A good-humored conversation between Michael Shermer and Richard Dawkins 

A Richard Dawkins video is never late... It arrives precisely when it means to...

First! :) Thank you Mr Dawkins, I'm an apostate that owes a lot to your logic and reasoning.

Best quote “you’ve got to pay to dissociate yourself from the church there’s got to be something wrong there”

The Invention of Lying is one of the best movies I have ever seen

I have 'God delusion' in my hands right now reading, for the 3rd time! Thank you for yours decades of hard work

Thank you for making your videos generally available.

Thank you for this wonderful discussion!

My personal hero in this dark world. Where could I ever go to be comfortable around people like Dawkins?

Greetings from Bavaria Mr. Dawkins!!

I enjoyed this conversation! 🍎

Delightful conversation! Thank you :)

I really enjoyed this. Thank you Mr Dawkins and Mr Shermer

Thanks for your work.

Such a great conversation between two of my favorite people. As a recent ex-Mormon, I enjoy the comment about its absurdity!!

Oh my, I remember watchin😊back then 😮

Thank you, there's nothing more valuable than your time.

Thankful for both of you and your conversation! Just a side note. Mr. Shermer, Penrose and Hameroff say nothing about what you suggested. That’s quite a misinterpretation of Orch. O.R.

Thank you

Thank you for the work you do Richard.

"The task of properly relating science to transcendental knowledge is a great and holy task"

Great easy listening video

Dawkins grace is tireless. Kudos for tolerating this child.

Smart and entertaining exchange.

Dawkins and Shermer. Click! Amazing. Great talk guys!

I am a paying member I PAY attention

well I have no idea who Jordan Peterson is. Weird to have so many questions about this. Overall a great conversation though - thanks for publishing this!

Love you richard

Shermer is a great communicator

Please- when will we get another Q&A?

i threw away the document that i got when i left the church in germany because simply i couldnt be bothered. i never decided to be part of the church and yet i had to pay a small fee to leave it, it was ridiculous! the staff told me that this "fee to leave the church" is just "processing fees for the document and wont go to the church" but thinking about it now, maybe i should have kept the document and have it signed by Richard Dawkins. that would have been funny

I understand why people reach for religion. It’s so anxiety-provoking to try to unwind mind blowing and ever expanding concepts. Just looking around at nature and people and asking “why are we here?” is the very beginning. It doesn’t get easier for some as we know more scientifically, some use logic and reason and others get more entrenched in easier answers like all knowledge comes from a religious text.

Great discussion by a great scientist that's all, it can save the world and destroy the world Doctors most of them helps the people though there is medical care and altruism that's all praise the Lord🎉

My mother says that falling to sleep and not waking up is her perfect idea of life after death. And I agree - it is definitely better than a celestial North Korea !

"It may be an illusion, but it's a wonderful illusion." To me, that shows me that Dawkins, although without faith, still bases his reality in THAT grand ol' illusion. If there was ever a phrase from Dawkins that made me doubt a purely rationalistic-empirical existence, that is it.

Love Richard!

You two are truly my intellectual heroes, you also show how moral us “evil, satanic” atheists can be!

Reality Mr.Dawkins is that survival is pointless, everything will disappear and hope is stupid… Awesome!

I left Christianity in 1980, at 20. I would definitely check the box "no religion." However, I would certainly not describe myself as atheist. I think atheists have thrown out the precious baby with the filthy bathwater. There is much wisdom in the words of Jesus, of the Buddha, of Laozi, to name a few. Eckhart Tolle is also one of great insight, as was Krishnamurti. Wisdom is simply the knowing within you that guides you through life, safely and happily. Socrates and many of the Greek philosophers understood this. The spiritual path is about looking within yourself, knowing yourself. It is a journey from a paradigm of dualism to a paradigm of oneness, out of which arises compassion, love, forgiveness, empathy, connection. Observe, meditate. Experience, reflect.

This video is from 2018, but talked about AI and Oppenheimer, as if it was made just right about NOW - in 2023/24! Another stellar speech from Mr. Dawkins and Michael. Thank you.

21:30 Nevermind the Fermi paradox. "Where is everybody?" Thats decisively counteracted by the Yogi Berra principal. "Nobody goes there anymore. It's too crowded". 😂

"Why People Believe Weird Things" is a great book, and more relevant now than ever. I'm an atheist, but disagree with them that this is necessarily a good thing for all.

Dawkins saved my life... kind of

Had I prescribed to the American philosophy of "End Justifies the Means," I would have established a religion and a church.

😍 wow Hashim All Ghaili was there. He is really an outstanding guy.

This is fun..

You can't have your cake and eat it too. The same thing that makes a fetus special also makes you special, you can't take it away from one and not the other.

