Why Smart People Believe Silly Things
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 20 ส.ค. 2018
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I gave this speech in February at the LogiCal LA conference in Los Angeles. Receiving the footage at this time has been helpful, since as this uploads I will be on holiday, meaning it fills what otherwise would have been an empty week with no content.
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Alex O'Connor
Po Box 1610
OXFORD
OX4 9LL
ENGLAND
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I get the feeling that Alex just begged the arrangers to put the lecture in the morning so every one of his videos could start with “Good morning, everybody”
I doubt he appreciated the jet lag.
It was actually secretly filmed in the afternoon in a secret room at Denver's Horror Airport, to an audience of 'clones' and 'sleepers' charitably supplied by
Sam Harris's avon lady.
He doesn't believe that shit. That's his shtick. He's just a huckster.
Imagine him starting a speech at a funeral...
@@AquaPeet “Good morning, everybody...well, not everybody I'm afraid *chuckles Britishly*”
I think I'm more of a silly person who believes smart things.
The mark of a smart person.
Rubjerg lmao
Same
Of course... How can you know that what you believe is smart?
I sponge on the minds of people who're wiser than myself and generously share their knowledge in a relatively unbiased way in articles, books, documentaries etc. Often you don't even need to leave the tube for some of the good stuff in this respect -- for the way our world works, for example, there're great channels like World Science Festival, Royal Institute, PBS Spacetime etc.
We can take a moment to acknowledge the fact he was 18?
Very inspiring speech Alex.
19
@@csupor1046 That's literally my age
@@gabrielchattaway1663 There are a couple of hiccups where he seems to need time to find the right mental track again, but it's certainly miles above anything I could procure, and I'm 19 too. I wonder if he's a natural or if he practiced a lot; or both.
Yes! Alex O'Connor is a smart person who believes in silly things, such as atheism. For example.
@@robinrobyn1714 Hehe. Why is atheism a silly thing?
"It is infinitely more productive to be openly biased, than to be deceptively neutral"
That's one of my favorite quotes from Alex. 33:12
Productive towards what ends?
Wish the people above me weren't so purposefully obtuse
@@crunchylettuce5446 it's called intellectually honest, not obtuse.
"than to be deceptively neutral"
Deceptively neutral is how to have a conversation.
“Deceptively neutral” is the BBC.
Your words touch my heart. It is true. My own girlfriend is one of those people. She is kind, loving, smart and all I could ever hope for. She is my soulmate. Nonetheless, she still holds this abhorrent belief. But I still love her and I want to get old with her, even if she likes pineapple pizza.
Sultan Laxeby 👍
Didn't know pizza is a belief!? 😉
You will be cooked in the stone oven forever if you don't trust in our Lord and saviour, the Pineapple-pizza.
funny. now turn the microscope back on yourself and question why someone's affinity for pineapple pizza perturbs you so much, bigot :)
Am I a bigot for despising the idea that putting pineapple on pizza is okay?
_wounded_
Sultan Laxeby that’s a crime
Didn't think Hitchens would reincarnate this fast.
LeneChibi give him a couple of years and more bite and I’ll begin to believe in reincarnation... when Hitchens died I feared greatly for the atheist movement but I’m gaining trust in a comeback
He's still a million books behind Hitchens. Hitch could quote history just from his memory.
Yootoober 95 You don't know that. A shit diet isn't the only cause of cancer.
@Yootoober 95 did his smoking like a chimney have nothing to do with his cancer?
@Yootoober 95 agreed
Thanks! Why smart people believe silly things (26:30):
1- We are emotional animals prone to allowing our emotions to overcome our reason;
2- Smart people are often more of a problem because they are better at rationalising their emotional hunches;
3- When a smart person does hold a silly belief, they are better at convincing other people of this;
4- Even with the benefit of a free market of ideas, confirmation bias, like a snake in the grass, ruins its efficiency.
Conclusion: Smart people not only can hold silly beliefs, but often pose even more of a problem when they do.
Stupid people are the most dangerous people on the planet.
what's up with the snake in the grass?
As a wise man once said: "I'm not sure I'm doubting myself enough."
So many people, not sure (aware) that they are doubting themselves.
