Pseudo-intellectuals are my favorite types of callers. It's like a verbal form of a dog chasing its tail

@googleuser9383

7 жыл бұрын

i love people who blame other without making an argument. I love people even more if they blindly thumb said comments up. Democratic truths are no truths at all.

@kstringer24

7 жыл бұрын

Kenji Wright Well said, even if you didn't make an argument for it. I'll blindly thumbs up that!

@Vyral714

5 жыл бұрын

@@kstringer24 lol owned

@valistefanita

4 жыл бұрын

I like pseudo-intellectuals! They make a good debate, they make Matt give remarkable answers and also...bring more to the table than just...”why you don’t believe in god, who made the earth?”

@ArKritz84

3 жыл бұрын

@@valistefanita well yes, but they also call in absolutely convinced that their shit doesn't stink just because they are able to speak in complete sentences.

I love it when people just make shit up on the fly to "prove" their point. Not a moment of hesitation before they just say whatever nonsense makes them feel right.

@vanissaberg5824

4 жыл бұрын

Tell me about it. 🙄

@tannermcateer1463

4 жыл бұрын

You're gonna love the president of the united states.

@Gadget-Walkmen

3 жыл бұрын

no it's PAIN to hear these people talk since they think they're smarter than they really are. which is not at all.

The phrase 'clutching at straws' springs to mind.

this guy: “words exist therefore souls exist.”

Great way to end the call. Theists try so hard to find answers to support their beliefs that they don't realize most-if not all is solely based on opinion and "what if" ideas. I used to be there, I'm glad I decided to apply my critical thinking and skepticism.

Man, this caller seemed relatively intelligent at first. I really thought this was gonna turn into a good discussion. I thought he'd at least have a somewhat interesting or decent kind of argument. Then the call really begins and the very first thing he goes to is a combination of the argument from ignorance and the argument from popularity. And it's all downhill from there. Religion truly does poison everything. I don't think this guy would commit these kind of fallacies in regard to any other subject.

@davidleedougherty6478

Жыл бұрын

Same..he seemed very smart especially for a young kid then he just jumped off a cliff of stupid, and I was like noooo

Anesthesiologists in many surgeries monitor a person’s brain waves to monitor their consciousness. It lets them know, when the brain waves change, that the anesthetized patient is becoming conscious and can feel pain. I’m so glad they can do this, as I woke up during two surgeries and it was horrific. Now they can track your brain waves and be sure you are truly unconscious.

The Karmafluffillogical Argument for God.

@ralfhaggstrom9862

5 жыл бұрын

Sounds soo fine, where do I join .....................

This guy is under the delusion on that he's intelligent.

that was a good try by John...but he fucked up when he started tossing in those arguments from ignorance.

Damn, Matt, you nailed him on that last statement. That's as simple and cogent a response as I've ever heard.

5:14 "...a soul is the non material part of this cup that keep the water in..."

~ Thank you Matt and Jen: almost a decade later, and callers still twisting themselves into pretzels while saying nothing. Cheers, DAVEDJ ~

"I think the problem is that you're starting from the assumption that the soul exists" Spot on. The same goes for the proofs of 'god' that are often put forth. They end up being circular and are often the result of the logical fallacy of 'begging the question'.

"Spirit" is how I describe his arguments. WOO WOO

Whether you want to call it a "soul" or "you" the reality is that if you are deprived of air for 3 minutes or so, your soul/you is gone and it isn't coming back.

@sixstanger00

6 жыл бұрын

While I get your point, I think "gone" may not be the proper term (as it implies the soul has left the body and is going some place else) . "Extinguished" is the word I'd use. When you die, it's pretty much the biological equivalent to pulling the plug on a computer - with a couple of exceptions: 1) Biological organisms don't possess a "battery" to maintain memory during a total power loss. 2) Barring deliberate destruction and/or entropy, a computer can be "off" for decades and then restored to proper working order, whereas a biological organism will start to decay almost immediately upon death. Referring to #1, my dad still has an old Tandy 1000 computer from back in the late 80s. He recently pulled it out of storage (for which it's been in for nearly 20 years). He turned it on and the internal clock was still spot on down to the minute.

@stefantherainbowphoenix

6 жыл бұрын

lewisner I think you mean oxygen instead of air. I had a lack of oxygen for about 10 minutes shortly after my birth and I'm still here.

"uhh ... the soul tapped into the brain in the one side and not the other" Oh my goodness. I hope he saw the show after appearing on it and realized just how awful that was.

Matt, Unicorns do exist... Pegasus is real and I know it, coz I read it in a book and I have seen pictures...

