I thought we should have a topic like this where people can suggest others anything which is beneficial, mostly in terms of learning more about science and atheism.
I'll begin.
1) "The Root of All Evil" - Richard Dawkins Documentary on Religion
If you are new to the thought of leaving religion or learning why religion is truly wrong, you need to see this.
2) "Creation" - Biographical Drama Movie on Charles Darwin
Undoubtedly the best movie on evolution. It shows what Darwin went through, the relationship rifts that were caused due to contrary beliefs, challenges of raising children when your spouse is a religious believer and much more!
3) "Spartacus" - Netflix series on the life of Spartacus and the rise of protests against the Roman empire
This is THE MOST AMAZING series I've ever seen in my entire life. I highly recommend it because if you don't know, Spartacus was an atheist who openly renounced all gods when his wife was kidnapped by a Roman commander.
4) "Vikings" - Netflix series about Ragnar Lothbrok
An interesting series to learn about gods of the old times, superstitions and among them, an atheist leader, Ragnar Lothbrok, whose strategic thinking wreaked havoc on his enemies.
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I'm still in the progress of finding great movies and series which have some sort of atheistic element in them. In the meantime, please feel free to share what you know, including a brief explanation of why you recommend it.
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"Lucifer" on Netflix. Best... Show... Ever...
@Seek
The wife and I already watch "Vikings". Well, actually, we already went through most of the seasons once, but never picked back up on it after the long delay before the next season. Now we have recently started over from season one to refresh our memories and pick up on stuff we missed the first time around. Great show.
The Theoretical Minimum.
Oo-oo-oo! The movie "Collateral". Tom Cruise is a hitman, and Jamie Fox is a cab driver who has the misfortune of picking up Cruise as a customer on the evening he is in town to ply his trade against five targets in the L.A. area. Directed by Michael Mann in his signature Miami Vice style, it is a fantastic movie that breaches some morality questions regarding killing. And some of the discussions between Fox and Cruise during the movie will make you stop and think, "Heeeeeeey..... Whoa... Never thought of it that way before." If you have never seen it, it does start off with the first few minutes or so seeming rather "slow". But when the action gets started, it is almost impossible to pull yourself away from it.
I bought the movie at a variety shop cheap bin, for $2 with 3D cover
Some might say Cruise was cast against type. Not me. I've always though that high wattage inappropriate smile was creepy . IMO bests thing he's ever done .
Have seen the Vikings full series, fantastic.. Bio on Charles Darwin; pretty good. Spartacus; no one knows what he actually believed. As far as I know, Spartacus was illiterate and there are no first hand records about him or his life .That mean sanything about him is hearsay.
Richard Dawkins; I have discovered that he is NOT top in his field, and is a weak philosopher. He should stick to his discipline. He's about on par with the angry and popular polemicist Christopher Hitchens .I read " God is not great:" In a sentence;: ";Ignorant and bigoted, with absurd claims about Islam"
@ Cranky
There are plenty of first hand military accounts and documents about the Spartacus campaigns from the Roman side...although personal information is deficient, his impact, existence and military prowess is unquestioned, attested as it is by his enemies (always the best evidence).
OF Course ,but nothing from his side. Surely claims about his beliefs are about as personal as it gets?
I didn't understand for many years why Crassus had 600 slaves crucified along the Via Apia . I just thought he was being an arsehole . From what I know of Crassus, he may well have been, but perhaps not about that .It was to send a powerful message to all slaves. Probably deemed necessary as there were I think more slaves in Rome than free people.
I understand the Romans were terrified of slave revolts. After all, the Spartacus revolt was the third Servile War ,the second being only 30 odd years before.
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OT Question: It is my understanding that if a slave killed his master, every slave in the household was killed. I also understand that the Spartacus revolt began when Spartacus killed his trainer/a free man. Did that mean the life of every slave in the ludus was then forfeit? That they were all doomed ,no matter what they did.?
I've often wondered just how accurate the TV series 'Spartacus'' and 'Rome' were in their depictions of Roman mores.
@ Carnky
Well you are cranky are you not?
Here's the papers that this "not the top of his field" has written...I warrant a good few more than you...never mind the 20 and more books...
1960s
Dawkins, R. (1968). "The ontogeny of a pecking preference in domestic chicks". Zeitschrift für Tierpsychologie. 25 (2): 170–186. doi:10.1111/j.1439-0310.1968.tb00011.x. PMID 5684149.
