Sam Harris is best known as one of “The Four Horsemen of the New Atheists” (the others being Richard Dawkins, Daniel Dennett, and Christopher Hitchens), but he’s also known for his recent attack on “free will.” His 2012 book, entitled “Free Will,” summarizes his anti-free-will view that free will is an illusion, but that this truth doesn’t undermine morality or diminish the importance of social and political freedom.

The God Delusion (Hardcover)

by Richard Dawkins 2006

A preeminent scientist -- and the world's most prominent atheist -- asserts the irrationality of belief in God and the grievous harm religion has inflicted on society, from the Crusades to 9/11. … He shows how religion fuels war, foments bigotry, and abuses children, buttressing his points with historical and contemporary evidence. The God Delusion makes a compelling case that belief in God is not just wrong but potentially deadly.

god is Not Great: How Religion Poisons Everything (Hardcover)

by Christopher Hitchens 2007

In the tradition of Bertrand Russell's Why I Am Not a Christian and Sam Harris's recent bestseller, The End of Faith, Christopher Hitchens makes the ultimate case against religion. With a close and erudite reading of the major religious texts, he documents the ways in which religion is a man-made wish, a cause of dangerous sexual repression, and a distortion of our origins in the cosmos.

DARWIN'S DANGEROUS IDEA: EVOLUTION AND THE MEANINGS OF LIFE

By Daniel Dennett (1996 Reprint)

In a book that is both groundbreaking and accessible, Daniel C. Dennett, "one of the most provocative thinkers on the planet," focuses his unerringly logical mind on the theory of natural selection, showing how Darwin's great idea transforms and illuminates our traditional view of humanity's place in the universe. Dennett vividly describes the theory itself and then extends Darwin's vision with impeccable arguments to their often surprising conclusions, challenging the views of some of the most famous scientists of our day.

God: The Failed Hypothesis: How Science Shows That God Does Not Exist (Hardcover)
by Victor J. Stenger 2007

Physicist Stenger examines all of the claims made for God's existence. He considers the latest Intelligent Design arguments as evidence of God's influence in biology. He looks at human behavior for evidence of immaterial souls and the possible effects of prayer. He discusses the findings of physics and astronomy in weighing the suggestions that the universe is the work of a creator and that humans are God's special creation. After evaluating all the scientific evidence, Stenger concludes that beyond a reasonable doubt the universe and life appear exactly as we might expect if there were no God.

God and the Folly of Faith: The Incompatibility of Science and Religion (Paperback)
by Victor J. Stenger 2012

Stenger makes a convincing case that Christianity has held back the progress of science for one thousand years. It is significant, he notes, that the scientific revolution of the seventeenth century occurred only after the revolts against established ecclesiastic authorities in the Renaissance and Reformation opened up new avenues of thought.

· Christians see it instead as evidence the “Word of God” is indeed written on Men’s hearts

I suggest that Christians could, and should, point out that it doesn’t really matter if “there is a God” or not!

· We are unquestionably wired to believe there is.

· It’s better to use our predisposition to believe in God for good, rather than to fight against it with nothing to replace it.

Science’s reappraisal of Religion

· Its glaring universal presence in human cultures

· Its adaptive survival value (via Group Selection)

o View Group Selection Videos

Break … followed by Q & A

Closing Prayer

About the Seminar and the Instructor

About the Seminar:

We live in exciting times!

Science, especially neuroscience and the cognitive sciences, have been discovering significant new data about how our brain functions and influences our behavior unconsciously. … For the first time in human history there actually is hard data to explain why we behave in the puzzling – and sometimes irrational – ways that we do! Eventually this new knowledge may enable us to overcome our predispositions to war and quarrel with one another, and to finally live in peace.

That’s the good news.

The bad news is that in the meantime those who oppose Religion (especially the so-called “New Atheists”) gleefully misinterpret the data to attack Judeo-Christianity and claim that it shows there is no “Word of God” written on Man’s hearts, and that for Religion to disappear all that is required is to stop teaching it.

Actually the opposite is true.

