1.
Richard Dawkins
–
Clinton Richard Dawkins FRS FRSL is an English ethologist, evolutionary biologist and author. He is a fellow of New College, Oxford, and was the University of Oxfords Professor for Public Understanding of Science from 1995 until 2008. Dawkins first came to prominence with his 1976 book The Selfish Gene, in 2006, he founded the Richard Dawkins Foundation for Reason and Science. Dawkins is an atheist, and is known for his criticism of creationism. In The Blind Watchmaker, he argues against the watchmaker analogy, instead, he describes evolutionary processes as analogous to a blind watchmaker in that reproduction, mutation, and selection are unguided by any designer. In The God Delusion, Dawkins contends that a supernatural creator almost certainly does not exist and he opposes the teaching of creationism in schools. Dawkins was born in Nairobi, then in British Kenya, on 26 March 1941 and he is the son of Jean Mary Vyvyan and Clinton John Dawkins, who was an agricultural civil servant in the British Colonial Service in Nyasaland. His father was called up into the Kings African Rifles during World War II and returned to England in 1949 and his father had inherited a country estate, Over Norton Park in Oxfordshire, which he farmed commercially. Dawkins considers himself English and lives in Oxford, England, both his parents were interested in natural sciences, and they answered Dawkinss questions in scientific terms. Dawkins describes his childhood as a normal Anglican upbringing, and that left me with nothing. From 1954 to 1959 Dawkins attended Oundle School in Northamptonshire, an English public school with a distinct Church of England flavour, while at Oundle Dawkins read Bertrand Russells Why I Am Not a Christian for the first time. He studied zoology at Balliol College, Oxford, graduating in 1962, while there and he continued as a research student under Tinbergens supervision, receiving his MA and DPhil degrees by 1966, and remained a research assistant for another year. Tinbergen was a pioneer in the study of behaviour, particularly in the areas of instinct, learning and choice. From 1967 to 1969, he was an assistant professor of zoology at the University of California, during this period, the students and faculty at UC Berkeley were largely opposed to the ongoing Vietnam War, and Dawkins became involved in the anti-war demonstrations and activities. He returned to the University of Oxford in 1970 as a lecturer, in 1990, he became a reader in zoology. He held that professorship from 1995 until 2008, since 1970, he has been a fellow of New College, Oxford and he is now an emeritus fellow. In 1991, he gave the Royal Institution Christmas Lectures for Children on Growing Up in the Universe and he has also edited several journals, and has acted as editorial advisor to the Encarta Encyclopedia and the Encyclopedia of Evolution. He is listed as an editor and a columnist of the Council for Secular Humanisms Free Inquiry magazine
2.
Humanists UK
–
The current President of the BHA is Shappi Khorsandi and the Chief Executive is Andrew Copson. The association currently has 70 affiliated regional and special interest groups, the advancement of education and in particular the study of and the dissemination of knowledge about Humanism and about the arts and science as they relate to Humanism. The promotion of understanding between people holding religious and non-religious beliefs so as to advance cooperation in society. The BHA also wishes to build itself as a sustainable and nationally-recognised organisation as a voice for non-religious people, the British Humanist Association was founded in 1896 by American Stanton Coit as the Union of Ethical Societies, which brought together existing ethical societies in Britain. In 1963 H. J. Blackham became the first Executive Director, and this transition followed a decade of discussions which nearly prompted a merger of the Union of Ethical Societies with the Rationalist Press Association and the South Place Ethical Society. In 1963 the discussions went as far as creating an umbrella Humanist Association of which Harold Blackham was the Executive Director, in the 1960s the BHA campaigned on the repeal of Sunday Observance laws and the reform of the 1944 Education Act’s clauses on religion in schools. More generally the BHA aimed to defend freedom of speech, support the elimination of world poverty and it was claimed in 1977 that the BHA aimed to make humanism available and meaningful to the millions who have no alternative belief. At this time the BHA also supported a number of local communities. A network of celebrants able to conduct funerals, weddings, naming ceremonies and same sex affirmations was also developed. Social concerns have persisted in the BHA’s programme, the BHA has been active in arguing for voluntary euthanasia and the right to obtain an abortion. It has always sought an open society, the BHA claims that the rules on religious programming within the BBC constitute a religious privilege and reserve particular criticism for the Thought for the Day slot on Radio 4s Today programme. They also support humanist volunteers on the Standing Advisory Council on Religious Education which currently determines the Religious Education syllabus for each local authority, the BHA opposes the teaching of creationism in schools. In September 2011, the BHA launched their Teach evolution, not creationism campaign, the Department for Education amended the funding agreement to allow the withdrawal of funding for free schools that teach creationism as established scientific fact. It has also campaigned for opt-out organ donor registers to improve the availability of life-saving organs in the UK, the BHA also campaigns on marriage laws, demanding full equality for same-sex and humanist marriage ceremonies throughout the UK. The BHA had been providing same-sex wedding ceremonies for decades, and had strongly supported legalising same-sex marriage years in advance of eventual UK, in 2013, it secured an amendment to the same sex marriage bill to require UK Government to consult on letting humanist celebrants conduct legal marriages. Though the consultation result strongly indicated that legalisation should go ahead and it also campaigns for same-sex and humanist marriages in Northern Ireland. Many of its campaigns are based on speech and human rights legislation. In 2008, the law was repealed, an issue over which the BHA had long-campaigned
3.
Conway Hall Humanist Centre
–
It now advocates secular humanism and is a member of the International Humanist and Ethical Union. The Society can trace back its origins to February 14th 1793 in a congregation of nonconformists known as Philadelphians or Universalists, william Johnson Fox became their minister in 1817. In 1824 the congregation built a chapel at South Place, in the district of central London known as Finsbury, the chapel was repaired by John Wallen, of a family of London architects and builders. In 1929 they built new premises, Conway Hall, at 37 Red Lion Square, in nearby Bloomsbury, on the site of a tenement, previously a factory belonging to James Perry, a pen and ink maker. Conway Hall is named after an American, Moncure D. Conway, Conway spent the break in his tenure in the United States, writing a biography of Thomas Paine. In 1888 the name of the Society was changed from South Place Religious Society to South Place Ethical Society under Stanton Coits leadership, in 1950 the SPES joined the Ethical Union. In 1969 another name change was mooted, to The South Place Humanist Society, the original name, South Place Ethical Society, was retained until 2012, when it changed to Conway Hall Ethical Society. In November 2013 Elizabeth Lutgendorff was elected Chair of the Conway Hall General Committee, on 1 August 2014 the society became a Charitable Incorporated Organisation with a new charitable object, The advancement of study, research and education in humanist ethical principles. This replaced the previous object, The study and dissemination of ethical principles, Conway Hall was designed by Frederick Mansford, being built on an L-shaped strip of land which the Society had acquired between Theobalds Road and Lambs Conduit Passage. It is a Grade II listed building built in 1929 and was Mansfords largest project, the main entrance is located on an angle with a narrow arch rising to the top of the upper floor. The arch is flanked by two columns in silver-grey brick while the rest of the building is varied with red-brick detailing, there is a lot of glass in the facade with wide windows to the Library on the upper level and in and above the entrance doors. The glazing bars form a distinctive tiny criss-cross pattern reflected in Conway Halls logo, the general feel is that of the Royal Shakespeare Theatre at Stratford-upon-Avon, the old Shakespeare Memorial Theatre. The main auditorium can hold 300 plus 180 in a gallery, wooden panelling nailed directly to the brickwork and acoustic plaster was used to give the hall excellent acoustic qualities, considered the best hall in London for chamber music. This made it suitable for the performance of music and there have been regular recordings. The ceiling of the auditorium was glazed and this made it very light and it opened in 1929 and has continued in use since. Above the proscenium arch the words, To Thine Own Self Be True and these words were originally inscribed on the back wall of the red mahogany panel at the original South Place Chapel. In 1935 twenty members of the Society signed a document stating that Conway Hall was their place of worship. This followed the report in the winter of 1975 of a marriage solemnised at Conway Hall and he was probably influenced by the 1970 ruling of Lord Denning, that marriages could only be solemnised in places whose principal use is for the worship of God or reverence to a deity
4.
