1. Comment #431203 by JSB2024 on November 11, 2009 at 9:22 pm

Very good. I am sick of getting slapped with the 'New Atheism' slur. Well done Professor Dawkins.

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2. Comment #431246 by wbreim on November 11, 2009 at 11:30 pm

yay finally this is on youtube. i went to that convention but I flew in to washington DC at like 6am and spent the whole day walking around the city(first time there) and went to the convention talks later that day. I ended up dozing off during parts of the richard's talk!! which was around 7-8pm i was sooo tired from walking around for 6 hours.
I think he caught me too :( i felt horrible.

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3. Comment #431313 by Shiva on November 12, 2009 at 7:58 am

I like it when you have the vids available for download as well :) I usually split out the audio file and put it on my mp3 player ;D

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4. Comment #431440 by gumed85 on November 12, 2009 at 8:23 pm

I wish they put some subtitles on these videos... my ear is not so good for english :(

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5. Comment #431481 by Conjoiner on November 12, 2009 at 10:32 pm

Shiva (or Josh) - can you explain how to get the audio-only versions of all these videos for mp3 players? I drive a lot for my work and find this the only time to catch up on these things... thanks.

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6. Comment #431505 by filipesmg on November 12, 2009 at 11:55 pm

Great talk! Thanks for sharing it on youtube.

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7. Comment #431555 by Jos Gibbons on November 13, 2009 at 7:40 am

Comment #431481 by Conjoiner

I'll oblige. Once you get a video (in any format), use a program called Any Audio Converter (download from http://is.gd/4TYE0), which can convert any audio or video you choose to any audio format you choose.

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8. Comment #431576 by Follow Peter Egan on November 13, 2009 at 1:02 pm

Hmmm. Doesn't seem to want to play after about 30 mins.

Probably my PC playing at silly buggers.

Shame, I was enjoying that!

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9. Comment #431786 by Spinoza on November 14, 2009 at 3:02 pm

Atheists are atheists, but some are more atheist than others. :)

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10. Comment #432065 by HKSARblog on November 16, 2009 at 6:03 am

At 47:15, Richard says about the topic [to believe in something in the absence of evidence, which is taught by moderate middle-of-the-road religious teachers]:

If you believe that, then if you have any tendency towards extremism at all, then there’s really nothing to stop you from pushing your extreme views to the logical conclusion; which is to kill people. Why would you not? If you have been persuaded that this is what Allah wants you do, or Jehovah wants you to do. And you really really really truly believe it and you’ve been taught to really really truly believe it by those moderate teachers, then why wouldn’t you blow people up, blow yourself up, etc?

Richard’s rational reasoning has been proved correct (again). This is why bending to religious apologists is wrong.

The scary thing is that Nidal Malik Hasan (the muslim US army psychiatrist who killed 13 and injured 30 at Fort Hood military base on 5 November 2009) showed no signs or symptoms of “extremism”. This has been highlighted by interviews with people who knew him and who, by all accounts, describe Hasan as a “moderate”.

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/11/15/us/15hasan.html?_r=1&scp=5&sq=fort hood&st=cse

Which is why I am all for people to declare their religious beliefs (e.g. in politics, law, medicine and science) because if people are truly religious while simultaneously are apparently “educated and of good standing” in society, then this indicates an inconsistency of the mind that should be acknowledged. If there is the slightest sign that expert views and professional work are being influenced or compromised by religion, then red flags must be raised.

Apparently, Hasan’s last known words to his neighbour was: “I am going to do God’s work”. Prior to that, Hasan had given academic presentations that exhibited signs that he was influenced by religious beliefs. Red flags.

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11. Comment #432373 by King of NH on November 17, 2009 at 1:36 am

Echoing Richard:

Thank you, Josh. This website has been a joyful sanctuary of reason, humor, and science and it has been a privilege to see so many absolutely wonderful lectures and conversations by such amazing individuals. Thank you. If I ever make it to a talk, I owe you a beer. We can talk and let Richard film it.

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