I think I saw this a few months ago. Is it the one where Dawkins is standing face to face "interviewing" Deepak outside?

I wouldn't say that Chopra "destroyed" Dawkins, but Dawkins seriously underestimated Chopra. Chopra takes his 'science' seriously, and I would have fully expected him to be capable of fending off an overconfident, unprepared Richard Dawkins. I read a bio-piece of Chopra, and he is a committed workaholic, burying himself in his studies and papers every day. You might even say he has spent his whole life preparing for this interview.

Before the iPhone, when the Blackberry was still boss, Chopra wrote an entire book on his Blackberry during airplane commutes. Not someone to mess with without deep preparation.

Dawkins actually had a big edge in the interview in that Chopra didn't expect him to be the interviewer. It was basically a surprise attack by Dawkins.

Sure thing - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wi2IC6e5DUY.

Yes I have. My overall impression was that Sam Harris really made Chopra look like he was talking a bunch of 'woowoo' as Harris calls it. Metaphysical, new age, pseudo scientific nonsense.

Thread title is misleading.

watched the whole thing... it was a fun watch.. Harris did pwn. I think Chopra does have some good points in theory but he communicates like a snake oil salesman.

Chopra's views can be condensed down to simple terms but he chooses to use lofty language which is unnecessary IMO.

It is fine to talk about consciousness but AFAIK it is still more or less a mystery scientifically speaking. In this point I agree with Harris (to paraphrase) "ok great lets look into consciousness because it is a mystery, lets apply the scientific method and do tests and see what we can learn. OTOH Making unsupported assertions about things that we don't understand doesn't help anyone..."

It comes off this way because he really is trying to sell snake oil.

You get that option on YouTube videos? Since I stopped using my iPod for podcasts and switched to Stitcher on Android, I've missed the faster playback I used to have (and that was just for audio podcasts iirc). Is there something I'm missing or could change, it saves a lot of time to playback faster than 1x?

Quantum snake oil is best snake oil.

I was using a different laptop when I complained about not getting the faster playback. I'm back on my mac and the option is available. All youtube videos I've come across have that option, so I think it depends on your system.

I highly recommend the option for those who like watching lectures and debates, the 1.5 speed is usually a perfect speed, where it will save you plenty of time, and you will not lose any comprehension. At 2x it is sometimes too quick, but some speakers speak slowly enough where it still works.

I listen to a lot of Joe Rogan podcasts, but I don't normally speed it up because I do it for enjoyment, and usually while I work out, so I'm not trying to get through it, but I've heard a lot of debates with the 1.5 or 2x speed, when you get used to it, you can't go back.

Daniel Dennett, for example.

So you can confirm it's a YT using Mac option, that's not available on PC? That sucks, I love that variable speed option. It seems odd to be OS dependent though - where does the option show up?

It's from youtube, not an additional add-on. Just click on the settings (gear shaped) option at the bottom right of the video. There will be a speed option between annotations and quality.

I tried on my desktop and there was no option, but the same video had the option on my macbook. So while the option is a YT option, it seems to be computer-dependent as well.

https://www.youtube.com/html5

I use Firefox which seems to be inconsistent, but you can specifically request the HTML5 player which includes variable playback speed (not available in all videos). So the difference is most likely the different browser you are using on the Mac vs PC.

Are there transcripts available? That would probably be the fastest option of them all.

Body language would be the only reason to watch a debate video imho, and that reason pretty much disappears if speeding up the playback.

Ah yes, the good ol proclaim victory, show no evidence of said victory. Just hope that proclaiming victory is enough to make your opponents give you the victory. They probably won't ask any questions...

As expected, this thread has changed my life. Nothing to do with Dawkins or Chopra, of course, but I had no idea you could increase the speed of YT videos (apparently I'm the only human alive who doesn't randomly click gear icons to see what they do).

I really like Richard Dawkins, but he just seems a bit incompetent.

A decent podcast app also allows you to speed up what you're listening to.

I use Stitcher on Android and there isn't any playback speed options (at least I don't think there is). Is there a recommended Android podcast app that has such an option? It's the main thing I miss about my old iPod Touch.

Also, may as well ask: what about YouTube playback on Android that would also include these playback speed options?

Trying out Podcast Addict, seems to have lots of features (only links to YouTube though so no variable playback speed). Sorry for derail.

Haven't watched it, but I don't have much respect for either Dawkins or Chopra. I will say I'm glad that apparently Chopra got the better of him, bc Dawkins strikes me as a pessimistic fool making misguided and unsupported assumptions, while Chopra is an optimistic fool still coming to bs, irrational conclusions, but at least doing so w/ positive vibes.

lol this is great

lol, this was the first thing that popped in my head when I saw the thread title.