Richard Dawkins is a wonderful teacher. He never talks down to schoolkids but speaks to them as intelligent, reasoning beings: the best way to encourage learning. He brings complex ideas to life with vivid, concrete examples. If I'd had him as my science or biology teacher I'm sure I would have followed a scientific career. How I regret not doing so, since there's nothing more exciting than the world of science.
I'm amazed how everyone is talking about the quality of his lectures and that how amazing he's with children. No one noticed how handsome he's. It'd take 1000 of years on geological scale to evolve one Richard Dawkin. I'm truly thankful to the entire process of evolution for giving us this superbly amazing man.
I'm excited for my son to grow old enough to start comprehending his lectures! It's going to be tradition for our family to watch one or two of these a week during the holiday season. Thank you, Professor Dawkins and crew for these great videos people can still appreciate 2 decades later!
I hope these children got a lot out of this. I'm so envious. My parents taught me to fear and hate science, and told my sister and me to disrupt class and tell the class my 8th grade teacher was lying whenever he mentioned "evolution"... I didn't do it. But my younger sister apparently did at first, until she was ordered to stop. I am so embarrassed. Now I'm in my 20s and am hungry for this knowledge. It's so beautiful to learn
James Owl Be open with others on precipice of the discovery. Religious dogma is and has been the enemy of not just logic and reason but discovery itself. Once we cast off the chains of our parents brainwashing mechanisms we can evolve intellectually as a species
I hope that one day this bad habit of teaching children things that are prooven to be wrong is considered the childabuse that it is. For a brain full of lies about reality is equally harmfull like bruises from a beating and the broken trust from physical or mental abuse. It leaves the child severly crippled in one point of its potential. We must not do that to our children.
They're afraid of death, and if they acknowledge that there is nothing supernatural to the world, they will have acknowledge the reality that they will die and completely cease to exist.
Members of all cults are taught to fear knowledge and anyone with any authority (real or perceived) that disagrees with them. It's a common defense mechanism, the persecution complex. Creationists in particular know that anyone who gets an education is more likely to abandon their cult thinking, so they become anti-education and fearmonger about "atheist-run colleges and unviersities". Kevin Sorbo's character in that trashy movie was a result of that. As others have said, though, it's also that it undermines religious doctrines, moreso than any other field of science does. The Young-Earth variant of ignorance-worship dismisses all science out of hand, but uses the types of science it finds useful as much as it likes; circuits build computers, and computers let you lie to people very effectively for your cult, so circuits are fine, but atomic theory is how we know the age of the Earth, so radiometric dating is a lie, but atomic theory is at the core of both radiometric dating and electronics, so you see which one they object to. Geology shows there was never a worldwide flood, so some creationists say geology is wrong, but other less ignorant ones turn their doctrine into something less fantastical, like the entire flood being a metaphor or some other such nonsense. This causes conflict between different variants of the cultists, but it can still be reconciled sometimes. Biology, though? Biology utterly destroys the fairytale about a magic man magically poofing fully-formed species into existence from nothing. It "turns" humans into just another animal, which is precisely what we are. It removes the sense of being special and unique and Chosen(tm). It can't be reconciled with the fairytale at all; you can't say god made a human male out of clay and a human woman out of a rib _metaphorically._ There's no metaphorical sense it can be interpreted in, _at all,_ and unlike computers, biology isn't useful for ignorance-worshipers to spread their ignorance with. Biology is only useful to people who are intelligent; why do have certain illnesses, how do diseases behave and change, why are you at higher risk of cancer if your family had cancer, that sort of thing. All are utterly useless to the average person who can wave illness away as "God's Plan(tm)". And this is the worst part, for them: biology is elegant in its simplicity. Evolution is beautiful. It isn't complex at the basic level, and it all makes perfect sense, even before you get to the evidence in support. It's like dominos falling in a neat row. If any creationist were ever allowed to understand it properly, they would realize they've been lied to their entire lives. So you get the persecution complex. It's all a lie. They're out to get us. Everything They(tm) tell you is fake. Quick, if someone ever says the word 'evolution' at you, immediately stop listening so the DEMONS don't possess you and turn you into a _liberal!_ (Because, of course, conservatism is strongly associated, if not synonymous, with reality-denial). Attach key words like 'communists' and Stalin or other mustachioed fascists I won't name, and the fear and anger keeps your victims in the cult. Creationists are right to fear evolution, because their huge, complex machinery of ignorance can't stand up to the simple ramp of evolution. Not that they're right to be afraid, but they can't do otherwise since they're in a cult.
Richard Dawkins is another Charles Darwin. He is a hero. One of the best of all time. Thanks for sharing these remarkable videos and lectures with us. It's apparent that so much effort is done for preparing these treasures.
The evolution of the eye is so wonderful it even got me teary eyed, no religion can ever explain the world so beautifully and convincingly. Think how many generations of humans and non-humans have been the ancestors of each one of us, this is true magic and universal spiritual connection. It's the only thing that can make us feel like ONE.
@@kamion53 Darwinist evangelist Atheist Dawkins calls. the creation of the human body through an naturist evolution, a miracle made possible by smearing the process over billions of years "Far from being a difficulty peculiar to Darwinism, the astronomic improbability of eyes and knees, enzymes and elbow joints and all the other living wonders is precisely the problem that any theory of life must solve, and that Darwinism uniquely does solve. It solves it by breaking the improbability up into small, manageable parts, smearing out the luck needed, going round the back of Mount Improbable and crawling up the gentle slopes, inch by million-year inch." Given that atheist Dawkins is regarding his own atheist brain as a designoid object too badly deficient to be the creation of an intelligent entity, one must admit that he has an impeccable way of using the English language.The atheist monk calls that horse shit the poetry of science. What darwinist evangelist Dawkins has said in his lecture is unscientific evolutionary nonsense.
