Science, Faith and the Internet - Destin Sandlin - Skepticon 8

If only all Christians see the scientific method the same way you do, you’re more a freethinker and I admire this video, you are a legend and the best Christian I don’t know. Brilliant talk, hope to meet one day. +smartereveryday

is he talking about Vsauce?

Destin, I really appreciate your talk here. I am an agnostic, and my mother is a fundamentalist Christian. Over the years, that has proven the source of a lot of bad feelings and conflict between us. I love my mom and dad, but in the last couple of weeks something happened that drove more hard feelings between us. Basically, I started to talk about climate change--as I'm well-known to do since it's one of the things I study incessantly--and my mother responded to my recounting of some of the more dire consequences if we don't change our ways with a rather benign Bible verse "This is the day the Lord has made, We will Rejoice and be Glad in it - Psalm 118:24" Even benign as it was, that sort of set me off because I feel there isn't much time to act and the consequences are so dire concerning climate change that I felt she was blowing it off saying to just rejoice in the face of the mass death abrupt climate change could well bring. Harsh words were spoken--almost all mine--and I ended up in the dog house again. After watching this--my best friend (agnostic as well) recommended it after hearing what had happened--I feel I was given some truth myself when you presented the bicycle analogy. That truth is that my mother is not stupid or in denial of anything, she just doesn't see things the way I do probably because she can't, not because she hasn't tried. In her mind, it is time to rejoice and praise God for each new day she's been given especially if there are not many left. To her personally, her faith is part of the solution, even if I don't see it that way. And to her, perhaps Jesus will return and there will be a kind of paradise on Earth no matter how silly I think that sounds (after all it looked pretty silly that you, an intelligent grown man, can no longer ride a common bicycle). So, thank you, for showing up among a bunch that was largely non-believers to show us some truths you've found. You may never realize what it meant to some of us, like me.

I love you, Destin. I see no evidence of a Jesus, but I do know we need more humble, respectful people like you in the world.

Thanks Destin.

I really like this..

Legend. I definitely disagree with him on how many times he felt the need to apologize.

<3 You're the best Destin!

Last part was the best

There was a guy at bike week in Daytona who had one of those backwards bikes. He said he would pay anyone $100 if they could ride it ten feet. I swore I was going to go home and build one, practice and go take his $100. I ride motorcycles, often in challenging situations. I now know I cannot do this, I would never have thought learning to ride the backwards bike would ruin 50 years of muscle memory of riding motorcycles. You may have saved my life.....seriously.

The false familiar famous dirt reilly bare because flame ostensibly brake notwithstanding a plausible slice. dear, long avenue

I really do think if every religious person thought like Destin we wouldn't have any problems like we do. I do have one bone to pick with his closing statement and that is about internet arguments. Some arguments are not about different standards of evidence having been met, using the same analogy some arguments are trying to persuade that there is actually a bike there and they refuse to admit to themselves that they actually see it with their own eyes. That is the frustrating part. People treating their beliefs with another evidentiary standard than everything else in their lives is their prerogative but when people start refusing to accept simple and evident facts about reality because they don't comport with their beliefs that's where most people have an issue and that is where real frustration lies. I agree with his absolute conclusion though, treat people with love no matter.

Destin I love you even more because of your faith and how you are not afraid to tell the world about it!

I love your views an you tube. I see that your humble for sure. But I doubt anyone in your life would constantly refer to you as an idiot based on what I have seen posted by you. To me the curse words some seem to think of in a matter of speaking or derogatory statements that we ourselves tend to say too others that even in a joking way can at times make use believe we are really what we say too ourselves an what others say too us! Example you refer to yourself often as an idiot from Alabama yet I see a mindful person an an awesome teacher. Cuss words can be demeaning if used towards others in the same way. Your a genius to me. An if i was being listened too by others daily while I sit here all alone at times I say really hateful stuff aloud that I mean nothing by an mean no harm to anyone while saying them. But if I didnt say those things I would probably have hurt someone physically or even emotionally if they actually where to have heard my comments aloud or physically due to the fact most people wouldnt put up with the cuss words or derogatory statements that I often make. I havent been told I have tourettes syndrome but when I get mad my mouth opens an a bunch of really stupid stuff comes out an all my life I have tried to get control of it. An I hate that about me.

What did that guy yell at 25? Something about a joke?

You the man Destin!!!
I would really love to know all about that flower on the field...
It's my mission now.. to someday do whatever I can for you to tell us

Here we go.
Destin is a devout Christian who promotes his Christian faith using the scientific method.
Destin proves that his brain is capable of cognitive dissonance with no ill effects.

Man I love Destin so much.

