Richard Dawkins - The Greatest Show on Earth (Abridged)
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Audio Books : Misc. Educational : MP3/128Kbps : English Charles Darwin's masterpiece, On the Origin of Species, shook society to its core on publication in 1859. Darwin was only too aware of the storm his theory of evolution would provoke, but he would surely have raised an incredulous eyebrow at the controversy still raging a century and a half later. Evolution is now accepted as scientific fact by all reputable scientists and indeed theologians, yet millions of people continue to question its veracity. In The Greatest Show on Earth, Richard Dawkins takes on creationists, including followers of 'Intelligent Design' and all those who question the fact of evolution through natural selection. Like a detective arriving on the scene of a crime, he sifts through fascinating layers of scientific facts and disciplines to build a cast-iron case: from the living examples of natural selection in birds and insects; the 'time clocks' of trees and radioactive dating that calibrate a timescale for evolution; the fossil record and the traces of our earliest ancestors; to confirmation from molecular biology and genetics. All of this, and much more, bears witness to the truth of evolution. The Greatest Show on Earth comes at a critical time: systematic opposition to the fact of evolution is now flourishing as never before, especially in America. In Britain and elsewhere in the world, teachers witness insidious attempts to undermine the status of science in their classrooms. Richard Dawkins provides unequivocal evidence that boldly and comprehensively rebuts such nonsense. At the same time he shares with us his palpable love of the natural world and the essential role that science plays in its interpretation. Written with elegance, wit and passion, it is hard-hitting, absorbing and totally convincing. Enjoy and Seed!!
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Just finished the book...Awesome read! Everone I know is getting it for Xmas. I've got three personal copies....One to read and two to club creationists to death with...
Richard, I love you!
Richard, I love you!
I have the book. Very well written and clearly laid out. Well worth it.
Thanks Sheila
Thanks Sheila
Not only is this sophism in the modern sense, it reeks of schizophrenia. Evolution is an established fact/truth yet we don't know how it started or why "natural selection" as the guiding force would push it forward anyway. It all happened by fortunate accidents and yet he closes with "not an accident". Is he smarter than God? History according to Dawkins is the grand illusion and his foray into the past is the great show. He is the high priest of his religion.
Is this, for a certainty, an abridged version of the book? I dislike abridgments, but would make an exception in this case, if necessary - considering that it's read by Professor Dawkins himself.
SHEILA6, Please don't say "fact of evolution," you make yourself look ignorant. "EVERY" scientist, including, Mr. DUH-kins admits that it's only a theory at best. In fact, it's actually a religion, not even a theory. NONE if it aligns with the tenets of science. Try looking up the definition of science. It means, "To know" by using the five senses. There is not one shred of credible evidence for evolution. It takes a tremendous amount of faith to believe that life came from non-life and that a carrot and a blue whale share a common ancestor. Or, if you give a frog enough time, he will eventually give rise to a prince, and the belief in a flying spaghetti monster. ALL the natural laws of science contradict this religion. It's not even common sense. True science if testable and observable, it does not require faith in something that you have to use your imagination to conceive. Just admit that it's your religion and let's move on.
In fact, when you refer to Charlie Darwin's racist book, "On the Origin of Species," please use the full title so everyone can see what evolution espoused from the very beginning. Here is the full title: "On the Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection, or the Preservation of Favoured Races in the Struggle for Life." Yes, "Favoured races." And don't repeat what some of the ignorant folks say, that the term "race" refers to a "race" of animals. This CANNOT be, since he uses the word "species" to identify genera. He would NOT have used the word race to refer to animals when the word species was well familiar to him. This argument is a dud. He was a racist and so was his philosophy, the same one you believe. He clearly taught that there was a race that evolved higher than others evolve, and try to guess which one he meant.
Thank God that most folks on planet earth see though the foolishness and nonsense that is evolution.
In fact, when you refer to Charlie Darwin's racist book, "On the Origin of Species," please use the full title so everyone can see what evolution espoused from the very beginning. Here is the full title: "On the Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection, or the Preservation of Favoured Races in the Struggle for Life." Yes, "Favoured races." And don't repeat what some of the ignorant folks say, that the term "race" refers to a "race" of animals. This CANNOT be, since he uses the word "species" to identify genera. He would NOT have used the word race to refer to animals when the word species was well familiar to him. This argument is a dud. He was a racist and so was his philosophy, the same one you believe. He clearly taught that there was a race that evolved higher than others evolve, and try to guess which one he meant.