@@piertinence I guess you never ever saw Dawkins Chritsmas lectures when they were broadcasted and are happy to parrot anything the GReat Apologists like Hovind & Co. says, without using the capacity of critical thinking. BTW Dawkins is not an evangelist of any kind, but a scientist and a rather militant atheist because of the attitudes you just showed.
@@kamion53 Understanding a Darwinian evolutionary creation would also mean to be able to make sense of the ridiculous concept, that beautiful creatures would only be presenting an illusion of design. Funny that atheist Dawkins got applauses after presenting that nonsense in one of his lectures. The belief that life was invested with an evolutionary dynamism from its spontaneous appearance in a primordial soup caldron 4.3 billion years ago has nothing scientific, and has nothing to do with biology. I use to be a believer in a Darwinian evolutionary creation, until I realized it was just a silly science
@@kamion53 I wouldn't bother replying to this idiot mate. He's just doing a copy and paste of that same comment to several people I got an identical one. The only thing fools like this guy are good for is giving us a laugh.
Seriously though, I remember when these lectures were one of the TV highlights of Christmas every year - among the best things the Beeb ever put out. I remember watching these when they were first on - lovely stuff
The Darwinist evangelist is great at spreading the modern pagan creation myth founded on the hallucinations that Darwin had in the Galapagos. His followers cannot even spot the nonsense in his BS. "Far from being a difficulty peculiar to Darwinism, the astronomic improbability of eyes and knees, enzymes and elbow joints and all the other living wonders is precisely the problem that any theory of life must solve, and that Darwinism uniquely does solve. It solves it by breaking the improbability up into small, manageable parts, smearing out the luck needed, going round the back of Mount Improbable and crawling up the gentle slopes, inch by million-year inch." Dawkins regards the creation of the human body as a miracle of naturism made possible by its being smeared over billions of years which is unscientific evolutionary nonsense.
Climbing Mount Improbable - Growing Up in the Universe Oxford professor Richard Dawkins presents a series of lectures on life, the universe, and our place in it. Ep3: Climbing Mount Improbable - Growing Up in the Universe - Richard Dawkins
TheFifthGreatApe The links in the description are broken because Evolution is broken. Through recent discovery of soft-tissue still existing in dino fossils and Carbon-dating now verifying that dino fossils are THOUSANDS, not millions of years old, to a weaking magnetic field, population model predictions, grinding down the hip bone of Lucy the Chimpanzee so she'll look human, pretending that bones found MILES away from each oth& DESTROYS the Evolution model! Wake up and smell the coffee!
Bildad1976 You have no clue what you are talking about, sir. Be honest, the reason you don't like what science tells you about how life, and especially human life came to be, is because it severs that special bond you have with your imagined creator.Many of the things you take for granted, in this modern world would not exist without evolution, which is the framework on which modern science is based. Everything from medicine to computers. are available because of evolutionary sciences, and the applications thereof. Take heart though, you don't need to believe in a creator god to realize that you are indeed a special creature. All life is special. It is most wonderful to understand just how many millions of your ancestors lived, and reproduced to lead to the existence of yourself. A break in that long long chain of life, and you would not be here at all to even discuss this topic. For all the could have beens, but were not, you are not one of those, you are here. That is something to be grateful for. When you discount the years and years of research, and the lifetimes of work that have gone into making this world , you do a great disservice not only to those who have done so much, but to yourself as well, for not using that wonderful brain that sits atop your spinal column. A brain that has the capability to question, to ponder, and learn new things at an incredible rate. That is the gift that your ancestors bequeathed, through time , to you. You dishonour them all, if you do not use your gifts, to enrich not only your own life, but the lives of those around you as well. It is beyond disgusting that you blatantly spread falsehoods about the work, and discoveries made by scientists just because the truth makes you uncomfortable. For shame. You have in this time period, the chance to educate yourself, far more than any generation ever has before. Why do you squander that ability by your own blind unwillingness to learn? What are you so afraid of? Stop hiding behind dogma, and the words of charlatans who care nothing for you, but are looking for the contents of your wallet, and the subservience of your mind. At the very least, try to look at the evidence for and against your personal beliefs using unbiased sources, rather than those that have an obvious agenda. If you don't understand something, there is no shame at starting simple and working up to more complex resources. There is also no shame in asking honest questions. If at the end of that, you have the same conclusions, or different ones, you have the knowledge that you made up your own mind, using all the information available, rather than from a certain point of view filtered through a particular agenda. Make sure that you use sources that are up to date, and that those sources are from people who actually do have expertise in whatever subject you research.... an easy example.. if you buy a new car and want to understand how it works, you would not find it useful to use only a manual from a car built in the 1950's...It will have some basic information about cars as they were then, but tells you no specifics on a car, your car built in 2015. It is the same with science... all branches.What we know now, and can show is so much more than we could even 10 years ago. It is the same with religion. What people knew 2000 years ago about how the world works, medicine, technology, astronomy, geology... the list goes on and on is feeble compared to what we have come to know, and will continue to learn. Would you truly want to live, and believe as those shepherds and priests, and common folk of 2000 years ago? Would you want to live at their level of technology, medicine, and social structure? Do you take advantage of what this modern world has to offer? If you do, then it is science, and thousands and thousand of man hours that have given you the comforts of your present life, up to and including the computer you so happily typed your fallacious, ignorant, and condescending comment on. The only one who needs to smell the coffee is yourself, and those like you who think they know more than they do, and are too afraid to actually step outside the box of their own religious dogmatic boxes. My condolences to you, sir. To be some willfully blind, and ignorant is such a pity. Tell me, does it hurt? Have you become so numb that you can no longer feel your intellect atrophying? Your comment was intellectually dishonest, and if you do indeed follow your sacred scripture, you would know that willfully lying is a sin. Come back and comment when you actually know anything about "Lucy"( just where did you get that garbage about her hip bones being ground and modified???), and the different dating techniques, and what was actually found in those dinosaur fossils, here's a hint.. it was hemes( there's more, but I'm not going to do your homework for you) not soft tissue. The depths of what you do not know about the things you were attempting to comment on is stupefyingly deep. There are lifelines available to get you out of that abyss of ignorance that you are so happily ensconced in, but you have to actually reach out and grab them. No one can do that for you. If you really do like it down there in the darkness, by all means, stay there. However don't you even consider trying to drag the rest of us down there. It took humanity so long to clamber up and out of that nasty crevasse, and we have no wish to sink to such depths ever again.
