James Tour Debate Update!

I am thrilled to finally announce that a live debate with James Tour will take place! Here are the details:

"Are We Clueless About the Origin of Life?"
Dave Farina vs. James Tour
7PM - Friday, May 19th, 2023
Keck Hall, Room 100, Rice University Campus
Houston, Texas

The event is open to the public and free to attend, so please come out and steal a seat from the Jesus fan club that James will try to stack the audience with. Bring a friend, and bring a question for either of us! I'll also hang out after the debate and will be happy to talk to anyone. See you there!

Check out "Is This Wi-Fi Organic?", my book on disarming pseudoscience!

[zethayn]

"I suggested the title "Are We Clueless About the Origin of Life?", he didn't like it, I reminded him that this is his mantra, he accepted."
Absolutely love this.

[adilsongoliveira]

Too bad this can't be a live stream. International fans such as myself (and any sane person, actually) would love to see this live.

[deeder]

Thanks! Hope it's enough to grab some tacos and cold beer while you're in Texas. Safe travels!

[airdogaron]

The debunks you do are so thorough man and I know how much time it takes to get all the info together! You're doing the world a service though bringing all of it together. Keep going and keep killing it! Wish I could be there in Texas for the debate.

[sairithvikrayani]

I remember following your tutorials for organic chemistry while preparing for JEE three years ago, and the only content of yours I had watched other than the tutorials was your first video about flat earth. It was a pleasant surprise when I rediscovered your channel and saw you had tutorials up for multivariable calculus and more advanced topics! I also binge-watched a lot of the debunks and while I can't claim to have understood the science entirely, they did provide a reason for me to study sincerely at a time when I was losing hope in myself.

Coming to the James Tour debate, I admit I couldn't understand much of the chemistry, but I knew you were on the right. Anyone with a pair of eyeballs and a working knowledge of English can see how James misrepresents papers(the tactic with Benner's paper was especially pathetic). And while I find it difficult to reconcile the "professor"(or the "chemistry Jesus", as one of my friends back then joked) image with the coarse-tongued persona, I understand it is well-deserved in most cases, if not all. 

The debate was very uncomfortable to watch. I wish you were less meaner(though of course, James shouted like a maniac right from the beginning), but looking at the sheer amount of trolls after the debate(both here and on Twitter), I understand the tone. I skipped to the QnA section and I loved the moment when James was going "You have a job AND a family, Wow" and you quickly showed the list of ad hominems and asked him if he'd retract any of them. I would love to see the scientific community's to that entire section("I publish several papers regarding my field, but I won't for OoL, I want my 'knowledge' to reach the general public"), or for that matter, the entire debate. I hope it will be possible to get their reaction. I also hope you don't let this circus affect your mental health, and you continue to make high-quality lectures/debunks. 

[mylittleelectron]

In relevant news, the James-Tour telescope is nearing it's final stage of deployment to search for the origin of life . Unlike it's predecessor James-Webb, the lens of the James-Tour telescope will be inserted deep into the sand of the Nevada desert to ensure no new and inconvenient scientific data will be discovered.

[VgGamerKnight]

Looking forward to the debate, I happen to be in Texas, so if my finals aren't too bad, I'll definitely attend. Keep exposing these blatant science deniers Dave!

[davidpalmer]

Imagine being a student at rice university and finding out Dave is coming to beat the shit out of James in your own backyard

[freddanfly]

Thanks for exposing anti-scientific and anti-reality claims!

[ArvinAsh]

This should be epic! Can't wait to see it.

[AmeliusDex]

This should be quite a spectacle. Assuming he doesn't cancel at the last minute of course. Wouldn't be the first time he's pulled a stunt like that.

[Kruppes_Mule]

I think people are confused about what this debate was. All Dave had to do was show that we have a body of work that shows we have plausible steps from A to B to C to D etc. Dave did that. Debate over. James response is "NO! LALALALALA!" There's a reason he doesn't refute this field of work in the same arena he does all his other work. If he want's to justify his claims he knows the venue to do so and it's not in a debate, on ID's website, or on youtube. Yet he deliberately avoids it. WHY?

[radan__s]

*The greatest crossover doesn’t exis-*

[Sawyer]

Houston Texas rice? Bro I'm like down the street!!!!

[quadrewplex]

Awesome!
Figured this would take ages considering he'd desperately waffle his way to thwarting your plans, but with the format you guys have, it seems like a slam dunk is on the way. Excited to watch this!

[foxmocs]

I know it’ll be a challenge but I hope Dave remains as professional as possible throughout the debate. It’ll make his points more digestible if he doesn’t name call

[BinaryHedgehog]

The whole thing about the papers reminds me of
“Objection”
“On what grounds?”
“Because it’s damning to my case!”

[jonathanpicket]

Thank you so much for the update. I have a lot of friends at Rice, BCM, UH, etc, and will be inviting them all to come watch with me!

[xmearionet]

Just finished watching the debate, that was chaotic, I wish Dave wasn't so aggresive, even tho I was rooting for the destruction of James it made me a bit uncomfortable while watching

[Kinetic-Energy]

Nice!
I'll be present to show my support!
Debate topic is solid!
Can't wait keep us posted!