Honestly this talk should be heard by more people, I'm from highly intelligent family, i myself am nuclear scientist and I've been thinking a lot about the topic of believing that as a person is smart, he is not susceptible to fall for irrational beliefs and i am constantly stopping myself to think, if everything i believe in is based in evidence and logic and i am trying to only believe in those two things. I like to think that im not susceptible to bad beliefs as im trying to find inconsistencies in all beliefs i have and find my mistakes, but even i am susceptible and im constantly trying to prevent myself from falling for bad beliefs. I know many extremely smart people who have fallen to this trap of thinking that they can't fall for bad ideologies and actually believe irrational stuff. Even my father holds some beliefs which are not supported by evidence and logic. People should always doubt everything they believe in and what they think and hear.
The only problem is, that once you do that, you are unable to produce definite predictions, and are unable to align with almost any ideology fully. Ive been thinking about politics a lot (im not from the us, I'm European), as i went through all information about political parties we have here, i found out that i can't vote for any of them, because none of them are aiming to do the best for everyone. We don't have a bipartisan system here, there are dozens of political parties, but still none is going for the overall good in all fields. If you do all the selfless things to do overall good, noone will support you. Also if you just follow the evidence and logic, you will never do anything because you cant be certain.
Once you really try to not fall for bad beliefs, you will find yourself at the point of not believing anything except the proven solid evidence, and then you will always be also doubting all interpretations of the evidence. But its hard to argue other people who hold bad beliefs, because you cant tell them with certainty that they're wrong, because there is no proof of it, but there isnt a way to disprove it either. You cant really talk people out of believing bad stuff, they have to do that by themselves. They have to try to find their flaws, and flaws in their beliefs. Everyone is susceptible.
I really enjoy math, because everything is built on the base of solid theory. Everything is properly defined and people build everything from those already proven theories. Everything can be disproven if its false. There is either proven or disproven (or waiting for proof in some cases), and everything one does is replicable. If someone believes something and you think its wrong, you can disprove it and once disproven, there is nothing ot debate about, the theory was wrong.
I had the grace to doubt my doubts
@@mitotakjde9763 I feel you, my brother, on so many points. Yet, logic and evidence, while being necessary, are not enough, as one needs postulate to strat conversing with the world. There is consciousness, and then are the stuff that are inside consciousness. And as soon as one take those things seriously, they are implying some postulate.
This makes infinitely harder to discriminate between good ans bad belief.
Stay strong!
Like it. We all need more humility, modesty, honesty, and objectivity about ourselves. At the same time, our true potential and thus long term worth is not affected by our current shortcomings or mistakes.
I was a devout christian until I was 62. I got several versions of the bible, booklets by famous TV evangelists. I started from Genesis 1;1 and went through the bible page by page, verse by verse. I wanted to become a better christian, however, the more I got into this intense study, I found verses, chapters, books, that made me feel that all this was nonsense. It took me 3 years before I actually did not believe the bible and became an Atheist. And another 2 years before I stopped looking over my shoulder to see if god was watching me. I am now 77 and have no doubt Atheist-ism is my firm belief now.
Buzz
“Bravo!” I too am *older*. I wish I hadn’t spent time riding the jesus wave for so long but at least I now know my time here is so wonderfully special and I spend each day marveling at the beauty instead of checking every thought and action for the possibility of offending an imaginary deity.
Buzz
So you stopped being a christian or you just don't belive in god anymore
Buzz *I'm no Christian but what it sounds like according to your post is that you read the Bible in a literal fashion without any research put in by scholars and came to the conclusion that the Bible is bullshit. Am I right?*
62 you say? Maybe Sigmund Freud was onto something...
he was "enlightened" or "awoken" people who believe in this bullshit have a veil or delusion clouding their sight. More people need to join reality.
I did not know you have a sense of humour. 😂
it´s because of his earnest face
Almost feels weird why there are no such witty jokes in his normal videos.
You should watch swish
*had
Pineapple on pizza is not a joking matter.
He is incredibly expressive. Such a way with words! Not one syllable is wasted.
Alex: When I was young
Me: wait wut
Same lol I am 22, very young, and this guy was 3 years younger when he talked there WTF
Hittin' it with the good ol' dry english humour
On a more serious note: this video is once again a brilliant one. Interesting, well spoken and funny. I am so happy you are the same age as me. Knowing my generation has somebody like you to represent it, even if it remains on a relatively small scale, is absolutely delightful.
Laya's TH-cam
Alex is a freakin’ good speaker, and he’ s only half my age. My kids generation **WILL** survive.....
