Where do morals come from? (ft. Cosmic Skeptic) 👼 

Go subscribe to Cosmic Skeptic. He has freaking amazing content! I've made it easy for you. This link literally makes the subscribe button pop up, if you're not already subscribed: bit.ly/2lVYi6f For the other half of this collaboration: bit.ly/2lYH1WZ

This was great fun to make, thanks for the collaboration Thomas!

The thing is: morality _is_ If it has a naturalistic explanation, that doesn't diminish its power or put civilization at risk like so many claim. A rose by any other name would smell as sweet.

You should've drawn Alex's freaky drawers in the intro

My two favorite channels together!!!!

This is how i viewed morality as a teenager. Trying to explain it would only get me in trouble. I thought is was a really cool way understanding why morality was good.

perfect collab

Alex is so well-spoken, well-versed, poised, and articulate. I imagine that these traits, as well as others, will propel him to great heights!!!

ecstatic at this collaboration. was already subscribed to both

Two of my favorite Atheist RU-vidrs collaborating. Nice.

Loving both of your video collaborations!

When I realized that by collaborating on these two videos you actually demonstrated altruism (i.e. you helped each others' channels in hopes that the action would reciprocate and you'd both gain followers), it felt like I discovered the meaning of life

@CosmicSceptic Not quite sure if i buy your argument: "... evolution works at the level of the jean, not the level of the organism. And this makes a world of difference when it comes to explaining altruism. As Dawkins puts it: 'Organisms are just vessels for jeans. Jeans travel within us and within every animal through multiple generations, surviving on the basis of how well suited they are for their environment'. In other words: you are evolutionarily programmed to protect the survival of, not necessarily yourself, but your jeans" If so, the garment industry wouldn't be very profitable, would it?

I love how depressed Alex looked in the intro.

So excited over this collab!!

I like that the 2 of you have teamed up. I think you both ask the right questions and both have great answers to those questions. Keep up the great work and I look forward to the next video.

Love watching both of you guys! This collab makes me very happy!

This one was a great succinct summary. (Took me years of incrementally figuring this out for myself as a kid, but if I were born at the start of RU-vid I could be one of the young people learning this so much more effeiciently from you guys here. Hope to see you guys collab more

You guys are awesome, keep up the good work!!!

I came over here because of CosmicSkeptics's channel and found another awesome channel. Thanks for the amazing content.

what a fantastic collab!! :)

Very informative, *God* bless you two xD

This is a lot to take in. I really enjoy it. Watching it on repeat :) .

I love both of your channels, awesome colab! Also loved that Alex brought up Peter Singer, probably my favorite philosopher

Great video!

Already subscribed to both after a recommendation in an earlier one of Alex's videos. Really cool collab!!

Awesome collaboration guys. Just subscribed to Cosmic Skeptic. Thanks for what you both do.

Great Collaboration! I'm a big fan of both channels.

Woooh...Loved it

This collab is AWESOME

This collaboration is awesome!

Great explanation....very thorough and easily understood. Great video...thanks!

thank you for this, holy koolaid. keep up the good work.

you deserve waaaaaaayyyy more subscribers than this man. keep up the great work!

Great collaboration! I'm subscribed to both of you! Keep making videos please! You both are doing a great job! :) thank you

Cosmic skeptic led me here. You earned yourself a subscriber. I love your reasonings and critical thinking.

I love how your face is just always in a natural smile :)

Alex, amazing as always, and thanks for turning me on to Holy Koolaide. Great to add your channel to my subscribe list, Thomas. Cheers.

You guys seriously don't post often enough. I'm yearning for more Cosmic Skeptic and Holy Koolaid!

Excellent collaboration guys! :)

0:18 your beginning song is amazing

I love the unique and interesting way that the two you chose to collaborate! I enjoyed both videos.

