151. 'Probably' the best atheist bus campaign ever

Comment #271108 by JAMCAM87 on October 25, 2008 at 10:23 am

Scottishgeologist,

God doesn't hate cows silly - they don't have souls. It's obvious that god is indirectly punishing the farmer.

152. 'Probably' the best atheist bus campaign ever

Comment #271082 by JAMCAM87 on October 25, 2008 at 9:51 am

http://uk.youtube.com/watch'v=X3a0g4-gHfQ

atheist bus referred to on "Have I got news for you" last night.

153. 'Probably' the best atheist bus campaign ever

Comment #271035 by JAMCAM87 on October 25, 2008 at 7:19 am

MaxD

Music to my ears.

154. 'Probably' the best atheist bus campaign ever

Comment #271029 by JAMCAM87 on October 25, 2008 at 7:14 am

Where is isthatclear from? And why can he not spell?

155. 'Probably' the best atheist bus campaign ever

Comment #271022 by JAMCAM87 on October 25, 2008 at 7:08 am

Paul, that was hilarious. :)

156. 'Probably' the best atheist bus campaign ever

Comment #271017 by JAMCAM87 on October 25, 2008 at 7:01 am

"JAMCAM, as well as probably ripping off tax payers, I also wonder how long that money took to raise. Why did dodgy dave not just write a cheque?"

Yeh with the royalties from his book? Wait a minute - nobody bought his "book"!

157. 'Probably' the best atheist bus campaign ever

Comment #270990 by JAMCAM87 on October 25, 2008 at 5:30 am

200. Comment #270940 by David A Robertson

Wow, what a truly ignorant post that was DR.

"You are now so desperate that you feel you have to advertise that there is probably no God."

Yet, your post REEKS of desperation.

"This is a real gift to Christians like myself who want people to think about the position."

Why don't you just admit that free-thinking is precisely the ANTITHESIS of religion and that these ads scare the shit out of you.

"default position" and "except to keep the masses in their proper place"

glad to hear you admit this.

"oh so frightened"

again desperation

"To set it in context our local Baptist Church in Dundee has just spent £1,250,000 on building a community centre besides its building."

which government coffer did you rob for this? who were the innocent, unawares that were duped into donating to you?

also the sum is now above 100k and rising every day. this was raised in one week and will continue to rise for the next couple of months. anyway, are you judging a cause based on how much it can raise in funds?

158. All aboard the atheist bus campaign

Comment #270409 by JAMCAM87 on October 24, 2008 at 6:18 am

isthatclear

"Yes I read it. God delusion, Blind watchmaker
Seriously! And I read Vanity Fair too"

Vanity Fair' The Blind Watchmaker' These novels require a reading age of at least 10 years old. How on earth did you manage'

159. All aboard the atheist bus campaign

Comment #269880 by JAMCAM87 on October 23, 2008 at 12:16 pm

Quote from British Humanist Association:

"Of course there are always some critical comments. There have been numerous suggestions for changes to the wording, major and minor. We appreciate all this feedback, but there would never, ever be a slogan which everyone would be entirely happy with, and everyone who has their own ideas seems to feel that their modification is the only one that would need to be made! One person offers an idea because they think we should be less "presumptious", another suggests that the slogan is already too "soft"! One person says they're agnostic and it's too atheistic, another says that "probably" isn't sure enough of itself! So, in reality, we have hopefully found a balance between the possible "routes" that this bus could have taken, and it's reassuring that despite a handful of criticisms of the negative beginning to the statement ("There's probably no God") the overall message is laidback, positive, and refreshing.
More than half the number of members who join the BHA in a usual month, joined in a single day between Tuesday and Wednesday! It seems that, quibbles aside, Ariane's advert has tapped into an undercurrent of thought which wants to shrug in the face of religious slogans.
Thank you for all your support."

160. All aboard the atheist bus campaign

Comment #269692 by JAMCAM87 on October 23, 2008 at 8:39 am

Comment #269552 by isthatclear

Sometimes your posts come across as the most witty and rythmic prose. If it was satire it would be spot on.

But it's not satire is it' Please tell me you are Diancanu in disguise'

161. All aboard the atheist bus campaign

Comment #269453 by JAMCAM87 on October 23, 2008 at 2:06 am

Comment #269448 by nalfeshnee

"I suspect a lot of people dislike eminent scientists saying clever things because they know they will never be able to."

Spot on.

The british public and media HATE intellectuals. Richard makes journalists look like a bunch of intellectual lightweights (I refer to his encounter with Madeleine Bunting).

"We can just underline it and let the world see them for what they are."

The best tactic in my opinion.

162. All aboard the atheist bus campaign

Comment #269442 by JAMCAM87 on October 23, 2008 at 1:46 am

Dr Doctor,

Thank you for your post.

