Through the Wormhole with Morgan Freeman

You will read the remainder of this post in Morgan Freeman’s voice.

We don’t get The Science Channel in Canada, and I don’t have cable anyway, so I’m going to have to download it via torrents until it comes out in DVD format. Freeman was interviewed on CNN recently about this new series, and he somehow managed to gain more of my respect than I thought was possible with his answers:

One of the CNN hosts, Kiran Chetry, began the interview stating, “You are a man of God”, with Freeman snickering while replying, “And when did I ever say that?” Chetry corrected herself and said, “you are a man of faith.” Again, Freeman came back with “If faith is what you believe, then yes,” then alluding to a belief in science.
[…]
Freeman warns that people who believe in a literal view of the bible, may not find appeal in the series.

That’s their loss, of course. Theists got him as God in Bruce Almighty, and we get him in this series. And I am stoked.

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Through the Wormhole with Morgan Freeman
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19 thoughts on “Through the Wormhole with Morgan Freeman

  1. 1

    Jason,
    Discovery Channel owns the Science Network, so I hope that even though there is no trace of information on the Canadian site, it will eventually make it North of 49. I also searched for it on google and came up with this even longer and cooler teaser. He’s got a table full of what?…that’s right. MOTHERFUCKING LASERS!!

    I am going to have a nerdgasm every 528 Nanoseconds while watching this and this guy can record the Exact nanosecond it happens!

    So.
    friggin’.
    awesome.

  2. 2

    The only thing I really hate about the trailers they’re using, at least one of them, is they ask the question “Is there a creator?” and behind it they use a soundbite of someone saying “that kind of thing really blows your mind”, like they’re going to find that there is a creator. Science Channel only plays it about 700 time an hour.

  3. 3

    Perhaps the fact that answering the question ‘Is there a Creator’ will ‘blow your mind’ explains why so many people who believe in one appear to suffer that particular affliction?

    Just Sayin’….

  4. 4

    I have to say, though, that Freeman was on The Daily Show with Jon Stewart on Wednesday night. He said that because science hasn’t come up with an answer, the answer for creation may be a deity or “god” as he says in the interview.

    I let out a huge deflated honk. My wife turned to me when he said it and knew I was upset.

    It is freaky to see him with his paralyzed arm and hand. It was like an elephant in the room during the interview.

  5. 5

    Well that’s disheartening. Though, in fairness, anyone that claims to be an agnostic atheist has to admit there’s a possibility — slender though it might be — that the universe was created by a deity. While that possibility has as high a probability as the invisible-pink-unicorn-in-my-garage hypothesis, it can be useful to throw theists that bone. It’s fairly obvious from the other statements made, that Freeman is a pantheist at absolute worst; though, if this quote is properly attributed, he’s an atheist.

    God is an imaginary friend, for adults

    I’d love to “claim” Freeman for “our side”, just because the man is immensely talented and justifiably popular. Whether he’s an atheist or not, though, that does not lend any credence to our arguments against theism, any more than John Travolta’s embrace of Scientology lends credence to their claims. I will not fall into the trap of arguments from authority.

  6. 6

    I agree with you. I said something similar to my wife when she asked. I would prefer to get away from “god” talk when referring to cosmology. It confuses the religious.

    I saw just now that PZ Myers posted about it too. He defended Freeman. Worth reading.

    Cheers.

  7. 7

    I don’t think there’s anything wrong with Freeman, I just agree that cosmologists need to stop using religiously charged terminology to refer to thinks that just aren’t religious. “Faith” and “creator” and all other words that will clearly be taken out of context by the desperate religious crowd need to go away, permanently.

  8. 10

    Big words from someone stuck on PacBell and who apparently got banned from Steam for cheating recently. Sorry n00bsalad, we’re not the ones visiting random forums and throwing out barely literate invective.

    By the by, the IP this came from is 71.131.133.102 . Dunno how long they’ll have it, but just in case someone wants to compare notes with recent spamming on their own forums, there you are.

  9. 14

    I believe without a doubt that there is a Creator – the Almighty God (and in His Son, Jesus – I am a Christian). He is the One who created the heaven’s, the skies, the ocean’s, the creatures that surround me, flowers, trees, volcano’s…I could go on and on, but everything I see in the world was made by Him. The Cosmos have everything to do with God…please watch this video:

    In this video, they show an eye, and a cross in the universe. It is really interesting.

