'There is grandeur in this view of life' by Richard Dawkins, AAI 2009

[@sun1908]

44 minutes of scientific poetry on life. “The information on how to handle the present to survive into the future is necessarily gleaned from the past.” This sums it all.. RD is indeed among the giants contributing to our cultural memory shaping the future of humanity and life. Thank you !!!

[@quemoiettoi]

Words etched in the stone of our existence. What a beautiful recitation

[@AxiomApe]

"We find ourselves perched on one tiny twig, in the midst of a blossoming tree of life. "

[@ShadowZZZ]

that part in the symphony of science clip is just lit af

[@heathenwizard]

I love Dr. Dawkin's books. He has a wonderful way of making complex scientific concepts so brilliantly simple.

[@M.O.C.2023]

The most eloquently I've ever heard the man speak.

[@beachcomber2008]

Only five stars for this channel I come here to raise the quality of my life

[@BelgianBicyclist]

Dawkins is a mastery of analogies that makes the science accessible to the rest of us. I love the idea of the body's antibodies being "memories" of an illness like chicken pox and anti-biotics being introduced to the body as "false memories", thus tricking the body.

[@Almanildo]

What a fantastically inspiring talk.

[@niginit]

Forty five minutes of pure awesome. Thanks Richard Anyone who denies, simply doesn't understand. Which is why you feel a responsibility to educate them. I applaud you.

[@DrVonRhein]

can't believe this one has only a little over 90 000 views so far, considering the fact that the video is on youtube since 2009... anyway, this is a great lecture

[@bliteryhong]

pleased Prof.Dawkins~ come and visit Korea to spread your words. WE HAVE BEEN WAITING FOR YOU LONG TIME!

[@Basaltq]

Inspiring presentation. I feel like studying some science.

[@IanDateMusic]

a great presentation by RD

[@dreamkid2]

Another great lecture by RD.

[@JonahInWales]

Well said

[@DrZenith]

Brilliant! As always the good Doctor says it better and more clearly than anyone. I'd like him to be compulsory part of every school child's scientific education, especially in the so-called 'faith' schools.

[@bellarosalarsen1638]

Missed you, Richard. I like to see you alone. had such a painful needless cruel day. Have to end my day with you, so I know not all scientists are horrendous psychopaths. So, so sad. Thank you for sharing your knowledge and light. Your light is very bright. A fan. A serious fan.

[@Karpify]

This is a wonderfully fascinating book, and you should all read it

[@bewarethelizards42]

Love these videos! Thank you :D

[@mfunke]

I love the pride he tries to hide when people clap to something actually worth clapping for.

[@no1saphead]

I'm totally speechless.

[@mycobovine]

I can't even believe Dawkins would waste his time talking to Bill Oriley about evolution - so beautiful and so compelling....

[@hackenbollox]

If you do a search for 'Hitchens', one of the first vids that comes up is a lecture from authors@google.

[@HelplessVictim]

Actually, I read about a kind of tree system all connected at the root. When a tree in the system falls, its branches begin growing up into new trees in the system. Additionally, there's a recenty found species of jellyfish that, after mating, reverts to an earlier stage in its own life cycle, meaning it never dies of old age. Theoretically, if they continue to multiply, a lack of food will cause enough to die of starvation to keep things under control.

[@Perrep89]

not just a question out of the blue. its made from observations! and theories can certanly be derived from a hypothesis. you observe something, make a hypothesis, you test that hypothesis in different ways, and if you can predict the outcome of the tests, then you can make a theory.. and this was just ONE example, this is not a general one.

[@giggletronics]

you're right, i remember reading the same recently about the underwater lifeform. so take out my all other forms of life statement. the mode of operation must be very different though than the scenario of more 'traditional' organisms living for a very long time where you start as an embryo and progress into adulthood then die.

[@ianmathwiz7]

Yet one more great talk from Richard and a great end to the AAI videos

[@waltermh111]

I always love the way he speaks. His speech skills are top notch. Hes one of the best scientists to go public in such a long time, though I know hes not the only good one. Somebody whos more hyper on the issues of astronomy is Neil deGrasse Tyson. Hes one of the better public speakers on the issue of astronomy.

