging his house every nite.

598. Letters: Theology has no place in a university

Comment #121637 by righton on February 3, 2008 at 9:29 pm

dlitt,

explain you avatar, is that you?

599. Letters: Theology has no place in a university

Comment #121633 by righton on February 3, 2008 at 9:21 pm

Pascals Wager???

HAHAHAHHAHAHAAHAHH

I got this one rawandi

Booya, time of death, 914pm

600. Are Darwin's Theories Fact or Faith Issues?

Comment #121567 by righton on February 3, 2008 at 5:24 pm

Considering how racist our species is, imagine if other closely related species were around. It seems likely that we would want to kill them whenever we saw them.