Good vid. Religion has far outlived it's usefulness in society as it stands, and I am firmly against the perpetuation of religious beliefs or traditions in any form, but Destin helped remind me you can still hold down rational thought while being involved with an innately irrational belief system.

I'm a big fan of Destin and skepticon so this talk was really great.

I have so much appreciation for muscle memory after watching this. All the complex things we do every day without even consciously thinking about it.

He’s here to reveal the Laminar Flow of history

Wow the person in charge of the lights is doing a great job. I mean constantly turning them up and down is fantastic... you had one job.

I like Destin and Smarter Every Day but I still can't square his religious faith and his skepticism and adherence to engineer and the scientific method. There definitely is some serious cognitive dissonance going on.

Destin is totally deluded. I had to stop watching his videos when I learned he was a Christian. He deserves nothing but mockery for his beliefs.

I’m Canadian. To my mind, Destin embodies the best of what it means to be American.

That's cool that you did your internship @ Little Debbie. I lived in Collegedale in late 60' and Little Debbie was one brick building. We used to get fresh off the rack, oatmeal cream.

are u still alive?

My son loves Destin’s channel, and he said, “mom, I think this guy is a Christian. Because he says things are designed, and he doesn’t talk about evolution.” And that led me to this.

What's very funny is real engineering if he was a real engineer he would know that Destin didn't post his video you can see he's one sided

I'm binge-watching SED in numerical order, with side trips as warranted. This was one such side trip. Well done, Destin! Great talk, and a good lesson for us all to learn. I would enjoy seeing you in a discussion (not a debate) with Matt Dillahunty. You could talk about your threshold of belief. (P.S. As a longtime fan of SED, and as a retired Air Force communications technician, I was thrilled to finally know something about one of the principles you discussed (Signal-to-Noise Ratio) before you explained it!)

Absolute atheist. I love this man.

the closing is a well say.

"I'm sorry in advance" wow.

What about 9/11 or the Covid 19 vaccines? If you believe in science then you would want to know how building 7 collapsed or why myocarditis is occurring in vaccinated athletes at an alarming rate. No, you take on faith that the government told you the truth on both matters. Isn’t that like a religion?

There is no such thing as separation of church and state it would be better phrased as relationship between church and state if you want the details you can look it up in the historical record or you can ask me

Let me really blow you away and tell you that James Madison did not write the 1st amendment in fact he had absolutely nothing to do with the 1st Amendment at all

In other words, "I'm an educated fool. Don't hate me. Pity me." You got it, dude. Just remember one thing. Your god is the hater, not me.

Lol why is a "Christian" at Skepticon? You shouldn't cast your pearls to pigs.

Great talk and I definitely think sensorship doesn't belong Skepticon. Scientific method is about collecting repeatable data and that works really badly with sensorship.

That said, I think the bike example was a bit gimmicky because it played on part of the brain that requires fast actions and the part of the brain that understands the task is too slow to play part in the feedback loop required to ride that bicycle.

I guess that's a good comparision to internet arguments where one or both parties do not stop to think but start spitting out the first idea that comes to their mind. If you don't think enough to allow the slower analytical part of your brain to catch, you'll be missing at least half the picture.

What I'm taking away from this is yes, Destin DOES have cognitive dissonance as his brain was wired to believe in God. His faith fundamentally contradicts science, but atheists shouldn't judge him for it because he can't help it.

Or, atheists are the ones who have cognitive dissonance because their brains were NOT wired to believe in God, who really exists. Atheists' lack of belief fundamentally contradicts truth, but Christians shouldn't judge them for it because they can't help it.

As an atheist, the first paragraph obviously makes more sense to me, but a Christian might say the second paragraph is what's really happening.

The most telling statement was 'you can brainwash yourself'. He gave multiple examples of how crazy and stupid a reasonable person would believe the Jesus myth to be but then said it reached his level of acceptance/faith or whatever. What he's done, like ALL reasonable educated people of 'faith', is just brainwashed himself into believing something that is silly and stupid and impossible (virgin birth, zombie Jebus, the ark - 7 meters of water would have made it impossible for humans or animals to survive the flood, even if they climbed to the top of the highest peaks? etc.) and that's ok I guess. Where it takes an ugly turn is where faith turns to hate. Even if this man is not himself a bigot, he has endorsed and supported and showed his love for bigoted politicians so I say If you're gonna keep playing the smilin' good 'ol boy, maybe take a look at what you're putting out there into the world.

if you have trouble understanding evolution, that's not a big deal. it's dificult to understand such a large time frame. i can understand people who are honest about not getting that. but what I don't understand is the people who don't get evolution and then go straight to MAGIC as the explanation. If you don't think evolution is the answer then just say you don' t know the answer. Don't say it's magic!