Meme
–
A meme, a neologism coined by Richard Dawkins, is an idea, behavior, or style that spreads from person to person within a culture. Supporters of the concept regard memes as cultural analogues to genes in that they self-replicate, mutate, proponents theorize that memes are a viral phenomenon that may evolve by natural selection in a manner analogous to that of biological evolution. Memes do this through the processes of variation, mutation, competition, Memes spread through the behavior that they generate in their hosts. Memes that propagate less prolifically may become extinct, while others may survive, spread, Memes that replicate most effectively enjoy more success, and some may replicate effectively even when they prove to be detrimental to the welfare of their hosts. A field of study called memetics arose in the 1990s to explore the concepts, criticism from a variety of fronts has challenged the notion that academic study can examine memes empirically. However, developments in neuroimaging may make empirical study possible, others have argued that this use of the term is the result of a misunderstanding of the original proposal. The word meme originated with Richard Dawkins 1976 book The Selfish Gene, later, he argued that his original intentions, presumably before his approval of Humphreys opinion, had been simpler. At the New Directors Showcase 2013 in Cannes, Dawkins opinion on memetics was deliberately ambiguous, examples of memes given in the book included melodies, catchphrases, fashion, and the technology of building arches. The word meme originated with Richard Dawkins 1976 book The Selfish Gene, Dawkins cites as inspiration the work of geneticist L. L. Cavalli-Sforza, anthropologist F. T. Cloak and ethologist J. M. Cullen, for Dawkins, the meme exemplified another self-replicating unit with potential significance in explaining human behavior and cultural evolution. T. H. Huxley claimed that The struggle for existence holds as much in the intellectual as in the physical world, a theory is a species of thinking, and its right to exist is coextensive with its power of resisting extinction by its rivals. Dawkins used the term to refer to any entity that an observer might consider a replicator. He hypothesized that one could view many cultural entities as replicators, Memes generally replicate through exposure to humans, who have evolved as efficient copiers of information and behavior. Because humans do not always copy memes perfectly, and because they may refine, combine or otherwise modify them with other memes to create new memes, they can change over time. Dawkins likened the process by which memes survive and change through the evolution of culture to the selection of genes in biological evolution. Dawkins defined the meme as a unit of transmission, or a unit of imitation and replication. The lack of a consistent, rigorous, and precise understanding of what makes up one unit of cultural transmission remains a problem in debates about memetics. In contrast, the concept of genetics gained concrete evidence with the discovery of the functions of DNA
5.
The Selfish Gene
–
The Selfish Gene is a 1976 book on evolution by Richard Dawkins, in which Dawkins builds upon the principal theory of George C. From the gene-centred view, it follows that the two individuals are genetically related, the more sense it makes for them to behave selflessly with each other. A lineage is expected to evolve to maximise its inclusive fitness—the number of copies of its genes passed on globally, as a result, populations will tend towards an evolutionarily stable strategy. The book also coins the term meme for a unit of cultural evolution analogous to the gene, suggesting that such selfish replication may also model human culture. Memetics has become the subject of studies since the publication of the book. In raising awareness of the ideas of W. D. Hamilton, as well as making its own contributions to the field. — W. D. Hamilton, The evolution of altruistic behavior pp. 354-355 An extended discussion of Dawkins views and his book The Selfish Gene is provided by Wilkins, the second edition is divided into chapters as follows,1, Why are people. The contention is that the genes that are passed on are the ones whose evolutionary consequences serve their own implicit interest in being replicated, in later work, Dawkins brings evolutionary selfishness down to creation of a widely proliferated extended phenotype. For some, the metaphor of selfishness is entirely clear, while to others it is confusing, misleading, for example, Andrew Brown has written, Selfish, when applied to genes, doesnt mean selfish at all. It means, instead, an important quality for which there is no good word in the English language. The fundamental units of selection, the basic things that survive or fail to survive. They generally, for reasons that we come to, gang together into large communal survival machines or ‘vehicles’. As replicating molecules became more complex, Dawkins postulates, the became the genes within organisms. An example of this might be a gene that protects the organism against a disease and this helps the gene spread, and also helps the organism. Another example is the existence of segregation distorter genes that are detrimental to their host, likewise, the persistence of junk DNA that provides no benefit to its host can be explained on the basis that it is not subject to selection. These unselected for but transmitted DNA variations connect the individual genetically to its parents and these examples might suggest that there is a power struggle between genes and their interactor. In fact, the claim is that there isnt much of a struggle because the genes usually win without a fight. However, the claim is made if the organism becomes intelligent enough to understand its own interests, as distinct from those of its genes
6.
Computer virus
–
A computer virus is a type of malicious software program that, when executed, replicates by reproducing itself or infecting other computer programs by modifying them. Infecting computer programs can include as well, data files, or the sector of the hard drive. When this replication succeeds, the areas are then said to be infected with a computer virus. The term virus is also commonly, but erroneously, used to refer to types of malware. The majority of active malware threats are actually trojan horse programs or computer worms rather than computer viruses, the term computer virus, coined by Fred Cohen in 1985, is a misnomer. Virus writers use social engineering deceptions and exploit detailed knowledge of security vulnerabilities to gain access to their hosts computers and computing resources. Computer viruses currently cause billions of dollars worth of damage each year, due to causing system failure, wasting computer resources, corrupting data, increasing maintenance costs. The work of von Neumann was later published as the Theory of self-reproducing automata, in his essay von Neumann described how a computer program could be designed to reproduce itself. Von Neumanns design for a computer program is considered the worlds first computer virus. In 1972, Veith Risak, directly building on von Neumanns work on self-replication, the article describes a fully functional virus written in assembler programming language for a SIEMENS 4004/35 computer system. In 1980 Jürgen Kraus wrote his diplom thesis Selbstreproduktion bei Programmen at the University of Dortmund, in his work Kraus postulated that computer programs can behave in a way similar to biological viruses. The Creeper virus was first detected on ARPANET, the forerunner of the Internet, Creeper was an experimental self-replicating program written by Bob Thomas at BBN Technologies in 1971. Creeper used the ARPANET to infect DEC PDP-10 computers running the TENEX operating system, Creeper gained access via the ARPANET and copied itself to the remote system where the message, Im the creeper, catch me if you can. The Reaper program was created to delete Creeper, in fiction, the 1973 Michael Crichton sci-fi movie Westworld made an early mention of the concept of a computer virus, being a central plot theme that causes androids to run amok. Alan Oppenheimers character summarizes the problem by stating that. theres a pattern here which suggests an analogy to an infectious disease process. To which the replies are stated, Perhaps there are similarities to disease and. In 1982, a program called Elk Cloner was the first personal computer virus to appear in the wild—that is, outside the single computer or lab where it was created. Written in 1981 by Richard Skrenta while in the grade at Mount Lebanon High School near Pittsburgh, it attached itself to the Apple DOS3.3 operating system
7.
A Devil's Chaplain
–
A Devils Chaplain, subtitled Reflections on Hope, Lies, Science, and Love is a 2003 book of selected essays and other writings by Richard Dawkins. Published five years after his previous book Unweaving the Rainbow, it contains essays covering subjects including pseudoscience, genetic determinism, memetics, terrorism, religion, a section of the book is devoted to Dawkins late adversary Stephen Jay Gould. Robin McKie reviewed the book for The Observer and stated that the book contained a mixture of touching essays, argument from poor design Great Ape Project Review by Michael Ruse,2003. A Devils Chaplain by Richard Dawkins
8.
The Root of All Evil?