I have been given my fair share of contempt from friends for expressing my contempt for religion. And you are right that the whole "militant" atheist thing is really catching on.

We are suffering from bad publicity just like the feminists do.

Last week when I was having lunch someone was talking about Dawkins and then another girl said "I think Dawkins is a knob-end". Neither of them are christians to my utter astonishment. Neither of them have read his books which didn't surprise me.

So where is all this bad publicity coming from' Mainly the newspapers I think. Journalists are so incredibly reactionary and even the more liberal papers constantly attack Richard and atheism. Writers like Madelien Bunting et al. in the guardian are particularly bad.

In conclusion: journalists are fucking stupid. I think underlying it is also a contempt for Darwinism and for science.

163. All aboard the atheist bus campaign

Comment #268305 by JAMCAM87 on October 21, 2008 at 4:48 pm

Phil,

Don't you think that any publicity is good publicity?

164. All aboard the atheist bus campaign

Comment #268294 by JAMCAM87 on October 21, 2008 at 4:32 pm

Diacanu,

It's a temporary phase of harmless consciousness raising but I can see your concern. We shouldn't HAVE to put up these slogans. They are a protest not a recruitment device. Like "Make Poverty History". Maybe that's the way to look at it.

165. All aboard the atheist bus campaign

Comment #268292 by JAMCAM87 on October 21, 2008 at 4:27 pm

141. Comment #268284 by Richard Dawkins on October 21, 2008 at 4:19 pm

Would anyone else like for the donations to reach the millions stage just so that we can really test Richard's bank balance? :)

I'm not THAT generous (or that stupid)! Read the article more carefully:

Richard Dawkins, bestselling author of The God Delusion, has generously agreed to match all contributions up to a maximum of £5,500, giving us a total of £11,000 if we raise the full amount.

Richard

166. All aboard the atheist bus campaign

Comment #268287 by JAMCAM87 on October 21, 2008 at 4:20 pm

Lem,

"I'd certainly put a lot of support behind a campaign against faith schools."

The most disastrous Labour policy ever instigated was increasing the number of faith schools. Although, to be fair to the scottish Labour party, Jack McConnell did so much to reduce sectarianism in Scotland.

167. All aboard the atheist bus campaign

Comment #268275 by JAMCAM87 on October 21, 2008 at 4:09 pm

Would anyone else like for the donations to reach the millions stage just so that we can really test Richard's bank balance? :)

168. All aboard the atheist bus campaign

Comment #268271 by JAMCAM87 on October 21, 2008 at 4:02 pm

Lemniscate

"Think for yourself. Atheism."

This has the perfect ring to it. How about

Atheism: the only rational position.

or

Atheism: No god, One life.

or

Atheism: godless, but full of life.

169. All aboard the atheist bus campaign

Comment #268248 by JAMCAM87 on October 21, 2008 at 3:26 pm

Is it too late to change the slogan?

Why not:

"There is as much evidence for God as there is for the Flying Spaghetti monster. (Insert picture of FSM)"

I think Britain has a habit of using bossy ads and slogans like "Now wash your hands please". In fact we are bombarded with Do's and Don'ts. I would hate for this ad to come across like that.

170. All aboard the atheist bus campaign

Comment #268221 by JAMCAM87 on October 21, 2008 at 2:36 pm

"Stop worrying" can be interpreted three ways:

1) Stop worrying about the afterlife, sin, guilt etc and live your life which is the obvious reading.

2) Stop worrying about whether there is a God or not.

3)Stop stressing because your religion is damaging to your mental health.

That's why it's the only part of the slogan I don't like. But I am excited about the campaign and have donated.

171. All aboard the atheist bus campaign

Comment #268208 by JAMCAM87 on October 21, 2008 at 2:21 pm

Ian I share your excitement too and haven't heard anyone come up with a better slogan.

172. All aboard the atheist bus campaign

Comment #268203 by JAMCAM87 on October 21, 2008 at 2:07 pm

I dislike the "stop worrying" part.

The slogan should read:

"There's no evidence for God. So why so sure?"

Or something like that which targets those that don't think much about it - they are the sort of people we need to win over. However, I think the general tone of the ad is positive and I also think that no matter what they said it would be torn to shreds by the lovely folk on this site. :)

173. All aboard the atheist bus campaign

Comment #268152 by JAMCAM87 on October 21, 2008 at 1:08 pm

The sum is now £37,690.08.

Well done! The power of publicity eh? Join the facebook group and help spread the word.

174. All aboard the atheist bus campaign

Comment #268134 by JAMCAM87 on October 21, 2008 at 12:49 pm

Just donated a measly £5. But I am a student so please forgive me.

175. Death for apostasy?

Comment #266473 by JAMCAM87 on October 19, 2008 at 3:13 am

It is true that the death penalty is not enforced in the majority of cases, but the majority of cases occur either in western countries or in more liberal pockets in India and Turkey.

