Sam Harris vs. Williams Lane Craig - The God Debate II

Instead of reading two Christopher Hitchens books at the same time, I opted for reading Sam Harris' The End of Faith instead. I have to say, so far, its probably the best book I've read all year. Its better than Dawkin's The God Delusion and is extremely easy to absorb due to Harris' straightforward and entertaining style. Watch Sam Harris absolutely destroy William Lane Craig in this classic debate. He manages to make William Lane Craig look like a theological/moralistic nincompoop, which is actually hard to do. Out of the many christian apologists, Craig is one of the few cognizant debaters. Edit: I would also add that Craig tends to cling to one unfalsifiable proposition usually extracted from the main debate point. He defends this one proposition until the end, claiming victory when his opponent is unable to counter it, yet failing to make any meaningful counter-arguments.

AUDIO ONLY (MP3)

Hipnosis - S/T (1984)

I've been getting into lots of new music lately, mostly of the synthpop and italo disco variety. Their name is originally spelled "Hipnosis" but spelt "Hypnosis" for non-Italian releases. This record contains a cover of Vangelis' track "Pulstar" and a cover of Jean-Micheal Jarre's "Oxygene". Please forgive them for looking ridiculous, they are Italian and from the 80s.

Hipnosis

1. Droid
2. Inesi
3. Windland
4. Argonauts
5. Pulstar
6. Bormaz
7. Astrodance
8. Space Crusaders
9. Oxygene
10. Theme For A New Year
11. Automatic Piano

Sean Carroll - God Is Not A Good Theory (2013)

Sean M. Carroll has a Ph.D. in Astronomy and Astrophysics and has appeared on The History Channel's The Universe series (of which I am a huge fan and yes The History Channel does occasionally still have watchable programming see also Ancient Aliens), The Science Channel's Through The Wormhole series (also a huge fan, when are they making more?!) and Comedy Central's The Colbert Report. He's written a graduate level textbook on general relativity and two popular books: From Eternity To Here and The Particle at The End of The Universe (about the Higgs boson). He's also an outspoken atheist (go figure). Here is his lecture dismantling arguments for God as an explanation for anything.

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Greydon Square - Type II: The Mandelbrot Set (2012)

Greydon Square is an atheist rapper from Compton, CA. His lyrics generally revolve around philosophical issues and science. He studied physics and computer science after serving in the Iraq War and runs his own organization called Grand Unified Theory which educates people about science, secular values, and rational thinking. His lyrics are amazing and his beats are straight old style hip-hop, highly recommended listening.

Type II: The Mandelbrot Set

1. Galaxy Rise
2. 4th
3. Snowflakes and Flowsnakes
4. Peace Peace
5. Flower Girl
6. 2013 Atheist Dreadnought (Lady Assassin, Syqnys, Greydon Square, Tombstone da Deadman, Johnny Hoax, Gripp, & T
7. Grow Too Old Soon
8. Prison Planet
9. Interstellar
10. 1-2,1-2
11. Dopamine Notes
12. Judgement Day
13. Rhyme Sickness from Orion Cygnus
14. Metaphor Swordsman
15. 6 Blankas (feat. C Gats & Canibus)
16. Borrowed Time
17. #GU After-Party (feat. DJ Zashone)
18. Ultra Combo
19. Summer’s Ending
20. .7
21.  As a Legend
22. Final Kata

Sleater-Kinney - The Hot Rock (1999)

God is a Number.
What you want to know, what can you believe?
Grow up on the internet, get off on t.v.
Tell me about God and Country, music, heart and history.
Answer me with computations, answer me with industry.

The Hot Rock

1. "Start Together" - 2:38
2. "Hot Rock" - 3:17
3. "The End of You" - 3:20
4. "Burn, Don't Freeze" - 3:19
5. "God Is a Number" - 3:44
6. "Banned from the End of the World" - 2:09
7. "Don't Talk Like" - 3:04
8. "Get Up" - 3:46
9. "One Song for You" - 2:49
10. "The Size of Our Love" - 3:12
11. "Living in Exile" - 2:31
12. "Memorize Your Lines" - 3:10
13. "A Quarter to Three" - 4:03

Christopher Hitchens - Authors@Google (2007)

The imitable Christopher Hitchens talks about his then new book god is Not Great: How Religion Poisons Everything at the Google headquarters in Mountain View, CA. He lays out his foundational points which are discussed further in his book during the first half and does an audience Q&A with the second half, during which many oft repeated (but Stalin was an atheist!) arguments are levied against his hypothesis. Hitchens addresses them with his usual clear logic and dramatic charisma. I'm still pained by never being able to see him in person before he died. I just completed reading The Origin of Species and will be starting god is Not Great hopefully tomorrow.

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Helen Fisher - Why We Love, Why We Cheat (2007)

Helen Fisher is an anthropologist who studies human behavior, specifically sexual attraction and love. In this particular TED lecture she attempts to view our loves and desires through an evolutionarily and neurological lens. I can hear Michael Shermer's characteristic laugh from the audience near the end of this, perhaps it isn't his, but I enjoy depositing unfalsifiable hypothesizes and presenting them as truth.

