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Sunday, July 16, 2006

Interview at Biota.org

This week, I was interviewed for the Biota.org podcast. Biota is a website geared toward the artificial life community, but I also talked about evolution and atheism.

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2 Comments:

At 7/17/2006 9:59 PM, Blogger Bahnsen Burner declaimed...

Hello Zach,

I've been out on holiday recently, so I didn't get a chance to listen to your interview until this afternoon. I really enjoyed it. You have a very clear speaking voice, and it's hard to see how anyone could say you're unreasonable on the topic of evolution. I'm grateful that the interviewer gave you plenty of leeway to answer questions posed to you and elaborate on your basic approach. Can you let me know where I can access your podcasts?

Many Christian that I have known become visibly uncomfortable whenever the topic of evolution is ever brought up. It's a combination of programmed response (they're supposed to think it's "bad") and ignorance (they don't have any facts to back up their emotional uneasiness). Consequently it brings out a lot of insecurities. And I think you're right: the view that the only ticket to morality (and feeling good about themselves) is through religious devotional attitudes poses as a formidable barrier to scientific discovery and understanding. They are emotionally predisposed to the denial you mentioned, and this is controlling what they allow themselves to believe. Defense of religious belief is essentially premised on the view that truth can be controlled by an act of will: they seem to think that the theory of evolution will be defeated if only they can successfully resist it. Of course, that's not how truth works, but that is their operative presumption whether they consciously realize it or not.

Regards,
Dawson

 
At 7/18/2006 9:40 AM, Blogger Zachary Moore declaimed...

Dawson-

Thanks! You can find out everything you need about my podcast by clicking the "Evolution 101" button on the upper right-hand side of this page.

 

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