God Is I Am, and Other Pointless Word Games | The Atheist Experience: Throwback

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The Atheist Experience is a weekly call-in television show in Austin, Texas geared at a non-atheist audience. The Atheist Experience is produced by the Atheist Community of Austin.
The Atheist Community of Austin is a 501(c)(3) educational non-profit organization based in Austin, Texas. The Atheist Community of Austin is dedicated to promoting atheism, critical thinking, secular humanism, and the separation of religion and government.
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[@Domzdream]

Ahh used ta be an atheist….now I believe in magic. 🤣🤣🤦🏽

[@aflickingbadger7489]

Me too, I didn't believe in god for a while. Now I can cast Level 8 fireball at my foes and preform dark and twisted incantations

[@diannanagelvoortsaltz469]

Gotta give Uber credit for the most perfect self delusional call ever!

[@69eddieD]

So God is Popeye?

[@birdieerdie2349]

Just started the video, but I'm intrigued 😂😂

[@Chaxar]

exactly

[@JamesTKirkland-ct3yk]

If that's true atheist humanist Rachel Levine must be Alice the goon.

[@rboland2173]

Yes I did make the Popeye connection too! 😄Sidenote if Bible Popeye God has those huge, swollen forearms (elephantiasis maybe? Some kind of staff infection?) why can't he cure himself? 🤔

[@donnievance1942]

"I yam what I yam, and that's all what I yam-- I'm Popeye the sailor man"-- toot toot. I suspect that little trope was actually subconsciously borrowed from the Biblical statement.

[@DumpsterJedi]

Guy is an artist who found God in words and can't describe his belief to the hosts in words for over 21 minutes.

[@nandogarza8807]

It's always the same when you converse with someone who believes in Frosty the Snowman. Quibble quibble, change the subject, say you believe in the supernatural but aren't sure about the earth being round. Explanation? SHROOMS. Beyond ridiculous.

[@bobs182]

Religion is based upon tribal instincts which are impervious to reason and logic.

[@user-ht5mt5id8z]

And every person in the world has unique finger prints and DNA because we came from monkeys right?

[@thebookofclyde1822]

@@user-ht5mt5id8z Yes, every person in the world has unique finger prints because we came from monkeys. Because we are apes who descend from monkeys, we inherited the monkey trait of unique finger prints. No monkey has unique DNA, but neither does any human being. Most monkeys and human beings do have a unique combination of gene variants (alleles).

[@joeyssymank1035]

​@@user-ht5mt5id8z We share half of our genes with plants. So what? DNA existed before monkeys did...

[@ImGoingSupersonic]

The golden age of AxP.

[@jerrods7223]

I loved those 2 as a team. 💪

[@matthatch3920]

​@@jerrods7223Same. Quite complimentary styles.

[@oggyoggy1299]

Before that trans nonsense divided them.

@@oggyoggy1299 Nothing divided them, people like you got bent out of shape having to acknowledge people as fellow human beings.

[@pepsiorcoke3570]

@@oggyoggy1299indeed no pronouns 😇😂

[@AnarCat]

12:46 Someone yelling "Do it!" when the caller talked about pouring chemicals on his body to prove the existence of chemicals made me smile! 😂

[@Chaxar]

11:45 Taking it one step at a time away from self delusion.

[@anthraxous]

The "oh hell, no" at 21:24 is what got me

[@freakishuproar1168]

Imagine being a theist and being asked directly what convinced you that there is a God, and you answer that question with "well, you see, I'm an artist..." People like Uber actually offend me with their wilfully idiotic frameworks. He's willing to wallow in an unfalsifiable fantasy and refuses to defend his inability to demonstrate why, whilst deliberately conflating his contrived ignorance of why he believes in God with not understanding or personally observing things that we know are objectively true - whilst _directly_ benefitting every single day of his life from the collective knowledge of things that are objectively correct! I've never seen a giraffe in real life before Uber, do I need to suspend my acceptance that giraffes exist until I personally bear witness to one?

[@gilsonsangulukaniphiri5018]

Your analysis is spot on. Unfortunately, those whose minds are completely set in concrete on the belief in a deity will not see these issues in an objective manner.

[@robgilmour3147]

i got a guy at work like this, nice guy but can't distinguish reality from fiction, dose shrumes, has done LSD, doesn't think those things are harmful if you microdose, but is a walking example of the damage they do.

[@Grimtheorist]

​@@robgilmour3147You're making some absolutist claims that just aren't true. Microdosing shrooms isn't harmful.