[@AsFewFalseThingsAsPossible]

Just in case, you can get it on ebay or abebooks for a MAXimum of $25, and second hand a lot cheaper, so why not get your own copy ?

[@KaslarProductions]

at 25:23 he says an organism that does not have the same DNA as everything else... and I can't fain anything on the web about them... someone please help me find them... I spelled it "harem scariotes" or "harum scareotes" along with many other variations with no avail...

[@hurley3000gt]

Exactly at minute 25:00 Dawkins pronounces the word Fungi incorrectly. It is pronounced "Fun-Jie." I'm surprised he made that mistake. Oh well.

[@subpoprec]

@RyanTheChristian I think you're missing something fundamental about what is happening with atheism in the US today. For a very long time (let's say the entire history of the country) atheism was a four letter word. It was something you had to hide from people in casual conversation (and not justly so) lest they noticeably become uncomfortable with speaking to you if they found out you didn't believe in God. Now the dynamic has shifted, thanks largely to this man.

[@ingenuity168]

A brilliant academic 👏 ❤

[@BrendanBeckett]

Surprised to hear Richard Dawkins make the mistake of confusing punishment with negative reinforcement. Reinforcement always enhances a tendancy to do something, whether it's negative or positive. Punishment reduces tendancy to do something.

[@supernova046]

NIKE should sponsor Dawkins - one life live it

[@roadkillrabbit69]

I liked his tie better when I thought it had a pterosaur on it -rather than the hawk? Eagle?

[@SovietSR71]

@RyanTheChristian My spirituality involves meditation and creativity. It does not require believing in things for which we have no evidence.

[@denisasitis]

@Guitarking40 you are a deep thinker , and such a profound comment too. A mind like a stteel trap.

[@fknrdcls]

Awesome! So how much should I ask for my soul? It's in good condition, never used, still in original packaging...???

[@niginit]

You're in for a world of delight. Go search out his lectures and debates. Fantastic stuff. Makes you cry, laugh, and most importantly, it makes you think. Have fun.

[@chronus671]

great speech but i would disagree about a star being the only source of energy. case in point, Europa uses friction, derived from orbiting Jupiter, to gain heat.

[@lowellisaac]

@chipleeiii Why should a creator be unknowable? That seems to be something theists often hide behind: we can't explain, understand, demonstrate, test for the existence of god-- yet the idea is supposed to have validity. If there is a creator, whether it came from somewhere or somehow 'always existed' then it must still be knowable. Everything that exists must be knowable.

[@ThePhilosorpheus]

Well, I am talking about the people who say that certainly there is no god, not the ones that doubt it´s existance, otherwise I would be contradicting myself, I agree with every word you said

[@BeekersSqueakers]

29:51, Does anyone find it strange that the guys sign is anti-entropy? I thought creationists like entropy because they think it disproves evolution. If there was no entropy they wouldn't have an argument in that regard.

[@smthngdffrnt]

@RyanTheChristian Please elaborate. I'm curious how you manage to rationalize such claims.

[@mimi12385]

@iwanttocrashmybike Never think for yourself... Why, that is a very noble thought. People who think only for themselves are selfish characters.

[@nosafespace]

Just because life preservation evolved in the brain for one purpose doesn't mean it's the ONLY reason for the process. The saddest thing I can think of about dieing is to not be able to see and know the future of us beings on planet earth. Complexity is just interesting and life is valuable for this reason. Put me through the worst pain available to man, take away my ability for children but give me the ability to see the continuation of life past my own death and i'll take it 100%.

[@YourUTubeMonitor]

@TomFynn : Do family members support your decision to have an abortion?

[@johnnytastetest]

That's correct. We're all evolving into old people.

[@Jimpsterr]

I'm half way through O.G Species and he's going to ruining by telling me the last paragraph? I can't watch the rest, but for the record, I think the butler did it.

