Sean Faircloth - Can Religion Justify Bullying Children? (2012)

While sitting around the Thanksgiving table, the most loathsome activity that always comes up is the ritual "Thanksgiving Prayer" always lead by the most devout believer of the clan. I bite my tongue, usually stare straight forward with eyes wide open, taking note of who takes the ritual seriously and speculate which ones are the secret atheists going along with the ride for diplomacy's sake. I'm fine with sitting silently through the ritual as long as I don't have to bow my head, clasp my hands, and/or close my eyes. Since I have the capability to separate reality from fantasy play-land, I feel most offended for the children that have no choice and a limited ability to understand the world. Not only can they not refuse to participate, their squishy, sponge-like brains are being primed for a life of unquestioning servitude. Religion forced upon children is child abuse, a reality which has no proof for existing is being hoisted upon their minds. The guilt and shame of sexuality, the inferiority of women, all of the near-universal bigotry and falsehood of religion is shamelessly taught as "the virtue of faith".

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Steven Pinker - Authors@Google (2007)

Sweet fuck-all, download the audio to this lecture or kiss the cunt of a cow.

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James Randi - Investigating Pseudoscientific and Paranormal Claims (2011)

Happy Halloween everyone! Remember kids, ghosts aren't real and people who claim to be able to talk to dead people are lying!

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James Watson - How We Discovered DNA (2005)

Today, the theory of evolution is an accepted fact for everyone but a fundamentalist minority, whose objections are based not on reasoning but on doctrinaire adherence to religious principles.
Read more at http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/authors/j/james_d_watson.html#ISDwkAH5LJj7EvYY.99

Today, the theory of evolution is an accepted fact for everyone but a fundamentalist minority, whose objections are based not on reasoning but on doctrinaire adherence to religious principles.
Read more at http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/quotes/j/jamesdwat182864.html#JWhUJBLvDAVWmmd0.99

Today, the theory of evolution is an accepted fact for everyone but a fundamentalist minority, whose objections are based not on reasoning but on doctrinaire adherence to religious principles.
Read more at http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/authors/j/james_d_watson.html#ISDwkAH5LJj7EvYY.99

"Today, the theory of evolution is an accepted fact for everyone but a fundamentalist minority, whose objections are based not on reasoning but on doctrinaire adherence to religious principles." - James Watson

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Joe Schwarcz - The Importance of Skepticism in Science (2012)

So many times during Portland's idiotic fluoridation debate, so many made the fundamental error of not understanding the dictum "the dose makes the poison". Repeatedly, without fail, studies were flung into the debate testing dosage levels far above any normal intake and showing detrimental effects. Studies (I'm mostly referring to the NAS 2006 meta-study because it was the most cited one) where rats were given human lethal levels of fluoride and obviously, the rat's bodies began to shut down. Because of Portland's near-universal lack of scientific literacy, they extrapolated high dose effects to low dose effects and were completely unable to critically analyze scientific data. If only I had a portable sound system and projector to constantly project this TED talk at the anti-fluoridation rallies.

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Michael Specter - Authors@Google (2009)

This week has been a whirlwind of band tour and now I'm preparing to hike the Timberline trail around Mt. Hood tomorrow. Should take me a few days to complete the hike and the posts will start flowing again. Its nice to get off the internet for days at a time, I highly recommend it.

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Michael Specter - Denialism (2010)

I took a short break from reading heavy non-fiction, but I will be returning to the grind shortly with Michael Specter's Denialism. After watching this lecture, I can expect a grand take-down of leftist science denialism. He takes on anti-GMO, anti-vaccine, and generally anti-science left activists that have taken over progressivism. 

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Sam Harris - Science Can Anser Moral Questions (2010)

Compared with the theocratic terrors of medieval Europe, or those that persist in much of the Muslim world, the influence of religion in the West now seems rather benign. We should not be misled by such comparisons, however. The degree to which religious ideas still determine government policies—especially those of the United States—presents a grave danger to everyone.

- Sam Harris The End of Faith

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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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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.

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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.

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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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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.

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Jerry Coyne - Why Evolution is True and Why Many People Still Don't Believe It (2012)

I've been reading On The Origin of Species which has been inspiring me to post more evolution related lectures and debates. I've read quite a few books on evolution so its interesting to go back to the source. Darwin's work is still highly relevant and engaging so it's been good to revisit it. This post is also a response to the last debate I posted, where the imitable "Dr." Hovind convinced us so effectively of creationism's truth. In other news, my band is leaving for tour today, so posts may get a little spaced out for the next two weeks.

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Understanding Science - Lecture 6: Conspiracy Theories (2012)

WAKE UP SHEEPLE!

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Understanding Science - Lecture 5: The Burden of Proof (2012)

Sorry for the long wait between posts. I usually wait an arbitrary amount of time between posts when I write a large fluoridation essay because the blog tends to get link dropped. I'm going to be fairly relieved when this damn vote is over. I've been wearing my pro-fluoride button which tends to get me into hilarious debates with passionate antis. Sometimes I'm in the mood for it and sometimes I'm not but I still haven't heard any argument that sounds rational or logical yet. The anti-campaign seems to have resorted to just saying "NOOO!" instead of engaging in rational argument. Another side effect of these high profile anti-science campaigns is that the online skeptical groups become awash with people name calling and attacking science-based thinking. They often purport to be "skeptical" but they are one-trick ponies, there only for countering arguments on this one issue. The momentary relief between campaigns draws near and we can all go back to posting Neil deGrasse Tyson videos and poking fun at religion.

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Understanding Science - Lecture 4: Pseudoscience

Just a quick little blurb about the author of these science lectures...

Dr Colin Frayn obtained his PhD in galaxy evolution. from the Institute of Astronomy in the University of Cambridge, UK in 2002. He has since worked extensively in nature-inspired computation, data analysis, science education and combating Internet fraud. He currently lives in London, UK, and works in the finance industry.

This is from his blog found here. I would permanently link his blog to the right, but it hasn't been updated for almost a year now and would like to keep my blog list to recently updated and relevant blogs.

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Understanding Science - Lecture 3: Scientific Method

Still going strong on these science lectures! Good stuff to fill your iPod with. I'm almost finished with Non-Violent Communication so another book review is coming shortly.

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Understanding Science - Lecture 2: Bayes' Theorem

Bayes' Theorem mathematically expresses how a subjective degree of belief should rationally change to account for evidence: Fun stuff! Now I'm going to watch the new Game of Thrones episode while wearing my Star Trek: The Next Generation shirt. Fuck yeah!

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