[@robgilmour3147]

@@Grimtheorist a quick google search says they are so...maybe not if just once or twice, but it builds up and can lead to neurosis

[@chadduncan9716]

This is every conversation I have heard at music festivals and burner events. It’s a bunch of spiritual word salad to seem like the most spiritual being at the festival. Thank you for pointing out the bullshit.

[@d_camara]

Maybe you need to realign your chacras and better your aura

[@Leith_Crowther]

Y’all mothafuckas need crystals

[@user-gb3hu9nk3q]

Just smoke a bowl of Kundalini bro!

[@arthurraleigh5812]

😂😂😂yup

[@chrisgrill6302]

"Spiritual" people are all playing the same game: "fake it 'til you make it" and none of them ever make it as far as I can tell.

[@markastoforoff7838]

I forget the exact quote but from Cheech and Chong "I listened to Black Sabbath backwards when I was on acid and I saw God man".

[@kenbob1071]

"I can like pour chemicals on myself and they'll react with my body." And the Nobel Prize in chemistry goes to....

[@MrMattSax]

This illustrates an interesting point, in my opinion. People in our society are used to making grand and empty proclamations like “god is” or “god is energy” or “god is love” and getting no pushback despite those ideas being essentially vapid nonsense. But culturally we’re just expected to agree and when someone actually asks for the claimant to defend that position they seize up because it’s not based in anything demonstrable or tied to reality.

[@KarlBunker]

This brings to mind Harlan Ellison's story "I Have No Mouth, and I Must Scream" where the evil god-like computer is named AM.

[@pdoylemi]

That was a fabulous story.

[@mysticjim6164]

Literally was gonna bring AM up.

[@kayb9979]

@@pdoylemi Cyber dreams made a video game of this story in 1995. It is still available.

[@robertshepard2117]

"I am what I am".....I thought Popeye said that.

[@wadeinn463]

I’ll gladly pay you Tuesday for a hamburger today.. my favorite quote

[@donnievance1942]

@@wadeinn463 That was Wimpy, not Popeye.

[@kishintuchis7076]

POPEYE ACTUALLY SAID '' I YAM WHAT I YAM "

[@jimmythebold589]

yam. yum

[@thethoughtfield]

Caller: something convinced me!.. Mat: what?.. Caller: ah, uh. mh, eh.......................uh, ahhhhh, mmhhhhhh, ehhhh.....

[@arifsaleem5467]

😂😂😂

[@ashleyanderson3314]

These people hurt my brain 🧠🤦

[@burningmisery]

Sounds a lot like the plot of Ken Russell's 'Altered States'.

[@jimmythebold589]

"I am, said I". Neil Diamond sent me. We're Coming To America!!

[@noracola5285]

This is the first time I believe the caller actually used to be an atheist. Just not a skeptic.

[@stevenread5473]

There are a lot of callers who claim they use to be an atheist to set up their argument . They believe it adds credibility to their story. It doesn't.

[@noracola5285]

@@stevenread5473 Most times it undermines whatever credibility they might have, because their descriptions of their former atheism are identical to theists' straw manning of atheists.

[@BlarglemanTheSkeptic4]

​@@noracola5285it's always such an obvious lie when they demonstrate that they have absolutely zero understanding of atheism, that they think quoting scripture at us is convincing. How many do we have to have John 3:16 quoted at us before BAM!.. we suddenly lose the ability to think straight and convert? 🤦

[@Brxwn9]

@@stevenread5473No..He’s an atheist. Stop being so paranoid 😭 like he clearly isn’t all pushy and weird about his belief.

[@jgage2344]

That’s nice but I don’t believe anyone could go back to believing after an education!

[@l-_-lShadowCat]

I am convinced that consuming hallucinogenic mushrooms fried whatever the caller had left in his brain with reasoning capabilities.

[@owenoulton9312]

"I yam what I yam, an' 'at's all what I yam!" Proof Popeye is god.

[@phillipmoore9012]

Several of us thought of the same Popeye quote.

[@pdoylemi]

Popeye the Sailor - "I am what I am, and that's all what I am!" Is Popeye god?

[@RideAcrossTheRiver]

Thank you, caller, and remember: wear pants when you go out.

[@wuxin5847]

popeye says i am what i am lol

[@karlajaeger2082]

Mushrooms basically pushed me the opposite way. I felt I knew all religion was false. When I realized how fragile I was and how briefly I would live, I shifted my life.

[@KarlBunker]

This guy's thinking is so sloppy, I'd hate to see the inside of any house he lives in.

[@yamibakura8096]

Moses should go see a doctor to get that burning bush thing checked out.