[@Yveld]

Dawkins always has the best ties.

[@shibapa]

Richard Dawkins, I love your tie

[@StuartHetzler]

Just because something is being given away for free doesn't mean the overall goal isn't to make money. Just look at those people who give free samples of products out in stores.

[@RMunchSondergaard]

@mfunke Thanks for pointing this out! ^^

[@SovietSR71]

@DishonostyFromHarris Harris likes certain things from eastern religions, specifically their empirical approach to spirituality. He doesn't believe in their gods or superstitions. Read his last chapter of The End of Faith, entitled Experiments in Consciousness (or search for the audio-book reading of this chapter on KZbin) to learn more. There is nothing hypocritical about his beliefs.

[@SovietSR71]

@RyanTheChristian I have faith in my creative talents/abilities, and the abilities of men, to do things which are possible to do. I don't need to have faith in scientific observations and theories which have evidence. I also don't need faith to NOT believe in a god which has NO evidence to support it. Faith is a belief that is not based on proof or evidence, as the dictionary tells us. So you're right I have reasonable faith in men, as we all should, but not metaphysical faith in gods.

[@bartonim]

Dawkins is genius! A brilliant man who ought to be a politician or host his own top-rated TV programme. Sadly, we're stuck with God-fearing politicians and loud-mouthed media thugs.

[@mikeyo1234]

@TekLok Actually in the Matrix movie there's no proof cited in the plot that when they break out of the Matrix that that 'reality' isn't just another layer in the Matrix!

[@subpoprec]

@RyanTheChristian He has encouraged non-believers to call a spade a spade and openly say what they feel about religion. This is something really unprecedented the collective memory of the US and GB. The religious community has never before had a substantial percentage of the population (10-12% in the US) openly reject it's claims. So, what may FEEL like persecutory hatred to you is really just "You know, that idea really sounds certifiably crazy. I've just never been able to say it until now."

[@mickeypopa]

Why Richard never mentions Nikola Tesla in his speeches of previous minds and accomplished scientists who left their knowledge and genius to humanity? :(

[@userwl2850]

the best mind in england.

[@yatter1]

Yes I have read all of those and a lot more besides. What´s your point? I didn´t insult anyone, I insulted an idea, a stupid idea and was quite correct to do so.

[@yatter1]

Then you don´t know as much as you think you do, his arguments for god are TOTALLY rooted in his ideas about substance.

[@SovietSR71]

@RyanTheChristian It's not all genetics, there's also how you are raised and how good you are at logic and empathy. Free will happens to be an illusion, since you asked, but it's a working illusion (just like religion) because of the limits of the human mind. We can't experience the 4th dimension, time, because we are restricted to 3 dimensions. And so, "we don't know, but neither do you" is a perfectly logical thing to say when people claim to know things that cannot possibly be known.

[@SovietSR71]

@RyanTheChristian yes, the Bible tells you not to think, as my preacher uncle reminds me frequently. it tells you to follow blindly. example: Proverbs 3:5-6 : "Trust in the LORD with all your heart, and lean not on your own understanding." And I agree that everyone has a dark side, but that's what makes it so incredible when you see truly good and moral people. They have defeated that darkness on their own. you don't need God to do that, you just need strong character and integrity.

[@psych0185]

@RyanTheChristian Atheists don't hate god. How can someone hate something he doesn't believe in?

[@mickeypopa]

@pyr666 And really the last thing, and this is purely educational: to belittle someone is to take away from his/hers work and accomplishments for greater good of all people and make him/her sound like no one, like just another average Joe. Telling an average Joe (such as yourself) that he/she is an average Joe (and an arrogant one) is not belittling, it's just setting the record straight. I hope you didn't enjoy this, because it's not meant to be enjoyable. Over and out.