The lack of enforcement is due to a triumph of human nature which has managed to overide the dogma implanted in the minds of those infected.

176. God is not the enemy of reason

Comment #266303 by JAMCAM87 on October 18, 2008 at 3:28 pm

Comment #266298 by gazzaofbath

"Maybe we could think of a half decent argument ourselves! A bit like the silly undergraduate exercises I remember joining in trying to think of arguments that might persuade you the earth could be flat."

It just isn't worth posing an argument for the existence of God. But while we are at it, lets pose an argument for the existence of the greek gods as well. There are no skyhooks. There is no supernatural. End of.

What is a greatly more difficult question is how we should live our lives when there is no inherent purpose in the universe.

177. God is not the enemy of reason

Comment #266274 by JAMCAM87 on October 18, 2008 at 2:10 pm

"God-like status awarded to Richard Dawkins"
"characteristics of religious fanaticism"

There is just no pleasing the religious. We "worship" Dawkins and have the "characteristics" of a religious group. We have all the things that they admire in themselves but it's just not good enough! When we are devoid of belief it's bad and when we worship the "holy text" of the Origin it's also bad. We can't win.

I just love the "your just as faithful and dogmatic as us" argument. It makes me laugh everytime.

178. Volcanic lightning may have sparked life on Earth

Comment #266257 by JAMCAM87 on October 18, 2008 at 1:20 pm

Comment #266252 by Steve Zara on October 18, 2008 at 1:15 pm

"I researched how intra-cellular lipid structures form and change as a result of the chemical composition of the surrounding fluid.

I stopped researching because funding ran out. I wanted to work on far bigger simulations, but did not have the computing resources."

Fascinating! I'm actually quite worried that the research I (might) be doing will involve a lot of computer simulation. Computer programming terrifies me.

179. God is not the enemy of reason

Comment #266251 by JAMCAM87 on October 18, 2008 at 1:13 pm

"In fact, we are living in a deeply irrational age, where millions are putting their faith in such mumbo-jumbo as astrology, parapsychology, paganism, witchcraft or conspiracies between sinister groups and extra-terrestrial forces. All of which goes to prove the truth of the old adage that when people stop believing in God, they will believe in anything."

What does that say about belief in God then? It's like that guy who said that belief in God is being replaced by worship of X-factor and such-like. Does this mean that belief in God is as shallow and superficial as a pop contest?

In my opinion this provides (very weak and speculative) evidence that memes can occupy loci in the brain. One gap gets replaced by another.

180. Volcanic lightning may have sparked life on Earth

Comment #266248 by JAMCAM87 on October 18, 2008 at 1:07 pm

Comment #266226 by Steve Zara on October 18, 2008 at 12:20 pm

"If there is such a thing as luck, I wish you lots of it! I thoroughly enjoyed being in research."

Thanks Steve. What exactly did you research and why did you stop?

181. Volcanic lightning may have sparked life on Earth

Comment #266224 by JAMCAM87 on October 18, 2008 at 12:07 pm

Glad this article came up!!

I have an interview tomorrow and I might be spending the rest of my life researching this area so wish me luck.

Edit - (Luck with the interview I mean; not with recreating life)

182. Volcanic lightning may have sparked life on Earth

Comment #266219 by JAMCAM87 on October 18, 2008 at 11:36 am

a polymer is a long chain (or sheet I suppose) of repeating units i.e. monomers.

-X- (monomer)

...-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-... (polymer)

183. Volcanic lightning may have sparked life on Earth

Comment #266138 by JAMCAM87 on October 18, 2008 at 3:46 am

Dr Doctor,

Were new life forms not discovered in Bob Marleys' dreadlocks?

184. Faith Attack

Comment #266137 by JAMCAM87 on October 18, 2008 at 3:40 am

"Clifford Goldstein writes from mount airy, Maryland..."

Maybe?

Clifford Goldstein writes from mount fairy, fairyland?

185. The Retirement of Richard Dawkins: Reflections on a Stewardship

Comment #264881 by JAMCAM87 on October 15, 2008 at 11:13 am

Richard has been an inspiration to me and millions of others. I am soon to be a chemistry graduate and have been inspired by him to go into researching the first replicator molecules which I (might) start next year. So thank you Prof. Dawkins.

Edit - In fact, I was considering a non-scientific career and then I started reading Dawkins!

186. Why Evolution is True

Comment #264304 by JAMCAM87 on October 14, 2008 at 5:39 am

20. Comment #264073 by debacles

"Either way, is it important that I read his stuff in chronological order?
I found it quite necessary to read Dawkins in order, atleast when it comes to the Selfish Gene and The Extended Phenotype"

Well I haven't read anything but DDI. Dan Dennet uses the skyhook/crane tool in all his books and this concept first appears in Darwin's Dangerous Idea as far as I know. I shyed away from Consciousness Explained because it looked like a very hard read.