Thank God that most folks on planet earth see though the foolishness and nonsense that is evolution.
eddie1969 at 2009-09-20 21:19 CET:
Tamarind777 - There is only one ignorant fool on this site and that is you!
Evolution has been proved to be a fact from the three independent sources of carbon dating, dna and the fossil record.
You may wish to keep believing in your super pixie in the clouds and you may still believe that the world is flat, but let the rest of us move into the 21st century and away from this superstition and mumbo jumbo.
PS. Dawkins does believe that evolution is a scientific fact. He has stated this again and again. If you had bothered to read/watch any of his material you would know that. But, of course, you are not interested in educating yourself. All you want to read/believe is some book of fairy tales written by primitive bronze age men who knew less of the workings of the world than the average 5 year old today!
Evolution has been proved to be a fact from the three independent sources of carbon dating, dna and the fossil record.
You may wish to keep believing in your super pixie in the clouds and you may still believe that the world is flat, but let the rest of us move into the 21st century and away from this superstition and mumbo jumbo.
PS. Dawkins does believe that evolution is a scientific fact. He has stated this again and again. If you had bothered to read/watch any of his material you would know that. But, of course, you are not interested in educating yourself. All you want to read/believe is some book of fairy tales written by primitive bronze age men who knew less of the workings of the world than the average 5 year old today!
Having a hard time getting this to play on the iPod. Any clues? I usually convert to m4b format but that does not work. And when I just add the mp3 it wont start playing aswell. What to do...
Johanat
No problems playing this on my ipod classic or ipod touch. You might want to try downloading it again.
Tamarind777
Do you have special needs or some kind of retardation? Sad
No problems playing this on my ipod classic or ipod touch. You might want to try downloading it again.
Tamarind777
Do you have special needs or some kind of retardation? Sad
"The Greatest Show on Earth"
Welcome to the circus.
Dawkins is God, he determines truth.
Thermodynamics, bah, the sun provides energy ( but not information ).
Natural selection = evolution ??
Life is beautiful and we can manipulate it to make abhorring blends of DNA.
Shit on evolution and happy godlesness.
Welcome to the circus.
Dawkins is God, he determines truth.
Thermodynamics, bah, the sun provides energy ( but not information ).
Natural selection = evolution ??
Life is beautiful and we can manipulate it to make abhorring blends of DNA.
Shit on evolution and happy godlesness.
Those who deny evolution, are the stupidest retards in the world.
And they must be treated as such.
And they must be treated as such.
Thank you for your efforts, Sheila. I'm excited to read a new book by this brilliant writer and man of science. Some of you apparently haven't braced science-- it's that thing that tells you what you don't want to hear, in other words, it's the closest thing to the truth we've got.
There are so many misstatements made by religious people here it's a waste of time to combat them.
Those who believe in the Bible, Creationism, ID, or any other fairy tale should upload torrents proving their beliefs rather than wasting time filling up these comments with drive.
There are so many misstatements made by religious people here it's a waste of time to combat them.
Those who believe in the Bible, Creationism, ID, or any other fairy tale should upload torrents proving their beliefs rather than wasting time filling up these comments with drive.
@Ligar, you should really read "The Ancestor's Tale", it's such a beautiful and compelling read.
thank you Sheila, this is a great read.
Tamarind777
you are talking about true science without relying on faith on something imaginary and you yourself are still a christan?! man you have some serious problems! the same goes to you too UncleT.
Tamarind777
you are talking about true science without relying on faith on something imaginary and you yourself are still a christan?! man you have some serious problems! the same goes to you too UncleT.
UncleT: I don't have all the answers, but I get the feeling that you would like to know more about the general principles of why evolution does what it does, so I thought I'd mention Daniel Dennett's book "Darwin's Dangerous Idea". It might also help to get rid of some of the very undeserved emotional hostillity towards Darwin's theory... It's a good read and Dennett is a philosopher so his scope is somewhat wider than that of Dawkins.
