Cognizant that I have exalted Sam Harris to damn near hero status, I none-the-less find myself yet again unabashedly promulgating his work. Certainly I am not the only one on this board to view the following video. I found it quite compelling:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pCofmZlC72g
I haven't really examined free will closely before, so it was very interesting. I wasn't intending to, but I just sat down and watched the whole thing!
I like his style, he reminds me of one of my old philosophy profs :)
Quote from: Truthseeker on March 30, 2012, 02:00:20 PM
Cognizant that I have exalted Sam Harris to damn near hero status, I none-the-less find myself yet again unabashedly promulgating his work. Certainly I am not the only one on this board to view the following video. I found it quite compelling:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pCofmZlC72g
Whoa.. just now ordered the book. Many thanks for the heads-up! ;D
Not as humorous, but could be the Atheists' Ben Stiller. No?
Quote from: Truthseeker on March 31, 2012, 10:26:23 PM
Not as humorous, but could be the Atheists' Ben Stiller. No?
:D :D :D
I can't respect a man who wears a suit without a tie.
Quote from: Crocoduck on April 01, 2012, 08:01:56 AM
I can't respect a man who wears a suit without a tie.
It does look odd. Sort of half dressed.
Theres a post on Sam's blog that is worth reading if you watched the video.
Free Will and "Free Will" How my view differs from Daniel Dennett's (http://www.samharris.org/blog/item/free-will-and-free-will)
That was a great video, as well as the one titled "Who says science has nothing to say about morality?" which I find to be closely related. I didn't know of Sam Harris before but he is immediately my favorite public atheist now. I really don't care much about religion because I find it to be harmless. It is a side-characteristic of religion: the notion of free will on agents, which lead to most moral dilemmas I find repugnant.
But it amazes me how much I think like Sam Harris as is. Everything he says is essentially what I would say in these talks. One thing that always infuriates me is how to convey a message of determinism without confusing people. It really boggles my mind because some people just have the weirdest ideas of free will and determinism. And they just can't seem to understand the logic of fore-knowledge, let alone the evidence for it.
I have been a hard determinist for as long as I can remember, even as a child. It was just an intuitive feeling then, but I knew something was wrong with playing the "blame game." I actually am starting to think different people are genetically predisposed towards comprehension of things like the illusion of control, but I can't prove that.
Anyways, it's extremely refreshing to finally hear a perspective that is identical to mine, thanks for sharing.