If you don’t know about Mr. Deity, then where have you been? It’s a satirical video series that assumes that God is something of a clueless high-level executive, running into all sorts of issues while constructing the Universe. It’s been around a while, and a new episode just came out called "Mr. Deity and the Science Advisor". Mind you, it’s only a biological science advisor; Mr. D never talked to an astronomer before constructing the Universe. But the advisor looks like someone I know. I assume that must be coincidence. Or some sort of pareidolia.
The sushi line made me LOL; I’ve had sushi with this particular science advisor and he likes it. Before you accuse him of anything, I’ll note that I eat things containing atoms created in supernovae explosions. Does that make both of us science cannibals? Morals get fuzzy sometimes. I prefer physics.
P.S. If you don’t get the joke at the end, then maybe this piece of unintentional creationist hilarity may help.
October 12th, 2009 at 2:57 pm
Hilarious! I’m no fan of PZ, but kudos and well done. I *had* never heard of these before. Sacrilious. I’ll have to go watch more.
I also had to watch the link to the video [where *have* I been indeed]. Wow. Sometimes I wonder about people.
October 12th, 2009 at 3:02 pm
Woah! That’s PZ Myers, fellow Minnesotan and all around good guy!
I feel vicariously famous.
October 12th, 2009 at 3:06 pm
I got the banana joke! I got the banana joke! Yay me!
I had never heard of this series before. Now I need to find enough time to watch the all. Thanks a lot.
October 12th, 2009 at 3:16 pm
i had forgotten about Mr. Deity! i discovered it a few years ago and watched all the episodes available at that time. then i forgot to go back and watch new episodes! thanks for the reminder!
and yeah, i missed the banana joke. i kind of wish i hadn’t seen it. is that the same guy from the creationist museum as featured in Religulous? or are there just a few god-crazy Australian zealots making the rounds?
October 12th, 2009 at 3:22 pm
I had missed the banana video. That is… astounding….. And as someone commented, well then, what about the apple?
October 12th, 2009 at 3:33 pm
Reminds me of James P. Hogan’s story “Making Light” (from his book “Minds, Machines & Evolution). The General Operations Director of the Celestial Construction Company’s is nearly driven mad by the Environmental Protection Angel, and the heads of other departments when he tries to get approval for a new universe. The GOD gets his way in the end, but I won’t spoil it.
October 12th, 2009 at 3:40 pm
I LOVE the Comfort reference. Brilliant.
October 12th, 2009 at 3:42 pm
Mmm, banananas. *slurp*
October 12th, 2009 at 3:46 pm
Naked Bunny with a Whip:
Now that just conjures up so many mental images. But, let’s keep this at least to PG, thanks.
October 12th, 2009 at 3:54 pm
I’ve watched this like 5 times and I still can’t help but laugh. It’s brilliant! I love Mr. Deity.
October 12th, 2009 at 3:54 pm
Annoyingly Flash has stopped working for me the last coupla days. Guess it’s time to reboot.
But I just need to flog this off-topic HPV-vaccine graphic that Goldacre just linked to.
October 12th, 2009 at 4:03 pm
@Ken B: I have no idea what you’re implying. *slowly licks a popsicle* Mmmm!
October 12th, 2009 at 4:09 pm
Hey Phil, how come you never talk about football? There’s an idea for your blog!
October 12th, 2009 at 4:13 pm
“more like self absorbed”
lol
October 12th, 2009 at 5:02 pm
So Phil, do the Mr. Deity folks have a future episode planned with a Bad Astronomer, per chance?
October 12th, 2009 at 5:30 pm
Hehe, he said squid
Squids, by the way, do not have a blind spot.
October 12th, 2009 at 5:34 pm
Mr. Deity is great. I cracked up at the squid and banana jokes!
P.S. Sili – thanks for the link via Ben G. What a fantastic visual representation! It shows clearly just how far perspective can be distorted by the weakness of human reasoning…
October 12th, 2009 at 5:46 pm
Yay sexism. You go, PZ.
October 12th, 2009 at 6:09 pm
Yay smug ego stroking over imagined offense. You go, John.