When I grow up I wanna be like Alex.
Wait...
Right
Having teached young people for many years I can safely say that no generation surprised me so much and infected me with more hope for the future than the ones born after 1999. It feels (at least to me) as if they have regained an ethical aspriration and drive that diminished in the generations born after 1975. I am very proud of you.
@@leporello7 thank you❤️
Alex, I’m impressed by your vast knowledge, eloquence and oratory. It’s really difficult, if nor impossible, to find those in someone so young. I believe you have a brilliant future ahead of you. Young people like you give us, the seniors, hope for the future. Thank you. Take care of your many gifts.
Ditto. Alex is already one of my favorite thinkers. He has the intellect, style and humor to be very influential in this world.
I can think of a smart person who’s beliefs can sometimes be dumb: Ben Shapiro. No doubt he’s intelligent, but a lot of his views are centered around the fact that he’s part of a faith. He debates college kids who most definitely don’t know how to correctly stare their argument and he appears to be correct all of the time. But what I see in Alex that Ben lacks is his ability to be completely objective about really difficult/controversial issues. He coined the saying “facts don’t care about your feelings” but a lot of his arguments are centered around his feelings, but all of the time they’re presented as fact.
The problem is a person who seeks debate and wants their beliefs challenge would actively seek out good opponents. Shapiro does not seek out said challenges. He is nearly constantly punching down and not punching up or even punching sideways.
He does this because his little tricks are easier to use on someone who isn't skilled at debate or only has the most basic of knowledge on how to do it. Its why, when he IS invited by people who are clearly as versed, if not more versed, than him in the art of rational thinking and the debate, he usually makes excuses.
Exactly..
it's tough to beat a man with a silver tongue
Smart person???
Andrew Neil may agree with you.
Aww he looks so grown up! *pinches cheeks*
ummm......ok
Stop role playing as his mum you alcoholic
Of course, isn't he like 15 already?
saucy!
I'm not an alcoholic, I'm just fun!
Damn, this kid is a natural. Gives me hope for humanity.
Without God there is no hope
@@akeem4772 nope, there is more hope without God
Thank God I'm an atheist how? in terms of the afterlife. believers have nothing to lose if their wrong. but if non believers are wrong they have everything to loose. if it's a a 50/50 chance why be on the lose lose side
@@akeem4772 th-cam.com/video/NKzqQ-IVxGs/w-d-xo.html
th-cam.com/video/RWj5kKZqKgg/w-d-xo.html
I am always trying to prove myself wrong. If all you do is try to prove yourself right, then you will never learn anything.
I love how well spoken he is, the way he thinks is amazing
I’m biased toward Alex O’Conner speeches
It is no problem. But did you question this bias? What was the conclusion?
Me too
@@mikloscsuvar6097 my conclusion was 'silence brain computation
4:46 "A change in the way that we're viewing, not necessarily the bad ideas, but the people who hold them; the demonization of the people who hold them, I think, is the main problem and something that I want to change."
This says everything.
He truly is kind :)
@@a.l.michael6240 kind or pragmatic?
45:25, "You've really got to pick your battles" is invaluable. For me this often means choosing between being right or being effective which is context and relationship dependant. I've learned to act and speak from kindness and respect over burnishing my ego and identity which, counterintuitively, allows me to be comfortable with my self and others.
This was incredibly insightful. I struggle when talking to hard headed members of my family and friends and this gave me a great perspective to look inward at my own ideas as well as outward at those I don't hold. I try to question everything but do hold notions that I don't criticize enough. Thank you.
Woah this is amazing! Alex I've noticed you've made a lot of progress in your analytical thinking and I see you have a bright future ahead of you.
Amateur Professional
Too bright a future, actually he can't even see the audience!
Wow, I can tell Hitchens was a major inspiration for you. The witty humor, right down to the mannerisms and intonations. Very impressive.
What do you mean?
I think his calm objectivity and good humour are even more powerful than Hitchens' speech, if a little less entertaining.
I think he's more of a Harris
..yet.
He's more like Sam Harris. A very precise speaker, same mannerisms, same low key humor.
The thing with Einstein wad that when he found his beliefs were incorrect, rather than keep believing them by faith .. he changed his mind based on the evidence. Unlike some religious people I could mention.
@@idontcare2851 Hello, my brother.
