Why Are We Here? Exploring The Mystery Of Existence 

Richard you are a true hero. Standing up for truth in a world that has gone mad and in a way that should be used as a template for rational thinking and debate. Defiant, eloquent, open, repectful, and educational. Thank you from the bottom of my heart

I was eyeball deep in the Pentecostal religion for the first 37 years of my life. Then I came across Mr. Dawkins, Mr. Hitchens, Mr. Barker and Mr. Krauss. My eyes and mind were opened thanks to these great minds. They helped me obtain a peace I had never known. I will be forever grateful to and for them.

Never get tire of listening and to Richard Dawkins

We can see that Professor Richard Dawkins is intellectually three universes away from his fellow guests and that is why it pain us to witness, but he doesn't feel the same way and that is what makes him even greater.

My three take aways - The majesty of Richard Dawkin’s mind. The patience of Richard Dawkin’s the man. The failing of the host not to stop proceedings to straighten the puckered rug 😂

Seeing Richard welcome the medium of podcast and take on the big conversations of our time is inspiring. Thankyou!

I could have listened to Richard Dawkins all night, but when the second guy started speaking, I tried, I really tried , but I just 😴 💤

Poor Richard Dawkins, being surrounded by nonsense. Already checked his watch twice and keeps breathing in heavily... can feel you, bro.

To me, Richard Dawkins is the human being that I love, cherish and appreciate the most of all the human beings I know on this planet ❤️ I desperately wish we'd had more Richard Dawkins on earth...

Richard is an evolutionary biologist by trade, but he's a trooper in spirit. Patience and self-control in abundance.

I love it how people quote old scriptures, wave their hands elaborately and clearly think that they are saying something of interest and value.

Thanks Richard Dawkins for your patience....

Please, Richard, we need more conversations like this. Thank you!

Richard is correct; we are living creatures in the here and now, but when our bodies die and decay we are gone forever. So many people are unable to accept this . .

That reminds me of something I read on a philosophy book back in my high school times, "Nature doesn't have the obligation to work based on our capricious thoughts." In other words, it does work even if we don't understand how, and definitely we shouldn't be inventing explanations based on thoughts rather than what nature present us with (evidence).

For those who are interested in saving their time and energy you can fast forward the other speakers and lesson to Richard Dawkins

Why do people need a "reason" why we're here, as if we have a mission to carry out. If you have one, you created it.

Sir Richard Dawkins ( he should be knighted)....The Greatest Exponent in search of truth, Scientific Rational Thinking, he exposes the people who are unable to think , they only play with superfluous words ..their minds our biased in philosophy and religious doctrine...Thank you Sir for your brilliant discourse ...

I agree with Richard Dawkins when he once said that asking, "Why are we here", isn't very meaningful.

I understood what Richard Dawkins said and absolutely agree with him. I did not understand a think the other three were talking about. That says everything!

Imagine this chat without Richard Dawkins 😂

I just want to thank Richard Dawkins 🙏.

Silvia Jonas brings Philosophy to the table with the word "purpose", making it very clear that she skipped Existentialism, that was when we noticed that purpose and meaning are aspects of human cognition and a storytelling resource that helps us grasp reality. Sartre, Camus, etc.

The older I get the stronger my atheism becomes. Thank you Hitchens, Dawkins, Darwin, Thales, and many many more.

I enjoy listening to these type of discussions however is always amazed how these so called brilliant people would repeatedly engage or entertain these discussion which always end in disagreement and the questions remains unanswered. Well thats brilliance for you. By now we should know that there are some things that we do not know and living every moment the best way we can is the most important thing we can do.

What an embarrassing performance for Richard Swinburne, who not only constantly clicked his pen and chuckled under his breath while others talked, but even went as far as not even acknowledging Silvia's name when answering her remark near the end. If his old age is to be used as an excuse, then the contrast of this behaviour with Richard Dawkins' who's only 6 years younger goes to show the difference of effects on the brain and character between a life of science and a life of religion.

Only really Dawkins getting to grips with reality there. He is immensely patient.

It’s important to listen to all respectfully to understand truths, feelings, beliefs and reality. Humanism plays a significant role.

25:45 "You probably see what I'm getting at." In fact, i was just then thinking, "What on earth is she going on about?"