If you look into them, the most recent findings support the interpretation that “God’s Word” is indeed written within us, and that the teachings of Religion – especially of Jesus – have been and continue to be an essential source of guidance for the Human Race.

This Seminar will look into them, not with a desire to be more knowledgeable, but with a desire to better serve God and our fellowman.

About the Instructor: Adam Leonard

I am a retired Engineering Scientist who specialized in developing software programs to analyze and display scientific data. … I am also a lay Christian discussion group leader who has learned and taught on Science/Religion issues for over fifty years. … I wrote the book, “Man by Nature: The Hidden Programming Controlling Human Behavior,” to describe the research making it possible to understand how the brain affects our behavior unconsciously, and to suggest that our unconscious spiritual instinct may provide the only means of saving Man from himself. … I wrote the follow-up book, “Wheat, Weeds, and the Reform of Christianity,” to suggest how Christianity could and should use the new knowledge to reform itself (“to be one, that the world might believe”) and to reaffirm the teachings of Christ and his sacrificial role in the salvation of Mankind.

I may make reference, as needed, to quotes from these two books throughout the Seminar

Format of the sessions

Our sessions will be a mixture of presentations, discussions, and Q & A.

At the beginning of each session I’ll present new material from the ongoing research into how our brain unconsciously affects our behavior; whenever possible I’ll include videos of the scientists themselves discussing their work.

After the presentation I’ll summarize how the material is viewed by secularists, and how it might better be viewed by Christians.

Then we’ll discuss the material.

Then we may repeat, with additional new material.

l l l

After an hour and a quarter (or so) we’ll take a fifteen minute break. (About 7:45 - 8:00)

Following the break we’ll have Q & A, not only on the session’s topic, but also on any other questions you may have relative to understanding human behavior and Christianity.

The evidence that we behave irrationally

Our Human History

The entire history of Man is a history of war and strife; we build up only to tear down, and cry, “Peace, peace!” only to wage war. If Man were rational, this would be unfathomable. Why would we rationally choose to kill one another, and live in fear of being killed, rather than rationally choosing to live in peace and harmony? It’s only when we allow the possibility that Man is irrational, that we are driven to war in some unconscious way, that our behavior – perversely – begins to make sense.

Classic Literature and Drama

Not only our history, but classic literature and drama also instruct us that Man is flawed: Homer and Virgil, Dante and Shakespeare, Arthur Miller and Chaim Potak, all have chronicled Man’s persistent – and consistent – irrationalities. From Achilles to Macbeth to Willy Loman, flawed heroes are shown succumbing to passions they’re unaware of, and irrationally destroying themselves and the things they love most. Only if we allow the possibility that Man is not rational, does this begin to make sense.

Everyday Observances

Almost every day there is additional evidence in the news of Man’s irrational behavior: “road rage” incidents that result in someone being needlessly killed or maimed; protests that turn into riots that kill, injure, and destroy property; political parties slandering each other and refusing to cooperate, each blaming the other.

Mark Twain’s Insights

It has long been taught that we are doomed to repeat past tragedies if we don’t remember history. The emerging reality is more severe: even if we remember history we are still doomed to repeat it unless we become cognizant of the underlying factors in our nature that provoke our behavior.

As Mark Twain observed, “It is not worthwhile to try to keep history from repeating itself, for man's character will always make the preventing of the repetitions impossible.” He also wrote, “When we remember we are all mad, the mysteries disappear and life stands explained,” or as I like to put it, “Once you realize Man is not rational, things begin to make sense.”

The Ongoing Deluge of Data on how our Brain Functions

View the Book Summary

Predictably Irrational: The Hidden Forces That Shape Our Decisions

Dan Ariely (2008)

Irrational behavior is a part of human nature, but people tend to behave irrationally in a predictable fashion. According to Ariely, our understanding of economics, now based on the assumption of a rational subject, should, in fact, be based on our systematic, unsurprising irrationality.

