Sam Harris at Idea CIty '05

[Charleston Chew]

Run time: 23:16 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J3YOIImOoYM   Posted on YouTube: March 05, 2006 By YouTube Member: booyah22 Views on YouTube: 301417   Posted on DU: November 21, 2010 By DU Member: Charleston Chew Views on DU: 250

 
http://www.samharris.org/

[DeSwiss]

1. K&R

I've seen this before and I think it's great. And I also think that Sam Harris is one of the few people who directly and intelligently addresses the things we must do, if we are to have any chance at all to save ourselves, from ourselves.

"Whenever we are talking about facts, certain opinions must be excluded. That is what it is to have a domain of expertise. That is what it is for knowledge to count. How have we convinced ourselves that in the moral sphere there's no such thing as moral expertise? Or moral talent? Or moral genius? How have we convinced ourselves that every opinion has to count? How have we convinced ourselves that every culture has a point of view on these subjects worth considering? Does the Taliban have an opinion on physics that is worth considering? No? Then how is their ignorance any less obvious, on the subject of human well-being? So this is what I think the world needs now. It needs people like ourselves to admit that there are right and wrong answers to questions of human flourishing. And that morality relates to that domain of facts." ~ Sam Harris, "Science Can Answer Moral Questions"

"Religious moderation is the product of secular knowledge and scriptural ignorance ... by failing to live by the letter of the texts (religious holy books), while tolerating the irrationality of those who do, religious moderates betray faith and reason equally." ~ Sam Harris - "The End of Faith"