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Topic: Dawkins interview in The Scientist (Read 561 times) |
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rhinoceros
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Dawkins interview in The Scientist
« on: 2004-06-19 18:30:22 » |
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First Person -- Richard Dawkins
http://www.the-scientist.com/yr2004/jun/upfront5_040621.html
<snip>
Q: Do you think your polemic voice helps sell your books?
A: I haven't thought of that ... . It's almost the same way that putting sex in makes a novel good reading. I haven't done it for that reason. I do it because I feel strongly about things ... especially about double standards, hypocrisy, failure to think clearly.
Q: Why do you spend so much time debunking religion?
A: I am very hostile to religion because it is enormously dominant, especially in American life. And I don't buy the argument that, well, it's harmless. I think it is harmful, partly because I care passionately about what's true.
Q: Another of your pet peeves is Post-Modernist scholarship, and you satirize a few writers from this school in your book, A Devil's Chaplain. Isn't your problem with these academics simply that they are poor writers?
A: I don't think they are poor [writers] at all. They are dominant alpha males in the academic jungle and, in some cases, are ruining the careers of honest scholars who would make an honest contribution.
Q: What do you consider your contribution to science?
A: I think I have changed the way that biologists think about natural selection, not by my own research, but by offering a sort of metaphoric vision, which does change the way research biologists think. I think in my more polemical writing, I may have helped people to see more clearly when they notice [that] they've been wrongly influenced by really bad influences like tradition and authority, as opposed to reasoning.
Q: Also in A Devil's Chaplain, you write a "prayer" for your daughter Juliet. What do you think her future will be like?
A: I think she will see huge revolutions in science. Physicists in her time may very well solve the ultimate problem- the grand unified theory of the universe - and, in that sense, fundamental physics will come to the end, though the details will need to be worked out. Perhaps there will be similar closure to the problem of human consciousness.
(Hmm...)
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LenKen
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Re: virus: Dawkins interview in The Scientist
« Reply #1 on: 2004-06-19 23:22:53 » |
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Why can’t we canonize Richard Dawkins as a saint? That man is my personal hero. And if it weren’t for him, we wouldn’t even have the meme meme—though we may have some kind of “culturgen” or some other awkward neologism that’s essentially the same thing as a meme . . . it just doesn’t quite roll off the tongue as easily (though I suppose there are worse things that could be rolling off one’s tongue). So what if Dawkins is still alive? What are we—the Catholic church? These rules didn’t just fall from the sky. Fallible humans made all this stuff up. So we can change these arbitrary rules to suit our purposes. That’s what memetic evolution’s all about.
rhinoceros <rhinoceros@freemail.gr> wrote:
First Person -- Richard Dawkins
http://www.the-scientist.com/yr2004/jun/upfront5_040621.html. . . .
It’s hard for an atheist
with a god complex
to believe in himself. —LenKen
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Matt Arnold
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The Electric Monk
     
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Re:Dawkins interview in The Scientist
« Reply #2 on: 2004-06-20 21:31:18 » |
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I agree with LenKen about Dawkins. For what it's worth, I would support breaking or removing the rule if it came to a vote. However, I do not intend to complain or be upset about this rule that the CoV has established, so interpret this in that light.
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He believed in a door. The door was the way to... to... The Door was The Way. Good. Capital letters were always the best way of dealing with things you didn't have a good answer to.
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Drakeo Vortex
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Re:Dawkins interview in The Scientist
« Reply #3 on: 2004-06-21 08:54:56 » |
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I vote him as a saint. Somebody start a real vote. Maybe we can think who else would qualify as well.
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David Lucifer
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Enlighten me.
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Re: virus: Dawkins interview in The Scientist
« Reply #4 on: 2004-06-21 09:59:15 » |
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I have the highest admiration for Dawkins too, his books were among the main
inspirations for the creation of this CoV. But I think there are some good
reasons to restrict sainthood to dead people. For example, 1) dead people
won't publically complain about being made into a Virian saint (which would
be embarrassing for everyone). 2) Dead people won't do or say anything
unbecoming a Virian saint after they've become a saint. 3) It is unlikely
that we will have to worry about procedure for revoking sainthood from a
dead person.
