1. Open Letter to a victim of Ben Stein's lying propaganda

Comment #164801 by BigChiefRainInFace on April 20, 2008 at 5:47 pm

Cooperation helps the group, and thus the individuals within it survive.
This is beneficial.

I'm surprised this is a question that actually had to be asked.

2. Discussion between Richard Dawkins and Paula Kirby

Comment #157395 by BigChiefRainInFace on April 9, 2008 at 3:28 am

Thank you very much for that, I enjoyed it immensely.

3. Richard Dawkins on The Big Questions

Comment #157203 by BigChiefRainInFace on April 8, 2008 at 4:53 pm

I hope the narrow mindedness and bigotry of most of the people on the show is a testament to the talent of the shows' producers to find wackos. It would be depressing if even in Britain these specimens were commonplace. They're not, are they?

4. Happy Birthday, Richard Dawkins!

Comment #150627 by BigChiefRainInFace on March 27, 2008 at 7:34 am

Best wishes from Romania! I would like to dedicate to you one of my favorite poems from our most celebrated poet, Mihai Eminescu. It was written in the 19th century and recently translated into English. I hope you will enjoy it.



Up to the star

Up to the star that's just appeared
The journey's long, and so
For thousand years its light's careered
To reach us here, below.

It may have faded on its way
Of old, in blue spheres bright
Though only now its shining ray
Unfolds to this our sight.

The image of the star that died
Comes slowly to the fore;
It used to be when it would hide -
We see what is no more.

And likewise, while our yearning dove
Died in the deepest night,
The light of the extinguished love
Still follows us in flight.



Happy Birthday, Professor!

5. The Salamander's Tale

Comment #132355 by BigChiefRainInFace on February 24, 2008 at 4:10 pm

Fascinating!

I eventually want to read all of RD's books, but I can't decide which to begin next; they are all so interesting!

6. Happy Birthday Josh Timonen!

Comment #118787 by BigChiefRainInFace on January 31, 2008 at 1:34 am

Happy Birthday! And a million thank yous:

http://www.yonkis.com/mediaflash/unmillon.htm

7. Richard Dawkins on The Big Debate

Comment #117823 by BigChiefRainInFace on January 29, 2008 at 6:23 pm

I thought the host was brilliant. Is it just me or are British hosts vastly superior in professionalism and intellect to their American counterparts?

Notice faith-school supporters were repeatedly backed into a corner where they had to redefine, avoid the question, attempt a diversion and finally throughly murky the waters with wishy-washy pseudo poetic nonsense.

Richard Dawkins' points were clear and rational. The opposition hardly had a point at all. The muslim chap was especially sinister; I could almost feel his anger as he was being exposed as the power-hungry addict to a random brand of insanity that he really is.

Why does the bishop even bother with the faith? He seemed rather useless in the debate as he would hold no particular view at all on any issue, always being careful to leave a way out or a different interpretation should he ever be required to justify his position.

This was one of the rarer occasions where Richard Dawkins was not alone on the side of rationality in a debate. I found that very refreshing.

8. Richard Dawkins on The Late Edition with Marcus Brigstocke

Comment #109857 by BigChiefRainInFace on January 10, 2008 at 12:23 am

For a moment there I feared he was going to invite RD to dance.

9. Sam Harris debate with Rabbi David Wolpe

Comment #107412 by BigChiefRainInFace on January 4, 2008 at 1:14 pm

Any chance of a downloadable link please?

10. CBC News: Sunday - Richard Dawkins

Comment #100370 by BigChiefRainInFace on December 18, 2007 at 2:32 pm

"Are those people that say they have had a religious experience deluded?" RD: "I think they are"

The answer, although correct, might turn off less people if it included an acknowledgment that these experiences can be transformative and profound to the person. Something along the lines of what Dennet would say (it is a wonderful moment, why assume it must have been given to you by something even more wonderful?) or Harris (let's study these phenomena in a way that transcends the local religions and myths commonly and mistakenly associated with it).

Very clear explanations and laudable patience by the Professor.

11. Synthetic DNA on the Brink of Yielding New Life Forms

Comment #99638 by BigChiefRainInFace on December 17, 2007 at 8:31 am

Intelligent robots vs intelligent artificial life forms - who will dominate the planet in 50 years?

12. Banishing the Green-Eyed Monster

Comment #91907 by BigChiefRainInFace on November 29, 2007 at 2:32 pm

I think the Professor is on to something and his message is thought provoking.

I didn't follow the Clinton scandal but I think it was an uninspired choice to illustrate his point. The article gives the impression of being crammed with too many controversial issues that are supposed to enforce each other. Instead, if you attack one argument convincingly, it seems to fall like a castle of cards.

Perhaps it was years of dealing with religious ignorance of evolution (as opposed to a moment of inspiration) that has created the crystal-clarity arguments in TGD; I think we've all seen that his media appearances have gotten more powerful and concise as time went by, no doubt as a result of being confronted with misunderstanding and fair criticism of the way he expresses his ideas.

If that is the case, can we view this article as a first attempt, a mighty swing at the issue and expect its central theme to be better represented in the future?

13. Evolution to be taught in SA schools

Comment #82841 by BigChiefRainInFace on October 28, 2007 at 2:29 am

White light is the summation of all visible wavelenghts while dark is the absence of those wavelenghts. I find that offensive because it's saying black people are worse than white people. Therefore, it should not be taught in schools.

14. Debate between Michael Shermer and Dinesh D'Souza

Comment #80602 by BigChiefRainInFace on October 22, 2007 at 10:01 am

Shermers' talk on TED lead me to believe he would not tolerate any statement made in the absence of evidence or contradicting it. He had no trouble ridiculing claims of aliens flying UFOs, making crop circles in the middle of the night, marijuana dowsers etc. Why is he being so lenient on religion?

Where's his "claims that UFOs are actually aliens visiting us have done both good and bad, the question is have they done more good or more bad?" speech? Nowhere, because he doesn't need that to know that the claims are ridiculous.

Looks like he bought the "let's not rock the boat" mentality when it comes to religion. I was expecting a sharper Shermer.

15. We Few, We Happy Few, We Band of Brothers

Comment #76395 by BigChiefRainInFace on October 5, 2007 at 5:41 pm

Martha, if I'm not mistaken that observation was made with regards to the Milgram Experiment ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Milgram_experiment ). It shows that we are disturbingly likely to go against our moral values when faced with instructions from an authoritative figure.

16. Debate between Richard Dawkins and John Lennox

Comment #76351 by BigChiefRainInFace on October 5, 2007 at 3:22 pm

I found the christian comments fascinating and disturbing at the same time. There was no apparent fear of questioning their belief, they seemed quite honest in their pursuit for truth and unaware of how odd their statements sound. For example:

This was an exciting exchange. Being a father of four, the part in which the two scholars spoke on kids questioning truth I fully agree with. I want my children to have the critical thinking skills, so they know why they believe in Jesus and live out their life of faith! Keep more of this coming, it was great!