Adam Savage at The Reason Rally

what a freaking crowd I love this thank you so much thank you guys so much for having me here and no creepy comments about carry anymore cut that out okay I have been racking my brain for the past few weeks trying to think of ways to talk about reason and being reasonable it turns out it's not a simple subject I am a very non-confrontational person I am most of the time the very definition of a reasonable man I don't like telling people things they don't want to hear I want people to get along I want people to like me I want to find good things in people I want to understand viewpoints that differ from mine I want my tombstone to say he was nice to work with I have children I want to raise them in a world they can add value to that has value to them I want for them to feel entitled only to working hard at doing what they love in order to be excellent at it and to share their lives and the rewards with those that they love of course I think this is all anyone wants for their children or themselves I try and inculcate them with a sense of logic about the world which means most of the time I'm pointing out two things pointing out things to them that are absurd and ridiculous as a counterpoint and right now there is plenty to point to I can Sol myself however with the thought that for anyone truly paying attention for at least the last 300 years the world has always been chock-full of absurd contradictions and has always seemed to be going downhill and fast I get this when I read Thomas Jefferson when I read Camus when I read Vonnegut I consoled myself with the remarkable advances in the sciences I play a scientist on TV I am in awe of those that do it for real [Applause] [Music] testable provable phenomena and the predictions they allow big and small brought me here in front of you today and they will take me back to my family when I am done they allowed me to drive to DC on a bus type my speech on a screen ride to this rally in a car walk on shoes that support my feet and wear clothes and a hat that protects my pale skin from the Sun to fly on a plane to fly on a plane home that plane I will get on exists and stays in the air because of a million million large and tiny tested predictions about lift drag material performance physics electricity radio waves wear tear shear checklists human error machine error and redundancy it is a miracle of Engineering it is the result of an ancient and very human drive a drive that makes us what we are in all of our unique specialization a drive to solve problems many tens of thousands of people combined their collective genius to make an impossibly fast an efficient thin inflated bubble of aluminum so stable and secure that you have to fly for several thousand years before the odds gave you an even chance of being in an accident everything that we have that makes our lives possible exists because human beings have tested the things they found in their surroundings made predictions based on those tests and then improved upon them this is reason a human capacity of the world [Applause] [Music] here are some other things that like the components of the airplane have been tested and proven I'm going to call them facts equals MC squared force equals mass times acceleration the earth is not the center of the universe man landed on the moon in 1969 and a few times thereafter burning airplane fuel caused a tragic catastrophic collapse of the twin towers in 2001 the earth is spherical not precisely round around it is officially slightly pear-shaped human industry is causing a significant rise in the Earth's overall temperature the earth is over 4 billion years old evolution is literally a fact of life as Neil deGrasse Tyson says facts are true whether or not you believe them now here are some of my beliefs that are true to me you cannot teach kids about sex by telling them not to have it I believe that making drugs illegal is stupid and damaging to us as a people I believe that if we take care of our surroundings they will take care of us I believe that inside every tool is a hammer I believe that people have an inalienable right to choose what to do with their own bodies I believe that in the community it is our duty that we should take care of each other in times of need I believe that if you tell people the truth and let them make decisions based on that much of the time they'll make pretty good decisions but not always I believe that that which is detestable to you you should not do to another I believe that while not all people are essentially good most are trying I believe that rules do not make us moral loving each other makes us moral and finally I have concluded through careful empirical analysis and much thought that somebody is looking out for me keeping track of what I think about things forgiving me when I do less than I ought giving me strength to shoot for more than I think I'm capable of I believe they know everything that I do and think and they still love me and I've concluded after careful consideration that this person keeping score is me [Applause]

Channel: undefined

Views: 240,680

Rating: 4.9169941 out of 5

Keywords: reason, rally, atheist, antitheist, dawkins, adam, savage, mythbusters

Id: O1nSuWztIrY

Length: 7min 42sec (462 seconds)

Published: Sun Mar 25 2012

Reddit Comments

[u/dodekahedron]

But adam savage is a fan of alternate facts.

My favorite adam savage quote is "I reject your reality and substitute my own"

[u/technocassandra]

He's a citizen who respects scientific methodology, even if MythBusters wasn't the best example of that. This is the type of person we are trying to appeal to--those who wish to know, and understand. I think he's a fine choice.

[u/aphilsphan]

Science communicators are important. Neil deGrasse Tyson is a run of the mill scientist, but one of the best communicators we've got. Alan Alda isn't a scientist, but he's a great friend of science.

[u/Brakonic]

It is important to have a keynote speaker who is not (too) anti-religious. It would certainly used as ammo by conservatives to mark this event as an attack on religion.

[u/myncknm]

This was suggested in another thread but: former GOP EPA administrators.

[u/HazeAbove]

Though not technically a scientist, "he plays a scientist on TV" and has been a strong advocate for science and how cool and important it is for a good decade now. It just so happens his Brain Candy tour is heading through the North East the second week of March, though I'm not sure what his schedule is like between shows.

[u/SamwiseGanjee]

Paging u/mistersavage

[u/shablamjr]

I think it's a good idea to have more than one speaker. Of course Bill Nye is a great choice, and Savage is good for pop science. I think another person who might be a good draw for pop science would be someone like Alton Brown.

Hear me out. He might not be a "real" scientist, but he seems like the type of person who likes to get information out there. He is generally well liked, and certainly has a talent for piquing the interest of many when it comes to science. I don't know if he would be interested, but I think it could be a good idea. He has a pretty big following as well, so he could probably help generate momentum in the very least.

[u/magdalena996]

Stephen Hawking though... All the brains and all the sass.