October 12th, 2009 at 6:38 pm
haha Mr. Deity must be Canadian, he said P “Zed”. Ok fine I know he probably isn’t but us canucks love our zeds.
October 12th, 2009 at 6:58 pm
That was wonderful. I’m not big on PZ, but he was great. He reminds me of those people who are so polite and reserved in person but as soon as they get behind the wheel of a car (or keyboard) they morph into a foaming irrational Mr. Hyde. My favourite line was Homo sapiens—wise man. you know how you name a little dog Goliath?….Wonderful line! And “more like self-absorbed” another great line. I’m going to have to watch more of Mr. Deity now. Funny and I’d venture to say not offensive to most.
October 12th, 2009 at 7:34 pm
I loved the video. I then had to watch the banana video. Now I need to see the other Mr. Deity videos. OOPS, no school work done tonight! That banana video was another parody right? No one really thinks like that do they? Can anyone explain why we have broccoli?
October 12th, 2009 at 8:04 pm
Ray “Hold My Banana, Vigorously” Comfort is a real creationist. I don’t think he’s a Poe, though you might think it. He is responsible for the upcoming free distribution of Charles Darwin’s “Origin of Species” with forward notes trashing Darwin as a misogynist and racist and Darwin’s theory as the direct influence of Nazism.
Google “banana cultivation” for a glimpse of wild bananas. They definitely were not designed well for our teeth. What we know of as the banana is a result of constant human refinement. Just a little bit of searching would’ve prevented Comfort from looking like a less-than-intelligent baboon. (His explanation should be an instructive lesson on how one can rationalize one’s need to believe so badly.)
Who here doesn’t know that broccoli, cauliflower, Brussels sprouts, kale, and kohlrabi were the same species? Brassica oleracea, to be exact. “Artificial selection,” it’s called.
The sad part about Comfort is that people believe his delusions.
October 12th, 2009 at 8:24 pm
Andromeda @ 4
Ken Ham (the Creation ‘Museum’ twerp) is indeed Australian. (Well, from Queensland, anyway).
Ray Comfort (the banana numpty) is a Kiwi. ie. from New Zealand.
I think both of them shifted to the US because their native audiences were too small (and not as wealthy).
October 12th, 2009 at 8:51 pm
Poor Ray Comfort, being remembered by others for being the banana man. If you ask me, that is humiliating.
October 12th, 2009 at 9:44 pm
That was really well done. Reminds me of Bob and Ray (for you under 40, look them up).
October 12th, 2009 at 10:44 pm
24. Jeff
Please, PLEASE take them back. Or are you not from the DEEP south? Oh well, at least we have our bananas(thank you human botanists?geneticists? Hey, just who WERE the folks responsible for our modern banana, anyway? They should have songs sung to them.)
PZ does a good job as advisor to the Kink, er, I mean King. Great algorithm.
Gary 7
October 12th, 2009 at 10:59 pm
@Andy Robson: Haha, I was thinking of the same story!
October 12th, 2009 at 11:31 pm
26. Doug Watts Says:
That was really well done. Reminds me of Bob and Ray (for you under 40, look them up).
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Ray
bit
was
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Slow
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J
/
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?
October 13th, 2009 at 4:31 am
This blog has turned into an anticreationism crusade. I liked it better when it was more about astronomy and physics
October 13th, 2009 at 5:10 am
#30: How can a blog about astronomy, and science in general, NOT crusade against creationism???
October 13th, 2009 at 5:26 am
I didn’t say Phil shouldn’t “attack” creationists. Just that lately, he’s doing more of that than reporting on astronomy and physics. Anyway, that’s my humble opinion and since I understand that what he’s doing is important, I’ll stop here
October 13th, 2009 at 5:58 am
So does God really look like Richard C Hoagland, or is that yet more pareidolia on my part?
October 13th, 2009 at 6:39 am
As Phil would say, “Its his blog, he can put on it want he wants.”
October 13th, 2009 at 7:04 am
Um, nobody (#32), given that the name if this blog is in fact “Bad Astronomy” what do you expect?
