[Script Info]
Title: 
[Events]
Format: Layer, Start, End, Style, Name, MarginL, MarginR, MarginV, Effect, Text
Dialogue: 0,0:00:01.90,0:00:08.73,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,We come here for similar reasons. We share concerns. We're asking the same kind of questions.
Dialogue: 0,0:00:08.73,0:00:14.21,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,What is the fundamental nature of reality? What is humankind's role in the Cosmos?
Dialogue: 0,0:00:14.21,0:00:21.26,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,And this is why i will always remain stubbornly optimistic that through discussion, and reason and rationality
Dialogue: 0,0:00:21.26,0:00:25.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,we can actually make progress towards at least understanding, if not agreement.
Dialogue: 0,0:00:25.99,0:00:27.64,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Having said that...
Dialogue: 0,0:00:27.64,0:00:34.87,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Religion and science have gone their separate ways over the years. 500 years ago this debate would not have been held;
Dialogue: 0,0:00:34.87,0:00:39.42,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,there was no demarcation between what we would now call science and what we call religion,
Dialogue: 0,0:00:39.42,0:00:42.06,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,there was just attempts to understand the world.\N
Dialogue: 0,0:00:42.06,0:00:50.100,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,And what happened is that science came about by developing techniques, methodologies for gaining reliable knowledge about the world,
Dialogue: 0,0:00:50.100,0:00:56.78,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and the reliable knowledge that we got was incompatible with some of the presuppositions of religious belief.\N
Dialogue: 0,0:00:56.78,0:01:03.58,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,The basic thing that we learned by doing science for 400 years is something called 'naturalism'
Dialogue: 0,0:01:03.58,0:01:10.15,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,— the idea that there is only one reality, there are not separate planes of the natural and the supernatural,
Dialogue: 0,0:01:10.15,0:01:17.68,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,there is only one material existence and we are part of the universe, we do not stand outside it in any way.
Dialogue: 0,0:01:17.68,0:01:25.06,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,And the way that science got there is through basically realizing that human beings are not that smart.
Dialogue: 0,0:01:25.06,0:01:32.66,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,We’re not perfectly logical; we as human beings are subject to all sorts of biases and cognitive shortcomings.
Dialogue: 0,0:01:32.66,0:01:37.17,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,We tend to be wishful thinkers and to see patterns where they’re not there, and so forth.
Dialogue: 0,0:01:37.17,0:01:42.11,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,And in response to this science developed techniques for giving ourselves reality checks,
Dialogue: 0,0:01:42.11,0:01:45.86,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,for not letting us believe things that the evidence does not stand up to.
Dialogue: 0,0:01:45.86,0:01:49.65,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,One technique is simply 'skepticism', which you may have heard of.
Dialogue: 0,0:01:49.65,0:01:55.55,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Scientists are taught that we should be our own theories’ harshest critics.
Dialogue: 0,0:01:55.55,0:02:00.38,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Scientists spend all their time trying to disprove their favorite ideas.
Dialogue: 0,0:02:00.38,0:02:07.53,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,This is a remarkable way of doing things; it’s a little bit counter-intuitive, but helps us resist the lure of wishful thinking.\N
Dialogue: 0,0:02:07.53,0:02:09.69,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,The other technique is 'empiricism'.
Dialogue: 0,0:02:09.69,0:02:15.20,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,We realize that we are not smart enough to get true knowledge about the world just by thinking about it.
Dialogue: 0,0:02:15.20,0:02:17.100,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,We have to go out there and look at the world.
Dialogue: 0,0:02:17.100,0:02:23.36,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,And what we’ve done by this for the last 400 years is realize that human beings are not separate,
Dialogue: 0,0:02:23.36,0:02:28.04,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,that the world is one thing, the natural world, and it can be understood.
Dialogue: 0,0:02:28.04,0:02:32.21,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,This is very counter-intuitive; it is not at all obvious, this naturalism claim.
Dialogue: 0,0:02:32.21,0:02:36.98,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,When you talk to a person, they have thoughts and feelings and responses.
Dialogue: 0,0:02:36.98,0:02:40.66,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,When you talk to a dead person, a corpse
Dialogue: 0,0:02:40.66,0:02:45.91,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,— hate to be morbid here — but, you don’t get those same responses, those same thoughts and feelings.
Dialogue: 0,0:02:45.91,0:02:53.30,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,It’s very natural, very common-sensical to think that a living person possesses something that a corpse does not.
Dialogue: 0,0:02:53.30,0:02:57.87,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Some sort of spirit, some sort of animating soul or life force.\N
Dialogue: 0,0:02:57.87,0:03:02.17,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,But this idea as it turns out does not stand up to closer scrutiny.
Dialogue: 0,0:03:02.17,0:03:04.09,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,You are made of atoms.
Dialogue: 0,0:03:04.09,0:03:10.37,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,You’re made of cells which are made of molecules which are made of atoms, and as physicists, we know how atoms behave.
Dialogue: 0,0:03:10.37,0:03:15.54,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,The laws of physics governing atoms are completely understood.
Dialogue: 0,0:03:15.54,0:03:22.10,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,If you put an atom in a certain set of circumstances and you tell me what those circumstances are, as a physicist, I will tell you what the atom will do.
