Science nerds. Richard Dawkins and Neil deGrasse Tyson have a discussion.

[IShb3w]

None of it really blew my mind per se, as it all made perfect sense the way he described it. The thing that surprised me was how far our radio waves have traveled. We haven't explored jack shit. Which is funny because I saw this picture earlier today and it surprised me how far out it had traveled:

Planetary Society: Show You Care

 

[dsg04MACHone]

I started watching this thinking eh, a biologist, sounds boring. Now I'm 20 mins in and can't stop watching. Ive always thought if school was free I'd love to major in something with astrology.

 

[joeg215]

Yeah, a few seconds into that last question, you could already tell nothing productive was going to come of it. Dr Tyson's response was great.

Yes, that was an awesome response to that question. He totally owned that question

His quote, close as I remember:

"I ask that you bury me and not cremate me so the energy of my body could be returned to earth so that the flora and fauna can dine on it as i have dined on them."

 

[dsg04MACHone]

I thought he said he opted to be cremated.

 

[joeg215]

I thought he said he opted to be cremated.

Nope. Can't waste that energy lol

 

[joeg215]

But to think that another being could look at him as a feeble minded bafoon is mind-blowing in itself, according to his theory.

I laughed when he talked about that.

Chimps and our toddlers are very similar in their mental abilities. So a superior being could observe Stephen Hawking and say "this one is a little smarter than the rest of them,he can do quantum physics calculations in his head, just like little Timmy.".

Timmy referring a superior being toddler.

 

[joeg215]

How bout that we might all be Martian descendants? How cool is that?

tap-a-keg

 

[dsg04MACHone]

Obviously a lot of that stuff went over my head. But without the intent of turning this into a religious argument, I find it very hard to believe Tyson is truly an atheist with the line of thinking he has. Unless there is something out there disproving religion with such significance that he knows, and it isn't known to the public. Because with how he analyzed things he did it in a manner that would lead me to believe he in fact believes its very possible some higher being created or caused the life we know today.

He seems to have a level of thinking that anything is possible. I really am having a hard time trying word my thoughts about it. I just can't see with how he thinks, that he truly believes there is not or could not be a higher being.

 

[joeg215]

I'm not entirely what his stance on it is. But if I were to assume, I would think he would fall under agnostic atheist. Meaning he doesn't believe in a higher power but he does not know this to be true.

Its not difficult to come to this conclusion from the way he talks about logical thinking and evidence. He knows that humans are very creative and egotistical. Why would he believe in something that humans had theorized thousands of years ago?

At the very beginning he even states(thanks carrrrnut), "Well, Richard. First of all. You said you were told it so you have to believe it. I will never require you to believe anything. It will only ever be about how compelling is the evidence to you."

tap-a-keg

 

[dsg04MACHone]

That makes sense. He didn't come right out and say he has ruled out the option completely or anything, just figured with it not being a topic at all with his way of reasoning that it would've came up even in the slightest if he has not entirely ruled that out.

He seems to think about things outside of the norm, and on one side you have people that believe there was something greater that created us and everything we know, on the other hand you have people that believe that that the laws of physics and natural selection took its course after the big bang.

And with those 2 being the norm of where people stand on that subject, why is it not possible the 2 coincide? It just surprised me with the topic they were on and his method of reasoning I guess that he didn't take it there in some sort of way.

I wish the audience would have asked better questions, I mean they had ti know for a while that they were coming and they could have the possibility to ask them a question giving them plenty of time to come up with something.

 

[SCBQQSTN]

That makes sense. He didn't come right out and say he has ruled out the option completely or anything, just figured with it not being a topic at all with his way of reasoning that it would've came up even in the slightest if he has not entirely ruled that out.

He seems to think about things outside of the norm, and on one side you have people that believe there was something greater that created us and everything we know, on the other hand you have people that believe that that the laws of physics and natural selection took its course after the big bang.

And with those 2 being the norm of where people stand on that subject, why is it not possible the 2 coincide? It just surprised me with the topic they were on and his method of reasoning I guess that he didn't take it there in some sort of way.

