Critique Paper on "Sam Harris: Science Can Answer Moral Questions"

The video is mainly about the relationship between science and human values. I admire the way Sam Harris started his talk, with examples of puzzling questions regarding science, values and life itself. It is said that science can get what we value but never tell us what we ought to value because science and values belong to different spheres, which is true.

Facts are hard to contradict because it is already proven whilst values doesn't really have any proof, mainly because it doesn't need to be proven. Morality should not really be questioned hence, doing either the right or the wrong thing.

I observed that Sam harris used different techniques during his talk. He used the slideshow, for example. The slideshow on the big screen behind Sam Haris shows us bits and pieces of photos of people, things, structures and animals that he used as metaphors. Just like the many stone hills or peaks photo that he used to explain rape, the moral landscape and the psychological balance in human culture.

But there's this one question that he brought up in the middle of his talk that really struck me. He questioned why people - specifically the people of the church - focus on gay marriage rather than on poverty or any huge consequential issue. He made me question my religion. Well, not really my religion but what my religion does, or what my religion could and should do. It dawned on me that science is just being practical. Values? Morality? Being good and nice? Those are just pleasures that sometimes isn't really pleasure at all, sometimes just for show. It's like when you're in a sinking ship and the moral thing to do is to give the last lifejacket to another person, preferably someone whose younger than you but then that's when science kicks you in your behind and tells you that you need to be practical in life in order to survive. But that's just my brain working on thoughts, ideas, scenes that hopefully wouldn't happen to me, that's just my opinion.

By the end of his talk, I have to say that I learn a lot from him because I really did. He is very informative. The way he delivered his talk, the way he arranged the slideshow, the way he explained, the way his questions puzzle me, is very rad. Sam Harris is a great speaker, whit his ways and all, you'd really learn from him.