However, I'm willing to put this particular issue to a vote. Unfortunately
your vote will still be worthless, LenKen, until you join Meridion. ;-)
David
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LenKen
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Re: virus: Dawkins interview in The Scientist
« Reply #5 on: 2004-06-21 15:03:17 » |
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You certainly make some good points about why we should only canonize dead people. And though, generally, I think that’s the pragmatic thing to do, in the specific case of Dawkins, perhaps an exception can be made. I’m pretty sure he’d have a sense of humor about the whole thing (though we may want to try contacting him first, if at all possible—just in case).
And as to this—how you say?—Meridion, a certain quadruped seems to have taken my pretend antipathy toward the reputation system seriously, not realizing that I often use feigned belligerence as a humorous stance (well, I think it’s humorous anyway) . . . but, in his defense, facetiae isn’t nearly as easy to catch in writing as it is in face-to-face communication (unless, of course, the nonverbal communication gets transmitted through that writing: “wink, wink—nudge, nudge—know what I mean?—say no more”). I was, however, being serious when I said that I’m ambivalent about it—I really don’t have particularly strong feelings one way or the other. I’ve just always been hesitant to join the reputation system, since I only have two to three hours a day at most to browse the archives and whatnot (and sometimes a whole lot of whatnot), so I don’t feel that I’ve gotten to know all the members of the CoV well enough to judge their relative worth. (And I may be irrationally prejudiced
against some Virions for things that have nothing to do with the CoV; for example, I’m still a bit peeved at Prometheus for giving fire to you foolish mortals . . . and my vote would undoubtedly reflect that bias.)
Up until now, I haven’t had any compelling reason to join Meridion. But now, I may do so as early as tonight. Huzzah!
It’s hard for an atheist
with a god complex
to believe in himself. —LenKen
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rhinoceros
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My point is ...
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Re:Dawkins interview in The Scientist
« Reply #6 on: 2004-06-21 18:39:44 » |
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[LenKen]
<snip>
And as to this—how you say?—Meridion, a certain quadruped seems to have taken my pretend antipathy toward the reputation system seriously, not realizing that I often use feigned belligerence as a humorous stance (well, I think it’s humorous anyway) . . . but, in his defense, facetiae isn’t nearly as easy to catch in writing as it is in face-to-face communication (unless, of course, the nonverbal communication gets transmitted through that writing: “wink, wink—nudge, nudge—know what I mean?—say no more”).
<snip>
[rhinoceros]
As a speaker for the quadrupeds, I must say that they often conceal allegedly serious thoughts in hilarious packages too. As a result, they often fall into the habit of examining any hilarious packages inside-out for serious thoughts. This is not made any easier by the fact that it is hard to read their facial expressions until you get to know the species.
However, things are not as bad when it comes to universal constants: if facetiae is hard to catch, fecetiae is not (hard to catch). I'll take this opportunity to pass on a dialog which I had once with the knowledgeable Hermit:
<begin quote from IRC log>
* Hermit notices that when a rhino is agitated, it shits, while spinning its tail like a propellor, making it act as a fertilizer distribution device. i.e. the shit really hits the fan...
[rhino] it sound good for the vegetation
[Hermit] In addition, instead of their normally fairly solid output, it is instantly converted into a noxious smelling slurry.
[rhino] i guess that must have philosophical implicationsm besides the naturalistic ones
[Hermit] I'm not sure about the vegetation, but it means when trapping them in a boma, you want the "previously and currently disadvantaged" (to use PC terminology) to do the actual herding...
[rhino] herding?
[Hermit] When trapping rhino, you put up plastic sheets to guide them into a corral.
[Hermit] People do the herding
[Hermit] A corral for game made in this way is called a boma
<end quote from IRC log>
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LenKen
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Re: virus: Re:Dawkins interview in The Scientist
« Reply #7 on: 2004-06-21 23:39:53 » |
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[Rhino] Hermit notices that when a rhino is agitated, it shits, while spinning its tail like a propellor, making it act as a fertilizer distribution device. i.e. the shit really hits the fan. . . .
[Hermit] In addition, instead of their normally fairly solid output, it is instantly converted into a noxious smelling slurry. . . .
[LenKen] They need a device like that for cars—that would certainly discourage tailgaiters.
It’s hard for an atheist
with a god complex
to believe in himself. —LenKen
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rhinoceros
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My point is ...
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Re: virus: Re:Dawkins interview in The Scientist
« Reply #8 on: 2004-06-22 06:46:34 » |
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[LenKen] They need a device like that for cars that would certainly =
discourage tailgaiters.
[rhinoceros] See what I mean? There's nothing wrong if an enterprising =
mind finds such an important practical application.
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