You rock Rick 🤘😎

👏👏

I used to admire Dawkins in his championing of truth, but apparently he has abandoned that stand, if his flippant answer at 1:52:05 is any indication. The consequence of which is to have reduced his viewpoints vs. others (incl. religious ones) to a matter of competing, subjective illusions. Stick to science, Dawkins, and leave philosophy to those who can defend consciousness and free will and thus give meaning, truth and real value to that science and to your work.

Morality came before it was ever written down and codified into books like the Bible. I'm also interested in doing what is "right" not what is "good".

ليس الامر ما تريده انت فقط بل ما يريده الخالق منك وما يصلحك في حياتك.وبعد مماتك...

Religion is defined as that to which we are bound. Good luck in trying to undo that, it is not going to happen. In fact, in spite of wishful thinking religion is growling. People innately need to worship whatever they wish to worship, a tree or a stone or anything else they want to. Why not be tolerant if you in turn expect tolerance for your view. Atheism when forced on people has not been flawless in how it played out, it has been a disaster.

Where is everybody? Incomprehensible 36:18 distances in time and place away from us. A civilization millions of light years from us would be millions of years old, and a civilization that exists now will not be detectable for millions of years.

I do believe in God, and his name is Professor Richard Dawkins!

I have a question about Jordan P..................

A fresh perspective for someone looking for a decent Holy Week movie.

Utilitarians were on the right lines, but were focussing on the wrong metrics. It sounds right to minimise suffering or maximise happiness, but this does not work. The founding fathers of the US actually identified the solution: the metric you need to maximise is liberty. I am amazed that philosophers do not develop this.

There many atheist who don’t have morality just like many theist being a ethical person is based on personal values and how open minded individuals are

You are the prophet of science

Before you can liberate morality from religion you must be moral.

24:58 Can someone tell what's the exact name that Micheal mentioned as his late friend, Vic Stayer?

morality is the golden rule it needs no attachment to man made religion its main tenant is to never indoctrinate youth with a lie ....from its start it is already counter to all god delusions.

في الاسلام...أنَّ الجَنينَ تُنفَخُ فيه الرُّوحُ إذا تمَّ له أربعةُ أشهُرٍ، وعلى هذا فمتى تمَّ له أربعةُ أشهُرٍ فإنَّه لا يجوزُ إنزالُه إنزالًا يموتُ به على أيِّ حالٍ كان لأنَّه صار إنسانًا فلا يجوزُ قَتلُه

When does the interview start?

... Do we want to Live forever ? ... Tough question, 'cause NOBODY really wants to die, unless they're in great physical or emotional pain, and then I guess that's their call ... But if we ALL live forever, what are we going to eat, where are we ALL gonna live ... and how much TV can ANYBODY stomach ? ...

Dawkins name is on the list.

13:00 "what would it take for you to believe ...". What does the word 'god' refer to? The only definition you can give that word is "unfalsifiable figment of the imagination". So yes, I believe that some people take seriously an unfalsifiable figment of their imagination. We need to stop given any respect to that word when it's used in a question.

can someone explain the voting age analogy Richard made in regards to species and evolution? that one went over my head…

At 41:00 speaking of using words or stopping to use words I would like to mention what happened to the word Swastika or drawing of a Swastika. India Swastika image is sacred and used daily and in special ceremonies. In western world it is known as evil, hence it cannot be used and that is not fair.

These people think they are smarter than they actually are. But their ignore in science clearly shows.

Are ten commandments religious axioms.Prof.Dr.Nasir Fazal Cambridge

Seems like everyone has work for me !

... Being dead forever shouldn't be a frightening idea ... You wont know about it, so what is the difference ? - IF, on the other hand, you go to Hell or sit in a dull cloudy Heaven, - now THAT shit IS scary !

In a sample of 2307 adults in the US., IQ was found to negatively correlate with self reports of religious identification, private practice or religion, mindfulness, religious support, and fundamentalism, but not spirituality.

fear gratitude brain explanation soul explanation

Se a religião é o ópio do povo e o ópio dos cientistas é ser a religião do povo . Desiste porque , o seu discurso jamais convencera

Merging cultures into one = error error! Does not compute! Can't divide by zero! It's either one shared culture(impossible, and or unappealing) or different cultures trying to get along in the same space, which will always be flawed. The 3rd and only other option is to not have different cultures occupying the same space. All those in favor of meat section at the grocery store will never agree to have it removed so the vegans don't have to smell it. It will never work. Which is why we see so much failure occurring, along with resentment and other negative feelings. As someone who lives in a city with a very high Asian population in a mostly white country, the cultural clash is so blatantly obvious you can feel it in the air, despite everyone's effort to deny it in fake nausea inducing political correctness. Why deny it? Just because my values do not align with someone else does not mean there are racist feelings. I don't like golfing. Does that mean I hate people who golf? I like bears and I like honey bees. I would never hold such cognitive dissonant feelings as to hope for the best that they can live together in a confined space. Are you kidding me? Just because I see good reason to separate bees from bears(for their own good) does not in any way even hint at anything racist. I personally don't possess very strong ties to tradition/my culture and prefer to dabble in all that is on the table. But I would also prefer a variety of cultures over a bunch of clones. Would it be so terrible to have Japan remain mostly Japanese? Or should we make everyone into clones who all share the exact same values? I believe the answer is beyond easy to reach. Just stop lying to yourself and others. Lack of integrity is not a positive character trait.