Yeah but that was before he learned about Joe Mama entanglement principles.
God’s a blackjack dealer in Atlantic City
Meanwhile there are tons of dishonest scientists among us
@@PInk77W1 And they eventually get found out when the evidence doesn't support or contradicts them. That's the advantage of science. Self correcting.
I find it amusing that Alex was still a meat eater at this time, it really shows the validity of what he said in this video.
PETA: People Eating Tasty Animals!
Wish he brought the wacky cupboard
Yes, that should be one of his props.
I feel my IQ slowly rising listening to him
Serb Hunter Rising to what? 47??
Just remember that it isnt rising. You didn't have these ideas, you only listened to them. Watch the video a few times and really learn it, then go on to make your own opinions and really get smarter that way.
+Tyler Haley I know it's not actually "rising", there's no need to break it down as it was just a rather joke comment. But hey that's good advice you have there anyways
@@tylerhaley6301 wooooooosh
I have no idea. People who boast about their IQ are losers.
~Stephen Hawking
I had this in my 'watch later' playlist for a year and finally watched it today, and firstly, let me say I wish I watched it sooner! Very great job, 19 year old Alex!
It's wonderful to hear one so erudite and so clear of thought at such a young end.
The world is a better place for you in it, young man. Thank you.
"This to me is the true horror of religion, it allows perfectly decent and sane people to believe by the billions what only lunatics could believe on their own"
-Sam Harris
Sam harris is ok this guy is alot more reasonable and conclusive his answers though.
Which is also why it's so useful.
HA! Religion saved this world. Who is your poster boy?? Hitler or Stalin?? Atheists are responsible for the most horrific sickness in our world, FACT. You are just an amoral person seeking to justify your actions. FACE IT.
@@louispower7822 Hitler was a Christian you know that right? And if you're really going to keep score on who is responsible for worse actions, atheists don't hold a candle to what religious people have committed. Atheists dont sin anymore than Christians, that's a fact.
@@ispartacus1337 Perfect, you fell for the classic entrapment!
Hitler was a catholic, he abandoned his religion. Showing perfectly, abandon your faith and become an atheist, you can kill people easily then. Why not? Thanks for just proving my point!!!! LOL!!!!! Fell for it , hook line and sinker!!!! Set up of the century.
Atheists generally can't put up with the moral code and expectations, they general become an atheist because of this weakness. Also, bring up people as an atheist, they are likely to be amoral.
I have seen the blight of non-religious countries, the people care little for anything else but money.
The day the Christian religion fails, is the day this world is in a cesspit. Say all you like but atheists are responsible for by far the most deaths. Mao, Stalin AND HITLER (the newly converted). Now, please, read up to educate yourself, Hitler had anti-christian views and German Christianity was persecuted and planned to be fully destroyed. DO YOUR RESEARCH before you look like a FOOL.
Now, sit down, be quiet, learn and grow up.
Love the fact that he has such a chill no cholent tone even when making a joke
"Take away is this. You are no Einstein." Love it!
Brilliant and funny! What an honor to be able to witness your growth as a thinker, it is very vicarious but at the same time makes me wish I can make it otherwise, which is the best form of a speech
You really are an amazing speaker, and I am genuinely inspired by you! You make me believe that our generation actually can accomplish something good. Thank you Alex, keep up the good work!
Do not despair. Each generation brings us new wisdom and hope 🙋♂️ It never fails
Jordan Peterson is a good example of an intelligent person holding fallacious beliefs.
What kind of fallacious beliefs?
eggo
He believes you need to believe in God to be a good person and that atheists are by definition bad people.
Orange Boy he doesn’t think they are bad people. He just doesn’t believe they are true atheists. He thinks their morality is influenced by Christian ideals
Big Brother Thunder
Exactly
One of the most consequential fallacious beliefs he holds is that there is no objective truth, but only a "Darwinian truth".
He thinks that whether or not a statement, theorie or belief is true only depends on whether or not holding it increases your chances of survival.
Other than obviously being a completely ridiculous assertion, together with his idea of a dominance hierarchy it allows him to justify taking, and arguing for, any position that serves his agenda, regardless of the actual truth content of what he's saying.