Great video

Cool segment, I like your enthusiastic intro/outro. Keep up the good work buddy! Not drinking the Kool-Aid

Just found a great channel, thanks CosmicSkeptic 😊

I like the way you two teamed up to do the videos.

dude you have such a great narration voice

I like how Alex relates many of the ideas from the selfish gene to morality. good job and keep it up, I liked the colab

really enjoys Alex's channel. So I've subbed to you too Mr Koolaid!

Wow! I just barely subscribed to both of you, and you did a collab together. What a funny coincidence.

Holy Koolaid *and* CosmicSkeptic? Happy birthday to me!

My opinion is that morality is subjective. What's moral or not depends entirely on the subject at hand. If you see a wolf about to eat a fox, from the wolf's perspective it would be moral to allow it to do so so that it can continue living and not die of starvation. From the fox's perspective it would be moral to stop the wolf to save its life regardless of what happened to the wold as a result. There is no objective morality, because the universe _does not care._ You can no more shake your fist at the universe for a lack of justice than you can shake your fist at a hurricane about to destroy your home to stop it. Life isn't always fair. Good things and bad things (subjectively) can happen to those who don't deserve it. You can't simplify morality by pretending there's some objective truths and slapping a label on the one proclaiming them to say they can't be argued with. Morality is a grey area, there is no _perfect_ choice in a given situation, only the _Best_ one you can make with the knowledge you have at hand.

Fantastic collab. Holy Koolaid is underrated and Cosmic Skeptic has known that for a while.

This collab is moist and lit af.

@Holykoolaid @CosmicSkeptic I'm so glad that you guys did a video together! You two are my favorite Atheist RU-vidrs. I've learned so much from your videos, thank you for all that you do. 👍

Nice Holy Koolaid / Cosmic Skeptic tag-team effort!

Always great to see two great youtubers joining together to spread truth. :D

I've just been in a discussion about the origin of morality and I enjoyed this immensely.

I was introduced to your channel through Alex's CosmicSkeptic channel and as a consequence, I subscribed. I have been an atheist for many years, but I generally keep my opinions and observations to myself, as I have had some severely negative consequences for revealing my belief (or lack thereof). I have lost jobs, friends and I cannot enjoy some social activities that I used to enjoy. I ma a veteran and to join many veterans organization they require a belief in a "higher power," a thinly veiled euphemism for theism. As for "morality" I much prefer the term altruism. The term "morality' is inextricably linked to deism and has monopolized it's use to it's own end. I agree with the philosophy that altruism is a biological imperative and the observable fact that it is highly beneficial for a species as a whole. I do not need a fictional cosmic superhero to provide ethics; the benefits of ethical behavior are plainly apparent and are hard-wired into primates by evolution. The other reason I reject theism and deism, is that empathy exists independently of spiritualism, crosses theological and spiritual lines and indeed, crosses species as well. If you have ever had dog as a companion, you see and feel this empathy daily. "Morality" is the observable result of cultural context, empathy and altruism and these two concepts are a direct and verifiable result of evolution. It would be very convenient if an omnipotent Santa Claus in the sky spelled out the right course of action for you, but it is emotionally, ethically and intellectually lazy to expect such. The argument about selfish behavior and selfless behavior is moot because the survival of our progeny is the ultimate imperative, while the survival, comfort and well-being of the individual within a species seems t be the ultimate imperative when, in fact, the individual's needs are secondary. This is evidenced by empathy. When a person finds something that improves his/her circumstance, in most cases an emotionally healthy person will be compelled to share it with their kin and certain members of their respective social network, who will in turn share it to theirs and so forth. It is self evident that these behaviors predate current monotheist ideologies by millennia and, with any luck, will continue long after these ideas have finally been put to rest. My path to atheism is the result of a search for truth that began with my (episcopal) communion. I was asked to commit to Episcopal faith and found that I could not take it on faith when verifiable fact seems to contradict most of what is contained the bible. I studied Buddhism briefly and read some Hindu and Shinto literature and found that all were little more than fictional parables that ultimately discouraged critical thinking, thus limiting the possibility of finding facts that might help define a larger truth. Hence, I believe that the probability of any supernatural deity to be so absurdly remote that such notions are easily dismissed by even the most elementary of free thinkers. Thank you for providing information and a forum for evidenced based critical tinkers to express their thoughts.