–
Later retitled The God Delusion, is a television documentary written and presented by Richard Dawkins in which he argues that humanity would be better off without religion or belief in God. The documentary was first broadcast in January 2006, in the form of two 45-minute episodes, on Channel 4 in the United Kingdom. Dawkins has said that the title The Root of All Evil. was not his preferred choice, the sole concession from the producers on the title was the addition of the question mark. Dawkins has stated that the notion of anything being the root of all evil is ridiculous, Dawkins book The God Delusion, released in September 2006, goes on to examine the topics raised in the documentary in greater detail. The documentary was rebroadcast on the More4 channel on 25 August 2010 under the title of The God Delusion, the God Delusion explores the unproven beliefs that are treated as factual by many religions and the extremes to which some followers have taken them. Dawkins opens the programme by describing the would-be murderers, who want to kill you and me, and themselves, because theyre motivated by what they think is the highest ideal. Dawkins first visits the shrine of Lourdes in southern France, where he joins a candlelit procession of pilgrims singing and he is particularly struck by the sense of group solidarity in their perceived delusion, which he contrasts with the lonely delusion that one is Napoleon, for example. At daybreak, Dawkins surveys the faithful queuing up for healing water and he speaks to an Irish woman who has found the experience beneficial. Dawkins then quizzes Father Liam Griffin about the number of miraculous cures which have taken place over the years. Griffin reports 66 declared miracles and about 2,000 unexplained cures, Dawkins continues with a discussion of what he sees as a conflict between faith and science. For an example of faith, Dawkins takes the infallible doctrine of the Assumption and he contrasts this with the scientific method, which he describes as a system whereby working assumptions may be falsified by recourse to reason and evidence. Dawkins then considers a scientific theory of great significance to him–Charles Darwins theory of evolution–which he discusses by reference to his Mount Improbable analogy. The notion that the complexity of life emerged either through blind chance or by the hand of an intelligent designer. By contrast, he suggests that Darwins theory of design by natural selection provides an explanation which is akin to climbing a mountain gradually, Dawkins also comments that the design hypothesis raises another question, who made the Maker. Next, Dawkins visits Colorado Springs, Colorado, to discuss the rise of fundamentalist Christianity in the United States and he visits the New Life Church, an US$18 million worship centre where Pastor Ted Haggard at the time presided over a 14,000 strong congregation. Haggard was at the chairman of the National Association of Evangelicals and, according to Dawkins. Dawkins interviews Haggard and begins by likening the experience to a Nuremberg Rally of which Goebbels might have been proud. Haggard says he knows nothing of the Nuremberg Rallies and goes on to say that some think of his services as something akin to rock concerts
9.
Amotz Zahavi
–
Amotz Zahavi is an Israeli evolutionary biologist, a Professor Emeritus at the Zoology Department of Tel Aviv University, and one of the founders of the Society for the Protection of Nature in Israel. His main works are in the evolution of signals, particularly those that indicate fitness, Amotz Zahavi received his Ph. D from Tel Aviv University in 1970. He is married to Avishag Zahavi, a biologist and a co-investigator, evolved by sexual selection, these act as signals of the status of the organism, functioning to e. g. attract mates. He expanded it with theories on honest signalling and the idea that selection would favour signals that impose a higher cost, mate selection - a selection for a handicap. The handicap principle, a piece of Darwins puzzle. ISBN 0-19-510035-2 List of Israel Prize recipients Professor Amotz Zahavi at Tel Aviv University
10.
Handicap principle
–
The handicap principle suggests that reliable signals must be costly to the signaler, costing the signaler something that could not be afforded by an individual with less of a particular trait. The central idea is that sexually selected traits function like conspicuous consumption, receivers know that the signal indicates quality because inferior quality signallers cannot afford to produce such wastefully extravagant signals. The generality of the phenomenon is the matter of debate and disagreement. Nevertheless, the idea has been influential, with most researchers in the field believing that the theory explains some aspects of animal communication. In both cases, it is the decreased cost to higher-quality signallers of producing increased signal that stabilizes the reliability of the signal and this is illustrated in the figures to the right, from Johnstone 1997. It can be reasoned that as fitness depends on the production of offspring, further formal game theoretical signalling models demonstrated the evolutionary stability of handicapped signals in nestlings begging calls, in predator-deterrent signals and in threat-displays. The hungrier the baby bird, the food is of value to it. Counter-examples to handicap models predate handicap models themselves, models of signals without any handicapping costs show that conventional signalling may be evolutionarily stable in biological communication. Analysis of some begging models also shows that, in addition to the outcomes, non-communication strategies are not only evolutionarily stable. The theory predicts that a sexual ornament, or any other signal, typical examples of handicapped signals include bird songs, the peacocks tail, courtship dances, bowerbirds bowers, or even possibly jewellery and humor. Jared Diamond has proposed that certain risky human behaviours, such as bungee jumping, Zahavi has invoked the potlatch ceremony as a human example of the handicap principle in action. This interpretation of potlatch can be traced to Thorstein Veblens use of the ceremony in his book Theory of the Leisure Class as an example of conspicuous consumption, a classic example is that of stotting in gazelles. This behaviour consists in the gazelle initially running slowly and jumping high when threatened by a predator such as a lion or cheetah, instead, Zahavi proposed that each gazelle was communicating that it was a fitter individual than its fellows. This may communicate to the cheetah to avoid chasing this fitter individual, or the message may be oriented toward the other gazelles, the theory of immunocompetence handicaps suggests that androgen-mediated traits accurately signal condition due to the immunosuppressive effects of androgens. Healthy individuals can afford to suppress their immune system by raising their testosterone levels, a review of empirical studies into the various aspects of this theory found weak support. Amotz Zahavi studied in particular the Arabian babbler, a social bird, with a life-length of 30 years. The helping-at-the-nest behavior often occurs among unrelated individuals, and therefore cannot be explained by kin selection, Zahavi reinterpreted these behaviours according to his signal theory and its correlative, the handicap principle. The altruistic act is costly to the donor, but may improve its attractiveness to potential mates, the evolution of this condition may be explained by competitive altruism
11.
Evidence
–
Evidence, broadly construed, is anything presented in support of an assertion. This support may be strong or weak, the strongest type of evidence is that which provides direct proof of the truth of an assertion. At the other extreme is evidence that is consistent with an assertion but does not rule out other, contradictory assertions. In law, rules of evidence govern the types of evidence that are admissible in a legal proceeding, types of legal evidence include testimony, documentary evidence, and physical evidence. The parts of a case which are not in controversy are known, in general. Beyond any facts that are undisputed, a judge or jury is usually tasked with being a trier of fact for the issues of a case. Evidence and rules are used to decide questions of fact that are disputed, Evidence in certain cases must be more compelling than in other situations, which drastically affects the quality and quantity of evidence necessary to decide a case. In philosophy, the study of evidence is tied to epistemology. The burden of proof is the obligation of a party in an argument or dispute to provide sufficient evidence to shift the other partys or a third partys belief from their initial position, the burden of proof must be fulfilled by both establishing confirming evidence and negating oppositional evidence. Conclusions drawn from evidence may be subject to criticism based on a failure to fulfill the burden of proof. Two principal considerations are, On whom does the burden of proof rest, to what degree of certitude must the assertion be supported. The latter question depends on the nature of the point under contention, in a criminal trial in the United States, for example, the prosecution carries the burden of proof since the defendant is presumed innocent until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt. Similarly, in most civil procedures, the plaintiff carries the burden of proof, other legal standards of proof include reasonable suspicion, probable cause, prima facie evidence, credible evidence, substantial evidence, and clear and convincing evidence. In a philosophical debate, there is a burden of proof on the party asserting a claim. Each party in a debate will therefore carry the burden of proof for any assertion they make in the argument, although some assertions may be granted by the other party without further evidence. If the debate is set up as a resolution to be supported by one side and refuted by another, in scientific research evidence is accumulated through observations of phenomena that occur in the natural world, or which are created as experiments in a laboratory or other controlled conditions. Scientific evidence usually goes towards supporting or rejecting a hypothesis, one must always remember that the burden of proof is on the person making a contentious claim. Within science, this translates to the burden resting on presenters of a paper and this paper is placed before a panel of judges where the presenter must defend the thesis against all challenges
12.
