All the talks are here: James Randi, Gregory Paul, Rebecca Watson, P. Z. Myers, Anthony Grayling, Dan Barker, and many more of the Travelling Atheist Cabal—yes, it’s the YouTube video repository of the International Atheist Conference in Cophenhagen last June.
Videos from Copenhagen atheist meetings
October 12, 2010 • 10:50 am
Thanks for the link. FTR, the Myers video (especially part 3) is fantastic.
I was very disappointed by Rebecca Watson’s talk. I normally like her on Skeptics Guide to the Universe and her other skeptic podcasts but that talk at Copenhagen was atrocious. It was a version of the “Don’t be a dick” argument that Phil Plait recently made but without the deep thought and subtle nuances that Phil had invested /sarcasm>.
I’ve come to the conclusion that the whole argument is a ‘deepity’.
Deepity? Explain plese!
“Deepity” is a word invented by Dan Dennett to describe a type of argument that has two levels.
One level is blatantly obvious and rather superficial.
The other level is simply wrong.
An example of this is the phrase “love is just a word”.
On one level this is true. Love is a word consisting of the letters L, O, V and E and arranges in that order.
Big deal.
On the other deeper level, the point is simply wrong, love can actually be many things (romantic, familial, aesthetic etc).
As for the “don’t be a dick” argument, I would certainly put it into the deepity category.
On the blatantly obvious level – well of course you shouldn’t be obnoxious if you are trying to convince someone of your argumentative point. Isnt that obvious? It’s like saying “its not a good idea to kick your bank manager in the testicles when you go to ask for a house loan”.
On the deeper level the argument fails since “being a dick” means so many things to so many people. Simply telling people they are wrong about a scientific point will often be seen as acting the dick by those corrected. Telling someone they are ignorant about a scientific subject is regularly held up as a prime example of Dawkins acting the dick. In other words it is impossible, in terms of arguing science or religion with the public, to not appear the dick to someone.
Thanks for the link. I really enjoyed Randi’s talk. I had family who fell for all of that chicanery, from homeopathy to faith healing to Filipino surgery, and seeing my family throw their money and health away on such ridiculous schemes (and then seeing them feeling hurt or actually being hurt by the fraud soon after) was profoundly influential in cultivating my skeptical side.