Great snippet of a topic I touch on often, the zero-sum contest between religion and science. Brian Greene, the cosmologist generally avoids that, but he lectures on how the universe began and how it will end and that leads naturally to the conclusion that there are no souls or an eternity in heaven. The YouTube title doesn’t do it justice, because Greene is not asking Sam to change, but he does find attacks on religion ineffective, particularly when words like “stupid” are used. He wants to point away from religion and hopes things will go that way.
Sam understands and admits he’s had some trouble with that, but dispels a myth. Personally I’m shocked this myths persists, but I see it still. It’s that Sam’s approach doesn’t work, that you can’t reason people out of something they didn’t get reasoned into. That’s false, as shown by data. Brian agrees and but again defends his approach. They agree there are two approaches, and Sam admits the backfire effect of entrenching people’s beliefs when you attack them, also supported by data and evidence and logic. Also, amazingly something people seem unaware of.
Sam points out the problem of a Christian who can’t be told that a nuclear war or a despoiled environment is a problem, because they are waiting for Jesus, and those things have to happen before Jesus comes. He asks Brian if you should deal with that. But Brian says yes, but he doesn’t come up against that much. Unfortunately, it cuts off there.
It was interesting enough for a dog-casing tail discussion the 7th minute was especially interesting: fundamentalists Christian want the Earth destroyed.
in the next minute Green made a great point that talking cosmology science to Christians is a totally different ballgame from talking about biology and Evolutionary scientific reality to Christians.
You get angry that I come back to this point, but it is key:
Discussions of science v religion will remain a zero-sum contest so long we dance around the simple biological reality that religions and Gods are created from within our thoughts, and our thoughts are formed from within our biological creature body processing life.
Body + Interacting with Life + Brain = Mind, Consciousness
Why the hesitation to broadcast that simple foundational reality?
Without that foundation, it’ll remain a pointless discussion.
"Well I think that they [Sam Harris and Christopher Hitchens] are religious fanatics. They happen to believe in the state religion which is much more dangerous than other religions for the most part.
“So they both of them happen to be defenders of the state religion namely the religion that says we have to support the violence and atrocities of our own state because it’s being done for all sorts of wonderful reasons…. That’s just another religion like the religion that markets know best.
“It doesn’t happen to be a religion that you pray to once a week, but it’s just another religion and it’s very destructive.”
NOAM CHOMSKY of Sam Harris and Christopher Hitchens
University of Toronto Scarborough April 2011