[@anthraxous]

21:24 that "oh hell, no!" In the background 😆

[@oggyoggy1299]

Thanks Uber. Captured “forever” for everyone’s entertainment. Most would be embarrassed but you seem to be happy to take one for the team.

[@catkeys6911]

"I am what I am, and that's ALL that I Am" - Popeye The Sailorman.

[@DrMikeE100]

"Hi, my name is Uber, and like my fake name, let take you for a ride. To do that, let me tell you that I am deluded, but also why I think you should delude yourself as well. Please allow me to ramble on with kindred nonsense, pretending to ask questions to highlight my script. Just turn your head sideways and see whether you can see the same imaginary things and esoteric interpretations that amount to sheer nonsense. But please, no critical thinking or reasoning. Just go along with my wishful thinking."

[@Brxwn9]

Goodness, leave Uber alone. Many other callers to bs about. 🙄

[@JeffreydeKogel]

Uber sounds like how Jordan Peterson would sound if he wasn't as good at making word salad.

[@bt3750]

He got asked a question that he'd never thought about before.

[@walterfristoe4643]

Y'all might be interested in looking up the ancient Egyptian god Nuk Pu Nuk. It means "I Am Who I Am," or "I Am That, I Am."

[@rogerfleuryjr2308]

Isis, ra, and el are all Egyptian dieties. I wonder where the ancient Hebrews got their ideas.

[@roberthill799]

Nuk Pu Nuk? It sounds like something Curly Howard would say when he's amused.

[@MichaelRawson]

How do you guys keep a straight face?! I'd have been crying with laughter at the first mention of shrooms! 😂

[@Inigo_The_Son]

"I am what I am, and that's all that I am, I'm Popeye the sailor man!"

[@5688gamble]

I have taken psychedelics, it made me feel more appreciation for Marie, did give a sense of connection with the world, put me in awe of the universe, didn't lead me to any kind of mystical feelings, I imagine that to be because I want going in with any preconceptions of a deity to imprint upon my experiences.

[@AbsurdlyGeeky]

Same. I've felt overwhelming emotional awe at the majesty of existence and even had what psychologists might call a religious experience, yet I remain a staunch skeptic of anything divine. I'm just a happy, music-loving ape, gazing into its own navel.

[@brianbrennan5600]

God is Popeye.

[@terrycraig6386]

12:52: " DO IT! " lol😅😅

[@DreamcastLoL]

This guy sounds like Jamari or am I mishearing? When people are hesitant to give their "evidence", I wonder if they know how unconvincing it sounds when they say it out loud.

[@stevecole3917]

I is what I is and I am what I am, I'm Popeye the Sailor Man.

[@Onganana]

If you believed in ANY Earth-made god so far, you got conned BIG TIME.

[@bushdoktormas6121]

Uber the 'shroom groom needs an annulment post-haste.

[@Democrazee]

16:16 I’m sure this dude is still on shrooms when he called in …..😂

[@stevewhite6861]

I though faith was the dumbest reason to believe in some magic fairy but shrooms takes first place after this, just how dumb do you have to be to actually say that.

[@arby796]

Man I really just want to give this guy a coloring book for some reason.

[@jonclark8252]

For someone named "Uber", they were "under" welming...

[@terrycraig6386]

13:31: the word " Shroooms " is a funny word to the audience,😅

[@elgatosamurai9517]

Caller was something special 🤣

[@Specialeffecks]

Every night when we sleep there are typically hours and hours of no awareness, no sense of time (mixed in with dreams). Non-existence is like the lack of awareness during those dreamless states. It doesn't feel like anything. How could it, absent eyes & ears to see & hear with, nor a functional brain or nervous system to have thoughts, feelings and dreams with?

[@Ken-wv5oi]

Uber's trying to take us for a ride!

[@zumpano33]

Excellent.

[@Acteaon]

And like Uber, he too runs around all over the place with no destination/certainty.

[@1eftnut]

Uber is only talking himself into his own confusion by lying to himself and everyone else.

[@user-yl3mp7um6k]

God is Popeye, I yam that I yam.

[@Jahwobbly]

The guy is actually much more thoughtful about his beliefs than most theists. Not saying that's hard.

[@themasculinismmovement]

Lol I never understood the sentence "I am that I am"

[@zak2659]

"I am what I am" refers to the idea that God is being itself. The way people used to think about god is that he is the most fundamental thing in existence. He precedes all other things in terms of time and reduction (everything can be reduced to him). In other words, everything points to him. So for him to be asked who he is, he cannot use another concept or word to answer because all words/concepts he could use are already dependent on him. So through this we learn he is fundamental, and that what is fundamental is being itself because "I am what I am" is another way of saying that "he is".