Dialogue: 0,0:03:22.10,0:03:25.84,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,If you believe that the atoms in your brain and your body
Dialogue: 0,0:03:25.84,0:03:31.17,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,act differently because they are in a living person than if they’re in a rock or a crystal,
Dialogue: 0,0:03:31.17,0:03:34.51,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,then what you’re saying is that the laws of physics are wrong.
Dialogue: 0,0:03:34.51,0:03:40.33,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,That they need to be altered because of the influence of a spirit or a soul or something like that.
Dialogue: 0,0:03:40.33,0:03:44.98,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,That may be true — science can’t disprove that — but there is no evidence for it.
Dialogue: 0,0:03:44.98,0:03:50.84,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,And you get a much stronger explanatory framework by assuming that it’s just atoms obeying the laws of physics.
Dialogue: 0,0:03:50.84,0:03:54.89,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,That kind of reasoning is a big step toward 'naturalism'.
Dialogue: 0,0:03:54.89,0:03:59.02,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Now of course, I could go on. We could talk about modern cosmology and the origin of the Universe;
Dialogue: 0,0:03:59.02,0:04:02.44,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,we could talk about neuroscience and what consciousness is, and so forth;
Dialogue: 0,0:04:02.44,0:04:05.48,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,but i don't want to do that right now, we can maybe talk about it later...
Dialogue: 0,0:04:05.48,0:04:09.10,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,But, I don't want to do it right now basically because it's kind of boring.
Dialogue: 0,0:04:09.10,0:04:15.74,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,And the reason why it's kind of boring is because the argument is finished; the debate is over. We’ve come to a conclusion.
Dialogue: 0,0:04:15.74,0:04:17.88,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Naturalism has won.
Dialogue: 0,0:04:17.88,0:04:22.56,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,If you go to any university physics department, listen to the talks they give or the papers that they write,
Dialogue: 0,0:04:22.56,0:04:27.72,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,go to any biology department, go to any neuroscience department, any philosophy department,
Dialogue: 0,0:04:27.72,0:04:34.20,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,people whose professional job it is to explain the world and come up with explanatory frameworks that match what we see
Dialogue: 0,0:04:34.20,0:04:35.86,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,— no one mentions God.
Dialogue: 0,0:04:35.86,0:04:41.64,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,There’s never an appeal to a supernatural realm by people whose job it is to explain what happens in the world;
Dialogue: 0,0:04:41.64,0:04:45.53,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,everyone knows that the naturalist explanations are the ones that work.\N
Dialogue: 0,0:04:45.53,0:04:50.36,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,And yet — here we are. We’re having a debate. Why are we having a debate?
Dialogue: 0,0:04:50.36,0:04:58.04,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Because, clearly, religion speaks to people for reasons other than explaining what happens in the world.
Dialogue: 0,0:04:58.04,0:05:04.58,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Most people who turn to religious belief do not do so because they think it provides the best theory of cosmology or biology.
Dialogue: 0,0:05:04.58,0:05:09.32,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,They turn to religious belief because it provides them with purpose and meaning in their lives,
Dialogue: 0,0:05:09.32,0:05:13.47,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,with a sense of right and wrong, with a community, with hope.
Dialogue: 0,0:05:13.47,0:05:20.57,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,So if you want to say that science has refuted religion, you need to say that science has something to say about those issues.
Dialogue: 0,0:05:20.57,0:05:23.55,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,And on that I have good news and bad news for you.\N
Dialogue: 0,0:05:23.55,0:05:26.86,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,The bad news is that the universe does not care about you.
Dialogue: 0,0:05:28.39,0:05:34.94,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,The universe is made of elementary particles that don’t have intelligence, don’t pass judgment, do not have a sense of right and wrong.
Dialogue: 0,0:05:34.94,0:05:42.86,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,And the fear is, the existential anxiety is, that if that purpose and meaningfulness is not given to me by the universe, then it cannot exist.
Dialogue: 0,0:05:42.86,0:05:48.05,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,The good news is that that fear is a mistake. That there’s another option.
Dialogue: 0,0:05:48.05,0:05:51.82,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,That we create purpose and meaning in the world.
Dialogue: 0,0:05:51.82,0:05:56.35,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,If you love somebody, it is not because that love is put into you by something outside;
Dialogue: 0,0:05:56.35,0:05:59.73,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,it is because you created that from inside yourself.
Dialogue: 0,0:05:59.73,0:06:06.01,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,If you act good to somebody, it’s not because you’re given instructions to do so, it’s that’s the choice that you made.
Dialogue: 0,0:06:06.01,0:06:08.24,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,This is a very scary world.
Dialogue: 0,0:06:08.24,0:06:14.61,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,You should be affected at a very deep level by the thought that the universe doesn’t care, does not pass judgment on you.
Dialogue: 0,0:06:14.61,0:06:19.58,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,But it’s also challenging and liberating that we can create lives that are worth living.
Dialogue: 0,0:06:19.58,0:06:21.84,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,I’ve never met God;
Dialogue: 0,0:06:21.84,0:06:27.86,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,I’ve never met any spirits or angels. But I’ve met human beings, many of them are amazing people.
Dialogue: 0,0:06:27.86,0:06:31.64,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,And I truly believe that if we accept the universe for what it is,
Dialogue: 0,0:06:31.64,0:06:35.12,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,if we approach reality with an open mind and an open heart,
Dialogue: 0,0:06:35.12,0:06:38.55,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,then we can create lives very much worth living.\N