Symphony of Science: A Wave of Reason

This is a new release by Symphony of Science, an awesome video with a stellar autotuned cast. If I actually believed in heroes, these people would be them.

Sadly, I merely respect them, but they knew, and those still alive know, more than I. I owe a nod to Little Kitten from Podblack Cat for pointing me in its direction last Monday.

Skeptics and Atheists together in the Rationalist community are both cursed and blessed to live in interesting times indeed, for in no other era perhaps save the first Enlightenment has the world seen such a resurgence of reason and science in our global culture.

There are more organized skeptical groups, and like-minded individual grass-roots activists in the world today than at any previous point in the last couple of centuries.

And the advocates of unreason are lashing out in fear, rage, and desperation. It will be fascinating in any case to see which side comes out intact when the dust clears. But enough of my babbling–Enjoy.

melodysheep | November 22, 2010

“A Wave of Reason” is the seventh installment in the Symphony of Science music video series. It is intended to promote scientific reasoning and skepticism in the face of growing amounts of pseudoscientific pursuits, such as Astrology and Homeopathy, and also to promote the scientific worldview as equally enlightening as religion. It features Carl Sagan, Bertrand Russell, Sam Harris, Michael Shermer, Lawrence Krauss, Carolyn Porco, Richard Dawkins, Richard Feynman, Phil Plait, and James Randi.

More science music videos can be found at http://symphonyofscience.com.

Enjoy!

~John
john @ symphonyofscience.com

Lyrics:
Russell:
When you are studying any matter
Or considering any philosophy
Ask yourself only: what are the facts,
And what is the truth that the facts bear out

Sagan:
Science is more than a body of knowledge
It’s a way of thinking
A way of skeptically interrogating the universe

If we are not able to ask skeptical questions
To be skeptical of those in authority
Then we’re up for grabs

Shermer:
In all of science we’re looking for a balance
between data and theory

Harris:
You don’t have to delude yourself
With Iron age fairy tales

Porco:
The same spiritual fulfillment
That people find in religion
Can be found in science
By coming to know, if you will, the mind of God

Krauss:
The real world, as it actually is,
Is not evil, it’s remarkable
And the way to understand the physical world
is to use science

Dawkins:
There is a new wave of reason
Sweeping across America, Britain, Europe, Australia
South America, the Middle East and Africa
There is a new wave of reason
Where superstition had a firm hold

Plait:
Teach a man to reason
And he’ll think for a lifetime

Sagan:
Cosmology brings us face to face with the deepest mysteries
With questions that were once treated only
in religion and myth

The desire to be connected with the cosmos
Reflects a profound reality
But we are connected; not in the trivial ways
That Astrology promises, but in the deepest ways

Feynman:
I can’t believe the special stories that have been made up
About our relationship to the universe at large
Look at what’s out there; it isn’t in proportion

Russell:
Never let yourself be diverted
By what you wish to believe
But look only and surely
At what are the facts

Randi:
Enjoy the fantasy, the fun, the stories
But make sure that there’s a clear sharp line
Drawn on the floor
To do otherwise is to embrace madness

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