Cosmic's suggestions:
1. imagine you're advising somebody else
2. criticize your own ideas
3. criticize other people's ideas, watch debates rather than talks
4. don't eliminate your bias, embrace it
You’re a g, this is one of the most important conversations on TH-cam thank you
You are a great orator and your wisdom is already oceanic!
Its f i ne ti not believe in a. God until your child gets cancer and you ll be on your knees begging for. God s mercy. Intellect does save people from themselves or tyrants like trump.
Lol there are less productive things we could be doing on a Sunday morning 😂 yeah you're right
Ah I see you're a man of ulster too
@@samdoyle3945 Born and (bread) lol
@@samdoyle3945 good music btw I like it
@@papadoc711 Cheers mate
Fantastic talk, although it is not the first time I heard about all of the thing you talk about I still find it really fascinating as you put it in a one coherent manner and combine them together to make a great point.
19 years old me was still struggling learning all of these things, let alone piecing them together and talk in front of an educated crowd.
The power of him cracking jokes with a poker face is so uncanny...
As a closeted ex muslim from a muslim majority country, I heard a lot of silly things my friends and my family members say all the time. When I had lunch with my friends, and and one of my friends started talking about her friend who studies biology in the same university, and that bology student reiterate one of the most overused argument against theory of evolution; if humans came from monkey, why are there still monkey? This is sad coming from a biology student and makes me wondering about what the biology lecturers would say about theory of evolution. I knew exactly how to respond to that, but we were still eating, and the topic just came out, and on top of that they still didn't know that i was an ex muslim, so supporting theory of evolution would be very suspicious.
When you talked about people who come from religious family and when they left the religion they have to choose between living a more reasonable life and preserving the relationship of family, that's exactly the position I'm in. And this is a zero-sum game, I still have yet to decide what I'm gonna do about it.
I am also a closeted ex muslim in a muslim majority, and I've heard that statement too many times. I'm not so proficient in debating, so I end up stating what I believe, and move on. Although I do say silly things as much as any other person. :/
Would your families accept you as non-teligious or would they discard you? If you don't want to you don't have to answer
@@GamingPenis Well, i've only told 3 people. My sister, who is an atheist as well, my step father, who accepts me, and my uncle who disagrees with it but also accepts me. My mother is obsessed with religion, and she has told my sister and i several times that she would rather die than us being atheists. So that about sums it up.
LordKellthe1st It’s slightly rude to say it’s a good thing. Religion helps billions of people and many love it.
@Mr Cabot no, safety is more important than honesty many times
I'm pleasantly surprised by how good this speech turned out. The humor kept it light for a very mature subject.
Also... He named dropped Aron Ra and it makes me giddy to know Alex has listened to him before.
Alex has mentioned Aron Ra in a few of his videos, I think he's a fan :)
This is a great talk! Very educational & funny. Love it x
Hey, I hardly ever subscribe to anyone but you really, really, really deserve it. Thanks for the videos and PLEASE dont stop doing what you're doing. The world needs more of you. I'm envious of your brain dude... now how do I make sure you read this?
There is one big reason for all of these psychological traits that I did not hear from you: we have very limited resources to evaluate the immense flood of information that reaches us every minute. We did not evolve from computers or from a race of classical Greek philosophers, we evolved from the very slow Savanah-strolling ape who had to make life-or-death decisions on a daily basis, usually based on the flimsiest evidence.
The first proto-human scientist was the one who saw two brilliant spots in the bushes, and contrary to his group, went to the bushes to investigate, became a scientist for ten seconds and lunch in the next five. We hold to our biases and preconceptions because we follow algorithms that have evolved with us, and work frequently.
“... became a scientist for ten seconds and lunch in the next five.”
I like this.
This was so fascinating and I never expected to get so many nuggets of wisdom in one video. Your communication skills are excellent Alex! I'm 21 right now and hopefully I can improve my communication skills to a level like yours in the future.
Great work Alex, keep on reading and speaking!
Listening to a debate rather than a talk is some great advice I hadn't considered. Such an easy and intuitive improvement.
Great video, listening to it as a podcast in the van on the way to work. Lots of funny moments, too.
A long way from your bedroom and the long missed drawers! , Keep up the good work Alex :)
Jesus, very nice speaker.
random guy - true, but what about Alex?
@@mickeytwoshoes9476 he is jesus
random guy 👍😊
mohammad*
It's not fair that his brain at such a young age can grasp difficult ideas and come out being able to spread them to others so effortlessly. While im over here googling definitions to words every 10 minutes.
