The Dawkins Files

I spent a good chunk of the morning watching interviews, features, and excerpts of Richard Dawkins on YouTube. I got a taste of his work in The Greatest Show on Earth, and liked what I read. I continued with The God Delusion.

It's fun to watch him debate creationists, especially ones that hide their hostility under a facade of politeness. Consider the following:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YFjoEgYOgRo

Even when provided real evidence, the response is the proverbial finger in the ears going "la la la la, I can't hear you."

And this is a woman who obviously has a large following with real political power. Please tell me this isn't going to be the future of America. I want my son's education to be thorough, encompassing the complexity of science, the importance of critical thinking and real evidence for personal conclusions.

Another interesting interview on Australian television really underscores the wishy wash politics. Check this one out:

Q & A - ABC Australia - Richard Dawkins Part 1 - 6

He asks the senator point blank what he believes, and what does the "family first" senator do? Dances around the question, proclaiming people can make their own conclusions. So what is your conclusion? You are entitled to it after all, mister Senator.

I plan on tying all this together with Zarathustra in good time, still in the process of reading that one.

Not in depth

I started Nietzsche today, delving into Zarathustra. I only had a short break at work to get into it, so there will be extensive reading in the following weeks.

I get to go back home to Fort Worth this weekend though! Checking out my favorite used book store for a copy of Zarathustra, because I don't feel like paying $18 for a new copy. Abilene Texas SUCKS as far as bookstores goes. Only one decent used book store.

The blog title

I guess I thought it was a clever title. Friedrich Nietzsche is one philosopher I haven't studied in depth, but I've seen him associated with a lot of secular practices so I'm in the process of checking into his stuff. One of his works is Thus Spoke Zarathustra, which, of course, I have no idea what is about. I haven't read it yet.


That's going to change this month; I'm continuing with my goal of finishing 4 more books by the end of the year, and it's at the top of my list. I just finished A Brief History of Time by Stephen Hawking and The God Delusion by Richard Dawkins. Both excellent reads for familiarizing yourself with physics (Brief History) and a great beginners guide to atheism and human reason (Delusion).

The first posting

Good evening to everyone.

This is my first post, guaranteed to be the first of many to come.

I plan on dedicating this to the pursuit of knowledge and understanding. I love reading about new discoveries in science, history and philosophy, so this will be the meat of the postings, along with commentary on them. And possibly a smattering of fiction, whatever I feel like.

I look forward to meeting you guys out there.

With regards,

Sam