History Channel Albert Einstein (complete) - YouTube

History Channel Albert Einstein (complete) - YouTube

The full History Channel documentary on Einstein. What is Einstein's General Theory of Relativity? How did he prove it experimentally? Watch.

Interesting to me to consider how times have changed. In the 19-teens and early twenties, Einstein's theories upended Newtonian physics which had been accepted for over 200 years. Almost overnight, Einstein was catapulted into the stratosphere of celebrity. He was exhalted the world over. Science was exhalted and revered. When he sailed across the Atlantic, 15,000 people gathered in lower Manhattan to welcome Einstein to America on his tour. He crossed America by train. Imagine: A scientist. On tour! The masses were curious about Einstein's discoveries and their implications, and about science generally.

Contrast that with today. Last weekend, results from polls in Alabama and Mississippi in advance of Tuesday's GOP primaries showed that 73% and 76% of voters in those states flat out do not believe in or are not sure about the veracity of evolution. (http://slate.me/y0zE0H). Republicans like Santorum, Bachmann, Perry, Inhofe, Gingrich, Palin, and the rest of them, call climate science a hoax. Science that is recognized and accepted by more than 27 international science bodies, the National Academy of Sciences of the United States and 18 other countries, and nearly 100% of scientists who conduct primary climate-related research. (http://bit.ly/ffhAdL). In the 150+ years since Darwin first described his theory of evolution by natural selection, thousands of peer-reviewed research papers on evolution have been published. Not a single one -- none! -- has produced evidence to prove that theory false.

What the hell happened?

Jonathan Haidt: Religion, evolution, and the ecstasy of self-transcendence | Video on TED.com

Jonathan Haidt: Religion, evolution, and the ecstasy of self-transcendence | Video on TED.com

Excellent TED lecture by UVA professor Jonathan Haidt explaining how evolution by group selection in humans leads to religion and the ecstacy of self-transcendence.