Heresy
–
Heresy /hār ə sē/ is any belief or theory that is strongly at variance with established beliefs or customs. A heretic is a proponent of such claims or beliefs, the term is usually used to refer to violations of important religious teachings, but is used also of views strongly opposed to any generally accepted ideas. It is used in particular in reference to Christianity, Judaism, the word heresy is usually used within a Christian, Jewish, or Islamic context, and implies slightly different meanings in each. The founder or leader of a movement is called a heresiarch. Heresiology is the study of heresy, according to Titus 3,10 a divisive person should be warned two times before separating from him. The Greek for the phrase divisive person became a term in the early Church for a type of heretic who promoted dissension. In contrast correct teaching is called not only because it builds up the faith. The Church Fathers identified Jews and Judaism with heresy and they saw deviations from orthodox Christianity as heresies that were essentially Jewish in spirit. The use of the word heresy was given currency by Irenaeus in his 2nd century tract Contra Haereses to describe. He described the beliefs and doctrines as orthodox and the Gnostics teachings as heretical. He also pointed out the concept of succession to support his arguments. By Roman law the Emperor was Pontifex Maximus, the high priest of the College of Pontiffs of all recognized religions in ancient Rome. To put an end to the doctrinal debate initiated by Arius, Constantine called the first of what would afterwards be called the ecumenical councils and then enforced orthodoxy by Imperial authority. The first known usage of the term in a context was in AD380 by the Edict of Thessalonica of Theodosius I. Prior to the issuance of this edict, the Church had no state-sponsored support for any particular legal mechanism to counter what it perceived as heresy, by this edict the states authority and that of the Church became somewhat overlapping. One of the outcomes of this blurring of Church and state was the sharing of state powers of legal enforcement with church authorities and this reinforcement of the Churchs authority gave church leaders the power to, in effect, pronounce the death sentence upon those whom the church considered heretical. The edict of Theodosius II provided severe punishments for those who had or spread writings of Nestorius and those who possessed writings of Arius were sentenced to death. For some years after the Reformation, Protestant churches were known to execute those they considered heretics
13.
Epidemiology
–
Epidemiology is the study and analysis of the patterns, causes, and effects of health and disease conditions in defined populations. It is the cornerstone of public health, and shapes policy decisions and evidence-based practice by identifying risk factors for disease, epidemiologists help with study design, collection, and statistical analysis of data, amend interpretation and dissemination of results. Epidemiology has helped develop methodology used in research, public health studies. However, the term is used in studies of zoological populations, although the term epizoology is available. The distinction between epidemic and endemic was first drawn by Hippocrates, to distinguish between diseases that are visited upon a population from those that reside within a population. The term epidemiology appears to have first been used to describe the study of epidemics in 1802 by the Spanish physician Villalba in Epidemiología Española, epidemiologists also study the interaction of diseases in a population, a condition known as a syndemic. Therefore, this epidemiology is based upon how the pattern of the disease cause changes in the function of everyone, Hippocrates believed sickness of the human body to be caused by an imbalance of the four humors. The cure to the sickness was to remove or add the humor in question to balance the body and this belief led to the application of bloodletting and dieting in medicine. He coined the terms endemic and epidemic, in the middle of the 16th century, a doctor from Verona named Girolamo Fracastoro was the first to propose a theory that these very small, unseeable, particles that cause disease were alive. They were considered to be able to spread by air, multiply by themselves, in this way he refuted Galens miasma theory. In 1543 he wrote a book De contagione et contagiosis morbis, the development of a sufficiently powerful microscope by Antonie van Leeuwenhoek in 1675 provided visual evidence of living particles consistent with a germ theory of disease. Wu Youke developed the concept that some diseases were caused by transmissible agents and his book Wenyi Lun can be regarded as the main etiological work that brought forward the concept, ultimately attributed to Westerners, of germs as a cause of epidemic diseases. His concepts are considered in current scientific research in relation to Traditional Chinese Medicine studies. Another pioneer, Thomas Sydenham, was the first to distinguish the fevers of Londoners in the later 1600s and his theories on cures of fevers met with much resistance from traditional physicians at the time. He was not able to find the cause of the smallpox fever he researched and treated. John Graunt, a haberdasher and amateur statistician, published Natural and Political Observations, upon the Bills of Mortality in 1662. In it, he analysed the mortality rolls in London before the Great Plague, presented one of the first life tables and he provided statistical evidence for many theories on disease, and also refuted some widespread ideas on them. John Snow is famous for his investigations into the causes of the 19th century cholera epidemics and he began with noticing the significantly higher death rates in two areas supplied by Southwark Company
14.
Alister McGrath
–
Alister Edgar McGrath is a Northern Irish theologian, priest, intellectual historian, scientist, and Christian apologist. He currently holds the Andreas Idreos Professorship in Science and Religion in the Faculty of Theology and Religion at the University of Oxford, aside from being a faculty member at Oxford, McGrath has also taught at Cambridge University and is a Teaching Fellow at Regent College. McGrath holds three doctorates from the University of Oxford, a DPhil in Molecular Biophysics, a Doctor of Divinity in Theology, McGrath is noted for his work in historical theology, systematic theology, and the relationship between science and religion, as well as his writings on apologetics. He is also known for his opposition to New Atheism and antireligionism, among his best-known books are The Twilight of Atheism, The Dawkins Delusion, Dawkins God, Genes, Memes, and the Meaning of Life, and A Scientific Theology. He is also the author of a number of textbooks on theology. McGrath was born in Belfast, Northern Ireland, and grew up in Downpatrick, County Down, in September 1966 he became a pupil at the Methodist College Belfast, where his studies focused on mathematics, physics and chemistry. He went up to Wadham College, Oxford, in 1971 and he began research in molecular biophysics in the Oxford University Department of Biochemistry under the supervision of Professor Sir George Radda, FRS and was elected to an E. P. A. Cephalosporin Research Studentship at Linacre College, Oxford, for the academic year 1975-6, during these three years, he carried out scientific research while studying for the Oxford University Final Honour School of Theology. He was awarded an Oxford DPhil for his research in molecular biophysics, reflecting on his time as an undergraduate at Wadham, McGrath has written, I was discovering that Christianity was far more intellectually robust than I had ever imagined. In September 1980, he was ordained deacon and began ministry as a curate at St Leonards Parish Church, Wollaton, Nottingham and he was ordained priest at Southwell Minster in September 1981. In 1983, he was appointed lecturer in Christian doctrine and ethics at Wycliffe Hall, Oxford, and he was awarded a BD by Oxford in 1983, for research in historical theology. He spent the fall semester of 1990 as the Ezra Squire Tipple Visiting Professor of Historical Theology at the Divinity School of Drew University, Madison, New Jersey. McGrath was elected University Research Lecturer in Theology at Oxford University in 1993 and also served as professor of theology at Regent College, Vancouver. In 1995, he was elected Principal of Wycliffe Hall and in 1999 was awarded a chair in theology by Oxford University with the title Professor of Historical Theology. He was awarded the Oxford degree of DD in 2001 for his research in historical and systematic theology, on 1 September 2008 McGrath took up the Chair of Theology, Ministry and Education in the Department of Education and Professional Studies at Kings College London. In 2010 McGrath was included in The 20 Most Brilliant Christian Professors list, in 2013 he was awarded his third doctorate from Oxford University, a DLitt, Division of Humanities, for research into science and religion, and natural theology. He is married to Joanna Collicutt McGrath and they have two grown up children, in 2014 McGrath was appointed the 32nd Professor of Divinity at Gresham College, a position dating back to 1597. A former atheist, McGrath accepts evolution, in 2004 McGrath suggested in The Twilight of Atheism that atheism was in decline
15.