Richard Dawkins is a great master, He turns complicated facts to simple facts so everybody can understand them, I'm from Ecuador where almost everyone still believes in creationism, if we would only have a master like Richard Dawkins in Ecuador, Everything would be different here...
I don't look up to too many people, as people are only human, but I sincerely look up to Richard Dawkins in respect to his intellect and his raising of peoples' consiousness to our universe.
Nature and evolution are incredibly exciting; I don't see anything better to do with one's time than to share these incredible concepts and feelings with children. I wish I had had my conscience raised when I was young about these things. Richard Dawkins is truly a hero
been adoring you for years . Just found this 80 program for students that i wll show my grandchildren . Because its so beautifuly done and it is good for them to hear English spoken correctely. A rarity today
what's an "80 program" ? Also almost all English people speak English correctly, you're labouring under the common error that a rather clipped RP pronunciation which Richard has, is the only 'correct' way to speak English. Far from it
@@Ana_crusis Understand a Darwinian evolutionary creation would also mean to be able to make sense of the ridiculous concept, that beautiful creatures would only be presenting an illusion of design. Funny that atheist Dawkins got applauses after presenting that nonsense in one of his lectures. The belief that life was invested with an evolutionary dynamism from its spontaneous appearance in a primordial soup caldron 4.3 billion years ago has nothing scientific, and has nothing to do with biology. I use to be a believer in a Darwinian evolutionary creation, until I realized it was just a silly scienc
@@piertinence I can only imagine that the scientific world is a lot better off since somebody with your clearly appallingly low IQ has left it. If indeed you could ever be said to have been in it. I'm not going to argue the theory of evolution with you because it's a proven fact, which is why the scientific community fully accepted it as such a long time ago. If you don't want to, then that is entirely your problem, I couldn't care less . The world is full of ignorant, stupid morons like you. you are just one more. A tiny, insignificant drop in the huge morass of ignorance and darkness in the world. Luckily people like Professor Dawkins keep the light of Reason and Rationality shining bright. Nothing _you_ say in your attack on established facts in the scientific world is of the slightest importance. You are, quite literally, meaningless.
After sitting through the awe inspiring eye and wing explanations/demonstrations I know there are some people who would still just watch this with their fingers in their ears and their eyes/minds closed tightly
The Darwinist evangelist is great at spreading the modern pagan creation myth founded on the hallucinations that Darwin had in the Galapagos. His followers cannot even spot the nonsense in his BS. "Far from being a difficulty peculiar to Darwinism, the astronomic improbability of eyes and knees, enzymes and elbow joints and all the other living wonders is precisely the problem that any theory of life must solve, and that Darwinism uniquely does solve. It solves it by breaking the improbability up into small, manageable parts, smearing out the luck needed, going round the back of Mount Improbable and crawling up the gentle slopes, inch by million-year inch." Dawkins regards the creation of the human body as a miracle of naturism made possible by its being smeared over billions of years which is unscientific evolutionary nonsense.
Great to see a much younger Dawkins! He relates so well to these children. A wonderful Man with a world-changing, humanitarian message in his later career.
That shirt is nice :) This kind of teaching and lectures planned like this are awesome. Theres so much interesting examples and props being used, all the time everything is illustrated so cleverly. This series of lectures should be shown in all schools once a year.
The analogy of the mountain is amazing! It even tells how some animais stop evolving some characteristics by reaching the top of some cliffs, because the goal of evolution is always going up. In this case, some things do not evolve because, in order to keep going up, this characteristic need to goes down first, but evolution doesn't allow this moviment, so it gets stuck.
Exactly. Somebody used that analogy to explain why humans can't evolve wings despite their obvious advantage. We'd have to come down our peak of Mount Improbable first.
Anyone think it was really adorable how Dawkins laughed at his own joke at 10:59?! (PS - as someone formally education themselves on evolution after years of religious brainwashing in a private school system, I think you for allowing me to open my mind and embrace my existence fully)
Steve Shives brought me here :-). I'm sure I watched this live when it was first broadcast in the early 1990's. Good to see it again. Dawkins has the ability to explain complex things to a young audience with great ease.
This series is unbelievably amazing! I honestly wish that everyone today, and in the future, would watch this wounderful, education show. Richard Dawkins for God!
@Cohagentron Glad to say I'm 16 and love listening to Richard Dawkins. It's such a shame that many others my age have no idea who Richard Dawkins or Christopher Hitchens are. I'm sure as others write about Twilight and whatever other books are popular in English class, I'll write about The God Delusion and The Selfish Gene.
