Video: Richard Dawkins, Christopher Hitchens, Sam Harris and Daniel Dennett
A wonderful conversation between four great men who in this video I like to call the Four Musketeers. Each approaches this constant idealogical battle in their own style, taking their distinct backgrounds to lay a unified argument in the fight against superstition, myth and religion. Richard Dawkins provides a biological and evolutionary insight, while Christopher Hitchens offers his unique form of eloquent logic and reason. Sam Harris enlightens us through the neuroscience perspective and finally Daniel Dennett applies philosophical reasoning. All for one and one for all. It is refreshing to listen to a discussion and have the chance to make up your own mind, unlike fundamental evangelists who tell you how to think and act. Enjoy!
Video: Want To Be Happier? Stay In The Moment – Matt Killingsworth
The concepts of happiness and love have been hijacked by Hallmark, appeasing the huge markets of people enthralled in movements such as The Secret and The Power of Now, which in my opinion are all forms of pseudoscience. On the other hand, they can be easily experienced if we truly try to understand the science behind them. Through experiments and research, scientists have found out that those emotions are universal between all humans, of which the function of the human brain very often wanders around. Sam Harris calls it the voice within that is constantly speaking to you. If we learn more about this voice or this state of mind, we will have a better understanding on how to capture the particular moments that lead to happiness and love. I think neuroscience and meditation, as another alternative, are great tools to understand consciousness, and maybe a way to truly understand love and happiness. Enjoy!
Video: What Is Evolution?
Recently, I have encountered many people who don’t have a grasp on what evolution really entails, what it truly means. In fact, it is not solely the lack of understanding and background on the matter, but the rather creative and farcical explanations on the subject that I have encountered. One example was a week ago when I was at Kuwait University with a filmmaker friend of mine working on a documentary. We were approaching students asking them about “secularism,” basic questioning to find out what they knew about the term and whether they agreed or disagreed with it. One guy brought in a very unique form of evolution into the secularism question, and already baffeled by this combination, it was what he said next and the reason why that took the cake. “Men are better equipped to face reality as opposed to women”. His backup to this claim is that men physically have wider eyes than women, and the reason for this is so they can better absorb shocks, not physical shocks per se, rather shocks to the capacity of seeing things that may affect us. Now how creative is that? I am still reeling from the answer, unsure whether to praise the genius behind it or to drop everything and start from scratch. I thought to myself if only he had the chance to learn about evolution, maybe he wouldn’t come up with such a crazy idea. Or if he truly was on to something, had he seeked a biological explanation to his ‘wide-eye theory,’ backing the suggestion on how it has evolved over time to show these differences in men and women, then maybe then I would give this student a second listen. I stopped asking where secularism came into play in the answer, and the point taken was that the foundations of our thoughts and ideas are laid out differently, and getting a point across or understanding a topic may require deconstructions of thought and applicability of newer ideas and so on. Anyways, a new take on Evolution out of Kuwait, and with that it reminded me of this video, for all the people who are confused or overwhelmed by it. Enjoy!
Interest: Home Microscope
A few years ago, my family got me a digital microscope for my birthday. The samples that come with the package include slices of onion skin, a horse fly leg, cotton and a wood stem. It’s fascinating to see cells form into patterns and designs on a microscopic level through artistic eyes, when the reality is what we see is years of evolution, construction and the random complexity of life. There is so much to see and I can’t wait to look into more fun stuff. Any recommendations?
Video: The Great Debate: The Storytelling of Science
What an amazing event! Intriguing stories, great thinkers and most of all, a very entertaining gathering of some of the best in their field. I truly recommend watching both parts of the symposium, as part 2 has the questions and answers portion, with some extra enthusiasm with Neil deGrasse Tyson’s participation.
Video: Scientific Perspective – Lawrence Krauss
Video: Jim Al-Khalili – Quantum Life: How Physics Can Revolutionise Biology
Quantum mechanics is a bizarre topic in science, and the many scientists who specialize in this field usually say the same thing about it. Richard Feynman once said” I think I can safely say nobody understands quantum mechanics.” Niel Bohr, who was the father of quantum physics, chimed in and said ” If quantum mechanics hasn’t profoundly shocked you, you haven’t understood it yet.” In his speech, Jim Al-Khalili describes how European Robins (the birds) migrate in a direction that might link the way they navigate to the earth’s magnetic fields on a quantum level. Complicated but very thrilling, alluding to understanding biology, chemistry and physics in quantum level. Imagine if he is right! This will shed light on many important fields in the future such as quantum computers, medicine and the origins of the universe. Experiments and tests are still being conducted in this field since it first started in the 1920′s and I think in order to understand quantum mechanics, we have to use our imaginations because in the quantum world some major principles do not necessarily apply. Enjoy!
Video: Lawrence Krauss on Physics
Some topics in science, like quantum mechanics and evolution, are overwhelmingly confusing. I feel the majority of people do not take the time to understand science because of this particular reason. People confuse this confusion between sadness and frustration when instead it should be excitement and adventure. Richard Dawkins explains ” We evolved to avoid tigers in the wild, we didn’t evolve to do quantum physics.” Physics is a very exciting topic to me. I am awestruck with its principles, always a humbling experience and it is a very powerful tool to understanding the world around us. I think Lawrence Krauss is an excellent teacher of modern science. I recommend taking the time out of your busy schedule to understand this little bit of science. Enjoy!
THE GENERALIST 