@dylancoleman1921

3 жыл бұрын

Pegasus isn’t a unicorn. He’s a flying horse.

I've yet to hear a definition of soul that makes any sense, but most theists talk of being re-united with loved ones in the afterlife. For that to happen, you would need to retain both your memory and your personality after death, and we KNOW these things exist within the brain. So no brain, no memories, no personality, no loved ones and no memory of them.

King John of Prussia is totally ignorant of biology. In philosophy, we were told "What is matter? never mind. What is mind? never matter". As I was studying biology and philosophy together - I couldn't accept this. Show a person a red circle, then show him/her a blue square - a brain scan will show neural activity in different parts of the occipital cortex. Ask recall questions? - you'll see activity in the hippocampus. Emotional dilemmas will see frontal lobe activity. We don't know exactly the connectivity and function of the brain yet, but we do know that the brain is completely behind cognition, sensory perception, memory, homeostasis and most motor control within our bodies (the list is endless). Both voluntary and involuntary. Our thoughts are nothing more than electro-chemical transmissions amid a vast array of nerves in a huge network. These nerves work basically as voltage-gated ion pumps that produce an action potential and this requires an energy source - ATP. For the brain to work, we need at least our respiratory, digestive and circulatory systems to provide oxygen and nutrition to the brain cells. The brain stem controls all these autonomic systems - which is why we diagnose "death" as "brain stem death". After death, no more neural functions are possible. No thought and no memory, so therefore how is a soul possible? I'm guessing people who believe in a "soul", also believe in speech, memory, thought, hearing, sight and touch as capabilities in the "afterlife" - please come up with a rational explanation of how that could happen without the apparatus that we need for those things to occur while alive - without receptors, sensory neurons etc. "God enables you" - NOT AN ARGUMENT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

@sbklein

10 жыл бұрын

"We don't know exactly the connectivity and function of the brain yet, but we do know that the brain is completely behind cognition, sensory perception, memory, homeostasis and most motor control within our bodies (the list is endless)." Uh -- NO we don't! We cannot even define memory, consciousness, self, etc much less know where they are or how they exist. From a neuroscientist who introduced the field (in the early 1990s) to areas of psychology.

@martynjones8560

10 жыл бұрын

stan klein We do know that the brain is behind these cognitive, motor and sensory functions - but the pathways are so complicated and immense that we don't know the precise routes and mechanisms. But we build up this information, whereas we'll never find a soul or a god. Find an argument from logical ignorance, not one from illogical faith.

@googleuser9383

7 жыл бұрын

You assume we are all knowing, yet we will never know about the things we don't know. I hope this isn't too high for you (after all you studied philosophy). Show me anyone who even perceived radioactivity before we discovered it. Even the claim "there's nothing supernatural, nothing beyond our 3 dimensions" is pure ignorance. How would we even know if we can not perceive? just keep an open mind.

@namjoonssexybrain1679

7 жыл бұрын

Kenji Wright Uh... if we can never know the things we don't know, how do we know anything? Obviously we can find things out that we don't know otherwise we would never know anything new. Something that is unable to be perceived in any way is essentially the same as something that is nonexistent. This is why deism is pointless, a god that doesn't manifest in reality is indistinguishable from one that doesn't exist.

@Peter_Scheen

6 жыл бұрын

Cognition, how about brain damage? Can change a persons personality. Really, everything points towards a brain bound personality and nothing ever suggest a soul.

The king of Prussia mall is 40 miles away from philly I been there a few times

I love it, he defeated his own argument (or what seemed to be an argument) with one simple sentence.

I will be waiting with bated breath for John's TED talk on neuroscience.

Isn't consciousness just awareness of your own thoughts?

@michelerich1590

4 жыл бұрын

Sure..but I think since it’s not something this guy can stick his dick into..he becomes obsessed with grasping control of it in some other way.

@alejandrovillalba3143

4 жыл бұрын

Cool cat 😻😻😻😻

@AstroStrongBox

4 жыл бұрын

I feel like consciousness is “the memory of past events and that you where in it” Thus only time, storage space, and knowing you vs them is required for consciousness.

Thanks for doing what you guys do. The Cult of Dusty is a big fan of your work.

Split brain patients are fascinating. We've learned about them a lot in psychology.

Thank you Atheist Experience

Hahaha Mat really blew his entire argument into pieces in his last sentence. Half the brain functions perfectly without a soul,argument failed.

This made me research on the split-brain patients.... thank you, I'm excited to learn...

