Richard Dawkins

Richard Dawkins     (biologist, author)
Born	26 March 1941 Nairobi, British Kenya
Nationality	UK
Alma mater	Chafyn Grove School, Oundle School, Balliol College (Oxford)
Interests	atheism
Professor for Public Understanding of Science In office 1995 - 2008 Employer University of Oxford  Fellow In office 1970 - 1995 Employer New College (Oxford) Succeeded by James Sherr

Richard Dawkins is a British evolutionary biologist and popular science writer. Most known for his forceful argument for atheism and his dogmatic views on science and expert rule, he is given plenty of attention from corporate media and billionaires like Bill Gates.

He is an emeritus fellow of New College, Oxford, and was Professor for Public Understanding of Science in the University of Oxford from 1995 to 2008.

Opinions

Miracle jabs

In August 2021, he mused:

Ingenious scientists worked around the clock to find vaccines, with spectacular success. Will their noble efforts to beat the virus be defeated because of a new epidemic – new virus, a virus of the mind, the memetic virus of anti-vax propaganda spread by gullible fools?

Democracy

In 2016, he thought that Brexit should never have been decided by a vote:

If there are issues on which the populace at large should be trusted to vote, something as complicated and economically sophisticated as EU membership is definitely not one of them.

Eugenics

Soon hedging by saying it was only possible, not desirable, he wrote:

It’s one thing to deplore eugenics on ideological, political, moral grounds. It’s quite another to conclude that it wouldn’t work in practice. Of course it would. It works for cows, horses, pigs, dogs & roses. Why on earth wouldn’t it work for humans? Facts ignore ideology.

Overcoming taboos

What if human meat is grown? Could we overcome our taboo against cannibalism? An interesting test case for consequentialist morality versus "yuck reaction" absolutism.

Many thanks to our Patrons who cover ~2/3 of our hosting bill. Please join them if you can.