Dawkins, R. (1969). "Bees Are Easily Distracted". Science. 165 (3895): 751. Bibcode:1969Sci...165..751D. doi:10.1126/science.165.3895.751. PMID 17742255.
1970s
Dawkins, R. (1971). "Selective neurone death as a possible memory mechanism". Nature. 229 (5280): 118–119. Bibcode:1971Natur.229..118D. doi:10.1038/229118a0.
Dawkins, R. (1976). "Growing points in ethology". In Bateson, P.P.G.; Hinde, R.A. (eds.). Hierarchical organization: A candidate principle for ethology. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Dawkins, R.; Carlisle, T.R. (1976). "Parental investment, mate desertion and a fallacy". Nature. 262 (5564): 131–133. Bibcode:1976Natur.262..131D. doi:10.1038/262131a0.
Treisman, M.; Dawkins, R. (1976). "The "cost of meiosis": is there any?". Journal of Theoretical Biology. 63 (2): 479–484. doi:10.1016/0022-5193(76)90047-3. PMID 1011857.
Dawkins, R. (1976). "Universal Darwinism". In Bendall, D.S. (ed.). Evolution from Molecules to Men. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. pp. 403–425.
Dawkins R (1978). "Replicator selection and the extended phenotype". Zeitschrift für Tierpsychologie. 47 (1): 61–76. doi:10.1111/j.1439-0310.1978.tb01823.x. PMID 696023.
Dawkins, R.; Krebs, J.R. (1978). "Animal signals: information or manipulation". Behavioural Ecology: An Evolutionary Approach. Oxford: Blackwell Scientific Publications. pp. 282–309.
Dawkins, R. (1979). "Twelve Misunderstandings of Kin Selection". Zeitschrift für Tierpsychologie. 51: 184–200. doi:10.1111/j.1439-0310.1979.tb00682.x (inactive 2019-08-20).
Dawkins, R.; Krebs, J.R. (1979). "Arms races between and within species". Proc. R. Soc. Lond. B. 205 (1161): 489–511. Bibcode:1979RSPSB.205..489D. doi:10.1098/rspb.1979.0081. PMID 42057.
Brockmann, H.J.; Dawkins, R.; Grafen A. (1979). "Joint nesting in a digger wasp as an evolutionarily stable preadaptation to social life". Behaviour. 71 (3): 203–244. doi:10.1163/156853979X00179.
Dawkins, Richard; Brockmann, H.J.; Grafen, A. (1979). "Evolutionarily stable nesting strategy in a digger wasp". Journal of Theoretical Biology. 77 (4): 473–496. doi:10.1016/0022-5193(79)90021-3. PMID 491692.
1980s
Dawkins, R. (1980). "Good strategy or evolutionarily stable strategy". In Barlow, G.W.; Silverberg, J. (eds.). Sociobiology: Beyond Nature/Nurture?. Colorado: Westview Press. pp. 331–337. ISBN 978-0-89158-960-0.
Dawkins, Richard; Brockmann, H.J. (1980). "Do digger wasps commit the concorde fallacy?". Animal Behaviour. 28 (3): 892–896. doi:10.1016/S0003-3472(80)80149-7.
Dawkins, Richard (1981). "In defence of selfish genes". Philosophy. 56 (218): 556–573. doi:10.1017/S0031819100050580.
Dawkins, Richard (1982). "Replicators and vehicles". In King's College Sociobiology Group (ed.). Current Problems in Sociobiology. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. pp. 45–64. ISBN 978-0521285209.
Krebs, J.R.; Dawkins, R. (1984). "Animal signals: mind-reading and manipulation". In Krebs, J. R.; Davies, N.B. (eds.). Behavioural Ecology: An Evolutionary Approach. Oxford: Blackwell Scientific Publications. pp. 380–402. ISBN 978-0-632-02702-6.
1990s
Dawkins, R. (1990). "Parasites, desiderata lists and the paradox of the organism". Parasitology. 100: S63–73. doi:10.1017/s0031182000073029. PMID 2235064.
Dawkins, R. (June 1991). "Evolution on the Mind". Nature. 351 (6329): 686. Bibcode:1991Natur.351..686D. doi:10.1038/351686c0.