[@SovietSR71]

@RyanTheChristian And that's a good point, we have both "chosen truth," but obviously we can't both be right. only one of us is correct, and so we must look at our own personal reasons for believing what we believe. So far you have listed such reasons as "billions believe it" and "it's useful and makes me happy," neither of which relate to "Truth." Only doubt can lead to new certainties, and anyone with sufficient skill in self-examination will reject the religions we've invented (Freud)

[@Conor1928]

you atheists should really listen to john mackay he really makes alot of sense and I know it is always tempting to keep on listening to richard because you guys respect him so much but it is always good to question whether your theory is correct so listen to john when you can he's very good, you most probably will learn some facts which will challenge your theory even more, let me know how you do ;)

[@gumme1234]

@virtualguitarist I can see your reason to laugh at it, because it is so fun to consider the fact that one of my ancestors were not even a cell. That is the amazing thing about life, it is greatly powerful to adapt to the situaion.

[@robisnum1]

@RyanTheChristian So what evidence do you have to support your god hypothesis? im just asking, not trying to get into your debate or anything.

[@fjoo]

They are hard on religion as a push back, some more reasonable than others, but in principle what they say is that we should treat religion the same way we treat all other things, with sceptisism until the proof lives up to the claim. They don't say there is no god, they say there is nothing to suggest there is, so we will treat it along the lines of all other ideas and gods that has been around through history. (unicorns, thor, odin, allah, lochness monster, etc.)

[@isamelbousserghini]

Anyone who offends rather than teaches for the sake of generating more sales revenue is not worthy of teaching others.There are countless people like myself who understood the subtleties of Darwin's theory and had time and resources to check the evidence but never offended religious people. The second point I strongly disagree on is that Richard portrays religion as evil. Well I have news for him. Religion is the heritage of humanity and greatly contributed to civilising people.

[@Helmer2]

Applause.

[@SovietSR71]

@RyanTheChristian p.s. I should also add, I'm not a blind follower of Dawkins as you clearly want to frame me. I haven't even read his book on atheism. You know, he's more than just a famous atheist. He was a brilliant evolutionary biologist, science author, and Oxford professor before becoming a famous atheist. Dude knows his stuff xD

[@Perrep89]

it is a theory. the hypothesis was made many years ago, and has not been full proven. But because there are so many things that points to the hypothesis about evolution, it makes it into a theory. imo.

[@latuman]

What peer reviewed papers have this Mackay published that challenge the theory of evolution? Surely he has published some, otherwise why would you even mention him?

[@pnerd]

"Just as silly as to assume something is not there because you can't prove it is there." But that assumption is falsifiable, unlike the assumption that something is there just because you can't prove it's not there.

[@ThePhilosorpheus]

and how is that? how can you falsify assumptions?

[@mickeypopa]

@pyr666 One more thing: you said "the irony is almost palpable". I'm forced to ask - where is the irony? Do you know what irony is, or do you just toss that word around to make yourself look more knowledgeable? I know I said I won't reply anymore, but you are just too good to be true. And I don't mean that in a good way, in case you feel confused. I was not belittling you, because I don't even know you and "your work". Letting someone know he/she acted in an arrogant way is not belittling.

[@gmtx12]

Wow, what a witty comment! How clever, I see you have altered the first syllable of Mr. Dawkins' name for hilarious comic effect! How did you come up with that one, what a stroke of genius!

[@4beach]

just saw the new synthetic cell technology on TED

[@jamesharrel]

Oh, yes, yes, yes, yes x 10 (at least), we can indeed argue that the venture was to make money. It is a marketing device designed to lead people to his money-making ministry, through which he sells the 70 books he's written. That's like saying that since Coca-Cola pays for their commercial to be on regular TV, at their own expense, which costs me nothing to watch, that their commercial isn't trying to make them money.

[@SovietSR71]

@RyanTheChristian You'd be surprised how much you can answer about the Big Questions if you wait, and keep thinking before making that leap into what you simply hope is true or find useful. I could invent a religion and new gods right now that would be more useful than any religion in existence, and it would still be false. It's just a "useful illusion," like many others perpetuated in human psychology. It feels good to answer the tough questions, even if your answers are wrong.

