Richard Dawkins
What are DL's thoughts on Dr. Richard Dawkins?
A biologist and atheist, he believes Darwin's theories of evolution provides the starting point for everything we need to know about our world; religion can provide no answers at all.
Born in Kenya, but moved to England when his father inherited the family estate in Oxfordshire. He began to develop his ideas as a student at Oxford and later published them in popular books such as The Selfish Gene, The Blind Watchmaker, and the God Delusion.
Happy to be seen as a bridge between academic science and the general public, he is not frightened of controversy and has frequently found himself in public dispute with leading theologians.
Offsite Linkby Anonymous | reply 56 | September 9, 2024 6:49 PM
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Dawkins debate over creationism
Offsite Linkby Anonymous | reply 2 | July 11, 2024 4:28 PM
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I did not care for him as the host of “Family Feud”.
by Anonymous | reply 5 | July 11, 2024 4:45 PM
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I agree with Dawkins that Jesus never actually existed, but was an amalgam of various gods of the period.
by Anonymous | reply 7 | July 11, 2024 5:02 PM
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His clarity of thought helped me a lot when I was deconverting from Catholicism around fifteen years ago, but the New Atheism movement has moved on and changed a lot since. We no longer need to hide behind leaders like him because we're equipped to deal with religious nonsense on our own now. You can see this effect on Reddit where the main atheism sub is kinda abandoned, as those ideas have spread so much and you can now find anti-religious sentiment as most upvoted on basically all main subreddits.
It's unfortunate that he got cancelled for questioning the recent trans developments in our society. I'll be sad when he dies and I know Muslims and Christian fundies alike will be celebrating in the streets when that happens.
by Anonymous | reply 8 | July 11, 2024 5:02 PM
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When I read The God Delusion, I couldn't believe how tame it was, given all the controversy.
by Anonymous | reply 9 | July 11, 2024 5:14 PM
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I thought he was the host of that colored game show Family Feud? And he was in that TV show about homosexuals at a German resort?
by Anonymous | reply 11 | July 11, 2024 6:05 PM
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As a biologist who studied molecular genetics, I would say that he is simply correct about evolution. "The Selfish Gene" was required reading. It had been published just a few years before I graduated.
Sorry to learn @ r8 that he's wading into the Trans gene pool. He's brilliant but apparently hasn't learned how to just mind his own fucking business, like some of his critics.
by Anonymous | reply 12 | July 11, 2024 6:27 PM
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He really didn't get cancelled and his comments on trans/sex issues are biological and scientific and can’t be disproven which pisses TRAs off.
by Anonymous | reply 13 | July 11, 2024 6:34 PM
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[quote]I agree with Dawkins that Jesus never actually existed
There’s enough historical documentation that Jesus was a real person. You don’t have to believe he was divine or performed the miracles attributed to him, but he was a real person.
by Anonymous | reply 14 | July 11, 2024 6:37 PM
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Sorry, but, no, r14. There is no hstorical documentation at all. The things they say were historical are not.
by Anonymous | reply 15 | July 11, 2024 8:57 PM
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I used to like and respect him but him changing lanes to pushing anti-trans crap has me disappointed
I'll chalk it up to brain worms
by Anonymous | reply 16 | July 12, 2024 12:52 AM
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He didn't change lanes. No Biologist would be taken in by the ridiculous trans movement.
by Anonymous | reply 17 | July 12, 2024 12:58 AM
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No shortage of locals (and that includes his peers at the college) think he's an egotistical, insufferable bag of shit. This is completely separate from what he believes or is known for. He also hates Americans with a passion and thinks they are the stupidest fuckers ever, and that includes you, no matter how much of a fan you are.
by Anonymous | reply 18 | July 12, 2024 1:12 AM
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And how do you know all this R18
by Anonymous | reply 19 | July 12, 2024 1:27 AM
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R17, quite the contrary. Perhaps not endorsing the political aspects, but modern biology is very clear about sex not being binary.
by Anonymous | reply 20 | July 12, 2024 1:42 AM
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No it is not the contrary. biology deals with sex and there are only two sexes.
by Anonymous | reply 21 | July 12, 2024 2:49 AM
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I loved him on Family Feud.
by Anonymous | reply 23 | July 12, 2024 3:25 AM
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[quote]biology deals with sex and there are only two sexes.
You couldn't be more wrong about that.
Offsite Linkby Anonymous | reply 25 | July 12, 2024 4:43 AM
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That is an opinion piece idiot. An opinion piece is not science.
by Anonymous | reply 26 | July 12, 2024 5:08 AM
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R16 he's not anti trans. He just correctly states that there are two sexes. No man can "become" a woman or vice versa.
Which we all know. You know this. All sane people know this.
And also like any sane person, he couldn't care less how anyone identifies. That's a personal choice we all get to make.
R25 did you actually read that article?
First, it's on op-ed.
Second, it's talks first about animal species such as worms and lizards and how they aren't limited to the same sex binary as humans. Which is very true. But that has nothing to do with human sex biology? Mammals and, specifically, primates are not worms nor lizards. Comparing them to each other sex is utterly ridiculous in this capacity.
The author does go on to say that human behaviors aren't necessarily predicted by whether a human is male or female. Men or women can be good caretakers. Men or women can like literature.