It's quite possible to be remarkably whimsical with sophisticated words, wouldn't you agree?

This was a wonderful discussion! Thank you so much. I'm just stuck on Richard Dawkins' 'Wishful Thinking' contemplating if we went beyond the thought and mind, where there is no thought and no wishful thinking.

There are many more than 7% atheist, with so many not daring to announce their belief, or lack of, especially in the Muslim world. I've had colleagues in Algeria and Malaysia state "Eddie, I wish I could speak my mind like you do. Strict Catholic upbringing are subject to similar dare, though at least official reaction is less severe!! Another 'failing' of societies is to identify a baby as of a certain religion - like in my world, though actually very casual in nature - not a religious upbringing, I still got a splash of water on my head before I was old enough to 'tell them what to do with it'!

The other three just sit there and think well we better just be so mysterious that the audience is wowed. Dawkins is amazing.

The Jew and Christian are spouting utter nonsense as one might expect, the Hindu is vacillating between positions without really offering an argument while Professor Dawkins is the only one to make any semblance of sense. I applaud his ability to endure their deluge of rubbish without bursting into laughter at their insanity.

Richard Dawkins's case presentation is unarguably practical. A pleasure to listen to. Well done.

Thank you for all of your work Richard

Disappointing debate. Would have loved to have heard Dawkins reply to more of the responses!

Whenever Dawkins takes note of something I hope to see a smackdown coming up (haven’t finished the video yet), but I know he’s gotten softer in old age lol

Love from Pakistan to Sir Dawkins

When we talk to one another, we expand our consciousness. Let me offer these words as a bridge; "Life is the most precious thing that exists in the universe, and love is the most precious thing that exists in life." What we do know from our personal points of view is that the intrinsic value of life is to be happy and flourish...

That was painful for Richard Dawkins 😊

I thought this was very interesting but I did think it was sorely missing any mention of a phenomena that in my opinion is extremely relevant in this area which is: Self-organisation. I think self-organisation (also known as 'spontaneous pattern formation') is a great explanation for how a system can evolve from following only basic (or 'fundamental') rules/laws to something that has emergent laws and structures when you 'zoom out'. Of course that leaves the question of where the underlying laws came from, but those could've also emerged from self-organisation at a 'smaller' level, and so on. What's at the bottom? Maybe just raw-rule-following (ie perhaps something similar to math or computation?) Ultimately though, I think the universe caused itself, and why? For the lulz!

Thank you Richard, for your service in the scientific field aswell as a promoter og rationality!

As someone who hasn't been Christian for several years all of this sounds like pure bologna aside from Prof. Dawkins's talking points.

How could reality be "poetry" without a poet?

That was painful! I am sure Richard D., went home and poured himself a good single malt!

That lady don’t understand that believe is not reality, sitting on the right side 💯science is very serious,it can teach you a lot trust ⭐️💯⭐️⭐️⭐️nuff respect to Richard Dawkins 💯this man really have common sense 💯👍

We are the manifestation of the creation of God evolving with doubt and wisdom.. I am so thankful to experience life and thank you for this subject.

Sir Salute to you and love you

Awareness is known by awareness alone; is the sole irreducible axiom of reality. To put forth a syllable to the contrary is but to concede.

There should've been a physicist, philosopher, psychologist, Hindu Yogi, Buddhist monk, and theologian with Richard 😅🤣😂

Only Richard Dawkins makes sense!😊

It is great to you you are well Mr. Dawkins

Peculiar how otherwise acutely intelligent people can look like kindergarten children in their differences.

If anything comes out of this, it is Richard Dawkins' politeness and kindness and his seemingly limitless ability to tolerate meaningless babble. These "thinkers" are reasoning on the same level as the people who claim that obesity is not caused by overeating and that failure to eat less has nothing to do with willpower. It comes over as utterly childish.

"The meaning of life is to watch my movies back-to-back." - Chuck Norris

This was sooooo painful to watch ! The moderator should have kept the guests to the topics first stated. There was so much waffling and word salad from everyone except Richard Dawkins. He was as usual factual, rational, unbelievably calm and utterly polite. There should have been a Physicist in this panel. Well done Mr Dawkins .

