The Unbelievers Page #8

overpopulation,

the energy crisis,

the need, finally, to educate

and stop the subjugation

of women around the world.

Einstein said

67-odd years ago,

after we exploded

the first atomic weapon

that everything has changed,

save the way we think.

And unless we change

the way we think,

and unless we're willing

to revere open-questioning

discussion

and a public policy

based on reality,

we can take this wonderful

world we have now in many ways

and turn something into nothing,

and we all

have to make sure

that doesn't happen.

Thank you very much.

Dr. Lawrence krauss!

It's almost like I may bend

and break

and it's more

than I can take

and it's almost like

I may bend

and break

and it's more

than I can take

and it's almost like

I may bend

and break

and it's more

than I can take

and it's almost like

I may bend

and break

and it's more

than I can take

and it's almost like

I may bend

and break

I do see a problem

that you can't live a life

based on delusion.

You can't hold out reality

all the time

and just exist in a fake world.

You've got to constantly

not only be challenging

your own beliefs

but be willing to

say that you have been

wrong and misinformed

for your whole life

and change your views.

Otherwise, you know,

it's a mindless existence.

And that's not to say they don't

have the right to believe.

I believe everyone has

the right to believe anything.

They have the right

to believe anything,

but I have the right to find

that belief ridiculous.

I've had people on

Twitter say things like,

"everyone has the right

to their own opinion,

so just keep quiet

about your atheism."

Brilliant.

There it is.

There, you've

summed it up for me.

Well done.

I did a courtroom

scene on a show,

and I look at the judge,

and right above his head

it says,

"in God we trust."

I mean, this should've

hit me before being

on the good wife.

But I just can't believe it.

I just can't believe

that in 2012,

that's in our courts system.

These notions aren't

shared by everyone

in America.

With religion,

the stories have been

told over centuries,

and science is always

telling a new story.

And I think that that's

what's hard for people

who hold religion as the truth

to understand that

science is something

that's broader.

It doesn't start

6,000 years ago,

it starts four or five

billion years ago,

and that is a really...

There's a lot more

information in there,

in the book.

If we had a book,

it'd be a lot thicker.

And of course,

we have seen backlash

against scientific

understanding

of reality.

We have seen it

in many religions,

not only in the United States.

So I believe

there's a great value

in promoting this kind of work.

People who like science

are all drawn to it

for the same reason:

It explains the physical world.

"What is this stuff?"

Is it the last word

on what reality is

and what the physical

world is?

I don't know,

but if it's not the last word,

it's at least the best word.

In our increasingly

complex scientific

civilization,

many policy issues

require scientific

knowledge.

How then can the public

exercise Democratic

control

if it doesn't

understand science?

I think it's very

important to advance

the pro-science view

in the modern world.

What could be bad

about advancing

knowledge and enlightenment?

It can only be a good thing.

If you don't get

that there's some

objective place

from which

we can all start,

which we call science,

a place where we get

rid of our biases and get

back to what we can observe,

if you don't think

that's the best

place to start

these conversations from,

then where do you

start them from?

You have to start from,

"well, my evidence shows

"that gay people

are just like me and

they love each other"

or that women are smart.

The magic book kills discussion.

I went to Israel

for the first time

the summer before last.

But people always say,

"oh, you go to Israel,

you're gonna be changed forever.

You're gonna feel

so connected."

And I just...

I didn't feel

that at all.

I went...

It just was so...

When I saw

the Western wall,

especially,

and that this much room

was for the men

and this much room

was for the women,

and they said,

"cover your shins

and cover this up

or people will throw

rocks at you,"

and I just felt like

"You!"

All I felt was

"You."

I didn't feel

connected to anything

because it wasn't

including me

as an equal.

It's the rules.

It's the arbitrary rules.

He gave you free will.

Well, then, why is he

sending me to hell

for using it?

He moves in mysterious ways.

I mean, "moves in

mysterious ways"...

That is the philosophical

equivalent of going...

running away.

You know?

It's strange, "moves

in mysterious ways."

What's the difference

between a random God

and no God at all?

That's what I'd say.

I think people

don't really believe

the myths they invent.

I've been to many

funerals in which

the priest has spoken

of an afterlife,

and even the people

who are there

are sobbing profusely.

They don't really think

they're gonna meet

their loved one

in five years' time.

If, on the other hand,

you stood on the quayside

and watched the queen Mary

set off for New York,

the people on the

quayside are not crying

because they know

they're going to see

those people again

fairly soon.

A funeral is

fundamentally different,

yet it should be the same.

I think myths are like a drug.

I think a lot of people

would rather just

take the myth pill

that makes them feel

nice and cozy and warm

and fuzzy and okay

with everything

rather than have to

look at the reality

of what the world

actually is

because it's so big.

But then I think

what's so great

about the world

being so big

or the universe

being so big

is that it's so big,

and that is so cool.

Early christians

were called atheists

by the romans

'cause they didn't

believe in all the gods.

I love that.

That's what atheism

is, really.

It's the belief

in one less God

than you.

The whole forward movement of

trying to do this thing,

give the people

the opportunity

to be educated to a point

where they don't have to

lean on stuff that's

probably not there

is a worthy cause.

You have to be able

to offer someone

alternatives

to the way they view the world,

or how can they learn something?

You can't keep teaching someone

something they already know.

If you are so attached

to your belief system

that you stop listening

out of fear of that

being challenged

or shaken,

you're dead.

Most scientists are

not up for this game

of taking on these things

and having it become a forum,

but once you start

to step up in front

of doubters,

it becomes this idea of really,

can you change

people's minds

from this debate,

or are you just, like,

taking rocks

and bashing

each other's

brains out?

Rate this script:5.0 / 1 vote