The Comfort Of Religion And The Purpose Of Life - Richard Dawkins @ UC Berkeley

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Comment by LeavingSOE on April 27, 2009 at 8:07pm

Hey, Candy. I can't speak for Dawkins, but I don't think "ghosts" is to be taken literally. He's not only a scientist, but also an author, journalist, speaker, former professor, and so on. I find that in both his writing and his public speaking, he's rather poetic. Similarly, I think "dead" is being used in this case as the antonym of "alive" as in "not alive." Again, I can't speak for Twain, but that's how I interpreted the quotation.

Dawkins tends to speak in terms of probability rather than absolute proof or disproof. You can watch more of his programs or read more of his books to see how he demonstrates the improbability of a supernatural god and the improbability of our individuality surviving our physical death. I continue to struggle with the possibility of losing my individuality when I'm dead, but I'm reorganizing and re-prioritizing my life now that I've taken a long and thoughtful stare into the high probability of it. If only the footprints that I leave behind will be my legacy, then it's worthwhile to stomp my feet as hard as I can.

Comment by candylily on April 26, 2009 at 8:33pm

he is very hypocritical he speaks of those who were never born as ghost wth. He quotes Mark Twain who says has been dead for billions of years lol how does one know he has been dead? Then says those unborn ghost a scientist speaking of ghost? Make up your mind lol

I understand that as a scientist not believing in something that you aren't able to proof but not being able to proof something does not mean it doesn't exist.