MetaFilter posts tagged with evolution and richarddawkins

The Greatest Show on Earth

JL Sadstone — Thu, 22 Oct 2009 09:58:23 -0800

Richard Dawkins, the English biologist and public intellectual well known for his passionate defense of a gene-centered view of biological (organic) evolution, and the introduction and development of the meme-concept and a meme-centered view of social-cultural evolution, to say nothing of his strong stance as an atheist has put out a new book on evolution…

Man vs. God

fleetmouse — Fri, 25 Sep 2009 17:31:13 -0800

Noted religious thinker Karen Armstrong and noted atheist thinker Richard Dawkins face off - sorta kinda - in the WSJ: We commissioned Karen Armstrong and Richard Dawkins to respond independently to the question "Where does evolution leave God?" Neither knew what the other would say. Here are the results. Previously.

"It fills me with contempt."

Marisa Stole the Precious Thing — Sat, 06 Dec 2008 11:11:08 -0800

Roger Ebert gives Ben Stein a spanking. Ben Stein's movie "Expelled: No Intelligence Allowed" has displeased Ebert, but he can consider himself lucky: the film's climax culminates in a debate between Stein and Richard Dawkins, and they've had a long and colorful history of exchanges. (Previously: 1, 2, 3)

"We Few, We Happy Few, We Band of Brothers"

McLir — Sat, 13 Oct 2007 19:36:05 -0800

"We Few, We Happy Few, We Band of Brothers." Evolutionary psychologist Andy Thomson analyzes suicide terrorism from the perspective of evolutionary biology. The presentation was part of the Atheist Alliance International convention in D.C. last month.

Dawkin's The Selfish Gene, 30yrs On...

Moody834 — Sun, 26 Mar 2006 10:39:02 -0800

The night's event featured speakers Daniel C. Dennett, Matt Ridley, Sir John Krebs, Ian McEwan, and -- the man himself -- Richard Dawkins. It was, as you might suspect (based on the title), an event celebrating the thirtieth anniversary of Dawkins' seminal work. If you didn't get a chance to attend, you can still read the full transcript or stream/download the audio of it in MP3 format (many thanks to Helena Cronin, founder/director of Darwin@LSE, for hosting the file). Thanks to 3QD for the link.

Richard Dawkins on Nilsson/Pelger

Pretty_Generic — Fri, 10 Dec 2004 05:39:50 -0800

Creationists argue that the complexity of the human eye could not have arrisen by random Darwinian natural selection, since it "must be perfect to work at all". The Nilsson and Pelger computer experiment refutes this with a method of awesome beauty, showing that a human-quality eye is not just possible under Darwinian evolution, but nigh-inevitable. This is from Do Good By Stealth, chapter 3 of River Out of Eden, which is maybe the greatest thing I've ever read.

The Dawkins FAQ.

skallas — Sat, 27 Nov 2004 12:01:15 -0800

The Dawkins FAQ. Interesting Q&A session about evolution, biology, genes, etc with an expert. Dawkins claims no final answer on the "gay gene" or a Darwinian explanation of homosexuality.

Dawkins speaks!

skallas — Fri, 03 Sep 2004 20:11:32 -0800

Richard Dawkins discusses religion with a Darwinian outlook. RD: Could religion be a recent phenomenon, sprung up since our genes underwent most of their natural selection? Its ubiquity argues against any simple version of this idea. Nevertheless, there is a version of it that I want to advocate. The propensity that was naturally selected in our ancestors was not religion per se. It had some other benefit, and it only incidentally manifests itself today as religious behavior.