When i, for the first time, heard of Mount improbable, it was on television, how it made the evolution of the eye conceivably, Darwinian evolution really got me. I started reading Professor Dawkins books. The way he explained Darwinian evolution, I felt, I had some deep understanding of evolution, how it shaped our natural world. It was, almost, like a religious experience. The same feeling, I imagine, religious people have, when they have insight and see the beautiful simplicity of something they thought was hugely complicated. Why didn't they teach evolution in my biology class. I'm Dutch, in the US and Great Britain they make a big deal of evolution. They are right, it's just as important as Newton and Einstein. Maybe now they teach evolution, I went to school in the eighties.
Because elite people fear this concept and they know very well that it will give an ultimate freedom to everyone's thought process and may be one day there will be no boundaries between human beings.
Another thing I noticed, apart from Dawkins' brilliance, is how silent and attentive the audience is. Most audiences today, at least in my country of the U.S.A., would not be so well-behaved and attentive.
Incredible presentation! Thank you Professor Dawkins. Lucky kids. I hope Professor that you can be gratified now in your older age that you have contributed to humanity more than any religious leader (in my humble opinion). You are courageous to continue to teach the people who are willing to listen to reason, evidence and truth (science vs. religion).
He's the most intelligent person ever. You know, tied with other bright people in their fields of expertise. Because a sign of intelligence is the ability to teach something to a person that doesn't know anything about it yet.
I absolutely love this. I love how he goes by the steps of evolution reaching up to an eye and a wing, however I would love to know more about the evolution of camouflage. Not trying to imply a creator -as I am Atheist; but for the sake of knowledge and understanding I would love to see further info. So if anyone can refer me to some place with more insight then I would be much appreciative.
Richard Dawkins deserves a Nobel Prize. If not by science,- establishment and powered "science" full of stupidity an functionally moved by money and archaical thinking-, at least by his contribution for human understanding issues. I know and I am sure that his way of seeing human processes is correct. I will die free as I sleep in peace every night. This is my religion. ( from re-ligare, coming back to the oneness, not any more a dicotomy, schizofrenic thinking.......)
66 thumbs down = 66 science deniers. Wish I would have found these sooner. I'm 62 at this writing and learned a lot from these 5 lectures. Thank you Mr. Dawkins!
I have always thought that evolution is some wild random coincidences. But Richard clearly pointed out that there is another way nature had done it. Thank you so much !!!
who in in their right mind would propose creationism/theology in schools to explain the natural world when you have this??? This show should be translated to several languages and distributed throughout the world to children like Sesame Street!
It is so fascinating that he can explain that so easily, so clearly. Has any creationist watched this before he/she starts speaking about the impossibility of the evolution ?!
so it seems that lens has do develop together with an eye so some transparent material has to cover half eye before you get to pin hole right? i think that thing wasn't told so clear or else naughtylus could get perfect eye too and not be stuck
Seeing how good he was with the children, without the least bit of condescension, raises his stock even further in my opinion.
Absolutely. This guy is the most charming man of all time.
Much better than most adults
Richard Dawkins is a wonderful teacher. He never talks down to schoolkids but speaks to them as intelligent, reasoning beings: the best way to encourage learning. He brings complex ideas to life with vivid, concrete examples. If I'd had him as my science or biology teacher I'm sure I would have followed a scientific career. How I regret not doing so, since there's nothing more exciting than the world of science.
I'm amazed how everyone is talking about the quality of his lectures and that how amazing he's with children. No one noticed how handsome he's. It'd take 1000 of years on geological scale to evolve one Richard Dawkin. I'm truly thankful to the entire process of evolution for giving us this superbly amazing man.
he is indeed a masterpiece of nature
Dawkins*
I'm excited for my son to grow old enough to start comprehending his lectures! It's going to be tradition for our family to watch one or two of these a week during the holiday season. Thank you, Professor Dawkins and crew for these great videos people can still appreciate 2 decades later!
MuhaNNad I agree
I am going to do the same.
I hope these children got a lot out of this. I'm so envious. My parents taught me to fear and hate science, and told my sister and me to disrupt class and tell the class my 8th grade teacher was lying whenever he mentioned "evolution"... I didn't do it. But my younger sister apparently did at first, until she was ordered to stop. I am so embarrassed. Now I'm in my 20s and am hungry for this knowledge. It's so beautiful to learn
Hooray - so happy for you! Welcome to reality! And spread the word.
James Owl Never too late to Science!
James Owl Be open with others on precipice of the discovery. Religious dogma is and has been the enemy of not just logic and reason but discovery itself. Once we cast off the chains of our parents brainwashing mechanisms we can evolve intellectually as a species
I hope that one day this bad habit of teaching children things that are prooven to be wrong is considered the childabuse that it is. For a brain full of lies about reality is equally harmfull like bruises from a beating and the broken trust from physical or mental abuse. It leaves the child severly crippled in one point of its potential. We must not do that to our children.
You see, how the Adam and Eve the knowledge "Apple" fits our faulty mind!
These lectures were way ahead of their time, love Richard Dawkins. The voice of a British Lord is always the best way to explain science.
Please don't make such statements.
@@evaisthisiaeclaire6365 I'll have you know, I read your comment in his voice. hope it annoyed you
why would people dislike an educational video of such a nice quality
Why are creationists so afraid of this.. I just don't understand.. It is wonderful to learn about these things..
Because the imaginary friend who they thought they were living with and who took care of them will cease to exist.
They're afraid of death, and if they acknowledge that there is nothing supernatural to the world, they will have acknowledge the reality that they will die and completely cease to exist.
For one thing, it completely undermines a literal understanding of the Bible.
Members of all cults are taught to fear knowledge and anyone with any authority (real or perceived) that disagrees with them. It's a common defense mechanism, the persecution complex. Creationists in particular know that anyone who gets an education is more likely to abandon their cult thinking, so they become anti-education and fearmonger about "atheist-run colleges and unviersities". Kevin Sorbo's character in that trashy movie was a result of that.