Lamarckism
–
Lamarckism is the idea that an organism can pass on characteristics that it has acquired during its lifetime to its offspring. Despite this abandonment, interest in Lamarckism has continued, studies in the field of epigenetics and Somatic Hypermutation have highlighted the possible inheritance of behavioral traits acquired by the previous generation. This remains controversial as science historians have asserted that it is inaccurate to describe transgenerational epigenetic inheritance as a form of Lamarckism, between 1794 and 1796 Erasmus Darwin wrote Zoonomia suggesting that all warm-blooded animals have arisen from one living filament. With the power of acquiring new parts in response to stimuli and he incorporated this mechanism into his thoughts on evolution, seeing it as resulting in the adaptation of life to local environments. As a young student, Charles Darwin was tutored by Grant, Darwins On the Origin of Species proposed natural selection as the main mechanism for development of species, but did not rule out a variant of Lamarckism as a supplementary mechanism. He pointed out that he regarded pangenesis as occurring in Protozoa and plants, American paleontologist and historian of science Stephen Jay Gould wrote that in the late 19th century, evolutionists re-read Lamarck, cast aside the guts of it. And elevated one aspect of the mechanics—inheritance of acquired characters—to a central focus it never had for Lamarck himself, Gould advocated defining Lamarckism more broadly, in line with Lamarcks overall evolutionary theory. Lamarck incorporated two ideas into his theory of evolution, in his day considered to be generally true, the first was the idea of use versus disuse, he theorized that individuals lose characteristics they do not require, or use, and develop characteristics that are useful. His second point was to argue that the traits were heritable. Examples of what is traditionally called Lamarckism would include the idea that when giraffes stretch their necks to reach leaves high in trees, they strengthen and these giraffes have offspring with slightly longer necks. Similarly, a blacksmith, through his work, strengthens the muscles in his arms, however, as historians of science such as Michael Ghiselin and Stephen Jay Gould have pointed out, none of these views were original to Lamarck. On the contrary, Lamarcks contribution was a theoretical framework for understanding evolution. This would drive organisms from simple to complex forms, linfluence des circonstances - in which the use and disuse of characters led organisms to become more adapted to their environment. This would take organisms sideways off the path from simple to complex and he stated that 901 young were produced by five generations of artificially mutilated parents, and yet there was not a single example of a rudimentary tail or of any other abnormality in this organ. However, the experiment has been questioned in relationship to Lamarcks hypothesis as it did not address the use and disuse of characteristics in response to the environment, biologist Peter Gauthier noted that, Can Weismanns experiment be considered a case of disuse. Lamarck proposed that when an organ was not used, it slowly, in time, over the course of many generations, it would gradually disappear as it was inherited in its modified form in each successive generation. Cutting the tails off mice does not seem to meet the qualifications of disuse, Lamarcks hypothesis has never been proven experimentally and there is no known mechanism to support the idea that somatic change, however acquired, can in some way induce a change in the germplasm. Lamarck was not concerned with wounds, injuries or mutilations, during that time many scientists and philosophers accepted the reality of evolution but doubted whether natural selection was the main evolutionary mechanism
16.
Speciesism
–
Speciesism involves the assignment of different values, rights, or special consideration to individuals solely on the basis of their species membership. Their claim is that species membership has no moral significance, the term is not used consistently, but broadly embraces two ideas. It usually refers to human speciesism, the exclusion of all animals from the rights, freedoms. Activities such as these, that were standard human behaviors across the millennia, the term speciesism, and the argument that it is simply a prejudice, first appeared in 1970 in a privately printed pamphlet written by British psychologist Richard D. Ryder. Ryder was a member of a group of intellectuals in Oxford, England, one of the groups activities was distributing pamphlets about areas of concern, the pamphlet titled Speciesism was written to protest against animal experimentation. Ryder argued in the pamphlet that ince Darwin, scientists have agreed that there is no essential difference between humans and other animals, biologically-speaking. Why then do we make an almost total distinction morally, if all organisms are on one physical continuum, then we should also be on the same moral continuum. Ryder wrote, In as much as race and species are vague terms used in the classification of living creatures according, largely, to physical appearance. Discrimination on grounds of race, although most universally condoned two centuries ago, is now widely condemned, similarly, it may come to pass that enlightened minds may one day abhor speciesism as much as they now detest racism. The illogicality in both forms of prejudice is of an identical sort, the time has come to act upon this logic. Those who claim that speciesism is unfair to non-human species have often argued their case by invoking mammals, the term was popularized by the Australian philosopher Peter Singer in his book Animal Liberation. Singer had known Ryder from his own time as a philosophy student at Oxford. He credited Ryder with having coined the term and used it in the title of his books fifth chapter, sexists violate the principle of equality by favouring the interests of their own sex. Similarly, speciesists allow the interests of their own species to override the interests of members of other species. The pattern is identical in each case, Singer argued that, although there may be differences between humans and nonhumans, they share the capacity to suffer, and we must give equal consideration to that suffering. Any position that allows similar cases to be treated in a dissimilar fashion fails to qualify as a moral theory. The term caught on, Singer wrote that it was an awkward word and it became an entry in the Oxford English Dictionary in 1985, defined as discrimination against or exploitation of animal species by human beings, based on an assumption of mankinds superiority. Paola Cavalieri writes that the current humanist paradigm is that human beings are members of the moral community
17.
The Electronic Revolution
–
The Electronic Revolution is an essay collection by William S. Burroughs that was first published in 1970 by Expanded Media Editions in West Germany. A second edition, published in 1971 in Cambridge, England, the book is available in its entirety in later editions of The Job, a book of interviews conducted by Daniel Odier that elaborate on the topics contained therein. The book is divided into two parts, part one, entitled The Feedback from Watergate to the Garden of Eden invokes Alfred Korzybski’s views characterising man as the time binding machine due to his ability to write. Burroughs sees the significance of a word as a distinguishing feature of human beings which enables them to transform. Part two, Electronic Revolution concerns the power of alphabetic non-pictorial languages to control people and it draws attention to the subversive influence of the word virus on humans and dangerous possibilities of using human voice as a weapon. Recording words on tape recorders and employing the Cut-up technique can lead to the false news broadcasts or garbled political speeches causing confusion. The basic idea of language as a virus has been used and quoted from several of Burroughs interviews. Here is a passage from the text, The referred German Doktor Kurt Unruh von Steinplatz is another of Burroughs inventions, the book influenced numerous musicians in the industrial music scene of the 1970s. He described it as a handbook of how to use tape recorders in a crowd … to promote a sense of unease or unrest by playback of riot noises cut in with random recordings of the crowd itself
18.
