1. Comment #348976 by SilentMike on March 4, 2009 at 9:24 am

"The Greates Show on Earth"

Nice :)

Other Comments by SilentMike

2. Comment #348977 by CaptainMandate on March 4, 2009 at 9:25 am

Shall reserve myself a copy!

Other Comments by CaptainMandate

3. Comment #348981 by mdowe on March 4, 2009 at 9:37 am

I am so sick of all the embedded flash shit all over the web. One of the things I love about RDN is that Josh uses straight links to downloadable files. Sadly MPR does not. The live blog comments are entertaining anyway.

Other Comments by mdowe

4. Comment #348982 by Negasta on March 4, 2009 at 9:46 am

I am so sick of all the embedded flash shit all over the web. One of the things I love about RDN is that Josh use straight links to downloadable files. Sadly MPR does not. The live blog comments are entertaining anyway.

I feel the same. Internet access in South Africa is painfully slow and the only way to properly listen to podcasts etc. is to fully download them to your PC first.

From what I could glean from the Liveblog, the host was a typicxal silly Xian nutter and Prof. Dawkins was his usual calm and composed self.

Other Comments by Negasta

5. Comment #348984 by TheLordHumungus on March 4, 2009 at 10:09 am

Richard says in the interview:

Rather than just automatically say, "Oh I am episcopalian or I am Lutheran or I am catholic." Think, "No, wait a minute am I? What do I actually think about this?"

I love how simple this thought is, and it is all that it takes to start unraveling childhood indoctrination for some reasonable thinkers out there. Keep up the good work Richard! Glad to know you are among us here in the states.

Other Comments by TheLordHumungus

6. Comment #348985 by gusg on March 4, 2009 at 10:10 am

@mdowe

I second that emotion. I prefer being able to download mp3 versions of the audio and listening to them later.

anyone know if this is available anywhere as a download? I tried the links presented in the article header but they're all embedded flash.

Other Comments by gusg

7. Comment #348990 by black wolf on March 4, 2009 at 10:28 am

Richard Dawkins's lecture at MSU:

http://rapidshare.com/files/204868708/World_View_Lecture_Series.mp3

and another:
http://www.mediafire.com/?gmxybzz3qmb

links provided by
http://www.palanski.com/2009/03/richard-dawkins-at-msu-downloadable.html

Other Comments by black wolf

8. Comment #348991 by TheLordHumungus on March 4, 2009 at 10:32 am

Richard gave a great response to that first guy, the lutheran fellow that called in. So, what the hell with the host completely cutting him off and not getting to hear his response to Richard? Fail.

Other Comments by TheLordHumungus

9. Comment #348992 by SilentMike on March 4, 2009 at 10:35 am

8. Comment #348991 by TheLordHumungus

Yeah. I thought that was strange too.

Other Comments by SilentMike

10. Comment #348994 by mrjohnno on March 4, 2009 at 10:39 am

8. Comment #348991 by TheLordHumungus

More time to hear RD talk?

Johnno

Other Comments by mrjohnno

11. Comment #348996 by kluv0008 on March 4, 2009 at 10:44 am

I'm usually a fan of Kerri Miller (she's an excellent interviewer and very well-read). But she seemed genuinely defensive and unable to understand Richard's point for the first 15 minutes of the interview. This seems to have lead to some redundancy in her questioning which kind of annoyed me.

Other Comments by kluv0008

12. Comment #348997 by dochmbi on March 4, 2009 at 10:47 am

I think those who call themselves Christians without actually believing in the majority of the woo just want to say that they have moral principles, that they hold to moral system.

If they learned about humanism, I bet many of them would call themselves humanists instead.

Also, I think it would be better to campaign for secular humanism rather than against religion. The two aren't even incompatible with each other, especially when talking about religious moderates.

Other Comments by dochmbi

13. Comment #348998 by TheLordHumungus on March 4, 2009 at 10:47 am

10. Comment #348994 by mrjohnno

More time to hear RD talk?

We didn't even get to hear that, though. In place of what would have been an interesting response by the apologist, we got to hear a fellow non-believer talk about how great Richard is, which I agree with, but would rather have heard the response from the lutheran guy.

Other Comments by TheLordHumungus

14. Comment #349000 by Gregg Townsend on March 4, 2009 at 10:51 am

kluv0008,

You seem familiar with the interviewer--who I thought had a marvelous speaking voice. Is she frequently that adversarial? I've heard other interviews with Richard on National Public Radio and they usually treat him more even handedly. Is she a devout believer do you think? She seemed unduly offended by Richard's arguments.