Knowlage has nothing to do with intelligence.
British accent = Sound smart
Fluidity
Ozzy Osbourne.
User or snotty
I'm from Yorkshire, England and I would disagree with that statement strongly lol
@@andrewoliver8930 lmao. Very underrated comment. Top 1% best comments of all time.
Jordan Peterson is a great example of a very smart person that gets things wrong (especially regarding theism) and can convince a ton of people of the bad ideas.
Respectfully disagree. While he does sometimes get things wrong, the ideas he's putting forth have had very positive results on the world.
you're a dummy
eggo indeed, many of his advice is indeed really well thought and useful
I liked Peterson until he said morality can only come from religion/god which is obviously a false statement
How do you know it's a false statement? Are you smarter than Peterson?
Wow such a brilliant young man !!! We need more like minded folk like you!
Awesome presentation. It confirms all my personal biases and leaves me feeling righter than ever. Thank you.
Pineapple belongs on pizza fight me Alex.
gajjit I’m with you, brother!
Listen up now Alex: Hawaiian pizza was created in New Zealand by a natural evolutionary process as each generation became more discerning. (Eventually our kulture will be normalised in the Old World.) We have also added canned spaghetti with sauce to pizzas, but only as a sacrament to our saviour the Flying Spaghetti Monster.
This is the one true religion.
So proud of you!! Keep up the good work. We are all on your side!! So proud!
It's a pleasure to the ears listening to this man. Great talk.
One of the best lectures I watched on TH-cam. Thank you.
The trolley dilemma - I'd say no both times. Even the first time I'd feel like I was personally responsible for the death of that 1 person.
But if you had the ability to prevent the death of the other five and you didn't, wouldn't you feel equally responsible?
@@louismonaghan1461 I suppose no, because the deaths of those 5 people were not directly caused by him, unlike If he were to direct the train intentionally towards the 1 man
That's a very interesting thought, and I certainly haven't thought about this matter that way.
I personally think that killing people through inaction is just the same as killing them through action, and thus I would feel just as personally responsible -- after all, I could have saved 4 people, yet I intentionally let them die.
This is called an omission bias. It's the same type of bias that leads people to choose not to vaccinate their kids. The problem is that inaction is also action. Choosing to do nothing is still choosing.
I never understood why the trolley "dilemma" was such an ethical quandary. Just flip a coin and flip a switch or abstain.
Literally dropped every other videos the moment I see this in my recommended. Any videos of yours are guaranteed in quality!
I'm currently 26. Started reading Nietszhe, Frankl, Spinoza and mainly presocratic philosophers when I was about 19. and quite rapidly, philosophy became my primary interest in life. It's so refreshing and beautiful that in the midst of all these endless sensationalist, populist and dogmatic nonsense in our modern society, there's still a young guy devoted to meaning and truth.
I love math for that reason. Studying maddening beauty using mostly irrefutable logic.
Wait what, he's 1 year younger than me? That means he's born in 1999, while I'm born in 1998
. . . . and who might the young lad be, pray tell? . . .
Is not.
Prepsychotic filosofers?
We need more people like Alex.
Congratulations on giving this talk, Alex! Well done with regards to both content and delivery!
I hope you managed to get into the university that you wanted.
Thank you for all that I have learnt from you and good luck for all your future endeavours!
Waiting for the creationists in the comment section going on about clever people believing in evolution "the fairy tale for adults"
The most surprising thing I found in the comments is people who believe 9/11 was an inside job, not that many creationists here yet
I troll Kent Hovind's channel from time to time. Its astonishing the things they believe. Some of it is lack of education, much of it is willful ignorance and misrepresenting science.
@@MFink-oq5hy I love trolling religious channels hahaha
Phoe
If you actually believe that two aluminum jet liners can totally immerse themselves through a solid steel external shell, you are beyond help. You would expect me to believe this bullshit supporting the narrative from NIST.
th-cam.com/video/gui_ATdfHx4/w-d-xo.html
You may answer this very sensible question, how did the aluminum make it through solid steel unaffected? Again, this would mean the planes would have not disintegrated on impact but instead somehow totally immersed themselves inside. I suggest a study into physics, so you know, this steel exoskeleton was the strongest part of the two towers.
I am an atheist by the way and you also probably think we actually went to the moon. If I may, how old are you?