when i hear Alex talking, i always immagine him with a cilinde, a monocle, drinking some tea :D

great video

I saw an example of a mother cat completely overwhelmed and fatigue, not able to move anymore but still giving her milk to their kittens that were playful and well nourished. This mother was scarifying herself for the survival of her genes and ultimately for the survival of the species. She was rescued by the people that found her the "end of her rope". this kind of instinctive behaviors that perhaps human sublimate as "morality"

I have been a subscriber to Cosmic Skeptic’s channel for months now...this young man is brilliant! I watched a debate of sorts where he debated Frank Turek, I think, and this young man pummeled him to a fine intellectual powder.

greeeeaaat vid!!!

Adam smiths Theory of Moral sentiments is a great source on how morality develops in communities and individuals

Haha, I had exactly this discussion twice these past few days!

8:27 Great example/point

I don’t know why but Alex in cartoon form just makes me giggle so much

Good job Thomas l, I’ve been a fan of Alex for years now.

I love Alex so much

morality is a science. morals are derived of common sense. "don't do unto others..." is all you need. the rest comes from that.

I've already subscribed to him. He brought me to your channel which I subscribed to in an instant.

Lol I'm subbed to both of you so I got both of the notification at the same time

excellent

I already thought about this

Nice to see you make a collaboration with a fellow RU-vidr.

Holy Koolaid and Cosmic Skeptic collab? clearly a match made in heaven ;)

good day friend watched the other vid first allready subbed

I see what you did there. Very good.

I got a World Video Bible School advertisement on your video.

gotta get all those book recommendations in lmao

Look at this smart kid

A collab between you and CosmicSkeptic, a match made in (the nonexistent) heaven.

of course we recognize you, Alex!

Alex is so smart. Hard to believe all that wisdom at such an early age. Plus he is the owner of a super funky chest of drawers the simple sight of might make your brain melt.

Lol two of my fav RU-vidrs doing a collab? Has Christmas come early?

haha Alex's cartoon version is pretty dope!😄

watching this while having a beer. At the end he said "dont drink (instant triggered) the koolaid" ah okay

Is it recommend another channel day? lol BionicDance recommended two others, hiith mentioned starting a new channel, and this. Not complaining as I'd love to find more good channels on certain topics, just interesting how it all clustered together. Was subbed to cosmic skeptic already, btw, and enjoyed the video (and will watch the other part as well).

WOW kid your intellectual capabilities are astounding. Seriously

Holy Koolaid Batman indeed! What did I just watch?!(it was the dubbed and if I'm being honest-creepy af intro) Was that your voice over another's visage? If so...I don't even need to know why, you're an intelligent person and I'm sure reasons abound... but whoa that gave me the gibblies!

Alex and I have the same shirt. I can't not notice because I'm wearing it as I watch this video. Coincidences are always fun..

This makes a lot of sense actually. Even in people unrelated to you like friends, you typically view them *like family.* So perhaps in such cases where you'd endanger yourself for a friend, the fact that you've mentally "adopted" them as friends triggers that same reaction that originally evolved to protect your genes.

pretty amazing how your eye color matches your shirt color

book!!!!!!

So to put it simply we do it for our benefit

Great video. I'm a sub of both of you, BTW. What is the city behind you?

I believe it was J BS Haldane who said he would not sacrifice his life for one brother, but he would sacrifice himself for two brothers, or eight cousins.

Alec OConner and you are both wonderful. You really do try to present everything evenhandedly and based on rational premises. You never get into religion bashing; you just present your observations backed up by verifiable facts. I am an unconflicted atheist, so I also have no axe to grind or point of view I wish to impose on others. I just want to understand how religious people think. I talk a lot with religious friends and, interestingly, I learn a lot about religion from you atheists, too. Thank you.

Morals are a set of arbitrary rules of behaviour that change with time and place. There have been times and places in history where even rape and murder were accepted behaviour.