As others have said, though, it's also that it undermines religious doctrines, moreso than any other field of science does. The Young-Earth variant of ignorance-worship dismisses all science out of hand, but uses the types of science it finds useful as much as it likes; circuits build computers, and computers let you lie to people very effectively for your cult, so circuits are fine, but atomic theory is how we know the age of the Earth, so radiometric dating is a lie, but atomic theory is at the core of both radiometric dating and electronics, so you see which one they object to. Geology shows there was never a worldwide flood, so some creationists say geology is wrong, but other less ignorant ones turn their doctrine into something less fantastical, like the entire flood being a metaphor or some other such nonsense. This causes conflict between different variants of the cultists, but it can still be reconciled sometimes.
Biology, though? Biology utterly destroys the fairytale about a magic man magically poofing fully-formed species into existence from nothing. It "turns" humans into just another animal, which is precisely what we are. It removes the sense of being special and unique and Chosen(tm). It can't be reconciled with the fairytale at all; you can't say god made a human male out of clay and a human woman out of a rib _metaphorically._ There's no metaphorical sense it can be interpreted in, _at all,_ and unlike computers, biology isn't useful for ignorance-worshipers to spread their ignorance with. Biology is only useful to people who are intelligent; why do have certain illnesses, how do diseases behave and change, why are you at higher risk of cancer if your family had cancer, that sort of thing. All are utterly useless to the average person who can wave illness away as "God's Plan(tm)".
And this is the worst part, for them: biology is elegant in its simplicity. Evolution is beautiful. It isn't complex at the basic level, and it all makes perfect sense, even before you get to the evidence in support. It's like dominos falling in a neat row. If any creationist were ever allowed to understand it properly, they would realize they've been lied to their entire lives.
So you get the persecution complex. It's all a lie. They're out to get us. Everything They(tm) tell you is fake. Quick, if someone ever says the word 'evolution' at you, immediately stop listening so the DEMONS don't possess you and turn you into a _liberal!_ (Because, of course, conservatism is strongly associated, if not synonymous, with reality-denial).
Attach key words like 'communists' and Stalin or other mustachioed fascists I won't name, and the fear and anger keeps your victims in the cult.
Creationists are right to fear evolution, because their huge, complex machinery of ignorance can't stand up to the simple ramp of evolution. Not that they're right to be afraid, but they can't do otherwise since they're in a cult.
@@EdwardHowton great explanation, I am adding it to my collection of random internet gems ( random here meaning randomly stumbled upon)
Richard Dawkins is another Charles Darwin. He is a hero. One of the best of all time. Thanks for sharing these remarkable videos and lectures with us. It's apparent that so much effort is done for preparing these treasures.
Rather another Thomas Henry Huxley....you can't really compare Darwin with Dawkins...
His Eye explanation/demonstration was fantastic! Really well done Dawkins!
The evolution of the eye is so wonderful it even got me teary eyed, no religion can ever explain the world so beautifully and convincingly. Think how many generations of humans and non-humans have been the ancestors of each one of us, this is true magic and universal spiritual connection. It's the only thing that can make us feel like ONE.
You got the science wonder. Noice.
i love this man. he cares that we understand who we are,and why we are. long live richard dawkins.
I can never get enough of Professor Richard Dawkins. Lucky kids.
those lucky kids may now have kids of their own.
Hope they to have the opertunity to go to these wonderful lectures.
@@kamion53 Darwinist evangelist Atheist Dawkins calls. the creation of the human body through an naturist evolution, a miracle made possible by smearing the process over billions of years "Far from being a difficulty peculiar to Darwinism, the astronomic improbability of eyes and knees, enzymes and elbow joints and all the other living wonders is precisely the problem that any theory of life must solve, and that Darwinism uniquely does solve. It solves it by breaking the improbability up into small, manageable parts, smearing out the luck needed, going round the back of Mount Improbable and crawling up the gentle slopes, inch by million-year inch." Given that atheist Dawkins is regarding his own atheist brain as a designoid object too badly deficient to be the creation of an intelligent entity, one must admit that he has an impeccable way of using the English language.The atheist monk calls that horse shit the poetry of science. What darwinist evangelist Dawkins has said in his lecture is unscientific evolutionary nonsense.
@@piertinence I guess you never ever saw Dawkins Chritsmas lectures when they were broadcasted and are happy to parrot anything the GReat Apologists like Hovind & Co. says, without using the capacity of critical thinking.
BTW Dawkins is not an evangelist of any kind, but a scientist and a rather militant atheist because of the attitudes you just showed.
@@kamion53 Understanding a Darwinian evolutionary creation would also mean to be able to make sense of the ridiculous concept, that beautiful creatures would only be presenting an illusion of design. Funny that atheist Dawkins got applauses after presenting that nonsense in one of his lectures. The belief that life was invested with an evolutionary dynamism from its spontaneous appearance in a primordial soup caldron 4.3 billion years ago has nothing scientific, and has nothing to do with biology. I use to be a believer in a Darwinian evolutionary creation, until I realized it was just a silly science
@@kamion53 I wouldn't bother replying to this idiot mate. He's just doing a copy and paste of that same comment to several people I got an identical one. The only thing fools like this guy are good for is giving us a laugh.
Seriously though, I remember when these lectures were one of the TV highlights of Christmas every year - among the best things the Beeb ever put out. I remember watching these when they were first on - lovely stuff
@David , same here. ...
you talk about them in the past tense. the Xmas lecturers are still going on every year. they never stopped
same here, brings back bright memories.
Its nice to see him in a non controversial environment doing what he loves. Spreading the truth.