Which is about as far from a hot take as is possible. And, more importantly, proves absolutely nothing in terms of "debunking" the human sexual binary.
by Anonymous | reply 27 | July 12, 2024 5:30 AM
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Humans are a sexually dimorphic species. There are two body plans that have evolved to carry/deliver gametes of wildly differing size and function. Yes, there are rounding errors in the population that prove the rule, but saying that there are two sexes is like saying “humans have two arms” or “humans are bipedal”: obviously true statements that are not rendered less true because there are the occasional people born without limbs or born with some other disability.
by Anonymous | reply 28 | July 12, 2024 9:04 AM
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Richard Dawkins reading hate mail is wonderful.
Offsite Linkby Anonymous | reply 29 | July 12, 2024 10:33 AM
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R19 There are minimal degrees of separation between him and myself, I used to work with several UK individuals who were Managing Directors, etc., of companies.
by Anonymous | reply 30 | July 12, 2024 2:53 PM
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He seems so mellow and soft-spoken R30 I wouldn't have guessed.
by Anonymous | reply 31 | July 12, 2024 3:46 PM
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He's angry at trans because Mrs Garrison tricked him into fucking him.
by Anonymous | reply 32 | July 12, 2024 3:52 PM
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He has good musical taste; Tchaikovsky, Schubert, Paul Robeson, Bach
Offsite Linkby Anonymous | reply 33 | July 12, 2024 3:55 PM
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The inevitable Charlie Rose interview
Offsite Linkby Anonymous | reply 34 | July 12, 2024 3:55 PM
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I've never paid much attention to him, save experiencing a bit of passing frustration debating Christians online, who seemed to have the expectation that I should place Dawkins on some sort of pedestal and dote on his opinions, as though he was the equivalent of 'the pope' of atheism. Their own views were generally based on the pronouncements of religious leaders they regarded as authoritative, and they couldn't understand, seeing how they looked as atheism as just another religion, why/how I didn't have any figures analogous to theirs.
I really couldn't care less about him.
by Anonymous | reply 35 | July 12, 2024 5:32 PM
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I still want to fuck Dawkins. That being said, he’s insufferable. His anger towards gays for co-opting the term “gay” was bizarre. He was one step away from screaming WOKE!
by Anonymous | reply 36 | July 12, 2024 5:48 PM
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This long Guardian profile of Dawkins is not recent (about a decade old), but it drips with contempt. The author could not have made her dislike for him more obvious:
Offsite Linkby Anonymous | reply 37 | July 12, 2024 7:03 PM
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In the many world hypothesis wouldn’t a universe with an anthropomorphic God exists. Also I personally believe the universe only exists with sentient life to observe it so it will always seem much older than what it truly is. And no I’m not saying that the world and Earth is the age as presented in the Bible. What I’m saying is that time is relative and revolves around the experience of time. I believe Big Big and all up to the sentient animals—time was both infinity, a second, and a thousand years. But I also think the universe is individualistic and we are each in our own universe manifesting into each others.
by Anonymous | reply 38 | July 12, 2024 7:16 PM
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Even when Richard Dawkins received most of his media attention for yelling at Stephen Jay Gould, he was pompous.
by Anonymous | reply 39 | July 12, 2024 8:05 PM
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For his fans and foes on DL: he's doing a live Q&A session tomorrow (July 30).
Offsite Linkby Anonymous | reply 41 | July 29, 2024 8:33 PM
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Of course weirdo xtians hate him.
by Anonymous | reply 42 | July 29, 2024 9:08 PM
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Pompous and self-righteous.
by Anonymous | reply 43 | July 29, 2024 9:16 PM
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"Evolution explains homosexuality":
Offsite Linkby Anonymous | reply 46 | August 27, 2024 6:45 PM
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He blames rape victims for putting themselves in such situations.
He once wrote an oped trying to humiliate a fellow Athiest because she was harassed by another man in an elevator. He basically told her to grow up.
Funny how guys like Bill Maher and him who claim to be superior intellectuals are such sexist pigs when it comes to women.
by Anonymous | reply 47 | August 27, 2024 6:54 PM
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I admired him when he toured religious colleges in the South years ago. Brave. But hopeless cause.
by Anonymous | reply 48 | August 27, 2024 7:02 PM
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I thought he was in a wheelchair.
by Anonymous | reply 49 | August 27, 2024 7:25 PM
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[quote]I thought he was in a wheelchair
Not quite--he's about to embark on a speaking tour of the U.S. this September, October, and November. Very fit and healthy for his age.
Offsite Linkby Anonymous | reply 50 | August 27, 2024 7:28 PM
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He wrote an opinion piece on the trans topic, but left out some scientific points that didn’t serve his opinion.
by Anonymous | reply 51 | August 27, 2024 9:31 PM
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I was a fan for many years, but he's segued pretty hard into "Old Man Yells At Cloud" in the last ten or fifteen years.
The Selfish Gene is still a brilliant book, and the God Delusion is really one of the most gentle explainers of atheism apart from Julia Sweeney's Letting Go of God.
by Anonymous | reply 52 | August 27, 2024 9:54 PM
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So, we have mixed opinions on him.
by Anonymous | reply 54 | August 28, 2024 1:42 AM
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[quote]This long Guardian profile of Dawkins is not recent (about a decade old), but it drips with contempt. The author could not have made her dislike for him more obvious:
R37 That was a good read, and I like him even more after reading that. The author managed to humanise him even if she wasnt intending to.
by Anonymous | reply 55 | August 28, 2024 1:39 PM
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Two atheists (including Dawkins's friend Alex O'Connor) discuss "9 Questions Atheists CANNOT Answer." Long but interesting.
Offsite Linkby Anonymous | reply 56 | September 9, 2024 6:49 PM
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