Circular proof
Derren Brown
“Tricks of the Mind”
2007
Why do you believe in the Bible?
Because it’s God’s word
And why do you believe in God?
Because of what it says in the Bible
Extraordinary things requireextraordinary proofs
David Hume
“no testimony is sufficient to establish amiracle, unless the testimony be of such akind that its falsehood would be moremiraculous than the fact which it endeavoursto establish.”
In Derren Brown ‘Tricks of the Mind’
Dawkins ‘God Delusion’ (2006)
‘The God of the Old Testament is arguably themost unpleasant character in all fiction’
The Old Testament
Jealous and proud of it
Petty
Unjust
Unforgiving
Control freak
Vindictive
Blood thirsty
Ethnic cleanser
Megalomaniac
Malevolent bully
‘The Selfish Gene’ (1976)30th anniversary edition 2006Page 1
‘We no longer have to resort to superstitionwhen faced with the deep problem: Is theremeaning to life?’
‘The truth dawned on... Charles Darwin’
‘Philosophy and the subjects known as‘humanities’ are still taught almost as ifDarwin had never lived’
Page 12
‘Darwin’s ‘survival of the fittest’ is really aspecial case of a more general law survival ofthe stable. The universe is populated bystable things.’
Page 36
‘...at the gene level altruism must be bad andselfishness good... Genes are competingdirectly with their alleles for survival, sincetheir alleles in the gene pool are rivals fortheir slot on the chromosomes of futuregenerations.’
YOU SCRATCH MY BACK, I’LLRIDE YOURS
Page 166
‘If animals live together in groups their genesmust get more benefit out of the associationthan they put in’
Memes the new replicators
Page 193
‘The survival value of the god meme in thememe pool results from its greatpsychological appeal.’
Endnotes
‘There is such a thing as being just plain wrong,and that is what, before 1859 all answers tothose questions were’