Hurst, L.D.; Dawkins, R. (May 1992). "Evolutionary Chemistry: Life in a Test Tube". Nature. 357 (6375): 198–199. Bibcode:1992Natur.357..198H. doi:10.1038/357198a0. PMID 1375346.
Dawkins, R. (1994). "Evolutionary biology. The eye in a twinkling". Nature. 368 (6473): 690–691. Bibcode:1994Natur.368..690D. doi:10.1038/368690a0. PMID 8152479.
Dawkins, R. (September 1995). "The Evolved Imagination". Natural History. 104 (9): 8.
Dawkins, R. (December 1994). "Burying The Vehicle". Behavioral and Brain Sciences. 17 (4): 616–617. doi:10.1017/S0140525X00036207. Archived from the original on July 15, 2008.
Dawkins, R.; Holliday, Robin (August 1997). "Religion and Science". BioEssays. 19 (8): 743. doi:10.1002/bies.950190817.
Dawkins, R. (1997). "The Pope's message on evolution: Obscurantism to the rescue". The Quarterly Review of Biology. 72 (4): 397–399. doi:10.1086/419951.
Dawkins, R. (1998). "Postmodernism Disrobed". Nature. 394 (6689): 141–143. Bibcode:1998Natur.394..141D. doi:10.1038/28089.
Dawkins, R. (1998). "Arresting evidence". The Sciences. 38 (6): 20–5. doi:10.1002/j.2326-1951.1998.tb03673.x. PMID 11657757.
2000s
Dawkins, R. (2000). "W. D. Hamilton memorial". Nature. 405 (6788): 733. doi:10.1038/35015793.
Dawkins, R. (2002). "Should doctors be Darwinian?". Transactions of the Medical Society of London. 119: 15–30. PMID 17184029.
Blakemore C, Dawkins R, Noble D, Yudkin M (2003). "Is a scientific boycott ever justified?". Nature. 421 (6921): 314. doi:10.1038/421314b. PMID 12540875.
Dawkins, R. (2003). "The evolution of evolvability". On Growth, Form and Computers. London: Academic Press.
Dawkins, R. (2004). "Viruses of the mind". In Warburton, N. (ed.). Philosophy: Basic Readings. New York: Routledge. ISBN 978-0-415-33798-4.
Dawkins, R. (June 2004). "Extended phenotype - But not too extended. A reply to Laland, Turner and Jablonka". Biology & Philosophy. 19 (3): 377–396. doi:10.1023/B:BIPH.0000036180.14904.96.
(Courtesy Biblios and Wikipedia)
Rethought post.
For a portrayal of the moral ambiguity of religion: The Sopranos
This series is a bit old, but I'm just now watching it for the first time, so it's all new to me. The Soprano family is involved in drugs, prostitution, gambling, theft, extortion, and murder, but they are all good Catholics, and the father is outraged when his teenage son says he doesn't believe in god and doesn't want to go through confirmation.
A young mobster sees a vision of hell while in a coma after being shot and becomes afraid of the consequences of his evil-doing. An older mobster patiently explains that what he saw was purgatory, and that the time you spend there is calculated by multiplying evil deeds by a specific number of days, which will pass very quickly in eternity. The don believes that mob members are soldiers, and that soldiers don't go to hell.
There is a also a side story about the local Catholic priest who's in love with the senior mobster's wife.
“The Family” on Netflix.
For books, I really enjoyed Ranulph Fiennes autobiography, an incredible man!
TV shows, Planet earth narrated by Attenborough is simply stunning, Peaky Blinders and Band of Brothers.
Online, I would highly recommend Conspiracy Catz on YouTube! He has such a funny and witty take on flat earthers.
Cool Hard Logic too, he is phenomenal and has broached many subjects from Geocentrism to Homeopathy... putting down all sorts of woo woo.
I'd highly recommend his series, 'world of bat shit', its brilliant!
I fully agree with CyberLN. "The Family" on Netflix. It's about the secretive merging of Church and State in the U.S.
@Jimmy Re; ""The Family" on Netflix. It's about the secretive merging of Church and State in the U.S."
Secretive my ass! They seem to be fairly open and blatant about from what I've seen so far.... LOL...
Tin-man, I have yet to see you not make a good point, and this is no exception! :)
Try the series ( it is dubbed from the Russian) "Better than Us" on Netflix....riveting....