William S. Burroughs
–
William Seward Burroughs II was an American writer. Burroughs was a figure of the Beat Generation and a major postmodernist author whose influence is considered to have affected a range of popular culture as well as literature. Burroughs wrote eighteen novels and novellas, six collections of short stories, five books have been published of his interviews and correspondences. He also collaborated on projects and recordings with numerous performers and musicians and he was also briefly known by the pen name William Lee. He was born into a family in St. Louis, Missouri, grandson of the inventor and founder of the Burroughs Corporation, William Seward Burroughs I. Burroughs began writing essays and journals in early adolescence, but did not begin publicizing his writing until his thirties and he left home in 1932 to attend Harvard University, studied English, and anthropology as a postgraduate, and later attended medical school in Vienna. With Brion Gysin, he popularized the literary cut-up technique in works such as The Nova Trilogy. In 1983, Burroughs was elected to the American Academy and Institute of Arts and Letters, J. G. Burroughs had one child, William S. Burroughs, Jr. with his second wife Joan Vollmer. William Burroughs died at his home in Lawrence, Kansas, after suffering an attack in 1997. Burroughs was born in 1914, the younger of two born to Mortimer Perry Burroughs and Laura Hammon Lee. His was a prominent family of English ancestry in St. Louis and his grandfather, William Seward Burroughs I, founded the Burroughs Adding Machine company, which evolved into the Burroughs Corporation. Burroughss mother was the daughter of a minister whose family claimed to be related to Robert E. Lee and his maternal uncle, Ivy Lee, was an advertising pioneer later employed as a publicist for the Rockefellers. His father ran an antique and gift shop, Cobblestone Gardens, first in St. Louis, then in Palm Beach, as a boy, Burroughs lived on Pershing Ave. in St. Louiss Central West End. He attended John Burroughs School in St. Louis where his first published essay and he then attended the Los Alamos Ranch School in New Mexico, which was stressful for him. The school was a school for the wealthy, where the spindly sons of the rich could be transformed into manly specimens. Burroughs kept journals documenting an erotic attachment to another boy, according to his own account, he destroyed these later, ashamed of their content. He became a well-known homosexual writer after the publication of Naked Lunch in 1959, some say that he was expelled from Los Alamos after taking chloral hydrate in Santa Fe with a fellow student. Yet, according to his own account, he left voluntarily, Burroughs finished high school at Taylor School in Clayton, Missouri, and in 1932, left home to pursue an arts degree at Harvard University, where he was affiliated with Adams House
19.
Political views of Richard Dawkins
–
Richard Dawkins is an English ethologist, evolutionary biologist, and writer. Dawkins himself has stated that his views are left-leaning. However, many of Dawkinss political statements have created controversy even among left-wing, before the mid-2000s, Dawkins usually voted for Labour Party candidates. The party has often described as social democratic. Dawkinss contribution was as follows, Stop toadying to Muslims and other communities as part of a general abolition of all religious privilege. Withdraw government support from schools that abuse children by teaching them they belong to a particular religion, abolish the automatic right of religious organizations to charitable status, and the automatic right of bishops to sit in the House of Lords. Starting in the mid-2000s, Dawkins has also voted and expressed support for the Liberal Democrats, Dawkins spoke at the partys conference in 2009 and publicly expressed his support then. At the conference, Dawkins strongly criticized the English libel laws, Dawkins also called for an alliance of all Liberal Democrats based on an agreement on electoral reform. Dawkins has argued for reform to the English defamation law, arguing that Simon Singh should have the right to criticise scientific claims made by the British Chiropractic Association, the Defamation Act 2013 substantially reformed the law. In 2008, Dawkins pointed out factual errors in The Atlas of Creation, such as images of fishing lures mislabeled as insects. Dawkins gave a speech at the 2012 Jaipur Literature Festival where a link with Salman Rushdie was cancelled due to ongoing controversy over the Rushdie affair. He has given a high appraisal of Nick Cohens book You Cant Read this Book, in his speech, the professor argued that whats really offensive is the bizarre idea that a state university should only ever hear opinions that its citizens agree with. If that principle is ever accepted you can kiss goodbye anything that a university stands for, what on earth is a university for if it only reinforces opinions that students and the public already hold. Dawkins has argued against campaigns by far-left groups on university campuses to have speeches by internationally renown figures cancelled, in a 2015 interview, Dawkins said If you only ever get exposed to ideas you agree with, what kind of university would that be. He has argued against campaigns to block speakers like Ayaan Hirsi Ali, Bill Maher, Maryam Namazie, Dawkins has said that feminism is enormously important and a political movement that deserves to be supported. Dawkins also released a joint statement with Ophelia Benson that condemned death threats, rape threats, attacks on peoples appearance, age, race, sex, size, haircut… vulgar epithets. In a passage in The God Delusion, Dawkins wrote about how he wished to mirror the successes of feminism in the atheist movement, however, Dawkins has come under fire from feminists and feminist organizations for many reasons. Several of Dawkinss posts on Twitter were controversial, such as one where he seemed to victim blame the victims of rape when they are drunk, If you want to be in a position to testify & jail a man, dont get drunk, he tweeted
20.
The Extended Phenotype
–
The Extended Phenotype is a 1982 book by Richard Dawkins, in which Dawkins introduced a biological concept of the same name. Dawkins considers The Extended Phenotype to be a sequel to The Selfish Gene aimed at professional biologists, in the main portion of the book, Dawkins argues that the only thing that genes control directly is the synthesis of proteins. He points to the arbitrariness of restricting the idea of the phenotype to apply only to the expression of an organisms genes in its own body. Dawkins develops this idea by pointing to the effect that a gene may have on an environment through that organisms behaviour. It is commonly suggested that there are three types of extended phenotypes, the first refers to the capacity of animals to modify their environment using architectural constructions. Dawkins cited as examples caddis houses and beaver dams and he then goes further to point to first animal morphology and ultimately animal behaviour, which can seem advantageous not to the animal itself, but rather to a parasite which afflicts it. It is parasite manipulation, which is the capacity of several groups of parasites to modify the host behaviour to increase their own fitness. One famous example of second type of extended phenotype is the suicidal drowning of crickets infected by hairworm. Another example of behaviour is seen in female mosquitoes carrying malaria parasites. The mosquitoes are more attracted to human breath and odours than uninfected mosquitoes. However, a recent study shows that a challenge with heat-killed Escherichia coli can generate the same changes in the behaviour as is seen in infection by Plasmodium yoelii. It raises a question, to what extent is the alteration of host behaviour due to active manipulation by malaria parasites. The third type of extended phenotype refers to an action at a distance of the parasite on its host, a common example is the manipulation of host behaviour by cuckoo chicks, which elicit intensive feeding by the parasitized host birds. These behavioural modifications are not physically associated with the host but influence the expression of its behavioural phenotype and this is the challenge which he takes up in the final chapter entitled Rediscovering the Organism. Group selection Inclusive fitness Kin selection The Tactless Meme - by Jon Seger, New Scientist Book profile - from The World of Richard Dawkins
21.
The Blind Watchmaker
–
He also presents arguments to refute certain criticisms made on his first book, The Selfish Gene. An unabridged audiobook edition was released in 2011, narrated by Richard Dawkins, in his choice of the title for this book, Dawkins refers to the watchmaker analogy made famous by William Paley in his 1802 book Natural Theology. To dispel the idea that complexity cannot arise without the intervention of a creator, in making this journey, he points to several creatures whose various seeing apparatus are, whilst still useful, living examples of intermediate levels of complexity. He demonstrates this by the example of the weasel program, the program displayed a two dimensional shape made up of straight black lines, the length, position, and angle of which were defined by a simple set of rules and instructions. Adding new lines based on these rules offered a set of possible new shapes. The chosen mutation would then be the basis for generation of biomorph mutants to be chosen from. Thus, the user, by selection, could steer the evolution of biomorphs and this process often produced images which were reminiscent of real organisms for instance beetles, bats, or trees. He dubbed this insight the evolution of evolvability, must already have been vastly complex in the first place. He calls this postulating organized complexity without offering an explanation and he notes that analogies with computer programs have their limitations, but are still useful. Ghiselin observes that Dawkins is NOT content with rebutting creationists but goes on to press home his arguments against alternative theories to neo-Darwinism and he thinks the book fills the need to know more about evolution that others would conceal from them. He concludes that Readers who are not outraged will be delighted and he notes that Dawkins demolishes several weak arguments, such as the argument from personal incredulity. He denies that Dawkinss computer exercises and arguments from gradual change show that forms of life could have evolved. Willard concludes by arguing that in writing this book, Dawkins is not functioning as a scientist in the line of Darwin, the engineer Theo Jansen read the book in 1986 and became fascinated by evolution and natural selection. Since 1990 he has been building kinetic sculptures, the Strandbeest, the journalist Dick Pountain described Sean B. Carrolls 2005 account of developmental biology, Endless Forms Most Beautiful, as the most important popular science book since The Blind Watchmaker. New York, W. W. Norton & Company, Inc, evolution for those that have ears. We Are All Contraptions – review by Michael Ghiselin
22.
