0:00 my question is given all these
0:04 demotions what is your personal religion
0:08 or do you is there any type of God to
0:11 you like is there a purpose given that
0:13 we're just sitting on this Speck in the
0:16 middle of this sea of
0:19 stars now I don't want to duck any
0:22 questions and I'm not going to duct this
0:24 one but let me ask you what do you mean
0:27 when you use the word god it's it's
0:30 seems that Through the Ages we have
0:33 humans have created a mythological
0:35 framework that has always involved some
0:36 kind of higher spiritual powers and as
0:40 every human culture has as that goes
0:43 away as we know more and more that and
0:46 it seems harder and harder to prove that
0:48 anything might exist like that where
0:51 does that leave us on our own
0:55 [Applause]
1:01 which to my mind is much more
1:03 responsible than hoping that someone
1:05 will save us from ourselves so we don't
1:07 have to make our best efforts to do it
1:14 ourselves and if we're
1:16 wrong and there is someone who steps in
1:18 and saves us okay that's all right I'm
1:21 for that but we you know hedged our bets
1:25 it's Pascal's bargain run
1:28 backwards um I I'll say another
1:31 word the word god covers an enormous
1:35 range of different ideas and you
1:37 recognize that in the way you phrase the
1:40 question running
1:42 from an
1:44 outsized
1:46 lightskinned male with a long white
1:49 beard sitting in a throne in the sky and
1:51 tallying the fall of every
1:53 Sparrow for which there is no evidence
1:56 to my mind if anybody has some I sure
1:58 would like to see it
2:00 um to the kind of God that Einstein or
2:04 Spinoza talked about which is very close
2:07 to the sum total of the laws of the
2:10 universe now it would be crazy to deny
2:12 that there are laws in the universe and
2:15 if that's what you want to call God then
2:16 of course God
2:17 exists and there are all sorts of other
2:19 nuances there is for example the deest
2:23 god that many of the founding fathers of
2:26 this country believed in although it is
2:29 a a secret whose name may not be spoken
2:33 in some
2:34 circles a
2:37 a a do nothing King the God who creates
2:41 the universe and then
2:44 retires and to whom praying to is sort
2:48 of pointless he's not here he went
2:51 somewhere else he had other things to do
2:54 now that's also a God so when you say Do
2:56 you believe in God if I say yes or if I
2:59 say no you have learned absolutely
3:01 nothing I guess I'm asking you to Define
3:04 yours if you have one but why would we
3:06 use a words so
3:08 ambiguous that mean so many different
3:11 things gives you freedom to Define it as
3:14 it gives you freedom to seem to agree
3:17 with someone else with whom you do not
3:21 agree it covers over
3:24 differences it makes for social
3:28 lubrication but it is not an aid to
3:30 truth in my view and therefore I think
3:34 we need much sharper language when we
3:36 ask these
3:38 questions I lost both my parents about
3:41 12 or 15 years ago and uh I had a great
3:44 relationship with them I really miss
3:46 them I would love to believe that their
3:50 Spirits were around somewhere and I'd
3:53 give almost anything to uh spend five
3:57 minutes a year with them we we demand
4:01 the most rigorous standards of evidence
4:03 especially on what's important to us so
4:05 if some guy comes up to me and a
4:07 Channeler or medium and I can put you in
4:10 touch with your parents well because I
4:12 want so terribly to to believe that yeah
4:16 I know I have to reach in for added
4:18 reserves of skepticism because I'm
4:21 likely to be fooled and and uh much more
4:24 minor to have my money taken
Chrome Extension