The Darwinist evangelist is great at spreading the modern pagan creation myth founded on the hallucinations that Darwin had in the Galapagos. His followers cannot even spot the nonsense in his BS. "Far from being a difficulty peculiar to Darwinism, the astronomic improbability of eyes and knees, enzymes and elbow joints and all the other living wonders is precisely the problem that any theory of life must solve, and that Darwinism uniquely does solve. It solves it by breaking the improbability up into small, manageable parts, smearing out the luck needed, going round the back of Mount Improbable and crawling up the gentle slopes, inch by million-year inch." Dawkins regards the creation of the human body as a miracle of naturism made possible by its being smeared over billions of years which is unscientific evolutionary nonsense.
Climbing Mount Improbable - Growing Up in the Universe
Oxford professor Richard Dawkins presents a series of lectures on life, the universe, and our place in it.
Ep3: Climbing Mount Improbable - Growing Up in the Universe - Richard Dawkins
Links in description are broken.
TheFifthGreatApe The links in the description are broken because Evolution is broken. Through recent discovery of soft-tissue still existing in dino fossils and Carbon-dating now verifying that dino fossils are THOUSANDS, not millions of years old, to a weaking magnetic field, population model predictions, grinding down the hip bone of Lucy the Chimpanzee so she'll look human, pretending that bones found MILES away from each oth& DESTROYS the Evolution model! Wake up and smell the coffee!
Bildad1976 No.
Bildad1976 You have no clue what you are talking about, sir. Be honest, the reason you don't like what science tells you about how life, and especially human life came to be, is because it severs that special bond you have with your imagined creator.Many of the things you take for granted, in this modern world would not exist without evolution, which is the framework on which modern science is based. Everything from medicine to computers. are available because of evolutionary sciences, and the applications thereof.
Take heart though, you don't need to believe in a creator god to realize that you are indeed a special creature. All life is special. It is most wonderful to understand just how many millions of your ancestors lived, and reproduced to lead to the existence of yourself. A break in that long long chain of life, and you would not be here at all to even discuss this topic. For all the could have beens, but were not, you are not one of those, you are here. That is something to be grateful for.
When you discount the years and years of research, and the lifetimes of work that have gone into making this world , you do a great disservice not only to those who have done so much, but to yourself as well, for not using that wonderful brain that sits atop your spinal column. A brain that has the capability to question, to ponder, and learn new things at an incredible rate. That is the gift that your ancestors bequeathed, through time , to you. You dishonour them all, if you do not use your gifts, to enrich not only your own life, but the lives of those around you as well.
It is beyond disgusting that you blatantly spread falsehoods about the work, and discoveries made by scientists just because the truth makes you uncomfortable. For shame. You have in this time period, the chance to educate yourself, far more than any generation ever has before. Why do you squander that ability by your own blind unwillingness to learn? What are you so afraid of? Stop hiding behind dogma, and the words of charlatans who care nothing for you, but are looking for the contents of your wallet, and the subservience of your mind. At the very least, try to look at the evidence for and against your personal beliefs using unbiased sources, rather than those that have an obvious agenda. If you don't understand something, there is no shame at starting simple and working up to more complex resources. There is also no shame in asking honest questions. If at the end of that, you have the same conclusions, or different ones, you have the knowledge that you made up your own mind, using all the information available, rather than from a certain point of view filtered through a particular agenda. Make sure that you use sources that are up to date, and that those sources are from people who actually do have expertise in whatever subject you research.... an easy example.. if you buy a new car and want to understand how it works, you would not find it useful to use only a manual from a car built in the 1950's...It will have some basic information about cars as they were then, but tells you no specifics on a car, your car built in 2015. It is the same with science... all branches.What we know now, and can show is so much more than we could even 10 years ago.
It is the same with religion. What people knew 2000 years ago about how the world works, medicine, technology, astronomy, geology... the list goes on and on is feeble compared to what we have come to know, and will continue to learn. Would you truly want to live, and believe as those shepherds and priests, and common folk of 2000 years ago? Would you want to live at their level of technology, medicine, and social structure? Do you take advantage of what this modern world has to offer? If you do, then it is science, and thousands and thousand of man hours that have given you the comforts of your present life, up to and including the computer you so happily typed your fallacious, ignorant, and condescending comment on. The only one who needs to smell the coffee is yourself, and those like you who think they know more than they do, and are too afraid to actually step outside the box of their own religious dogmatic boxes. My condolences to you, sir. To be some willfully blind, and ignorant is such a pity. Tell me, does it hurt? Have you become so numb that you can no longer feel your intellect atrophying?
Your comment was intellectually dishonest, and if you do indeed follow your sacred scripture, you would know that willfully lying is a sin. Come back and comment when you actually know anything about "Lucy"( just where did you get that garbage about her hip bones being ground and modified???), and the different dating techniques, and what was actually found in those dinosaur fossils, here's a hint.. it was hemes( there's more, but I'm not going to do your homework for you) not soft tissue. The depths of what you do not know about the things you were attempting to comment on is stupefyingly deep.
There are lifelines available to get you out of that abyss of ignorance that you are so happily ensconced in, but you have to actually reach out and grab them. No one can do that for you. If you really do like it down there in the darkness, by all means, stay there. However don't you even consider trying to drag the rest of us down there. It took humanity so long to clamber up and out of that nasty crevasse, and we have no wish to sink to such depths ever again.
+Nancy Cousintine If you could reason with religious people,there would be no religious people.
I've added these lectures to my list of science videos to educate my students about the beauty of science.
I'm clapping from home at these wonderfully demonstrated video.
Richard Dawkins is a great master, He turns complicated facts to simple facts so everybody can understand them, I'm from Ecuador where almost everyone still believes in creationism, if we would only have a master like Richard Dawkins in Ecuador, Everything would be different here...