@leomacdonald6929

7 жыл бұрын

Yes and guess what?. There is no two independent consciousnesses in the brain. New study has been done. www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2017/01/170125093823.htm. Materialist's have tried hard to debut substance dualism but have failed miserably. Behaviorism was another failure of the Materialist view that the mind/consciousness is somehow produced by the brain. Another was using Phineas Gage as a poster boy for supporting a pet theory that personality is linked to the frontal lobe of the brain. paranormalandlifeafterdeath.blogspot.ca/2016/06/phineas-gage-revisited.html?m=0.

@chad969

5 жыл бұрын

Leo MacDonald I’m not sure you know what the word “debut” means.

I'm going to do a lot more research about "split brained" people. I loved that part of the discussion. fascinating.

If god exists the argument should be piss easy not 14 minutes of tripped out bs

Matt is possible my favourite all time atheist. I could listen to him speak all day.

Only takes John 7:00 to resort to childish 'I know you are, but what am I?' argument technique when it's pointed out his assertions are not demonstrable....then he says 'badonkadonk?' Im calling 'troll'.

I love the "You're done." moments. Frankly, I wish they would come sooner. I'm tired of hearing the lame bawling of child-like theists and superstition practitioners.

Omg, Matt is Brilliant! Another one bites the dust!

I think you may have misunderstood me. I was quoting the caller when i said, "The soul uses the brain." I was wondering what he was basing his information on. But that question you asked is a pretty good one. I can't imagine what come back someone would have for that.

This caller thinks he is such an intelligent guy. He basically tried to refute Matt's unicorn example by insisting that it is conceptualized from our knowledge of things of which we have prior experience, e.g actual horses, wings, horns, etc., without realizing that the idea of a soul could also have been originally conceptualized by our ancestors and only passed on through succeeding generations as part of culture, tradition and religious beliefs. For example, it's would have been very easy, actually, to imagine ancient people conceptualizing the idea of a soul simply because of their tendency to attribute agency to just about everything that goes on around them, including the wind which, to our ancestors, could have easily been described as something "immaterial" (because they can't see it) but has "consciousness" -- soothing us gently when it is in a good mood, but becoming violent and destructive when angry. Such an idea could easily be reinforced by dreams, where our ancestors could "travel" to far away places, or even "fly" to the moon or "walk" on the floor of the oceans, then realizing at morning that their bodies haven't left the cave they have been sleeping in. Or, even in dreaming, find themselves talking to their loved ones who were long dead. Such lack of understanding of these natural phenomena could have easily resulted in the conceptualization of the soul, passed on to generations after generations.

If Budda doesn't exist then explain the Karmafluffins, checkmate atheists.

@purplesuicide8561

6 жыл бұрын

Buddha was a person lol he never claimed to be a god. There are historical records of him lmao

@angellawless7413

5 жыл бұрын

PurpleSuicide sarcasm buddy

BOO YAH!!!! That was probably my favorite Atheist Win on this show. Jesus! KABLOW!

I love the cup analogy.

When in the process of evolution, did the soul enter humans bodies? My thoughts are, that we don't have a soul. I'm an atheist.

@ReneeWashingtonforever

8 жыл бұрын

+MegaPhiloBeddoe Two things eternal; the Word of God and the souls of man.

@ReneeWashingtonforever

8 жыл бұрын

Mans body was formed and lifeless until God breathed life into him and he became a living soul- the part of you that will live throuout all eternity. The question is should you continue to deny God is where you will spend it.

@ReneeWashingtonforever

8 жыл бұрын

How sad it is to know that youve been given the opportunity to have a relationship with the Creator of the universe but choose to operate on this low frequency of game playing and semantics instead of seeking the truth for yourself. I am always amazed by the clarity in which people who know nothing about God have in Him.

@MrSterlingjw

6 жыл бұрын

Renee Washington Any creator of the universe who is so sensitive is pointless

@stevenfertal6132

4 жыл бұрын

Renee Washington I am supremely confident that you have not the slightest clue on how to “seek the truth” as you put it. My evidence for this claim? Your completely unfounded, bald ass assertions and claims.

That ending was perfect xD

I used to hang out in the King of Prussia mall with my friends as a teenager in the mid and late 80s. Of course it's a real place. :D

@RayThackeray

4 жыл бұрын

Does it have unicorns?

Laughed when his voice cracked

Praise the Kermoguphlafen!

There's a town in America named King of Prussia..? Far out, man.

@barnabyaprobert5159

8 жыл бұрын

+Mychael Darklighter Maybe it's because I grew up on the East coast by I'm surprised that people haven't hear of King of Prussia. I mean, I've heard of Rancho Cucamunga, California!