--edit-- Mind you, I thought it was very entertaining, nonetheless.

Other Comments by Gregg Townsend

15. Comment #349001 by Dhamma on March 4, 2009 at 10:56 am

How can anyone accuse Richard of being rude and strident? I think it's very rude to claim he's rude and strident, when the religious are often far more strident themselves.

Richard is very humble and carefully considers his answers. This was a great interview.

Other Comments by Dhamma

16. Comment #349002 by TheLordHumungus on March 4, 2009 at 10:59 am

After Richard explained himself as the level 6.5 atheist. Kerri Miller says:

You're covering all bases, you realize that?

And Pascal's wager is a better alternative way of covering all of our bases?

Other Comments by TheLordHumungus

17. Comment #349003 by Isherwood on March 4, 2009 at 11:00 am

11. Comment #348996 by kluv0008 on March 4, 2009 at 10:44 am
I'm usually a fan of Kerri Miller (she's an excellent interviewer and very well-read). But she seemed genuinely defensive and unable to understand Richard's point for the first 15 minutes of the interview. This seems to have lead to some redundancy in her questioning which kind of annoyed me.

I thought so too, at first, then I decided she was just doing a good job of playing creatard's advocate for the benefit of the interview.

Other Comments by Isherwood

18. Comment #349004 by NewEnglandBob on March 4, 2009 at 11:06 am

17. Comment #349003 by Isherwood:

I agree, Kerri Miller was playing interviewer, she showed that when she talked about Steven Pinker's words about morality and neuroscience.

Other Comments by NewEnglandBob

19. Comment #349007 by Fuzzy Duck on March 4, 2009 at 11:17 am

I REALLY wish I was back home in Minneapolis tonight... damn it...

-Kevin Schreck

Other Comments by Fuzzy Duck

20. Comment #349008 by TheLordHumungus on March 4, 2009 at 11:19 am

Great job by Richard here. Handled the defensiveness of the host perfectly, and if this didn't get at least a few moderate type people to start really thinking about what they really believe in I don't know what will.

I wish that we could get a national interview of Richard here in the states that is as in depth as that one was in his core arguments. No more of these 1 minute long let's-hear-what-the-silly-atheist-has-to-say interviews on CNN or FOX.

Other Comments by TheLordHumungus

21. Comment #349009 by mrjohnno on March 4, 2009 at 11:19 am

13. Comment #348998 by TheLordHumungus

I guess I would rather have the chance of him saying something which I had not heard before. Thinking about what you say and where he is, I also guess I would have to agree with what you say.

[edit] here in the states

Fair enough



Johnno

Other Comments by mrjohnno

22. Comment #349010 by Fujikoma on March 4, 2009 at 11:19 am

The one thing I like about this site is that most of the stuff is in a downloadable file format. I can't listen to this stuff at work and having no internet at home (library is too slow) requires me to download during breaks. It's nice to sit down at home and listen to it without interruption.

Other Comments by Fujikoma

23. Comment #349011 by ina.j on March 4, 2009 at 11:21 am

I am in absolute defense of the interviewer. She was great. Biased? Yes. But inquisitive and not patronising. Thumbs up.

Other Comments by ina.j

24. Comment #349012 by TheLordHumungus on March 4, 2009 at 11:26 am

23. Comment #349011 by ina.j

I agree, even though she was biased and defensive, the final product of the interview ended up representing him, as well as us, in an accurate way.

Other Comments by TheLordHumungus

25. Comment #349013 by phasmagigas on March 4, 2009 at 11:27 am

Riachard says at 44mins 'because i dont have the right kind of brain' (comparing himself to physicists)

thats quite hilarious.

seriously though the variation of capability of brains is quite astounding, when i see some mathematician playing with equations I simply wonder what happens inside their heads, whatever it is it doesnt happen in mine.

Other Comments by phasmagigas

26. Comment #349015 by LeeLeeOne on March 4, 2009 at 11:28 am

One of the many interviews by Prof. Dawkins that I have enjoyed. Many thanks to Josh, Prof. Dawkins, and MPR. I support RD.net when and where I can. I also support Pulic Radio, whether it be National Public Radio or International public radio. These are the type of conversations that are vital to education!

Once again, thank you RD.net, and thank you to all of its contributors, whether monetary or commentary.

Other Comments by LeeLeeOne

27. Comment #349017 by mrjohnno on March 4, 2009 at 11:34 am

It was OK. Her questions regarding death shows no thought in that the desire to not die indicates a desire to live.