please add Azerbaijani or Turkish subtitles 🪐

ما اوقحكم...لتتكلموا عمن خلقكم ولم تكونوا شيئا بهذه الطريقه!!!!ا الجنه التي لا تريدها بجانبها نار ستُجبر عليها ..وهل خلقتم انفسكم...هل خلقتم السماوات والارض...هل خلقتم الموت ...هل خلقتم الحياة!!!! هل اصبح الموت والفناء افضل من الخلود في الجنه!!!! وماذا هل الله ظالم لكي يأخذ الراسب في امتحان الايمان كالناجح!!! والمجرم كالمصلح !!!!

Fear of death is cause of religion. Not much controversy there

Physics. Electrons. Power.

David Hume said morality is not the conclusion of our reason . ! So where did our morals come from ? FA Hayek said to him the answer was cultural evolution . However Hayek was born Roman Catholic, but not a believer in a God , but did say that the belief in God was essential to ground morals and had the ability to do things that went against our desires to do what feels good rather it was necessary to grow the population, to its present size . So whether you believe in a moral law giver or not the results come out the same , that from Hayeks opinion those moral laws made us what we are and allowed us to prosper. ✝️☮️ God bless you

A confirmation bias, seekers paradise.

If I were an atheist, I would stop using moral language like "right" and "wrong" in favour of terms like "beneficial for survival" and "detrimental to survival." It's more honest and would avoid the debate between atheists and the faithful about objective morality.

These guys always have to take shots at Deepak since he defeated them in debate.

Wann waren die in Deutschland??

( -д-) The sun is dire. It makes some people feel dread. They are the fallen ones.

This is great discussion however I must say some of the assumptions are wrong and reflects that Richard only has American view of looking at the world. For example to assume that people now are smarter and moral than ancient civilization is erroneous.

A Godless concept of life is Maya.

Science forbid you should sound Mystical Mr Dawkins 😇

It takes 162 x 72 specific atoms to make a DNA sequence consisting of 162 base pairs. On planet Earth, there are only 10^50 atoms available to make DNA. It takes 72 atoms to make a single base pair of DNA. If all the atoms on planet EARTH were used for DNA, there could not be more than 1.39 x 10^48 base pairs of DNA. In the best case scenario for evolution, even if every single atom on planet earth were a unique sequence of DNA consisting of 162 base pairs, there could only exist 1 x 10^50 different sequences of this type. However, 162 base pairs of DNA allow for 3.42 x 10^97 unique combinations.

31:50 I got mild hallucinations in float tanks, more like um mental free association, like a dream nothing religious, but I have been atheist since 13 so.. if I was operating within a religious perspective, I may have had a religious experience

... The " Sunday Service without the God " is not necessarily superior to the variety WITH the God ... To me, at least, that scenario might as well just be another religion ...

Richard... you are my hero.... but the lighting on your face in the beginning of this video is atrocious. There are simple solutions.

[01:54:34]

Dawkins has a certain wimpy sound to his voice

Poor Alfred Russel Wallace. He will always be in Darwin’s shadow. Poor guy. Poor poor guy. 😢

When they discuss "what would it take for you to believe in God?" most atheists I've heard say "nothing, because no matter what it is I'd think it's some advanced alien entity or some such." For me all it would take is for God to act like a president and make regular public addresses. Nobody debates if the US president is real because he addresses his people regularly. If God would make a little more effort than privately revealing himself to one person every thousand years, I'd be happy. Is a full-scale public address really asking so much?

That vicar probably experienced something that contradicted his religion. Perhaps he experienced Satan or Shiva or the Force... And then, of course he had to deny it as it conflicted with his Christian faith or his position in the Church...

58:04 I like to say that philosophy is one of three things: science, math, or useless. The topic of morality is no different. You can define morality in several different ways, based on things like minimizing suffering, maximizing happiness, cooperative behavior, or simply what the best evolutionary strategy is for an individual. Each one of these is a scientific question where defining the terms in a meaningful way references reality and can therefore be studied and understood simply by finding the right model, as is becoming more common with things such as evolutionary game theory. The model is math, the study and application is science, and failing to settle on a usable and concrete definition of "morality" and playing word games as a result is useless.