Monday, February 1, 2010

Dr. Lawrence Krauss' Science & Religion Lecture | Hampshire College


Part 2 (Q&A)
Dr. Lawrence Krauss is Foundation Professor and Director of the Origins Initiative, Co-Director of the Cosmology Initiative, School of Earth and Space Exploration, BEYOND Center, and Department of Physics at Arizon State University.

He is the author of The Physics of Star Trek, Atom: An Odyssey from the Big Bang to Life on Earth... and Beyond and Hiding in the Mirror: The Mysterious Allure of Extra-Dimensions from Plato to String Theory and Beyond.

http://krauss.faculty.asu.edu
http://origins.asu.edu/
http://scienceandreligion.hampshire.edu/

7 comments:

  1. I don't agree with one thing he said...

    "A lack of evidence is not evidence of absence"

    After something fails the test over and over again, it's logical to discount that theory as valid. Using the mentality he prescribes means you always have to be open to things with 0 possibility. Reality has limitations and so should we when it comes to humoring philosophical arguments. One other thing, Einstein's philosophy was agnosticism like every scientist should be but atheistic in his views about beings who wielded magic powers.

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  2. Predrag StojadinovicFebruary 2, 2010 at 7:44 AM

    Well, you may dislike it but it remains true 8-)

    When I say "there is something that is god" but I am unable to define it then there is nothing that can disprove that statement. The statement itself is complete BS, ofcourse, but the fact that I would lack evidence for it simply does not imlpy that it is not true. It remains unknown.

    However, the trouble arrieses when this example is taken too far, which is what almost all religious freaks simply must do. It is scientificaly clear that the bible, the qur'an and all other "scriptures" are utter and complete BS. But arguing this is always taken as arguing the above, which is impossible and which is where the religious morons always manage to find a leg to stand on.

    This is why it is important to be completely honest and to always state that it is impossible to prove that "a god" does not exist but that it IS possble to prove that a certain scripture is simlpy wrong.

    my 2 cents...

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  3. For those about to watch this: Sound quality drops noticably around 20 minutes in, but improves again 10 minutes later.

    Personal comment about what was said by Krauss: I don't fancy his definition of atheism. He seems to reserve the label for those that reject the existance of god(s) and not include those that simple hold no belief in god(s). I wish he would have made the distinction more clearly before using the term so as not to confuse people. I can accept his definition provisionally, it's just that I use a more inclusive definition myself.

    Given that he's quite stringent when it comes to what can be said to be designed and what isn't (saying it is a philosophical standpoint, not something science can say anything about), he ought to apply the same logical reasoning when it comes to his definition of atheism.
    An atheist scientist could conceivably imagine observations that would convince him of the existance of a god. Therefore "atheism" can't be limited to those that actively reject the existance of gods, but has to include all of those that simply don't currently hold such a belief.

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  4. Easy to define gods, beings with supernatural powers. Since there is no such thing as the supernatural, there are no gods. I will admit that it's hard to disprove something that never existed, oh wait i can through testing.

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  5. I wonder why you think it's ok to use science to test the claims of scripture wrote in the past but not on the claims of God's existence right now? Could it be that you have been brainwashed? It ok to consider that you can be wrong and it's also ok to say you don't know but it entirely different to think there is no such thing as the truth. Albert Einstein is dead and there is no chance, zero, that he will be alive again. Could i be wrong and there is a chance of Einstein resurecting before my eyes... of course not. Reality has limitations and if you disagree, you need to join your magical thinking friends.

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  6. Krauss is always an interesting watch.

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  7. dear martin, what is your definition of an atheist. there are people believing in god, there are the others believing there is no god, and i'm absolutely sure there is no such a thing called god. So what am i ??

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