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An in-depth and surprisingly personal interview of Richard Dawkins by Riz Khan. Professor Dawkins talks about his upbringing, his books, his work promoting scientific thinking. In addition, he also discusses personal subjects like his childhood, his relationship with his parents, daughter and wife, and answers questions such as what he hopes his legacy will be.
Dear researcher,
The comment made by Mr. Dawkins was to infect people with his enthusiasm for the truth, and not to infect people with his ideas. It is borne from the common English phrase “infectious enthusiasm”. Please stand corrected.
Also, please stand corrected about Mr. Dawkins claiming “his truth”. Nowhere in the interview is such a thing even hinted. This is not a man who thinks he knows thee (sic) truth, rather this is a man who unflinchingly stands by available, verifiable evidence. This is hardly a difficult concept to grasp and I’m repeatedly bemused by people who constantly get it wrong.
Your third major gaffe is regarding the animals as machines bit. It’s apparent from your writing that English is not your primary language, so I suppose leniency can be shown in your literal interpretation of that phrase.
Firstly it’s not his phrase, it was introduced to him by Nicolas Tinbergen who he studied under (clearly stated in the interview above).
Secondly, Mr. Tinbergen viewed animals as ‘machinery’ in the sense that he was fascinated to know how exactly they functioned. If you’re thinking that they believe animals to be industrial tools, then you’re on the wrong track.
There’s a fourth indication that the entire context of the interview of completely evaded you. Mr. Dawkins does not want spirituality to be his idea of the world. He does not even say anything remotely to that effect.
His concept of ‘spirituality’ is the utmost awe that we as human beings experience when confronted by the sheer enormity of the universe and the seemingly infinite complexity of life. His ‘spirituality’ is pretty much on par with Einstein’s ‘religiosity’.
If you have any further questions regarding the interview, I’d be happy to clarify them for you.
Cheers.
posted on January 17, 2010You don't have permission to flag this entry.
Eikonoklastes, I admire your patience and equanimity in educating researcher.
posted on January 17, 2010You don't have permission to flag this entry.
the book god’s undertaker is an interesting response to dawkins book the god delusion.
a must read for any materialist that is interested in reading both sides of the debate.
of course I have yet to meet a religious person or a materialist that has that interest.
maybe someday. One can hope.
posted on February 4, 2010You don't have permission to flag this entry.
Are you sure you haven’t met anyone like that? Perhaps they’ve just completely evaded your comprehension, much like the interview above?
posted on February 7, 2010You don't have permission to flag this entry.
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I found the comment about animals as machines interesting.
also the comment to infect others with his ideas.
sounds like a form of religion to me. evangel?
vietnam war protester. well we have something in common.
as the nam war was another one of america’s wars for profits for the few. ie iraq and afghan also.
teach children to do critical thinking.
like the darwin theory taught as fact in schools.
naw this a man that thinks he knows thee truth and if we teach others critical thinking they will see his truths.
this is common with most humans. our truth is thee truth. our religion is thee religion, our atheism is truth, only atheists are critical thinkers, etc.
one must stand between atheism and religion and become an observer. both religion and atheism is deep into paradigm paralysis.
the human ego is so powerful it is not about to let children decide what to think.
I do agree that to teach children many of these religious dogma has profound outcomes in the mental stability of a world.
this is a man that has not done his research into what he calls the super natural.
and wants spiritually to be his idea of the world. like animals as machines????????
the animals as machines takes the cake.
best to keep working on the hard problem.
posted on January 16, 2010report this as inappropriate
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