October 13th, 2009 at 7:33 am
Thing is, creationists have been full-on attacking for some time. They’re pushing willful ignorance and trying to undermine science education in public schools.
We have to fight back. Okay, maybe Phil’s preaching to the choir here. I’d like to see the fight taken to the local level. For years, religious fanatics have had a successful program of getting members onto city councils and school boards.
October 13th, 2009 at 7:33 am
I’ve been watching all the Mr. Deity videos now. Amazing, really, how good they are. I’ve seen the same concept before, but not performed so well.
October 13th, 2009 at 7:39 am
Two fun facts I like to point out to friends that creationism doesn’t work is that humans can’t produce Vitamin C (Human’s get scurvy, but when was the last time you had to give your dog an orange? Most other animals make their own vitamin C internally) and humans can only see in three colors (Birds can see in 4 primary colors into the UV). So if we’re supposed to be so wonderful why do we get a totally preventable disease and why can’t we enjoy more of the spectrum of creation.
October 13th, 2009 at 8:13 am
38 Chris:
,,,and don’t forget that exceptional engineering that results in flat feet, lower back pain, rectal prolapse, hernia, etc, etc, etc,,,it just goes on ad nasueam. I rather expect if any corporation released a new car with so many defects, the entire company would be recalled. God reminds me of General Motors,,,he/she/it needs us to bail him/her/it out. Unfortunately, I just did that for GM so I’m fresh out of money.
Gary 7
October 13th, 2009 at 9:32 am
Like I have said the creationists are a minorty in the christan comunity most are like me beleve in evelotion but of couse I do beleve that that universe was created by God but I don’t literly interpet the bible AND I DON’T THINK THE UNIVERSE WAS CREATED IN 6 DAYS Phill I think God made the universe a big puzzel so that astronomers will just have keep solving it .It may be some time before we find the salution
October 13th, 2009 at 9:36 am
Chris Says:
Oh it’s worse than that: Mantis Shrimp can see up to 12 different colours, and can have 16 different photoreceptors. In comparison, we see in 3 colours via 5 photoreceptors (that’s 3 cone types, 1 rod, and 1 photoreceptive ganglion, in case anyone asks)
October 13th, 2009 at 9:48 am
I can’t tell what the phrase is the advisor is trying to get Mr. Diety to say at the very beginning. Can someone post it here? Much obliged…
Keep up the stellar work, Phil!
October 13th, 2009 at 10:22 am
[...] More Deity fun October 13, 2009 — Richard Mr. Deity gets squishy [...]
October 13th, 2009 at 10:28 am
@42 Chris:
“ontogeny recapitulates phylogeny”… http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Recapitulation_theory
October 13th, 2009 at 10:46 am
Chris @ 42
The phrase is “ontology recapitulates phylogeny”. IIRC it is an outdated biology idea that states that embryonic stages of an organism’s growth represent a “replay” its evolutionary past.
October 13th, 2009 at 10:52 am
Thanks 44 & 45!! Learning rules.
October 13th, 2009 at 11:06 am
How about a little memetic engineering, folks? I propose that we adopt the phrase “Comfort’s Banana”, to describe any anti-science strawman argument which is so daft as to be unintentionally hilarious.
October 13th, 2009 at 12:23 pm
Proof that God has a sense of humor. BRILLIANT!
October 13th, 2009 at 12:48 pm
You mean that that banana-thing was meant to be taken seriously!? I honestly thought that was comedy, just like that I honestly thought this was comedy: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FZFG5PKw504&NR=1
But seeing a few of the comments… ow, my $deity.
October 13th, 2009 at 4:23 pm
49. Merijn Vogel Says: “You mean that that banana-thing was meant to be taken seriously!? I honestly thought that was comedy, just like that I honestly thought this was comedy”
Don’t feel bad. The first time I clicked a link to Richard Hoagland’s site, I thought it was a brilliant parody of alien woo believers. I posted such on the list I was reading and had to be gently informed that it was serious. I thought I was being put on by the person correcting me, but after a little investigation I found that it was true and Hoagland actually believes that stuff. I can tell you my belief in humanity got moved down a few notches!