I don't look up to too many people, as people are only human, but I sincerely look up to Richard Dawkins in respect to his intellect and his raising of peoples' consiousness to our universe.
I've watched episodes 1-3, and have thoroughly enjoyed them all. Thank you for posting these.
love that shirt.
Straight out of the packed though, you can see the creases from when it's been folded in the packaging!
@@Unkempt27 wow. Good observation!
The 1990s, the good old days.
These lectures are awesome. I wish I had kids already so I could watch it with them!
Wow. Those kids are lucky to have THE Richard Dawkins as their teacher. One of my heros!
Nature and evolution are incredibly exciting; I don't see anything better to do with one's time than to share these incredible concepts and feelings with children. I wish I had had my conscience raised when I was young about these things. Richard Dawkins is truly a hero
been adoring you for years . Just found this 80 program for students that i wll show my grandchildren . Because its so beautifuly done and it is good for them to hear English spoken correctely. A rarity today
what's an "80 program" ? Also almost all English people speak English correctly, you're labouring under the common error that a rather clipped RP pronunciation which Richard has, is the only 'correct' way to speak English. Far from it
@@Ana_crusis Understand a Darwinian evolutionary creation would also mean to be able to make sense of the ridiculous concept, that beautiful creatures would only be presenting an illusion of design. Funny that atheist Dawkins got applauses after presenting that nonsense in one of his lectures. The belief that life was invested with an evolutionary dynamism from its spontaneous appearance in a primordial soup caldron 4.3 billion years ago has nothing scientific, and has nothing to do with biology. I use to be a believer in a Darwinian evolutionary creation, until I realized it was just a silly scienc
@@piertinence I can only imagine that the scientific world is a lot better off since somebody with your clearly appallingly low IQ has left it. If indeed you could ever be said to have been in it. I'm not going to argue the theory of evolution with you because it's a proven fact, which is why the scientific community fully accepted it as such a long time ago. If you don't want to, then that is entirely your problem, I couldn't care less . The world is full of ignorant, stupid morons like you. you are just one more. A tiny, insignificant drop in the huge morass of ignorance and darkness in the world. Luckily people like Professor Dawkins keep the light of Reason and Rationality shining bright. Nothing _you_ say in your attack on established facts in the scientific world is of the slightest importance. You are, quite literally, meaningless.
Warning ⚠️ because comment thread is long u might experience difficulties with various species of wild Religious Trolls they hide in comment threads
One of the best Dawkins videos, a true treasure.
I've read almost every book of this man but didn't know about this great show. And there you are professor, as wonderful as always.
After sitting through the awe inspiring eye and wing explanations/demonstrations I know there are some people who would still just watch this with their fingers in their ears and their eyes/minds closed tightly
The Darwinist evangelist is great at spreading the modern pagan creation myth founded on the hallucinations that Darwin had in the Galapagos. His followers cannot even spot the nonsense in his BS. "Far from being a difficulty peculiar to Darwinism, the astronomic improbability of eyes and knees, enzymes and elbow joints and all the other living wonders is precisely the problem that any theory of life must solve, and that Darwinism uniquely does solve. It solves it by breaking the improbability up into small, manageable parts, smearing out the luck needed, going round the back of Mount Improbable and crawling up the gentle slopes, inch by million-year inch." Dawkins regards the creation of the human body as a miracle of naturism made possible by its being smeared over billions of years which is unscientific evolutionary nonsense.
The combination lock analogy is actually a very subtle and genius way of explaining gradual change.
You might say that bug was..."sticky".
it has been a year but I just wanted to say that I appreciated this joke ^_^
It has been 5 days but I just wanted to say that I appreciate you appreciating this joke ^_^
Totally underrated comment lol
Why would you say that
Your dad humor has reached unprecedented levels!
Great to see a much younger Dawkins! He relates so well to these children. A wonderful Man with a world-changing, humanitarian message in his later career.
That shirt is nice :) This kind of teaching and lectures planned like this are awesome. Theres so much interesting examples and props being used, all the time everything is illustrated so cleverly. This series of lectures should be shown in all schools once a year.
I'm going to state the obvious and point out how brilliantly Dawkins explains seemingly complex concepts in a way even children can understand.
This series should be showed to every school kid on the planet.
Brilliant. This is the stuff I will see with my children if I ever have them.
This man is a stone genius...his presentation is captivating!
It's beautiful the kinds of genius humanity has given us.
56:53 that guy in blue on the right shows exactly how exciting this lecture was.
48:37 That is one big-arse laser pointer.
1991
Beautiful beautiful beautiful ...
The analogy of the mountain is amazing! It even tells how some animais stop evolving some characteristics by reaching the top of some cliffs, because the goal of evolution is always going up.
In this case, some things do not evolve because, in order to keep going up, this characteristic need to goes down first, but evolution doesn't allow this moviment, so it gets stuck.
Exactly. Somebody used that analogy to explain why humans can't evolve wings despite their obvious advantage. We'd have to come down our peak of Mount Improbable first.
Anyone think it was really adorable how Dawkins laughed at his own joke at 10:59?!
(PS - as someone formally education themselves on evolution after years of religious brainwashing in a private school system, I think you for allowing me to open my mind and embrace my existence fully)
I've just stumbled across these Christmas lectures😍 totally riveting! I wish I had him as my science teacher.
Steve Shives brought me here :-). I'm sure I watched this live when it was first broadcast in the early 1990's. Good to see it again. Dawkins has the ability to explain complex things to a young audience with great ease.
Handsome devil.
National treasure
I have the onerous task of pressing buttons all day because of scientists - I am a computer programmer. :) - Great lecture series btw.
This series is unbelievably amazing! I honestly wish that everyone today, and in the future, would watch this wounderful, education show.