Hope you enjoy it. :)
I can see why the talk of chance/accident sounds confusing, but it's really just at first glance - you should understand that part perfectly from reading pretty much any book on evolution (including "Darwin's Dangerous Idea").
You are correct in saying that evolution does not explain how it all got started. One could say that the study of evolution is the study of the process that divercifies life, not the study of how life came to be in the first place - that is another science. Great work is being done to understand this too, but the evidence there is much less conclusive, so if one is looking for God in the gaps, that is where one should be looking - at least for the time being. ^^
For more on this specific branch you could get the accessible course from The Teaching Company called "The Origins of Life". Since conclusive evidence still eludes us on this very question the course doesn't give an answer to it, but the course should help you to take the first step on a fascinating journey. :)
Take care!
Hope you enjoy it. :)
I can see why the talk of chance/accident sounds confusing, but it's really just at first glance - you should understand that part perfectly from reading pretty much any book on evolution (including "Darwin's Dangerous Idea").
You are correct in saying that evolution does not explain how it all got started. One could say that the study of evolution is the study of the process that divercifies life, not the study of how life came to be in the first place - that is another science. Great work is being done to understand this too, but the evidence there is much less conclusive, so if one is looking for God in the gaps, that is where one should be looking - at least for the time being. ^^
For more on this specific branch you could get the accessible course from The Teaching Company called "The Origins of Life". Since conclusive evidence still eludes us on this very question the course doesn't give an answer to it, but the course should help you to take the first step on a fascinating journey. :)
Take care!
Tamarind777: Since you're not really making arguments so much as making statements it's hard to know where to start in a response. But what can be said is this; the first basic statement, that evolution is going against common sense and the other sciences, I can sort of see why someone would think - but to be blunt (I usually try not to be, but I'm tired and in a rush, so please forgive me) it takes a great lack of understanding of basically anything that has happened in most of the sciences for the last 200 years to say this. Evolution is very well "tied down" by a myriad of evidence from different scientific areas like geology, paleontology, biogeography, not to mention anatomy and all the so called life sciences. It is not held together by any one single "mega-proof" but tied down like Gulliver in the land of Lilliput, so to speak. :)
Second, about the statement regarding the wording in the full title of The Origin of Species, I think no one, including you, takes it seriously. Read the book itself and you will get a better understanding of how he uses the terms (and you will also realize that it does not deal at all with the evolution of humans - this he saved for a later book, called The Descent of Man). Also, drawing some kind of practical philosophical ideas - like racism - from a scientific work hardly ever makes sense. Remember the old is/ought-conflict that David Hume drew attention to a century before Darwin. No serious scientist or philosopher would talk of the life forms as "higher" and "lower" in some metaphysical sense, but rather "more or less complex", and if someone use the words higher and lower I think it is pretty much common practice to point out that this means a higher or lower level of complexity, not a higher or lower moral value or relevancy.
For more tips on where to start in a quest to understand these things, please see my last post on this torrent board. :)
Take care!
Second, about the statement regarding the wording in the full title of The Origin of Species, I think no one, including you, takes it seriously. Read the book itself and you will get a better understanding of how he uses the terms (and you will also realize that it does not deal at all with the evolution of humans - this he saved for a later book, called The Descent of Man). Also, drawing some kind of practical philosophical ideas - like racism - from a scientific work hardly ever makes sense. Remember the old is/ought-conflict that David Hume drew attention to a century before Darwin. No serious scientist or philosopher would talk of the life forms as "higher" and "lower" in some metaphysical sense, but rather "more or less complex", and if someone use the words higher and lower I think it is pretty much common practice to point out that this means a higher or lower level of complexity, not a higher or lower moral value or relevancy.
For more tips on where to start in a quest to understand these things, please see my last post on this torrent board. :)
Take care!
Blodhosta: You're a long-winded idiot psycobabbler. There is no evidence that supports evolution, only specious arguments. Don't be deceived. If a theory/hypothesis/postulate contradicts laws of nature (thermodynamics!), there is no hope for it, period. Supernatural (greater than nature) is not scary, don't be afraid to embrace the truth. If you cling to dumbed down science you will die like an amoeba, all the while having the image of God.