AUDIO ONLY (MP3)

NOFX - Punk in Drublic (1994)

This is another record from high school that was on regular rotation. Several years ago I took a road trip down to San Fransisco blasting this record and Sublime's 40 Oz. To Freedom. During that same road trip my car got broken into and my girlfriend at the time broke up with me. Hopefully it wasn't my taste in music that was at fault (see also superstition). "Fat" Mike is also a confirmed atheist.

“I find it’s getting painful to put up/With grown adults who actually believe/In Unicorns and Creation, and god always takes their side.”

Punk in Drublic

1. "Linoleum" – 2:10
2. "Leave It Alone" – 2:04
3. "Dig" – 2:16
4. "The Cause" – 1:37
5. "Don't Call Me White" – 2:33
6. "My Heart Is Yearning" – 2:23
7. "Perfect Government" – 2:05
8. "The Brews" – 2:40
9. "The Quass" – 1:18
10. "Dying Degree" – 1:50
11. "Fleas" – 1:47
12. "Lori Meyers  – 2:21
13. "Jeff Wears Birkenstocks?" – 1:26
14. "Punk Guy" – 1:08
15. "Happy Guy" – 1:58
16. "Reeko" – 3:05
17. "Scavenger Type" – 7:12

Genie Scott - Evolution and Global Warming Denialism: How the Public Is Mislead (2011)

"Should the public come to believe that the scientific issues are settled, their views about global warming will change accordingly. Therefore, you need to continue to make the lack of scientific certainty a primary issue in the debate." - 2002 Memo for GOP Canidates

The contention is that since the science isn't settled there's no need to take action. Much as the tobacco companies argued that we don't need warning labels on cigarettes because our scientists say that smoking is harmless. Now the idea of questioning the science is often done through presenting a slate of scientists that support your point of view and certainly the creationists have done this for decades... At any event, even 30,000 scientists is a small fraction of the total number of people receiving degrees in science since approximately the 1970s which would be the cohort that would be being sampled, shall we say. One calculation had it as 3/10ths of 1 percent so the idea that there is this huge ground swell of scientists opposing global warming is, to say the least, overstated.

AUDIO ONLY (MP3)

Incantation - Mortal Throne of Nazarene (1994)

As of late, I've being experiencing a strong resurgence of love for death metal. Back in high school I listened to a heavy rotation of Morbid Angel, Mortician, Immolation, Hate Eternal, Krisiun, Dying Fetus, and Nile. Enter in Incantation, with their raw production value and ritualistic death/doom. This particular album was rejected by their label, Relapse, because they felt the sound quality was lacking. Relapse released an alternate version with "clearer" sound, reversed the track order, and called it Upon the Throne of Apocalypse. I've listened to both versions and I think the original is in the Goldilocks zone, just right.

Mortal Throne of Nazarene

1. "Demonic Incarnate" (5:51)
2. "Emaciated Holy Figure" (3:46)
3. "Iconoclasm of Catholicism" (3:15)
4. "Essence Ablaze" (3:24)
5. "Nocturnal Dominium" (5:40)
6. "The Ibex Moon" (4:36)
7. "Blissful Bloodshower" (0:51)
8. "Abolishment of Immaculate Serenity" (8:09)

Darkthrone - The Cult Is Alive (2006)

I fucking love Darkthrone. I should probably make a Darkthrone sorting label and post their entire catalog but I'll refrain. This record is probably one of my favorite newer ones. It took awhile to grow on me because I was very attached to their old black metal style, but there are some awesome crust punk jams on this one, "Too Old, Too Cold" gets stuck in my head all the time. Their newest record, The Underground Resistance, marks another shift in style and its goddamn amazing. Oh yeah, both members of this band are atheists, remember?

The Cult Is Alive

1. The Cult Of Goliath
2. Too Old Too Cold
3. Atomic Coming
4. Graveyard Slut
5. Underdogs And Overlords
6. Whisky Funeral
7. De Underjordiske (Ælia Capitolina)
8. Tyster På Gud
9. Shut Up
10. Forebyggende Krig

Rob Brotherton - Psychology of Conspiracy Theories (2013)

In the aftermath of the Washington Post's article revealing that several major U.S. internet companies are in collusion with the NSA's long running post-9/11 data mining efforts, I felt it might be worth posting this lecture from Rob Brotherton on the psychology of conspiratorial thinking as a form of skeptical response to the Facebook noise surrounding this issue. This lecture explains the difference between what most skeptics call "conspiracy theories" and the more generalized definition of them, which tends to cause confusions of connotations and clear definitions. I think the misunderstanding is similar to the general definition of the word "theory" and the scientific definition of the word "theory".

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Carl Sagan - Interview With Ted Turner (1989)

Before tour I read Billions and Billions by Carl Sagan and planned on writing a review of the book. Unfortunately it was eagerly whisked away by my father, also an avid Carl Sagan reader and fan, so I'll have to wait to write it until my copy comes back to me. This interview is an oldie but goodie, Carl Sagan outlines his concerns for the future of humanity: nuclear war, climate change, and our insignificant place in the universe. Quite a good interview. Hopefully I should be finished with On The Origin of Species soon because I have a huge pile of books to get to.

AUDIO ONLY (MP3)

Lawrence Krauss - Lecture in Stockholm (2013)

I'm officially back from tour. It was an amazing experience. And now a physics lecture by Larry Krauss.

AUDIO ONLY (MP3)