Thursday, December 13, 2007

Beyond Belief 2007, Enlightenment 2.0


The Beyond Belief conference, in La Jolla, CA last year, provided some of the most entertaining and educational videos I have seen. I will be completely honest and tell you that I have just started watching this year’s conference, which took place at the end of October and early November. So I can’t exactly recommend it to you in good conscience, other than to say that I look forward to seeing it, based on last year.

The videos are broken up into 5 sessions, each two or three hours long. Here is the link to The Science Network’s page covering Beyond Belief 2007. Near the bottom of the page, you can go directly to which ever session you want to watch.

Among many other speakers, you will find Francisco Ayala, Sean M. Carroll, Pat & Paul Churchland, Daniel Dennett (missing from ’06 due to a heart attack), Sam Harris, Sir Harold Kroto, Rodolfo Llinas, PZ Myers, John Allen Paulos, Carolyn Porco, VS Ramashandran, Michael Shermer, Lee Silver, David Sloan Wilson and, once again, hosted by Roger Bingham (who was positively brilliant in last year’s conference). If you are not sure if this is your cup of tea, you might click here and get an explanation of what Beyond Belief 2007, Enlightenment 2.0 is all about. Knowing the general interests and intellectual capacities of most of the bloggers I associate with, I can say there is little doubt you will find some, or all, of this very interesting.

5 comments:

The Exterminator said...

Thanks for the link, Evo. I don't know when I'll get a chance to watch these videos, but when I do, I'll definitely remember where an easily clickable link is.

Unknown said...

Thanks for the link, John. I watched some of the 2005 conference, but I haven't had a chance to watch 2007. I wish they were available on DVD. I love free, don't get me wrong, but I'd buy it on DVD if I could to watch at home.

Anonymous said...

Thanks for the link. I don't know when I'll get to watch them, but I'll add that task to my "to-do" list.

PhillyChief said...

Well I loved the vids from last year, so I'm sure these won't disappoint

John Evo said...

OK, I'm hearing that many are going to think it's interesting but aren't sure they have the time for all of this.

Well... I do! So here's what I'm going to do. As I find particularly special talks that I'm reasonably sure you will want to see, I'll direct you to it.

So, right away, I have one for you. Go to the link I gave you. Click on the first session. Scroll the timer forward to the 1:56 minute mark and watch Dan Dennett.

He addresses a subject near and dear to us. Is the style of debate that has been launched by Dennett, Dawkins, Harris and Hitchens good for the cause of atheism, or is it bad? You could, of course, surmise what Dennett's position is, but you will really appreciate the defense.