You're listening to, atheistically speaking. I'm going to Hey, welcome to atheistically Speaking, episode 46 with your host Thomas Smith.

Okay, so last week, as you recall, we had Ryan Bourne,ne fantastic guest winner of the Sam Harris

Moral Landscape Challenge and we talked a lot

sort of not exactly covering everything that I had thought wanted to cover, but that's not because it was in any way a bad conversation.

I just I just want to say Ryan was absolutely brilliant and I still have a lot of questions and

thoughts about his arguments and I can't say I'm entirely convinced but I don't take that

as any sort of criticism of Ryan but it's more of a reflection of just how much there is to this.

So the stuff I bring up here, I don't mean to imply that Ryan wouldn't have an answer for it.

I'm sure he would have a lot of answers for these things but I don't have

him on this week and you know I'm not hopefully will he'll be back. We're already starting to try to

arrange another episode.

But for now, I'm going to bring up some stuff,

and I'm sure he has a great answer for it,

but these are the thoughts and questions I still have.

So Ryan, if you're listening,

feel free to answer any of my points either on the show when you come on or in your blog or in an email, whatever.

So yes, so for a quick outline of the arguments, I think this will really help us think about these issues more clearly.

So the fundamental question seems to be whether or not Sam is right when he says the only thing that matters for morality is the well-being of

conscious creatures. Now I want to make clear right now that he's not I mean

everyone assigns him to utilitarianism and to

consequentialism and maybe they're right but he doesn't frame it that way he

says the only thing that can matter is the well-being of these conscious creatures

...