Johnno

[edit] not die

Other Comments by mrjohnno

28. Comment #349019 by debaser71 on March 4, 2009 at 12:05 pm

awwww did the interviewer have her feelings hurt? she annoyed me

Other Comments by debaser71

29. Comment #349020 by LeeLeeOne on March 4, 2009 at 12:12 pm

The NEAR DEATH EXPERIENCE (near death experience aka NDR) is scientifically provable to be the symbiotic respone to stimuli, i.e., a brain is dying and may resort to self-survival mode. Thanks Johnno for pointing out that one desire does not automatically include another. What I find most stimulating is that Prof. Dawkins does not stop, there is always a question to be answered.

Other Comments by LeeLeeOne

30. Comment #349023 by fotomatt on March 4, 2009 at 12:16 pm

Jesus has shone his sweet light upon us and miraculously caused an MP3 version of Richard's interview to appear on the MPR site. 8~P

=====
Dawkins seeks more converts to atheism

Richard Dawkins says atheists should be just as forthright in their views as those who believe God is real. The prominent atheist talks about why he wants to convert more to his way of thinking. (Broadcast 03/04/2009)
=====
Direct DL:
http://download.publicradio.org/podcast/news/midmorning/2009/03/04_midmorn1_pod_32.mp3

Other Comments by fotomatt

31. Comment #349028 by nogodsever on March 4, 2009 at 12:48 pm

Richard, why are you giving credence to the deist concept of god here, saying that it a 'reasonable argument' can be made for one? This seems like a big step back from what you have said previously. A deist god is only marginally more reasonable that a theist one.

Other Comments by nogodsever

32. Comment #349031 by therealclimber on March 4, 2009 at 1:03 pm

Great interview!

I feel the argument about the "finely tuned" cosmological constants could be viewed from a different perspective.

Why should we confine this sort of argument to the cosmological constants? What about pi or e?
Can pi be "tuned" to have a value other than what it has now?

Does the fact that the number 1 has a value of exactly 1 mean that that a divine power had to intervene to invent integers?

The whole argument of "the universe had to be tuned for life" seems non sequitur to me.

Other Comments by therealclimber

33. Comment #349037 by Stafford Gordon on March 4, 2009 at 1:16 pm

For some annoying reason I've not been able to access "Don't Say a Word" by C Hitchins; I get referred to The Four Horsemen, which was emailed to me shortly after it was produced.

This is my first chance to let Josh know about this problem; and to thank you, Josh, for my enjoyment of the RD Website.

Regards

Stafford.

Other Comments by Stafford Gordon

34. Comment #349043 by Abdul al-Hazred on March 4, 2009 at 1:25 pm

Big Bang,


How is Harun Yahya doing in prison? Is he out yet? How about this, we set up a debate between Richard Dawkins and the girls Harun Yahya had raped? How about that, would that work?

I tend to trust Harun Yahya, many a great man was an interior decorator before becoming a completely narcissistic quack. In fact wasn't muhammad himself an interior decorator for a few years in Mecca.

"No no you put the camel picture here"
"I think you want mud colored drapes here"
"There is so much we could do with this space... jihad...."

Other Comments by Abdul al-Hazred

35. Comment #349046 by Mark Jones on March 4, 2009 at 1:29 pm

Thanks for putting this up, enjoyed it.

I think RD has often talked about the deistic god, in the Einsteinian or Spinozan sense, as being more probable than the theistic god. Saying that one can imagine an argument being made for such a thing, but one cannot entertain virgin births, doesn't seem unreasonable. Doesn't mean, as he says, that he believes in it.

Other Comments by Mark Jones

36. Comment #349048 by Manu on March 4, 2009 at 1:39 pm

I am not sure conversion is the right thing ! I think conversion is a form of psychological violence. When one converts, one is not accepting the other and wants the other to think like one! This is exactly what is objectionable about Muslims and Christians who go about converting people with strong conviction and religious zeal. If the believer wants to live a lie he should feel free to do just that.

Dawkins is a actual a truth seeker, a person who has seen a beautiful scenery and wants to share that, out of compassion with fellow human beings, this is not conversion but sharing and wanting the other to enjoy the pleasure of that sensation of sight.

I do not think he is converting. I think that interviewer was good.

Cheers

Other Comments by Manu

37. Comment #349050 by Bullet-Magnet on March 4, 2009 at 1:47 pm

I thought he did particularly well in expressing our arguments in that interview.

Other Comments by Bullet-Magnet

38. Comment #349055 by andygaffey on March 4, 2009 at 2:07 pm

Is RD a Mr now, or is he still a Prof now that he's retired?

