Adam Savage's Impassioned Speech on Reason

In this video from last Saturday, Adam Savage whips up a frenzy among his fellow secular science nerds at The Reason Rally. It's a fascinating talk, partly because Savage is a great speaker -- and partly because of how the audience reacts to what he says. At various points, Savage lists series of facts, and you can get a read on the crowd's opinion of those facts by their cheering (or lack thereof); I found these reactions surprising, as it's not often that you hear a crowd cheering about the age of the Earth, e=mc², the Moon landing, Neil DeGrasse Tyson quotations, and the reliability of airplane travel.

Sample quotes:

"Everything that we have that makes our lives possible exists because human beings have tested the things they found in their surroundings, made predictions based on those tests, and then improved upon them. This is reason, a human capacity to make sense of the world."

"I believe that inside every tool is a hammer."

Note: there are two fleeting expletives in this talk, including one very early on when Savage asks an audience member to cut out the "creepy comments about Kari."

(Via Stellar Interesting.)