[@SovietSR71]

@RyanTheChristian That's the spirit :D just don't forget to read lots of other books too.

[@whateverhappenedtogood5338]

And who created the Sun. God himself. Good one.

[@ananiasacts]

@Eye2EyeIIV, By blame us and not Satan?

[@ThePhilosorpheus]

that´s exactly what I am asking: how do you know what the probability is? there is no possible way of knowing, you can´t say something like that, there´s no proof of a bigger or lesser probability of the existance of "supernatural beings", it´s just as probable as it´s not.

[@WanderingPulsar]

Oh Dawkins, You're such a dreamboat.

[@fjoo]

I think you reach a conclusion here. If this is your point of view, then there is no problem. Case closed in your case, I have no problem with this. The problem, however, is that most people don't take your view, they say their subjective experience is strong enough to make claims that effects others. Like make legislation, set the basis for morality, etc. Which means there is still a need for Dawkins' push back. If some things are to be universal, then the evidence has to be objective.

[@SovietSR71]

@RyanTheChristian You imply that I dismiss god simply because I don't like the idea. Trust me, i'm more than open to the idea of God. I used to be a devout Christian after all, but I'm not going to sacrifice self-honesty for my own desires. Why did people believe in God in the first place? Because they contemplated the complexity of creation, or because they simply couldn't explain lightning and volcanoes? and why did they create so many different gods? think about those questions

[@SovietSR71]

@RyanTheChristian That's it! you have hit the question: "why would you get bored of happiness?" Of course you would! People in the West have such a naive idea of happiness. You need to experience sadness and pain in order to have happiness and ecstasy, both sides in equal measure. The night is just as long as the day. there is no such thing as eternal happiness or eternal suffering, because one inevitably gives rise to the other. this is a very basic realization

[@SovietSR71]

@RyanTheChristian I'm talking about real Eastern meditation--freedom from the self. Not just deep reflection, deep thought, or relaxation (the stunted Western idea of meditation). I have already referred you to the last chapter of Sam Harris's /The End of Faith/, entitled "Experiments in Consciousness" (or you can hear the audio-book version on KZbin), if you really want to learn more, and experience non-deluded spirituality. BTW this wasn't a debate, it was your beliefs getting trounced xD

[@LordOfTheObvious]

So much awesome in one men.

[@NobilisBellator]

That's how they are packaged it would seem...:-) According to the definitions in Wiki, Humanists are by definition also Atheist, but Atheists are not necessarily Humanists. Aren't we glad he's both?....:-)

[@ThePhilosorpheus]

Do you really think the pain we would go throught to take one more breath is proof of a natural love for life? It is our instinct of survival, the strongest of all instincts, which serve to the purpous of reproduction. People living in miserable conditions do not wish to die precisely because of their ignorance, all they can trust is their instincts. then I must ask, what is your definition of foolishness?

[@yatter1]

No, I meant monotheism, theism has been around a whole lot longer but I´m not concerned with old greek or roman gods, just the 3 monotheistic faiths.

[@nosafespace]

we're all just very lucky to be here and if you believe in god you might get mistaken that it wasn't luck which would make you a complete fool

[@aburling7]

@RyanTheChristian No, the open-minded Atheist would say it's very silly to think there is a creator considering that the idea came from a 4th millenia B.C. desert nomad who knew very little about the world and assumed angels and talking snakes existed. So common sesnse says its more logical to NOT believe it than TO believe it. Or at least its as sensable as flying elephants and tooth-faries.

[@cat8me]

I do not think I suffer from Bipolarity...Although sometimes I do feel like I am two different people.

[@radscorpion8]

@STEPHENWRAYSFORD33 well..if i ever were to go, it would probably be to learn more about evolution and history or just to see how he thinks because he seems to be a pretty bright guy..and just listening to his way of thinking might be interesting, just like wanting to talk to Einstein or Stephen Hawking might be exciting just to see how they think. Of course he's probably not on the same level...but anyways in general it would be interesting to me for those two reasons