Summary of Dawkins’ Visit
March 20, 2008
On March 19, 2008 Richard Dawkins, the famous evolutionary biologist and popularizer of science, gave a public lecture at the University of Texas in Austin. In it he reiterated some main points of his books and answered audience's questions. Many questions mirrored the ongoing debate within the freethought community. Is it better to adopt an in-your-face or conciliatory tone with general public? Should atheists be worried about being perceived as too negative? Dawkins doesn't think that promoting atheism is promoting negativity. Living in the 21st century we have an unprecedented opportunity "to form a proper, straight-eyed vision of the universe where we live," he said. "We are product of evolution that somehow managed to produce objects of prodigious complexity, like our eyes, or brains. It's all but a miracle that it managed to produce us. It's a supreme position to be in." In his opinion spreading a rationalist worldview means spreading a sense of wonder about the world. He identifies himself as "not so much as a enemy of religion as a friend of truth".
It's not wrong to take a tolerant stance towards religion (e.g. to see no contradiction between believing both in God and in evolution), says Dawkins, but he prefers more confrontational tactics. Some nominally religious people have some skepticism towards religion. Perhaps a more satirical approach, a ridicule approach, would resonate better with their doubts.
Dawkins also addressed some of the main arguments creationists have against evolution, such as that random mutations can't produce organisms as sophisticated as we see in nature. As the famous saying goes, can a tornado blowing though a junkyard create a 747? If "random chance" meant putting a bunch of organic molecules in a shaker and shaking them until they come together in a shape of a human being, then of course one would have to wait much longer than the lifetime of the universe for that to happen, says Dawkins. But evolution does not work like a random shaker, he explains: it works one beneficial random mutation at a time. Dawkins illustrates this by the analogy of a faulty combination lock.
You can read more about Richard Dawkins' lecture and Q&A session on my web
site:
http://www.geekitude.com/gl/public_html/article.php?story=20080327163631672
Elze Hamilton