Richard Dawkins for God!
@Cohagentron Glad to say I'm 16 and love listening to Richard Dawkins. It's such a shame that many others my age have no idea who Richard Dawkins or Christopher Hitchens are. I'm sure as others write about Twilight and whatever other books are popular in English class, I'll write about The God Delusion and The Selfish Gene.
He’s so great with these kids!
When i, for the first time, heard of Mount improbable, it was on television, how it made the evolution of the eye conceivably, Darwinian evolution really got me. I started reading Professor Dawkins books. The way he explained Darwinian evolution, I felt, I had some deep understanding of evolution, how it shaped our natural world. It was, almost, like a religious experience. The same feeling, I imagine, religious people have, when they have insight and see the beautiful simplicity of something they thought was hugely complicated. Why didn't they teach evolution in my biology class. I'm Dutch, in the US and Great Britain they make a big deal of evolution. They are right, it's just as important as Newton and Einstein. Maybe now they teach evolution, I went to school in the eighties.
Because elite people fear this concept and they know very well that it will give an ultimate freedom to everyone's thought process and may be one day there will be no boundaries between human beings.
4:46 "6 times 6 times 6 probabilities" Illuminati confirmed XD But on a rather serious note: Great lecture! I wish I had a teacher like him..
Yeah dawkins worships satan! FACTS! Piers Morgan told me
Another thing I noticed, apart from Dawkins' brilliance, is how silent and attentive the audience is. Most audiences today, at least in my country of the U.S.A., would not be so well-behaved and attentive.
Hopefully no stick insects were harmed in the making of this video!!
This is the best part of the lecture, very good insights into evolution
These get better and better as I get throught the series.
A truly noble and gentle individual.
new synapses in my brain are being created like crazy.
I wish I attended such a lectuer when I was their age, well better late than never
I'm Catholic and I greatly enjoy Dawkins. I also appreciate his very informed point of view.
Incredible presentation! Thank you Professor Dawkins. Lucky kids. I hope Professor that you can be gratified now in your older age that you have contributed to humanity more than any religious leader (in my humble opinion). You are courageous to continue to teach the people who are willing to listen to reason, evidence and truth (science vs. religion).
He's the most intelligent person ever. You know, tied with other bright people in their fields of expertise. Because a sign of intelligence is the ability to teach something to a person that doesn't know anything about it yet.
Damn, that stick insect wanted freedom. LOL
Loved every minute of it. I'm trying to get the book mount improbable
ive watched this several times ! and never bored :)
I absolutely love this. I love how he goes by the steps of evolution reaching up to an eye and a wing, however I would love to know more about the evolution of camouflage. Not trying to imply a creator -as I am Atheist; but for the sake of knowledge and understanding I would love to see further info. So if anyone can refer me to some place with more insight then I would be much appreciative.
Good Zeus! What a handsome devil! How could anyone with any ghost of intelligence not adore this man!
This was the most en lighting lecture I witnessed so far.
Richard Dawkins deserves a Nobel Prize. If not by science,- establishment and powered "science" full of stupidity an functionally moved by money and archaical thinking-, at least by his contribution for human understanding issues.
I know and I am sure that his way of seeing human processes is correct.
I will die free as I sleep in peace every night.
This is my religion. ( from re-ligare, coming back to the oneness, not any more a dicotomy, schizofrenic thinking.......)
He is so young :) I wish I could have been there but I was -7yrs
he was in his 50s
I agree!!! I'm tired of people just thinking that a god just said it and so it is. We need more people like him!!!
Dayum, seeing this as a kid would be formative and life-changing.
Still good at other ages.
66 thumbs down = 66 science deniers.
Wish I would have found these sooner. I'm 62 at this writing and learned a lot from these 5 lectures.
Thank you Mr. Dawkins!
He explained it really well, perfect for kids, but I bet a lot of adults learned something new too.
Richard... do the Christmas lectures again! :) I was 9 when you did that one - it's high time you did another!
This man is invaluable. A living icon. But…that shirt….😂
My first time seeing a much younger Dawkins. Interesting.
A fantastic scientist tends to be a fantastic teacher
I have always thought that evolution is some wild random coincidences. But Richard clearly pointed out that there is another way nature had done it. Thank you so much !!!
I wasn't even born when this happened...
have you been born since?
Those feathers on the owl are not only smooth and silky but very thickly layered around the eyes. I had the pleasure of petting and holding one.
How could creationist hate this, its such a sweet lessons by Richard
I would almost be compelled to move to the UK just so my children are raised speaking English and they can watch these lectures as they grow up.
How delightful
Brilliant clarification on the principles of evolution.
who in in their right mind would propose creationism/theology in schools to explain the natural world when you have this??? This show should be translated to several languages and distributed throughout the world to children like Sesame Street!
Such a great man who has zero arrogance.
Beautiful. Beautiful.
Richard Dawkins - So likeable, so knowledgable
That eagle is amazing when it flaps it's wings and disturbs the papers... it looks into it's handlers eyes and at the desk. At 39:50
Brilliant video series!!! Good man, that Bryson!
It is so fascinating that he can explain that so easily, so clearly.
Has any creationist watched this before he/she starts speaking about the impossibility of the evolution ?!
so it seems that lens has do develop together with an eye so some transparent material has to cover half eye before you get to pin hole right? i think that thing wasn't told so clear or else naughtylus could get perfect eye too and not be stuck
31:33 "but we all see upside down"
I reckon some kids were scratching their heads at that
Lol
nice shirt
The beginning of the intro/outro music reminds me of the Incredibles theme.
richard was even hotter back then
superb!
Thanks for this playlist
if every school had teachers like this, we would all be better off