Atheist Debates - Constellations aren't real

While some Christians have cited the constellations as obvious evidence for a god, they fail to see the real complexity of the celestial sphere and the amazing capacity of our brains to find patterns and to inject those patterns with significance that simply does not exist.

[chrisgraham]

Thanks Matt for so clearly explaining what every child in kindergarten should already know. It is so sad that you had to explain it.

[gspendlove]

Amazing that this has to be explained to grownups in the 21st century.

[Raz.C]

I discovered the Boob-Constellation when I was on a cruise going down the river Nile, as a teenager. Later, after my family had come back home to Australia, I was surprised to discover that in the skies above the southern hemisphere, we had entirely different stars than those I saw earlier in the skies above Egypt!! Yet nevertheless, I was able to discover a precise doppelganger of the Boob-Constellation!!! Later, I was able to discover several exact replicas of the Boob-Constellation that existed simultaneously in the night sky!

In fact, no matter where I looked in the night sky (as a teenager) I seemed to find new Boob-Constellations. Some were copies of previous Celestial Boobs, others were entirely new Heavenly Hooters! I think that this said more about ME, as a teenager, than it did about anything to do with the stars...

[Burtimus]

And yet, in 2005, biochemist and famed intelligent design advocate Michael Behe was forced under oath to admit that under his theistic view of science, astrology would legitimately qualify as a real scientific field.

Classic.

[henrikrolfsen]

Thank you, Matt Dillahunty, for your civic courage, and for all the tedious work you have done, on behalf of the noble pursuit of TRUTH. Proof, once again, that human beings are decent by nature, and do not require a "Santa Clause in the Sky" to make us want to behave!

[gerardtrigo]

I have trouble wrapping my head around the concept of using something so obviously man and culture derived as an argument for a God.

[blueredingreen]

FYI, seeing patterns in random images and shapes is called "pareidolia".

Some stars in the same constellation are also very far from one another (even considering the already large scale of distances between stars). 2 stars can appear right next to another in the sky, yet one may be much, much further away from Earth than the other. So 2 stars that are far apart in the sky may actually be much closer in reality than 2 stars of the same constellation, making our groupings of constellations even more arbitrary.

[KeizeShow]

They don’t even realize that the dots are light years apart

[sugarfrosted]

Why would God make constellations that celebrate a pagan zodiac? Lmao

[djfrank]

I remember watching that video Matt is referring to, and commenting on the silliness of believing constellations are proof of god. Of course, in typing my comment I didn't go into nearly the detail of Matt here. 🙂

[SerbanTeodorescu]

Mentioning the different distance from Earth to the stars that make up constellations would be another good point.

[a.nhonig]

Hi Matt. Thank you for these brief explanations of common sense. Not sure if this is something new, but really appreciate your efforts! Theses things are just plain silly.
Please don’t stop.

[PsychoRenegade]

Even as a kid, I always thought the images imagined from the stars were far too generous with the actual position and shape of the stars.

[PeterGregoryKelly]

My favourite constellation is the Pleiades, called the 7 sisters. Most cultures have singled out this particular group of young stars as sisters or brothers or group of people. They are the stars left over from a nebula after the dust and gas has dispersed. About 400 lightyears away and 100 million years old. Unlike most constellations the member stars are actually related and close where in most other constellations the stars may look close without the benefit of perspective but be very distant from each other. The Japanese call the group "Subaru" and the emblem on the car of the same name are the 6 main stars in the constellation.

[boldandthebeautifulgimbal]

You are well knowledged, with highly evolved reasoning abilities. I highly enjoy your content and learn along the journey. Thank you for all
the effort that’s gone into your channels content.

P.s I’m not an Atheist as I feel there’s something strange to this world. But I have no idea what that might be, but despise people who claim that they do
E.g. indoctrinated religious people.

Heck I almost wish I was the Antichrist just to annoy the shit out of them, because I’m polite and actually care about the future of humanity, and people well being.

[mischarowe]

4:54 Let me rename the constellations based on what I see:

Aries: bent stick
Taurus: the letter K
Gemini: balless phallus
Cancer: stick figure torso and legs
Leo: bent clothes hanger
Libra: alien antennae
Virgo: roof and walls of incomplete child's drawing of a house
Scorpius: flower skeleton
Sagittarius: stick figure without a head
Capricornus: cartoony wide smile
Aquarius: guitar with broken neck
Pisces: small balloon with long string

[maxxam]

If you've watched the Simpsons episode "Bart's Comet", or read the award winning manga Yotsuba&, you've seen two great jokes about how constellations do not exist, and don't even look like their names.

[michaelsommers]

I remember as a kid seeing an image of what the big dipper would look like in 100, 000 years, and being quite upset. I was young enough that I did not appreciate how long 100, 000 years was, and expected the dipper to change any day now.

[KillerTofuDrums]

If constellations were intentional creations, you'd think they might look a little more intentional.

[SpaceLordof]

The fault, dear Brutus, lies not in the stars, but in us, that we are dumb as hell.
-Shakespeare