I wish the audience would have asked better questions, I mean they had ti know for a while that they were coming and they could have the possibility to ask them a question giving them plenty of time to come up with something.

Exactly. In our minds it is either one way or the other, there is no in between. Richard Dawkins has the strict mindset (as most biologists do), that there is no possbility of creator based on the theory of evolution.

I believe Neil deGrasse Tyson is more "intelligent" than Dawkins because he truly see the universe outside the box. He looks at all possibilities of how everything could have happened, and a God is certainly a possbility which Dawkins will refuse to believe.

 

[thomas91169]

The cool thing about him is he can take complex theories and explain them in much a way to make them wholly understandable.

Plus hes not a socially ackward nerd, he uses references to stuff most normal middle americans know from current events. Talking about hulk, Xmen when it came to biology. bugs life for water tension as viewed at an insects level.

The boat on an ocean vs our perceived horizon in space analogy is spot on. I remember trying to explain that in the "Space is Big" thread on here a while back since people were thinging that because we were in the center of our perceived universe that meant we actually were in the true universal epicenter, and falling short.

 

[dsg04MACHone]

That still was too much for me to grasp. His explanation was great but it still didn't seem to describe what is at the "end" of space at 15 billion light years away.

 

[wurd2]

Richard Dawkins has the strict mindset...that there is no possbility of creator based on the theory of evolution. Neil deGrasse Tyson...looks at all possibilities of how everything could have happened, and a God is certainly a possbility which Dawkins will refuse to believe.

Dawkins and Tyson are both open to evidence for God's existence, as any intellectually responsible person must be. Dawkins just believes that the possibility is extremely unlikely, and he takes a much more direct or militant approach in explaining his position on this. Tyson just takes a more gentle approach.

.

 

[SCBQQSTN]

That still was too much for me to grasp. His explanation was great but it still didn't seem to describe what is at the "end" of space at 15 billion light years away.

As Tyson suggested in the video, "nothing". He implies that you cannot look beyond the birth of our Universe because there simply is nothing there. That is why scientists are attempting to look at what took places prior to the Big Bang Theory

 

[61mmstang94]

None of it really blew my mind per se, as it all made perfect sense the way he described it. The thing that surprised me was how far our radio waves have traveled. We haven't explored jack shit. Which is funny because I saw this picture earlier today and it surprised me how far out it had traveled:

Planetary Society: Show You Care

:lol:


Oh, yeah nothing they said blew your mind. So tell us why weren't you the one up there on stage?

I think that if none of that blew your mind it only shows how simple your mind is and incapable it is of beginning to understand anything they said. How can they talk about things no one can see, has seen, might not ever see, and talk about the unknown by somebody who understands it more clearly than possibly anyone else not blow your mind? If you weren't left with a million questions after listening to them then your mind must not consist of much activity.

Pretty amazing things they were talking about, but I fail to see how you understood all of it when you don't know the complicated and infinite things they've derived their statements from. Except this is SVTP, so I might be underestimating you....you could be the smartest man on the planet (or entire galaxy) for all I know.

 

[346CamaroSS]

:lol:


Oh, yeah nothing they said blew your mind. So tell us why weren't you the one up there on stage?

I think that if none of that blew your mind it only shows how simple your mind is and incapable it is of beginning to understand anything they said. How can they talk about things no one can see, has seen, might not ever see, and talk about the unknown by somebody who understands it more clearly than possibly anyone else not blow your mind? If you weren't left with a million questions after listening to them then your mind must not consist of much activity.

Pretty amazing things they were talking about, but I fail to see how you understood all of it when you don't know the complicated and infinite things they've derived their statements from. Except this is SVTP, so I might be underestimating you....you could be the smartest man on the planet (or entire universe) for all I know.

fixed
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keep it on topic plz

 

[S/CCobra03]

Brilliant!!!

 

[Paulinator]

interesting perspective, certainly is. i would have asked him questions related to " Ancient Aliens" see how many times i can say aliens with the hand expressions before he laughed

 

[Sonic605hp]

Smart fellas.