@Tamarind777
Yo dipshit, how about you read any one of Dawkins books before you make ignorant statements. I've read 3 of Dawkins books and every single one of them explain in detail the difference between a "theory" in linguistics and a theory in science (more or less a fact).
Seriously... do you believe in the theory of gravity? How about the theory of thermal-dynamics? How about the theory of GeoCentrics (planets orbit the sun)?
You might not want to believe that the sky is blue but it is, and you might NOT want to believe that humans and apps share the same ancestor but they do and no amount of wishing it not to be so will change the fact.
Get a clue you ignoramus.
Yo dipshit, how about you read any one of Dawkins books before you make ignorant statements. I've read 3 of Dawkins books and every single one of them explain in detail the difference between a "theory" in linguistics and a theory in science (more or less a fact).
Seriously... do you believe in the theory of gravity? How about the theory of thermal-dynamics? How about the theory of GeoCentrics (planets orbit the sun)?
You might not want to believe that the sky is blue but it is, and you might NOT want to believe that humans and apps share the same ancestor but they do and no amount of wishing it not to be so will change the fact.
Get a clue you ignoramus.
Look out and boogety boogety...the religious people don't like truth and facts!!!!
Watch out or uncle t will get you! Booogety boogety! Look out...Christ says to forgive, to love...yet the religious cannot even follow their own book and teachings!!!! lol
Funny how all the preachers are molesting kids, the religious extremists are blowing themselves up, christians are shooting doctors and the other goofballs shoving and forcing their religious beliefs down our throats, into our gov. and schools, telling us what we can and cannot do
BUT
every atheist and agnostic I know just wishes peace for all, is nonviolent, wants to recycle and save the earth, and does not want to stop anyone from following their faith and wants people to be free to do their own thing.
Uhhhhhhhhh, yeah. I think I will stick with being agnostic!
Watch out or uncle t will get you! Booogety boogety! Look out...Christ says to forgive, to love...yet the religious cannot even follow their own book and teachings!!!! lol
Funny how all the preachers are molesting kids, the religious extremists are blowing themselves up, christians are shooting doctors and the other goofballs shoving and forcing their religious beliefs down our throats, into our gov. and schools, telling us what we can and cannot do
BUT
every atheist and agnostic I know just wishes peace for all, is nonviolent, wants to recycle and save the earth, and does not want to stop anyone from following their faith and wants people to be free to do their own thing.
Uhhhhhhhhh, yeah. I think I will stick with being agnostic!
UncleT, the point of the book, which it makes very clearly, is that natural selection is not a mystery. It's very self-explanatory: useful strands of DNA survive and reproduce because they're useful. So how can you say we don't know "why natural selection as a guiding force would push [evolution] forward". That was explained in 1859 for God's sake. And what the Hell does "smarter than God" even mean? The Bible was written by people. If we had the "word of God", it wouldn't be so confused and inconsistent. If anything, honest truth-seeking should bring you closer to God, if that's your thing.
Tamarind, you can observe evolution. Many people have. It is a fact, and you're completely making a fool out of yourself to claim Dawkins and other biologists don't call it a fact. They very explicitly do exactly that, because it's proven beyond a reasonable doubt. Where do you get YOUR "facts", when you say someone never said evolution is a fact even though they've done so on countless TV programs, documentaries and books. Just shows how much honest research you're willing to do to challenge your own faith. Evolution is the opposite of religion because it's based on tremendous amounts of extremely scientific evidence, and only religious crackpots would say otherwise. Reasonable, intelligent Christians, Jews, Muslims do understand evolution. The tricky thing is finding reasonable AND intelligent people anywhere.
Tamarind, you're so incredibly stupid. There are no "races" of people, and claiming that "race" means "ethnicity" is extremely racist. You are racist. And dumb, on top of that. Good luck with the 21st century and all that. Going to be a Brave New World for this one.
is there something wrong with everyone? human beings are just putting more light on things, past and present because of science.. (thanks to them) but it doesn't mean THIS or THAT fact is the whole picture.. there is more unknown out there (before, during and after present) which we cannot (YET) explain 100%... therefore we have conspiration theories which a lot of us call it a faith/superstition/God/belief. i say..let the scientists do their work (cos it helps in UNDERSTANDING MORE) and let the others have their belief (a working coping mechanism).. ill or not.. who's to say?? :)
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