River Out of Eden
–
River Out of Eden, A Darwinian View of Life is a 1995 popular science book by Richard Dawkins. The book is about Darwinian evolution and includes summaries of the topics covered in his books, The Selfish Gene, The Extended Phenotype. It is part of the Science Masters series and is Dawkinss shortest book and it also includes illustrations by Lalla Ward, Dawkinss wife. The books name is derived from Genesis 2,10 relating to the Garden of Eden, the King James Version reads And a river went out of Eden to water the garden, and from thence it was parted, and became into four heads. River Out of Eden comprises five chapters, the first chapter lays down the framework on which the rest of the book is built, that life is a river of genes flowing through geological time where organisms are mere temporary bodies. The second chapter shows how human ancestry can be traced via many pathways to different most recent common ancestors. The third chapter describes how gradual enhancement via natural selection is the mechanism which can create the complexity we observe all around us in nature. The fourth chapter expounds on the indifference of genes towards organisms they build and discard. The last chapter summarises milestones during the evolution of life on Earth, in a world where most organisms die before they can procreate, descendants are common but ancestors are rare. But we can all claim an unbroken chain of successful ancestors all the way back to the first single-celled organism, each generation of organisms is a sieve against which replicated and mutated genes are tested. Good genes fall through the sieve into the next generation while bad genes are weeded out and this explains why organisms become better and better at whatever it takes to succeed, and is in stark contrast to Lamarckism. Successful organisms do not and cannot refine their genes during their lifetime, rather, good genes make successful organisms which perpetuate good genes themselves. Temporary bodies are created and discarded, but good genes live forever in the form of replicas of themselves. Through meiosis, immortal genes find themselves sharing temporary bodies with different set of intimate companion genes in successive generations of organisms, thus genes can be said to flow in a river through geological time. Scoop up a bucket of genes from the river of genes, even though genes are selfish, over the long run every gene needs to be compatible with all other genes in the gene pool of a population of organisms, to produce successful organisms. A river of genes may fork into two branches, mostly due to the separation between two populations of organisms. Because genes in the two branches never share the same bodies, they may drift apart until genes from the two branches become incompatible, organisms created by these two branches will form separate, non-interbreeding species, completing the process of speciation. When tracing human lineage back in time, most people look at parents, grandparents, great-grandparents, the same approach is often taken when tracing descendants via children and grandchildren
23.
Climbing Mount Improbable
–
Climbing Mount Improbable is a 1996 popular science book by Richard Dawkins. The book is about probability and how it applies to the theory of evolution, the main metaphorical treatment is of a geographical landscape, upon which evolution can only ascend in a gradual way, not being able to climb cliffs. In the book Dawkins gives ideas about a complex mechanism coming about from many gradual steps that were previously unseen. The book grew out of the annual Royal Institution Christmas Lectures which Dawkins delivered in 1991 and it is illustrated by Dawkins wife Lalla Ward, and is dedicated to Robert Winston, a good doctor and a good man
24.
Unweaving the Rainbow
–
Unweaving the Rainbow is a 1998 book by Richard Dawkins, discussing the relationship between science and the arts from the perspective of a scientist. Dawkins addresses the misperception that science and art are at odds and this pleasure was not in spite of, but rather because he does not assume as cause the inexplicable actions of a deity but rather the understandable laws of nature. His starting point is John Keats well-known, light-hearted accusation that Isaac Newton destroyed the poetry of the rainbow by reducing it to the prismatic colours. The agenda of the book is to show the reader that science does not destroy, the following summary of the books arguments in favour of science does not attempt to reproduce the actual explanations of scientific phenomena, which in fact form most of the text. Therefore, science should not be feared as a sort of cosmological wet blanket and we are going to die, and that makes us the lucky ones. Most people are never going to die because they are never going to be born, the potential people who could have been here in my place but who will in fact never see the light of day outnumber the sand grains of Arabia. Certainly those unborn ghosts include greater poets than Keats, scientists greater than Newton and we know this because the set of possible people allowed by our DNA so massively outnumbers the set of actual people. In the teeth of these stupefying odds it is you and I, in our ordinariness and we privileged few, who won the lottery of birth against all odds, how dare we whine at our inevitable return to that prior state from which the vast majority have never stirred. Richard Dawkins has stated on several occasions that these lines should be read at his funeral, the first chapter describes several ways in which the universe appears beautiful and poetic when viewed scientifically. However, it first introduces an additional reason to embrace science, time and space are vast, so the probability that the reader came to be alive here and now, as opposed to another time or place, was slim. More important, the probability that the reader came to be alive at all were even slimmer, given how special these circumstances are, the noble thing to do is employ the allotted several decades of human life towards understanding that universe. Rather than simply feeling connected with nature, one should rise above this anaesthetic of familiarity and this chapter describes a third reason to embrace science, improving ones performance in the arts. Science is often presented publicly in a format, dumbed down to fit the language. This offers a disservice to the public, who are capable of appreciating the beauty of the universe as deeply as a scientist can. The successful communication of unadulterated science enhances, not confuses, the arts, after all and we should therefore battle the stereotype that science is difficult, uncool, and not useful for the common person. Studying a phenomenon, such as a flower, cannot detract from its beauty, first, some scientists, such as Feynman, are able to appreciate the aesthetics of the flower while engaged in their study. Second, the mysteries which science unfolds lead to new and more exciting mysteries, for example and this chapter offers more evidence that science is fun and poetic, by exploring sound waves, birdsong, and low-frequency phenomena such as pendula and periodic mass extinctions. A fourth reason to embrace science is that it can help deliver justice in a court of law, everyone should learn the scientists art of probability assessment, to make better decisions
25.
The Ancestor's Tale
–
The Ancestors Tale, A Pilgrimage to the Dawn of Life is a 2004 popular science book by Richard Dawkins, with contributions from Dawkins research assistant Yan Wong. It follows the path of humans backwards through history, meeting humanitys cousins as they converge on common ancestors. Dawkinss longest book to date, it was nominated for the 2005 Aventis Prize for Science Books, Richard Dawkins starts the tale by talking about history. He claims that evolution rhymes and patterns recur and he talks about our universe that has its own remarkable set of laws and constants which are capable of generating us and other organisms living on this planet. Not only it is capable of generating organisms, it is capable of evolving them too and he claims that biological evolution has no privilege line of descent and no designated end. Evolution has arrived at many millions of interim ends and organisms are still evolving and he believes that evolution is directional, progressive and even predictable. He also talks about how homo sapiens tend to think that they are more evolved than other and they just have inherited different traits that helped them survive through natural selection. Dawkins claims that all species are equal and he uses backward chronology, instead of forward chronology because in backward chronology, no matter where you start, you end up celebrating the unity of life. While going forward just extols diversity, in a backward chronology, the ancestors of any set of species must eventually meet at a particular geological moment. The last common ancestor is the one that all share which he calls Concestor. The oldest concestor is the ancestor of all surviving life forms on this planet. There is no sign of other independent origins of life and if new ones arise and this book is a pilgrimage to discover human ancestors and as it progresses, it meets other pilgrims who join humans in order as the book reaches the common ancestor that human share with them. Human only passes 40 rendezvous before hitting the origin of life itself, in each rendezvous, we find one particular ancestor, the concestor which has the same labeling number as the rendezvous. All the creatures in this tale are alive except for 2 classes, the two exceptions are Dodo and Handyman. Dawkin’s book’s structure is inspired by Geoffrey Chaucers The Canterbury Tales, at each rendezvous point, Dawkins recounts interesting tales concerning the cousin animals which are about to join the band of pilgrims. Every newly recruited species, genus or family has its own peculiar features, for instance, Dawkins discusses why the axolotl never needs to grow up, how new species come about, how hard it is to classify animals, and why our fish-like ancestors moved to the land. Even though the book is best read sequentially, every chapter can also be read independently as a tale with an emphasis on a particular aspect of modern biology. As a whole, the book elaborates on all topics in evolution
26.