    I don’t need science to tell me whether God exists or not…I have faith – and I will be praying for all of you out there who think this world just happened for no reason! God will show you someday! 🙂

  10. 15

    Wow Jason, I think that was the closest thing to being nice to a creationist I’ve seen from you in some time 😛

    One_way: While I applaud your zeal with which you are attempting to convert the godless amongst the world, I believe that your method is a bit lacking. Have you even read some of Jason’s earlier posts? Did you actually expect him to drop everything because of a youth minister’s devo on how big the universe is?

    In this video, they show an eye, and a cross in the universe. It is really interesting.

    Admittedly, i only made it about 1/2 way through the first video before i started to fast forward a bit, but if you are hoping to convert someone to Christianity because of patterns of stars in the sky, I think you are mistaking Christianity for Astrology, and You don’t have to look too far back in these posts to see how Jason feels about that…

    If you truly want to show someone the Way, meet them at their level. Don’t assume moral superiority because you have what you believe they need. Faith is a very personal thing, you can’t force it on someone. Remember Romans 10:17:

    So then faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the Word of God.

    The same Word of God that John chapter 1 tells us brought the world into being is what brings faith to mankind, and I believe that it is constantly reverberating around us. Jason mentions the universe was brought to being “through natural, observable processes that left evidence behind to prove those processes exist and that they continue to work in that manner today.” I would like to look further into the meaning of the greek word “Logos” and see if that isn’t exactly what Jason is talking about…

    Again, I applaud your zeal, however I don’t really appreciate your method. Please continue to pray that God reveals to all of us the Way and that we are in tuned to follow that direction in our lives.

  11. 16

    We understand all those things quite well now, both those that you’ve mentioned and those in the video you linked. We know how the planet and all its raiments (the oceans, the skies, volcanoes, plant life, animal life) came to form, and it wasn’t ex nihilo (e.g. from nothing, for “no reason”) by a creator deity. It was through natural, observable processes that left evidence behind to prove those processes exist and that they continue to work in that manner today.

    And if it WAS by a creator deity, then said deity deigned fit to provide evidence that points to natural causes instead of his ineffable hand. That means he planted evidence to trick us into believing it wasn’t him. Which indicates that he intended to deceive us. Which makes him not a good creature. Why should you worship someone so intent on tricking you? Isn’t that the role normally played by your devil, whom people SHOULDN’T worship?

    How you can go from “this universe is beautiful” to “therefore, the Abrahamic God is real and so is his son Jesus” is a leap of faith, indeed. You’re welcome to have that faith, but if you’re not willing to present any evidence — and especially if your supposedly all-powerful God is not willing to present any evidence — that your faith is based on reality, then don’t expect to convert me.

  12. 17

    I actually thought I was being rather dismissive. I just have this trigger about people trying to say “look at all this stuff, it’s so mysterious, therefore God”, especially when it’s not so mysterious to anyone willing to look at the evidence.

    As for the idea of logos, I appreciate that the universe in its following rules appears to have a design and order. I suspect these are emergent properties of the universe as opposed to designed ones. I have often said in the past, if there is a deity, he wrote the initial fractal-like equation and pressed start on the graphics calculator. Everything else — all the seemingly infinite and amazing stuff that came since — was not designed ex nihilo, but rather emerged from previous levels of abstraction.

    Yes, I’m an agnostic atheist in that I don’t discount such a deity. I’m an atheist in that I’m not going to worship any deity that has, well, not so much “proof of existence” as “a scintilla of a chance of existing given the right circumstances”.

    And while I, of course, appreciate your approaching him on his level as a fellow Christian, I still don’t get why we’re talking about Jesus and not Rama or Thor or the Great Green Arkleseizure.

  13. 18

    If a deity created life on Earth, that deity is essentially evil, or at the very least, cold and impassive. Why would one create life only to ignore and disregard it?

    We would not even be the equal of ‘Gods pets’ – most pet owners love and care about their pets. If a creator existed, my conclusion is that we are merely an experiment and viewed in the same way that a scientist regards a lab rat. There is certainly no love coming from the heavens!

  14. 19

    They dont use these terms, only Discovery use them in their shows, because these shows are to be broadcasted in US, the most christinianity fucked up country in the world. check out any BBC documentary, they are miles away from using these terms in their shows.

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