What does 9/11 and the conspiracy theory have to do with creationists, what is your point?
belaireguy411 I agree, if anything is hard to believe if the official version about 9/11
Lady at the end is correct. Many people consider their beliefs as their identity. Problem is that their identity is frail, weak, shallow, surface. They haven’t anything else to tell them who they are. It’s the saddest condition.
Great talk! I'm sharing this with my kids.
You once said hello to me on your livestream. I have a feeling that might be my claim to fame one day. You're an absolute natural at this and I feel so proud of you. (I hope that doesn't sound too patronising)
I feel proud of you haha!
"Planting the seed" was an AMAZING explanation! Loved that!
In my high school days I was very gifted in chemistry. My life goal was to be a chemical engineer. I wanted to only take classes that supported that goal. Then as life progressed I discovered people with horrible educations about social issues and political processes and history. I never became a chemical engineer but was on a path to law school because I saw and experienced injustice. Because of medical issues law school did not happen either. I became a legal reformer. In meeting people with legal problems I found that most had no knowledge of political influences on the courts or the distinct jurisdictions of each. These people had Ideas about the law and constitutions that were absolutely wrong. So I have changed my mind about education: if you don't learn about science, government, psychology, history or law to name a few; you are not prepared for a modern society. That lack of knowledge harms the greater societal interests by the uneducated making bad political choices. We are all suffering the consequences.
Watching alex go places by time is just like watching your own brother do good things in life. its satisfyingly lovely to watch.
Didn't know you are such a good live speaker. Your speech is really well executed, even though jet lags and other issues.
Your eloquence is mesmerising, lovely stuff!
I needed to hear this today. I've been thinking a lot about this for about forty years.
I wanted to be smart, but then I got high...
LMAO
I smile every time when Alex says "when I was young"
the fact that you kept my attention the whole time I-- can’t even
This talk should be mandatory viewing.
If you continue down this path, I can see you joining the ranks of the greatest thinkers of our time. Congrats on how far you’ve come and I’m honoured to be tagging along for this journey.
I'm 62, adequately smart, yet I look back at myself at 19 years old and could no more articulate myself like Alex than flap my arms and fly. I couldn't do it now. He's an incredible intellect.
David. possibly programmed by the state I know I had very little confidence and certainly the system did not encourage free thinking.
How I loved to have a nice hot pizza, made with the brains of an intellect.
i can’t believe he’s only 19 in this!
What a great talk. Well done and thanks!
So proud of you and happy for you Alex!
Are you biased?
There's definitely quite a lot of Hitchens-inspiration here, the way Alex talks, the structure and sound of the sentences etc.
This was a brilliant speech. I really admire your public speaking, and intellectual abilities. I'm curious to see where you'll be in a few years, and I'm sure there's a bright future ahead of you.
YT is amazing just for the fact that I can receive this lecture in my recommendations 4 years after it happened. Before YT exsitsted I would have never known it happened and wouldn't have gained the insight it gave me. This applies to probably hundreds of thousands if not millions of ideas
Very well done. You echo my own wisdom, that I have established over many more years of existence, and yet you are so young.
Just thinking aloud here but Alex I can one day see you being the next Hitchens, you make it all look so effortless and natural just like he did.
Just hoping he doesn't get drunk before his speeches.
It's not so much a case of shunning bad ideas, it's more a case of identifying them, and most are far more difficult than the ones quoted in the talk.
Thanks so much!
Good talk @
CosmicSkeptic thank you! As a Christian I started criticizing ideas i believed and got rid of some of them. I like your wording on why we shoudn't criticize good ideas less than bad ones.
130 people didn't enjoy being made to feel stupid by this talk.
However, I myself thoroughly enjoyed it!
I call it humility. To know I myself cannot be holding all the highest good ideas. Some of my ideas must be fallacious. What they are seems to be why were here. Were searching to find how intelligent people can be dupped. And by themselves.
So might is right?
@@RuminatingWizard 3ys old thread so you'll have to clarify what you're responding to and what you mean.
Pineapple is pronounced Pi-napoli in Latin.
Pi= circles
Napoli is the home of pizza.
Ham is a lump of meat from a simple creature.
Really enjoyed this discussion.
Wow.. You are quite the impressive young man. Thank you for doing all that you do.
What a gift to all of humanity is Alex
O Connor.