@stevenshearer7098

4 жыл бұрын

Koenigsburg?

that last part I didn't even see coming but when Matt said you just said that one half of his brain does things that you attribute to a soul without the need for a soul I literally went like "OOOOOOH!!!" out loud. snap. owndz.

They make up a magic thing to fill in a non-existing gap. It's indistinguishable from "I don't understand electricity, therefore Thor makes lightning."

I wish I could believe that souls exist, but I can't. It is a pleasing and comforting idea, that we could exist after we die, but just because it's a nice thought, it doesn't make it true. I would love to have a soul. It's extremely difficult for me to imagine myself not existing, and sometimes it's frightening to think that I will just disappear from existence. But that's what I believe. It's not really happy or comforting, but that's my reality.

@googleuser9383

7 жыл бұрын

I believe that I am fallible. I believe that science isn't anywhere near finished. I believe there's so much left to discover. I *know* that I can not make claims about things like the existence of a soul. There are multiple ways to look at it A) You will not know how it is to not exist because you're simply dead You will not be sad or feel like having missed out on something because you're dead. B) Our brain memorizes our surroundings on a physical basis. Our soul, if it exists, can not. Ergo, souls can not have a personality or memories. C) Just like a blind man sharpens his hearing, a dead man learns to perceive without his material senses. These simply override the souls senses while being alive. Believe whatever you like, it's not like anybody can prove/disprove it. Just don't fly planes into buildings for your beliefs, okay?

I can't personally tell you the point that this kids argument became painful to listen to... But my soul can. Take it away soul!!! Soul...? Soul? Where'd my soul go? :'( Oh Wait... Never mind.

Matt with that mic drop at the end. Trapped that guy!

"Vell, the soul's just zis guy, you know?" - Gag Halfrunt, brain-care specialist

wow,at first this kid came off as educated,calm,and relaxed.......yet as soon as he spouts god....becomes arrogant,ignorant and foolish....hmmm

Why would a God watch millions of children die of starvation and do nothing? By doing nothing, your God is either Immoral, or powerless. Why would any thinking person believe in such a God, let alone waste their life worshipping it?

@gustavmahler1466

4 жыл бұрын

Or you don't know the reason

@khill8645

4 жыл бұрын

@@gustavmahler1466 That implies there is a reason, which has yet to be demonstrated. The idea that the universe is an enormous Rube Goldberg machine grinding up humans in pursuit of some undefined, incomprehensible "greater purpose" has to be one of the most harmful ideas that have come out of religious apologetics.

@gustavmahler1466

4 жыл бұрын

@@khill8645 You don't have alternative evidence to lack belief

@khill8645

4 жыл бұрын

@@gustavmahler1466 What on Earth does "alternative evidence" even mean? It sounds like Orwellian doublespeak...which, I suppose, is fitting, but still devoid of real significance.

@gustavmahler1466

4 жыл бұрын

@@khill8645 Instead of asking questions provide evidence for an alternative other than a god did it

I think the answer to John's questions is that immaterial abstractions like the self or free will ARE actually constructed from understandable, material artefacts.

Caller's got a smoke alarm going off at 40 second intervals. My Loveline senses tingled.

poor kid

@barnabyaprobert5159

8 жыл бұрын

+Asish Anatta He brings it on himself.

this guy is beyond deluded. he needs to be admitted to an insane asylum.

@pdoylemi

9 жыл бұрын

+kit p Dictionaries PROVE god!!! We know the definitions of words... therefore GOD!!!

@TheRealLucifer_Morningstar

6 жыл бұрын

The Church of Latter Day Saints is taking new members.........😂😂😂

At least this caller was much more respectful and well-spoken than 99% of the people that call in to this show...

That is a whole bunch of WOO!!

Not sure why they hung up on this guy. I don't agree with his position but he seems a cut above most of the people who call the show. I wish most of the people I come up against were half as reasonable as him.

@shanewilson7994

9 жыл бұрын

+SarthorS Because he dumbed his argument down to "you can't prove it didn't happen that way," without even attempting to provide any evidence to back up his claim.

@SarthorS

9 жыл бұрын

Shane Wilson What I was saying was that I have seen them give a lot more time to people who were a lot dumber and made a lot more baseless claims. I guess Matt just was not in as good a mood as when he had those people on the line.

@Scorn268

8 жыл бұрын

+SarthorS Do you use Google hangout?

@TheZooCrew

8 жыл бұрын

+SarthorS The caller wasn't reasonable at all. He's a Baha'i. Matt got him to admit that he was full of shit in Socratic fashion and I guess they wanted to get to other callers.