187. Why Evolution is True

Comment #264056 by JAMCAM87 on October 13, 2008 at 3:27 pm

"just got through reading all of Richard's books... and I have to say, the only writer who seems to delve deeper into the understanding of life is Dan Dennett. For anyone else who's looking for their next mental trip after going through Dawkins' repertoire, I suggest Dan Dennett."

Sorry to be off topic as well. Have you read Darwins Dangerous Idea? I think it's excellent. I love the thought experiment with the survival machine which is inhabited by a human and has to survive until the year 2400. An incredible thought experiment, really. As the AI machine tries to survive until 2400 it's original programming "misfires". It puts the flesh on the bones of Dawkins' point about how our Darwinian mechanisms can misfire. I recommend it.

188. Richard Dawkins at Conservative Party Conference 2008

Comment #264047 by JAMCAM87 on October 13, 2008 at 3:14 pm

Wow, I'm really struggling with this one. I don't know which I dislike more: Conservatism or Religion.

189. Religion vs science: can the divide between God and rationality be reconciled?

Comment #263626 by JAMCAM87 on October 12, 2008 at 3:48 am

Morbo

Science can't do it, so religion can! Don't you get it!

Science can't use forensics to find EVIDENCE for Madeleine's disappearance. Science will never be able to use the latest technology to understand how the brain responds to music. But religion can!

190. Religion vs science: can the divide between God and rationality be reconciled?

Comment #263623 by JAMCAM87 on October 12, 2008 at 3:42 am

Irate try:

Pastafarianism vs.Science: Can the divide between spaghetti and science ever be reconciled?

http://www.venganza.org/2008/09/19/protein-resembles-fsm/

191. Palin: average isn't good enough

Comment #263517 by JAMCAM87 on October 11, 2008 at 3:02 pm

DP

"Unlike your boy Obama who has yet to release NOTHING."

Did you mean?

"Unlike your boy Obama who has yet to release ANYTHING"

192. Palin: average isn't good enough

Comment #263492 by JAMCAM87 on October 11, 2008 at 1:53 pm

Re. Bonzai/root Smoking issue

I always asked the question "if smoking is so great why does it have to have addictive substances in it?" (I do realise that tobacco contains nicotine naturally, before you correct me)

It's like religion. If it's so truthful and wonderful why does it always involve the brainwashing of the vulnerable?

193. Palin: average isn't good enough

Comment #263023 by JAMCAM87 on October 10, 2008 at 5:16 am

Darwin's Pitbull,

I happen to think Palin's views on energy are far more dangerous than her views on religion.

194. Heavy Metal-Eating 'Superworms' Unearthed in U.K.

Comment #263019 by JAMCAM87 on October 10, 2008 at 5:04 am

Symanovski,

Well the worms are only found in industrial areas where there are no crops. But if the worms somehow increase the heavy metals' abilty to leach in rainwater then they might enter water systems which isn't good news.

By the way did you name yourself after the Polish composer? One of my favourite composers.

195. Heavy Metal-Eating 'Superworms' Unearthed in U.K.

Comment #262989 by JAMCAM87 on October 10, 2008 at 2:07 am

The worms probably break up heavy metal aggregates (not the atoms themselves, CERN does that) and leave them attached to organic compounds (methyls for instance) so that they can be absorbed by plants.

196. 'Intelligent' computers put to the test

Comment #262628 by JAMCAM87 on October 9, 2008 at 5:35 am

Maybe they are the only sequence of numbers which are patternless and therefore by default have a pattern. They are like a tiny hollow vein which intersects a huge design space of numerical patterns.

197. 'Intelligent' computers put to the test

Comment #262627 by JAMCAM87 on October 9, 2008 at 5:32 am

Weesam! Yes there are some autistic people who can name up to 1000s of prime numbers. For instance you can say "what is the 505th prime number?" and they can name it. Some of them can't even do basic algebra.

They have some sort of subconscious algorithm. Surely this is proof that there is some sort of pattern to prime numbers?!

198. 'Intelligent' computers put to the test

Comment #262187 by JAMCAM87 on October 8, 2008 at 4:53 am

Failed the Turing test I reckon. Alice Bot is much better.

199. Two new fleas are discovered!

Comment #261681 by JAMCAM87 on October 7, 2008 at 8:03 am

18. Comment #261233 by Enlightenme..

Your equation is awesome. I concede defeat.

200. Two new fleas are discovered!

Comment #261190 by JAMCAM87 on October 6, 2008 at 2:10 pm

"This is a short book"

It would be bigger if there was some evidence for God.

Aren't all the fleas short? I'm thinking of the Dawkins Letters in particular.

There's an equation for this sort of thing.

Short = nothing to say.