[@donnievance1942]

@@zak2659 Thanks for reading all that into a vapid, almost contentless, assertion. "...through this we learn that he is fundamental..." Um no, through this we learn nothing. It's just a bald-ass assertion with no clear meaning. Spinning woo-woo word salad doesn't alter that. You can't define $h!t into existence.

[@zak2659]

@@donnievance1942 Notice I didn't make the claim that any of this was true, I simply explained what the quote was supposed to represent in christian doctrine. No need to get so defensive. Its okay.

[@burninggiraffe6615]

Such big circles

[@benrjy]

21:25 "oh hell no" got me good hahaha

[@ChrisM-zm4li]

I AM WHO AM! Anyone who can read such an absurd thing and think, "Wow! Now that sounds like something a god would say and proves it!"

[@terrycraig6386]

14:37-14:38: the " laughter " says it all. lol😅

[@n0w3lly90]

The Sun rising at one side of the sky and setting at the other side of the sky would be an indicator you could prove to yourself that the Earth spins 😉 similarly, the Moon exhibits the same sort of behaviour. You can also do a time lapse with your camera towards the North Star (Polaris) and actually capture the spin evidentially!

[@Devious_Dave]

Shrooms may conjure up Uber's god but it's all in his head... which is IMHO where everyone's gods 'exist'.

[@AbsurdlyGeeky]

There's a plausible hypothesis that Christianity started as a psychedelic cult.

[@jimmycrosby]

Not Popeye.... surely Bluto....

[@inHammock1]

i thought that was from Popeye the Sailor.

[@oggyoggy1299]

Best we send Uber to go play with the wooden blocks in the corner. “They’re wood. They’re wood. They’re better than bad, they’re good”.

[@CalebHesse01]

I think Uber was still on shrooms when he called.

[@Wix_Mitwirth]

I've been trying to write a kids' song. It starts "I think therefore I am, I am." I think it should really piss some people off.🤣🤘😈

[@arsgratia]

Iam sam. Sam I am.

[@Wix_Mitwirth]

@@arsgratia I tried that, but it was already taken by some egghead college boy.

[@scipioafricanus5871]

Don't tell Uber that if you spell God backwards it becomes d o g -- his head will explode.

[@TheToscanaMan]

I did a lot more than "shrooms" years ago and I never met God. What a load... 🤣🍄

[@Wiggimus]

6:12 "I was atheist for a while." What does that mean?

[@Aoeror98]

Gawd is "I am what I isn't, ARRRGH"

[@skblack5050]

Why do people stop believing in Santa Claus and the tooth fiery , etc.

[@noelwass4738]

This is good entertainment value. What convinced you that the Earth spins on its axis? I am not sure that the Earth does that. I can't prove it. Do you believe that the Earth is round? It seems more probable and likely that the Earth is round, but I cannot prove it.

[@ImGoingSupersonic]

Sometimes you have to let the experts make the decision for us. According to scientists, yes the Earth is round. And spins on its axis. So im not going to fight that.

[@jdawgb7642]

Science with VERIFIABLE data. That’s the difference. These scientists can provide evidence for their years of education and all that it entails. They then can provide factual evidence for their conclusions through years of research and analysis. They also are willing to update, improve and change certain findings, if new evidence is found. You believe it is more probable the earth is round because math and science PROVE that probability.

[@Jebus_Anti-theist]

Google is your friend. Type in "how to prove the earth is round" there are simple tests that you can use to demonstrate that the earth is round. And the earth has to spin, for there to be sunset and sunrise. As long as a sphere spins, it will always spin on its axis by definition. Again, google is your friend. Type in "how to prove the earth spins on its axis" there are simple tests to demonstrate that it does.

[@marcusreading3783]

You can do experements to prove both of them in your garden shed.

[@RalphJBater]

It is impossible for everyone to be an expert at everything... the fact that YOU may not have personally conducted the experiments to obtain the evidence does not mean one has to dismiss the evidence... the fact that anyone CAN take the time to learn, research and independently verify the evidence (given enough time and resources) is what is important

[@brian9670]

Is is? Wait...ISIS? Oh no....

[@robertschriek1353]

Theist … instead of answering your question let me tell you my life story.

[@skummisrocker]

Hmm... Wonder wats in Ubers paint...😵‍💫

[@themasculinismmovement]

Don't you get it? Language exists. In it are nouns. the word god is a noun. Therefore god exists. Duh, obviously.