13:00: The functions of hemispheres in the brain can be reversed for several fairly common reasons (such as dyslexia or handedness), so it's no big deal if someone, for the sake of argument, attributes the functions of each hemisphere incorrectly; the "rule" that people might quote is just the most common configuration.

For anyone interested in cognitive neuro-science studies and the neurologie of conscienceness, I'd recommend a book called "The feeling of what happens" by António Damásio. It's a little outdated maybe (2000), but it is very well written and explains the probable neurologic origin of our conscience, emotions, etc.

I wonder which side of my brain my non-existent soul controls.

As C.S. Lewis once said; "you don't have a soul, you are a soul. you have a body."

At least he didn't say, "They each have half a soul." The scalpel sliced the soul in half.

13:55 GOLD!

Nothing against TheAthestExperience but that was 14minutes and 16seconds of my life that I won't get back. As to put AronRa; "You mean to tell me that the questions haven't gotten better?" Thumbing up to support the show.

It would have been perfect if he said Checkmate at the end.

We have a concept of the Force. Therefore, the Force evidently exists.

John is cool. He's pretty clear and sounds like he's looking for the truth, not just to win the argument.

@TheZooCrew

10 жыл бұрын

That's not the impression I got at all. Towards the end, he got all defensive, started lying about his knowledge of neuroscience, and pulled the "you can't disprove it" crap.

I am an Atheist and I use the word soul as a quick way to refer to my mind, will, thought, and heart without having to say subconsious because soul is a much stronger word to use when you are worked up.

Looking up 'soul' in a dictionary (most of them) gives the answer as 'breath' or 'breathe'. That was the origin of soul as when you die the 'breath' leaves the body-it stops breathing. Even the bible says that there's a connection between 'breathing' and the 'soul'.

I didn't see "kermarbofluffin" coming at all. I laughed so hard.

The fact that we have a word for pasta, means that there exists a Flying Spaghetti Monster. May the Atheist Experience be touched by his Noodly Appendage.

Omg, Matt is Brilliant!

That was glorious.

Defining the soul is about as futile as trying to count how many angels can dance on the head of a pin.😂

I hate people who just go about daily life ignoring their smoke alarm beeping every 30 seconds.

Matt... that was deep...

yes its true that matter can change form like taking two ingredients and making one favor, but for creating or destroying matter i have never heard of that.

As a neuro certified RN of almost 20yrs, I can assure all that the caller doesn't have a clue regarding cerebral function, our ability to map and measure that function, and the specific electro-chemical relationships that occur within the brain. From drawing breath to cogitating quantum physics to various emotional responses-all corporeal functions of our grey matter and nothing else.

"We're done." aaaaand pwned!

I bet John's friend is going to have a smug "I told you so" look next time they meet.

Really wish the caller would have brought up inverted qualia and the Chinese Room Argument.

'Soul' is a kind of food, which can be really tasty if prepared properly.

@Loustrikesagain It's in the book, Phantoms in the Brain, by VS Ramachandran. He also has a TED talks lecture on youtube in which he presents some of his work.

We can't map brain states to emotions or decisions? Have a look at the Emotiv Epoc. It's a helmet that does exactly that. And for the gaming enthusiasts among us, it's a pretty cool gadget! And useful in many other areas as well.

Caller reminds me of Thomas Morton of Vice.

The soul is a rather creative, but completely made up construct by various religious groups. It has NO basis in fact and it is quite a fantastical and absurd concept. But when everything you believe in is based upon utter nonsense and completely non-provable and non-verifiable beliefs - AKA faith - what is one more step into the chasm of insanity, magical and wishful thinking? All these religious concepts have a familiar ring to them. They have much in common with Sigmund Freud and many of his theories. They are quite colorful and immensely more interesting to study than mere fact-based concepts - but that does NOT make them real or true, now does it?

Damn good talk.

epic finale

"It says King of Prussia? Is that a real place?" Haha. I live fifteen minutes away.

@DocBlasto West Chester represent!

I don't mean to be a crazy person but some geologists have shown strange places where energy can be stored in what some call the "stone tape theory" where an event from the past can be recorded in some kind form as EM fields.

@Zombie1990 yeah he had the 'stick your fingers in your ears and ignore the counter argument' strategy down pat.

King of prussia is a pub near me. Good prices on ale too

King of Prussia? Sounds like a nice pub!

@MinGophers- Yeah, I know. But on the other hand they DO have a time limit to the show and can't just leave every other callers hanging while a person talks in circles so I kind of understand.

i like this guy, at least he is calm and not ignore what the hosts are saying :)