I think RD had it spot on when he said (in a previous interview) that if there is a god he (it) is "in the integers/universal constants" in which case there's no point praying to him (it). Or that he (it) is the theistic type god in which case he (it) is clearly not worth praying to due to all the evil and bad things that he (it) wilfully allows to happen in the world.

Of the two scenarios only the first makes sense, which means the options are to be an atheist (like us) or a theist. He clearly doesn't support the idea of deism. If you take on a deist position don't you have to provide evidence on why your god is the right god and everyone else's is the wrong god?

This seems consistent with him supporting the idea of challenging the deistic god idea in a debate, but not entertaining the idea of debating with a theist.

As far as the battle of Hastings goes there would be many accounts of it from numerous sources that would give a good idea of what happened and there would be archeological evidence at the battle scene to support the written accounts. If Jesus really rose from the dead are we to assume that every one else rose from the dead from the same era? If we agree those sources are talking nonsense about the other resurrection stories, why believe the one about Jesus?

Can't wait 'til the new books out.

Other Comments by andygaffey

39. Comment #349058 by Friend Giskard on March 4, 2009 at 2:15 pm

She just described Polkinghorn as an intellectual. I think my sides have just split!

Other Comments by Friend Giskard

40. Comment #349062 by Enlightenme.. on March 4, 2009 at 2:25 pm

7. Comment #348990 by black wolf on March 4, 2009 at 10:28 am
Richard Dawkins's lecture at MSU:

htt[snip]

links provided by[snip]

------------------
Following link supplied leads to a blog where Richard has left a comment requesting the blogger pulls down his ipod recordings.

I decided I will wait to watch Josh's recordings.

Other Comments by Enlightenme..

41. Comment #349068 by Fuller on March 4, 2009 at 2:53 pm

The interviewer was quite annoying.

Other Comments by Fuller

42. Comment #349069 by Friend Giskard on March 4, 2009 at 3:04 pm

OK. Finished listening. I think Richard did a good job there. I'm sure he's made some listeners think.

The interviewer seemed genuinely surprised at first by Richard's complete lack of dogmatism. It was as though she had got all her prior knowledge of Richard from his lying critics.

Other Comments by Friend Giskard

43. Comment #349071 by Sciros on March 4, 2009 at 3:10 pm

I think the interviewer did well. It doesn't really matter what she "really" thought, because what she basically did was pose to Richard the questions so many people unfamiliar with his position or science in general would want to ask. That may be why the calls seemed so redundant at times -- she knew what questions people wanted Richard to answer.

Other Comments by Sciros

44. Comment #349072 by Fuller on March 4, 2009 at 3:12 pm

The interviewer seemed genuinely surprised at first by Richard's complete lack of dogmatism. It was as though she had got all her prior knowledge of Richard from his lying critics.

Exactly, and it shows how widespread this misconception of Dawkins, and atheism itself, is.

But I don't think that excuses the interviewer. She didn't research well enough.

Other Comments by Fuller

45. Comment #349074 by Thurston on March 4, 2009 at 3:22 pm

A very interesting discussion. I worried that the interviewer was a little antagonistic at first, but it settled into a calm and pleasant conversation and (once again!) challenged the absurd notion that Richard Dawkins is a fundamentalist atheist.

Other Comments by Thurston

46. Comment #349075 by pw201 on March 4, 2009 at 3:31 pm

I didn't think the interviewer was rude or aggressive. Her directness and RD's produced an interesting discussion, I'd say.

Other Comments by pw201

47. Comment #349076 by quanTim Leap on March 4, 2009 at 3:31 pm

Enlightenme..

I was about to download that as well but decided not to after reading Richards comment.

Other Comments by quanTim Leap

48. Comment #349077 by mrjonno on March 4, 2009 at 3:44 pm

Is it my imagination but all the callers even the religious ones seem to be remarkable sane. All the other American talk shows I've heard before seem to have callers who are border line psychopaths who sound like they have just come back from a lynching ( apoligises if this got posted twice browser problem)

Other Comments by mrjonno

49. Comment #349084 by SmartLX on March 4, 2009 at 4:03 pm

Is it just me or, one minute in, did she say "The Selfish Geme"?

Other Comments by SmartLX

50. Comment #349085 by Nails on March 4, 2009 at 4:12 pm

Evolution.

The greatest show on earth, the only game in town.

I've seen RD in one T-shirt, maybe he has plans to sell some more to plug the book?

Count me in for an XL!

Other Comments by Nails