If you like the banana video, do a google search on creationists and peanut butter.
- Jack
October 13th, 2009 at 4:54 pm
@Chris,
Technically, humans have 3 different cone cells, each with a particular EM wavelength (within visible light of course) that they’re sensitive to. The sensitivity is like a bell curve, with the greatest sensitivity to a particular wavelength, and the interference between curves of the three separate cone cells is what give us color perception. Birds and reptiles not only have four cone cells that are sensitive to different wavelengths, but birds in particular have small oil deposits between their cone cells that further enhances their color vision (I guess by further preventing the scattering of light, much like the oil used in microscopy to enhance certain details and highlight contrasts). One of the three cone cells present in humans (great apes in general) is actually an evolutionary derived cell from another cone. Basically, we were dichromats before a certain mutation in one of the cone cells resulted in a slightly altered wavelength sensitivity that proved useful in our ancestors. This development is relatively recent (in terms of evolutionary history), probably within the last 20 million years. There are certain New World Monkeys who have also even more recently developed trichromatic vision, but the mode of perception is muddled due to differences within sex and heredity.
October 13th, 2009 at 8:00 pm
@nobody (#30)
Phil has to go after creationists. They have crossed into his specialty in their attempt to discredit evolution quite frequently.
The argument: to paraphrase “Evolutionists believe that the universe came out of nothing. How do you get something out of nothing? Scientists tell us that you can’t get something out of nothing, but they want us to believe in the Big Bang.” (Look up Kent Hovind for his exact phrasing.)
Not to mention when the Young Earth Creationists insist that the stars only look old and are really only 6 thousand to 10 thousand years old.
Make no mistake, the creationists frequently mix in cosmology and physics to attack evolution. Phil has the right to show them how wrong they are.
October 13th, 2009 at 9:33 pm
“Ray Comfort (the banana numpty) is a Kiwi. ie. from New Zealand.”
Oh noes. I just LOLSob’d. On behalf of all intelligent, critical thinking Kiwis, I apologize.
I spent all day yesterday catching up with the greatness that is Mr Deity. I’m spreading the love to my work mates too.
Did anyone else find the banana video/fits into the hand/curves into the face a bit…phallic? Yeah. They’d be a bit stuffed if they tried to eat the banana if they had it turned AWAY from the face…
October 13th, 2009 at 10:07 pm
I recently read that banana stems (the so-called ‘handle’) are technically the bottom of the banana, not the top; the banana grows upward from that stem, not downward. I also read that monkeys, chimps and other wild primates peel a banana from the opposite end of the stem (the ‘bottom’)… the result of doing it that way is that one doesn’t end up with those banana ’strings’ that are so annoying; they stay with the peel.
I’ve not yet been able to test this out for myself, but you can bet I will ASAP. If it’s true, what’s that say about monkeys? Besides “they’re smarter than humans” I mean.
October 13th, 2009 at 10:39 pm
I recently noticed that Australian bananas, while looking just like God’s own US of Aian bananas, are subtly and disturbingly different. In American bananas, you know that little brown bit in center of the end away from the stem, that runs up the middle 1/4 to 1/2 an inch? In Aussie bananas, that bit is hard and pointy, like a thorn! I never eat that part in either kind of banana, but if I accidentally forgot and ate it, it would be harmless and probably unnoticeable in an American banana, but an Australian banana could break a tooth or pierce a gum or do horrible damage to the digestive tract. What do you say to that, Ray “Comfort”? Arrrgggghhhhh!
October 14th, 2009 at 7:14 am
I love when wing nuts like Cameron and Other Guy (yes, that’s his moniker. He wasn’t on Growing Pains so he doesn’t get full billing as does The Kirk) give us little gems like the banana, out of which we can wrest so much comedy.
It reminds me of when SNL, right after Clinton was elected, thanked the Republican Party for all the material.
Great stuff?
Praise Mr. D!
October 15th, 2009 at 9:54 am
Thanks for clarifying the banana joke! I thought that was what they were getting at (I hadn’t seen the video but have heard a creo make this claim before).