Nudge: Improving Decisions About Health, Wealth, and Happiness

Richard Thaler/Cass Sunstein (2008)

Being human, we all are susceptible to various biases that can lead us to blunder. By knowing how people think, we can design choice environments that make it easier for people to choose what is best for themselves, their families, and their society.

Kluge: The Haphazard Construction of the Human Mind– Gary Marcus (2008)

Why are we subject to irrational beliefs, inaccurate memories, even war? Marcus says … Natural selection... tends to favor genes that have immediate advantages rather than long-term value. Marcus refers to this as a kluge, a term engineers use to refer to a clumsily designed solution to a problem. Thus, memory developed … to respond with immediacy, rather than accuracy.

Blunder: Why Smart People Make Bad Decisions

Zachary Shore (2008)

According to the author, people blunder because they fall into inflexible mind-sets formed from faulty reasoning—or cognition traps. He coins words to describe seven of these:

Sway: The Irresistible Pull of Irrational Behavior

Ori and Rom Brafman (2008)

Drawing on cutting-edge research from the fields of social psychology, behavioral economics, and organizational behavior, Sway reveals dynamic forces that influence every aspect of our personal and business lives, including loss aversion (our tendency to go to great lengths to avoid perceived losses), the diagnosis bias (our inability to reevaluate our initial diagnosis of a person or situation), and the “chameleon effect” (our tendency to take on characteristics that have been arbitrarily assigned to us).

Irrationality

Stuart Sutherland (2007)

Irrational beliefs and behaviors are virtually universal. This iconoclastic book analyses causes of irrationality and examines why we are irrational, the different kinds of irrationality, the damage it does us and the possible cures.

Blink: The Power of Thinking Without Thinking

Malcolm Gladwell (2007)

Malcolm Gladwell displays again in this entertaining and illuminating look how we make snap judgments – Gladwell's conclusion … is that we can make better instant judgments by training our mind and senses to focus on the most relevant facts—and that less input (as long as it's the right input) is better than more.

A Mind of Its Own: How Your Brain Distorts and Deceives

Cordelia Fine ((2006))

Vain, immoral, bigoted: this is your brain in action: the brain distorts reality in order to save us from the ego-destroying effects of failure and pessimism, by biasing perceptions in the perceiver’s favor. … The brain also projects stereotypes onto others that reflect prejudicial beliefs rather than objective reality.

Us and Them: The Science of Identity

David Berreby (2005)

Our "tribal" nature – the tendency to judge others according to categories, such as Muslims, lawyers, whites – governs our lives.

The Righteous Mind

Jonathan Haidt (2012)

Why can’t our political leaders work together as threats loom and problems mount? Why do people so readily assume the worst about the motives of their fellow citizens? In The Righteous Mind, social psychologist Jonathan Haidt explores the origins of our divisions and points the way forward to mutual understanding.

Thinking, Fast and Slow

Daniel Kahneman (2011)

Kahneman describes two modes of how people think. "System 1" thinking is fast, intuitive, emotional and almost automatic, though it sometimes leaves us at the mercy of our human biases. "System 2" thinking is slower and requires more intellectual effort. To nobody's surprise, we humans are more likely to rely on System 1 thinking, because it saves us effort, even if it can lead to flawed thinking.

View the Video URL List

Rom Brafman Describes Human Irrationality (05:59)

Sway: by Ori Brafman and Rom Brafman (a Book Brief) (07:38)

Dan Ariely: Predictably Irrational Chap 1 (04:24)

Dan Ariely: Why we think it’s OK to cheat and steal (sometimes) (18:24)

Daniel Kahneman: The riddle of experience and memory (06:35))

Edward O. Wilson: Multilevel Selection (02:17)

The return of multilevel (group) selection

Edward O. Wilson: Meaning of Existence (06:22)

The survival advantage of group communication and cooperation

David Sloan Wilson: Group Selection (10:59)

Is “pro-social” altruistic advantageous?

Next Week: Do We (Humans) Have Instincts? … Is it possible that our consistent, persistent, irrational behavior is caused by unconscious instincts?

COP Fall 2017

Saturday, September 23, 2017

Session 1 Sept 21, 2017