I've not watched this yet, but I'm sure it's worth a look.
https://www.sendspace.com/file/hbqg7d
Richard Dawkins - The Enemies of Reason
Ah, fantastic! Thanks for this!
I'm watching it now and I really have a soft-spot for Dawkins. He's like a calmer, less rude, less condescending, less militantly judgemental C. Hitchens.
He's absolutely right about astrology and tarot readings - 99% of these people are charlatans, and I also suspect that the 1% who are honest are really just mistaken.
I believe in the possibility of mind-reading - thoughts are electrical impulses afterall, so why shouldn't someone who is particularly succeptible be able to pick up certain things? But the idea of communicating with the dead, etc. I can't accept that.
If you think about it, if there really is an afterlife, and people continue to be conscious on a different plain after they die (either in the traditional idea of Heaven, or something else) then how depressing for them that they have to communicate through wankers like John Edwards, et al, in order to get messages back to the living world.
I saw an absolutely wonderful programme with Derren Brown, in which he showed conclusively how the charlatan mediums operate. He didn't say all mediums were bullshitters, but he showed how it was faked by those who do fake it. I'll have to find it on YouTube or somewhere...
I'm watching it now and I really have a soft-spot for Dawkins. He's like a calmer, less rude, less condescending, less militantly judgemental C. Hitchens.
He's absolutely right about astrology and tarot readings - 99% of these people are charlatans, and I also suspect that the 1% who are honest are really just mistaken.
I believe in the possibility of mind-reading - thoughts are electrical impulses afterall, so why shouldn't someone who is particularly succeptible be able to pick up certain things? But the idea of communicating with the dead, etc. I can't accept that.
If you think about it, if there really is an afterlife, and people continue to be conscious on a different plain after they die (either in the traditional idea of Heaven, or something else) then how depressing for them that they have to communicate through wankers like John Edwards, et al, in order to get messages back to the living world.
I saw an absolutely wonderful programme with Derren Brown, in which he showed conclusively how the charlatan mediums operate. He didn't say all mediums were bullshitters, but he showed how it was faked by those who do fake it. I'll have to find it on YouTube or somewhere...
If you want a proper chart done in order to check for yourself go to this site www.world-of-wisdom.com and download the program. If the 50 odd pages it generates don't ring a few major bells then I'd be surprised.He's absolutely right about astrology and tarot readings - 99% of these people are charlatans, and I also suspect that the 1% who are honest are really just mistaken.
Your point about 'after-life' suggests that you'd rather people were utterly depressed at the apparent void than to believe otherwise - how does that help anyone?
Not at all. On the flip-side of that coin, however, why belive in something just for comfort if it isn't really true? If I stopped paying my credit card bills I could "comfort" myself by convincing myself to truly believe that there would be no consequences, but the reality is that there would be.faceless wrote:Your point about 'after-life' suggests that you'd rather people were utterly depressed at the apparent void than to believe otherwise - how does that help anyone?
The difference between spiritual belief and the credit card analogy I just made is of course that reality would hit me when I opened the door and saw the bailifs standing there, but with spiritual belief you'll only know after you're dead. That's a pretty convenient win/win situation in an argument.
I have no way of knowing whether there are ghosts zooming around all over the place or not, and I am happy with people believing there are, but I've simply decided not to in exactly the same way as those who do belive have decided that they do. They're as entitled to insist they spoke to their dead uncle as I am to say they didn't, they were conned.
How many mediums give readings for free? If I died and, from the after-life, wanted to get in touch with my sister or my mother, I'd resent the fact she'd have to bung some medium 20 quid before I was allowed to tell her vague things like "don't worry about the inheritence" or "remember in our first house, the curtains were green?".
As an atheist, I still have deep respect for religion, but people with crystal balls and an enterance fee... they're out to con people.
yeah, conning people is the worst part of it - though it needs to be noted that such methods were the original forms of psychological help. I used to share a flat with a guy who made a small wage at the tarot cards, but after realising that a lot of what he was doing was based on watching the person's reaction to stimuli I had to admit that even if he wasn't 'divining' he was certainly helping people.