It would have been better if this were two separate debates. The two ladies could have discussed things ecumenically and compromisingly, while the two Richards could have had a proper battle 😂

Dawkins, as usual, made the most compelling case. Complexity theory and genetics at the cellular and population level plus advances in organic chemistry will further elucidate how Darwinian natural selection and other mechanisms of biological evolution act to produce all life.

I'm with Richard Dawkins. ❤❤❤

Whose God? there are so many out.

Swinburne needs to stop with the paper shuffling, pen clicking and fidgeting. That said, the soundman needs to be fired for not killing the mic levels on the nonspeakers. Otherwise fantastic upload, Dawkins rules.

I believe in what Richard Dawkins says, the only problem I have is understanding of the complexity of who we are. I do believe the reason that people believe in God is you develop a community of people who think like you do, and your everyday life becomes more tolerable. None of what you have now will be with you once you die, but the feeling of life being better in this new world is a motivator.

At least one talks sense Richard Dawkins👌

Poor Dawkins surrounded by nonsense and having to stay there very calm. All of them, and specially... Hinduism? WTF??? Richard Dawkins could just delete this debate. It's so boring and he almost doesn't speak, compared to the rest of the panel. He had so many more interesting debates compared to this one.

The purpose behind existence is to experience-and improve upon your experiences. Therefore, do not judge or condemn or reject the deficiencies you observe in others but take your perceptions immediately to Divine Consciousness (what many call "God," "Allah," "Jehovah"-etc) and continually ask for a Divine Resolution of the problem. Hold fast to the realization that wherever, whenever, Divine Consciousness is drawn into a problem the end result is always growth and development for all concerned. Try to bear in mind always, you are on earth to bring Divine Consciousness down into your daily life, relationships and circumstances. You are here to use your minds for this special purpose.

The title for this debate should be... The Fantasist, the Con Lady, (Richard Dawkins) and the Paranoid Neurotic.

We are here to learn how to love God as he loves us.

Richard Dawkins is a Man of Reason !

We are here - to breathe - weave - and believe. Fare thee well.

Three of them are just throwing up word salads: lots of talk, not much being said. Especially the Richard who's on the wrong side of history. He's like child saying: it must be this because I see no other explanation when looking straight at the explanations without understanding it. Or refusing to understand it.

This has surely taken several years off of Dawkins's life.

This was a good discussion. I was quite impressed with Jessica Frazier. What I took away from this was that if we ever really got to the bottom of it and discovered the answer to the mystery of existence, we wouldn’t understand it. The universe took almost 14 billion years to create beings capable of asking these questions. Maybe it will take another 14 billion before somebody can answer it. But until then, if we as sentient beings are capable of asking why, then we have a right to give it an answer at least to our own satisfaction.

I feel for Dawkins. He’s surrounded by “bull shit”…

I don't necessarily have an issue with people who feel there is (must be ) a supreme being or a creator, what bothers me is that somehow this "being" always has a very personal relationship with them...seems not only unlikely, but very egotistical.

"comfort and consolation." No answer yet.

An interesting fact about this discussion is Richard Swinburne’s voice sounds exactly the same as E. L. Wisty’s.

About 2 or 3 people could be dropped and it'd be a great video.

Richard S should be more careful with that particle, damn near shook my house down when he tapped it

1:16:05 - 1:16:50 was SUPER GANGSTER bravo prof. DAWKINS!

Richard Dawkins 🎉 ❤ 😅. He vehemently questions the authenticity of anything that stands opposite to reason. 😊

God bless you Richard Dawkins 😅

Am I alone in thinking that the host is just flat out wrong here: He suggests that Jessica's Hindu mindset is more aligned with Richard Swinburne's Christianity - when her explanations are vastly more aligned with Dawkins' and science, and here: He suggests Sylvia's views align more with Dawkins, when her understanding of causality aligns with Swinburne - I can describe a computer in terms of its functions, therefore its not causal... But why the computer exists is still causal. As with Swinburne's "why did these people come here today?" "For an 'interesting' conversation." "Why do they find it interesting?" "Because .. Because... Because brain chemistry, evolution, upbringing." And we're back to causality.

In fact Dawkins comes out as the most articulate. It wold have been great to talk about how gods, religion, good evil permeates human history. Why has there been a need for humans to rely on myths, stories and have the reassurance that there must be ways to cope with the terror they experience throughout their lifetime? That discussion would have been more interesting, I guess.