[@lukhanyosiko9409]

I need to call in to AXP. Been having these types of discussions with my brother, who for some reason, has become a theist in the last couple of years. Logical guy, just not when it comes to the Biblical God. I'd love to suggest AXP to him but I doubt it would change his mind.

[@fumanpoo4725]

I'll gladly pay you Tuesday for a Godburger today.

[@smochygrice465]

Definitely doesn't sound as gross as God is he/him 😊 And a good Wednesday Morning 🌞 AXP, Fans and Theists ❤❤❤ Peace Love Empathy From Australia 💪🤠☝️

[@creativepseudonym9872]

Every former atheist's reasons for believing again always amount to the equivalent of a noncommittal grunt and a shrug.

[@tombrown7936]

Titled - Enslaved In a Doomed-Universe

[@alkatron768]

Darkseid from DC took that phrase and made it horrifying. Darkseid IS, everything that isn't Darkseid, isn't. That's how I always took that phrase. "I am, You aren't" the Idea of God being so much more powerful that we don't matter. But calling it as a phrase like "I am who I am" as an irrelevancy might make more sense for the time.

[@wadeinn463]

need an Uber Pet to call in

[@elrjames7799]

I am who I am' . Isn't that the most reliable thing that any intelligent being can know of its existence?

[@PROBLEMASAQUI]

I am 100% convinced the religious folk just thing GOD is a cool woord, a cool sounding concept, but never really explore that concept. GOD just sounds mega, like a meta thing, and you don't need to explain it to yourself, because at the end of the day: being cool is more important.

[@Sal.K--BC]

I'd be so embarrassed if I was Uber. He's so devoid of logic, reasoning, skepticism...

[@Steven_DunbarSL]

Probably not as you wouldn't recognize your own fallacious reasoning as fallacious.

[@Brxwn9]

I wouldn’t. 🤷‍♂️ His belief is devoid of scientific reasoning and logic but its personal to him so he holds it close. Just let him be who he’d be. Much better than crazed and loud callers.

[@dwightfitch3120]

⁠@@Steven_DunbarSLOk. How do you know what Sal would recognize as fallacious reasoning? Willing to bet you can’t actually read minds

[@Steven_DunbarSL]

@@dwightfitch3120 Read the original comment and then read what I said.

[@cgfamorcan9809]

A Nameless God could mean ANY of the dozens of deities anywhere of that time.

[@Brxwn9]

Absolutely right

[@alittleofeverything4190]

I am who am too.

[@garyt.8745]

"I don't care if the Earth spins or not, it don't affect me", soooooo.... like...... day and night, right Uber? Those two things don't affect you

[@chuckm1961]

Since God is a metaphor for the mysteries beyond human understanding, of course we're presented with a "god" who says essentially "I"m not going to tell you who I am."

[@thickerconstrictor9037]

It never ceases to amaze me the things that impress religious people. I am that I am. Oh well in that case I'm fucking convinced!! He said I am that I am there's no arguing with that he must be the Divine creator of all existence! I'm sure glad he said that because otherwise I might not have believed him. Like holy shit man. I guess I can understand how thousands of years ago people could be gullible enough to believe this shit because people in the past have believed in all kinds of supernatural shit that is wrong, but there's no excuse in modern times

[@llOathkeeperll]

God is real because God Isreal 😂

[@mealergojo-yr7rx]

Therefore God is a genocidal maniac

[@CharlotteLeviere]

How could you make a ‘image of God’ anyway since nobody has a clue what he would like

[@saicharand7765]

When you start going into grammar when asked why you believe in a god, you know you're pretty deep in stupid..

[@aarrgghh]

i am what i am i'm not what i'm not i'm never what i am with what i'm not what am i? . . . [wait for it ...] . . . i am the laws of logic!

[@ttirrem]

Shrooms just might lead you to the truth. Farfetched when this episode was recorded but not now. Mushrooms are more helpful than we thought.

[@defenestratefalsehoods]

First of all there is no evidence that the entire Exodus story ever happened. You have a story of 2 fictional characters having a conversation. 2nd The use of "I am" in Zephaniah 2:15 a city use I am, there is none besides me. Does that make the city God?

[@antonystark9240]

Actually, there's pretty good evidence that the Exodus story never happened.

[@defenestratefalsehoods]

@@antonystark9240 archeologists have found nothing that shows any of the Exodus story was true. Nothing in Egypt, nothing in the desert. I'm not sure why so many people still believe in this story when they can't get the year or pharaoh to match anything in the story.

[@SpaceLordof75]

God am.

[@johnmarks9287]

He's adorable.