Listening to that Old Religious Man talk was painful. Asking *why* something works over it not working is like asking why is up not down and then saying that "why" is the big question..."why" is because. How could something that doesn't work, end up working ? Why is a circle not a square ? Because it's a circle.

Last 10 minutes of this discussion seems to have eminence or my postulence of that: is my own flaw in that faculty.

Mumbo Jambo. R.Dawkins is the only speaker who knows what he is talking about. So much talk and nobody is saying anything that answers the question.

this conversation just proves that religion is redundant and that it's champions are floundering aimlessly with no other argument than 'i believe'... thank god for Richard Dawkins 🤣🤣🤣🤣 Respect & Peace ☘

Damn I love you Sir Richard. ❤

Jessica Frazier clearly made the point several times, to paraphrase "it doesn't mean it's true! It doesn't mean it's not true either!" She is in the hypothesis loop

Five human beings debating why we exist, that says it all, not one of them even know what kind of question they're asking.

About the three questions under discussion. The third question does not belong with the other two. It is serious question where the other two, in my opinion, are rhetorical cliches meant to intimidate with pseudo-profoundity.

When a student asked the famously witty philosopher Sydney Morgenbesser "Why is there something rather than nothing?", Morgenbesser responded "Even if there were nothing, you still wouldn't be satisfied!"

Arguments for a creator often stem from various perspectives, including philosophical, theological, and sometimes scientific interpretations. Here are some common arguments: 1. **Teleological Argument (Argument from Design):** This argument suggests that the complexity and orderliness observed in the universe, such as the intricate design of living organisms or the fine-tuning of physical constants, imply the existence of an intelligent designer. Advocates point to the complexity of biological systems, the precise balance of physical laws, and argue that such intricacies are unlikely to have arisen through random chance alone. 2. **Cosmological Argument:** This argument posits that since everything in the universe has a cause, there must be a first cause that initiated the existence of everything else. This first cause is often identified as a transcendent being or creator outside of the physical universe. 3. **Anthropic Principle:** Observations of the universe's fundamental constants and laws being finely-tuned to allow for the existence of life suggest to some that the universe was designed with human life in mind. This implies a purposeful creator who intended for life to exist. 4. **Historical and Cultural Consensus:** Many cultures throughout history have believed in some form of higher power or creator, suggesting a universal human inclination towards belief in a divine entity. This consensus is sometimes interpreted as evidence for the existence of a creator. 5. **Personal Experience:** Some individuals claim to have had personal experiences that they interpret as encounters with a divine being or creator. While subjective, these experiences can be powerful evidence for those who have them. It's important to note that these arguments are subject to debate and interpretation, and they do not provide empirical proof of a creator in the same way that scientific theories are supported by evidence. Additionally, not all individuals find these arguments convincing, and alternative explanations for the existence of the universe exist, such as naturalistic or atheistic perspectives. Ultimately, beliefs about the existence of a creator often reflect deeply held personal convictions shaped by a variety of factors.

Faith is an intrinsic human trait that can influence large groups of people within a socially significant framework. Many individuals in society do not seek to understand everything but rather aim to overcome the spiritual challenges they encounter in daily life. This includes even those with mental limitations. Everyone has the right to a balanced life. Moral goals are rooted in human conscience. In this context, it is essential to develop a theory, measure it, and justify it. The ongoing debate between theologians and scientists indicates that the role of human nature in society is not yet fully understood. Psychologists cannot be expected to support every injured person; hence, a cohesive community mechanism is necessary. Religion fulfills this role, whereas science does not focus on it. However, religion should not interfere in the field of science, as it can lead to conflicts. Instead of merely discussing these issues, we should actively work towards addressing them.

There is no 'fine tuning' it is just the way it happened.

I can't remember the last time I've ever used an external drive. Other than for installing a distro from a USB and throwing it back in the drawer where I'll look for it 2 years later for another fresh installation

After many years I've come to the conclusion that we are given life to witness Gods creations.

Richard Swinburne: "see that little bloke off of Fantasy Island? That's your hero, that is. You've got a poster of him on your wall, you want to be him. You are him, he's you"

Richard, the believer, is a true scientist! Brilliant!