The God Delusion
–
He is sympathetic to Robert Pirsigs statement in Lila that when one person suffers from a delusion it is called insanity. When many people suffer from a delusion it is called religion, with many examples, he explains that one does not need religion to be moral and that the roots of religion and of morality can be explained in non-religious terms. In early December 2006, it reached number four in the New York Times Hardcover Non-Fiction Best Seller list after nine weeks on the list, more than three million copies were sold. The book has attracted commentary, with many books written in response. Dawkins has argued against creationist explanations of life in his previous works on evolution, the theme of The Blind Watchmaker, published in 1986, is that evolution can explain the apparent design in nature. In The God Delusion he focuses directly on a range of arguments used for. Dawkins had long wanted to write a book openly criticising religion, by the year 2006, his publisher had warmed to the idea. Dawkins attributes this change of mind to four years of Bush and this led to a 50% growth in that category over the three years to that date. Dawkins dedicates the book to Douglas Adams and quotes the novelist, the first few chapters make a case that there is almost certainly no God, while the rest discuss religion and morality. Dawkins writes that The God Delusion contains four consciousness-raising messages, Atheists can be happy, balanced, moral, Natural selection and similar scientific theories are superior to a God hypothesis—the illusion of intelligent design—in explaining the living world and the cosmos. Children should not be labelled by their parents religion, terms like Catholic child or Muslim child should make people cringe. Atheists should be proud, not apologetic, because atheism is evidence of a healthy, chapter one, A deeply religious non-believer, seeks to clarify the difference between what Dawkins terms Einsteinian religion and supernatural religion. Dawkins instead takes issue with the present in religions like Christianity, Islam. The proposed existence of this interventionist God, which Dawkins calls the God Hypothesis and he maintains that the existence or non-existence of God is a scientific fact about the universe, which is discoverable in principle if not in practice. Dawkins summarises the main philosophical arguments on Gods existence, singling out the argument from design for longer consideration, Dawkins concludes that evolution by natural selection can explain apparent design in nature. A hypothesis, with supporting theories, that explains how, from simple origins and principles, something more complex can emerge. At the end of chapter 4, Dawkins sums up his argument and states, The temptation is a false one, the whole problem we started out with was the problem of explaining statistical improbability. It is obviously no solution to something even more improbable
27.
The Magic of Reality
–
The Magic of Reality, How We Know Whats Really True is a 2011 book by the British biologist Richard Dawkins, with illustrations by Dave McKean. The book was released on 15 September 2011 in the United Kingdom and it is a graphic science book aimed primarily at children and young adults. The book is published in the United Kingdom by Bantam Press, ill call the first one supernatural magic, the second one stage magic and the third one poetic magic. Next to the beauty and magic of the real world, supernatural spells and stage tricks seem cheap. The magic of reality is neither supernatural nor a trick, but – quite simply – wonderful, most chapters begin with brief re-tellings of creation myths that emerged as attempts to explain the origin of particular observed phenomena. Dawkins also revisits his childhood and recalls his initial thoughts on various phenomena or those thoughts expressed by his young contemporaries. A large pumpkin randomly reassembled at the most minute level would be more likely to result in a featureless pile of ash or sludge than in a complex. Dawkins characterises his understanding of quantum mechanics as foggy and so declines to very far into that topic. To illustrate this he undertakes a thought-experiment involving family photographs, the last two chapters discuss chaos and the human psychology behind so-called miracle claims such as the examples of Our Lady of Fátima and the Cottingley Fairies. Dawkins presents philosopher David Humes argument that claims should only be seriously accepted if it would be a bigger miracle that the claimant was either lying or mistaken. Dawkins regards miracle claims written down in texts subsequently deemed sacred as not exempt from this standard, the strength is that he knows his ground. The weakness is that – for a family audience – he deliberately constrains his vocabulary along with the exuberant imagery, the New Scientist article collates the reviews of Andy Coghlan and those of his 20-year-old daughter Phoebe and his 13-year-old son Callum. Coghlan calls the book a triumph but wishes Dawkins had a chapter entitled Why do people do bad things to others, saying The book provides a golden opportunity for Dawkins to ask whether we can evolve to treat one another more civilly. Coghlan also supports Dawkins encouraging readers to be bowled over by the beauty of reality – a sentiment I thoroughly support. Too few of us wake up each day and reflect on how amazing it is that we are not only alive, Phoebe liked the book, she writes I was unable to put the book down. I found myself enjoying learning exciting new facts and having old ones reinforced and it was definitely no repeat of the classroom scenario. Perhaps the books greatest asset is that it manages to bring science to life, the vibrant illustrations reinforce this, as do the fun font styles. His style is colloquial, creating a relaxed, lighter tone, Callum, who is closest to the intended age for the book, doesnt need to be persuaded about the bounds of reality, he writes, Miracles dont exist
28.
An Appetite for Wonder
–
An Appetite for Wonder, The Making of a Scientist is the first volume of the autobiographical memoir by British evolutionary biologist Richard Dawkins. A second volume, Brief Candle in the Dark, My Life in Science, the satirical magazine Private Eye describes it as profoundly irksome. colourless. The self-absorption is extraordinary. Instead of providing a reflective memoir Dawkins huffs and harangues, leah Libresco, writing for First Things, finds the book invites comparisons with C. S. Lewis’ Surprised by Joy. Both are memoirs by thinkers who seemed a little surprised to end up as apologists, but the ideas and the arguments that he presents are in no sense novel or original, and he seems unaware of the critiques of positivism that appeared in its Victorian heyday. In The Independent, Brandon Robshaw describes the book as an appreciation and admiration of the qualities of others, as well as a transparent love of life, literature –
29.
Brief Candle in the Dark: My Life in Science
–
Brief Candle in the Dark, My Life in Science is the second volume of the autobiographical memoir by British evolutionary biologist Richard Dawkins. It was published in English in September 2015, the first volume, titled An Appetite for Wonder, The Making of a Scientist, tells the first thirty-five years of his life, until the publication of The Selfish Gene in 1976. In Brief Candle in the Dark, Richard Dawkins continues his autobiography until a party for. He explains his inspirations, ideas, encounters and history and he mentions some of his heroes such as Charles Darwin, Peter Medawar, Niko Tinbergen, Bill Hamilton, John Maynard Smith, Douglas Adams, Carl Sagan and David Attenborough. Kirkus Reviews found the book an impressive overview, dwight Garner wrote that the book presents a public life more than a private one. Steven Shapin wrote that the book is a loose and multiply digressive collection of reminiscences, anecdotes, addenda, quotes from admirers, Brief Candle in the Dark, My Life in Science at Goodreads
30.
Growing Up in the Universe
–
Growing Up in the Universe was a series of lectures given by Richard Dawkins as part of the Royal Institution Christmas Lectures, in which he discussed the evolution of life in the universe. The lectures were first broadcast in 1991, in the form of five one-hour episodes, the Richard Dawkins Foundation for Reason and Science was granted the rights to the televised lectures, and a DVD version was released by the foundation on 20 April 2007. Dawkins book Climbing Mount Improbable developed from the ideas presented in the lectures, to start off part one, Dawkins discusses the amazing capabilities of the human body and contrasts these with the limited capabilities of computers and other man-made machines. He uses a small totem pole to illustrate the importance of studying our ancestors to understand how weve evolved, to contrast ease of reproduction with the difficulty of becoming an ancestor, Dawkins uses the example of paper folding to explain exponential growth. To be in this group, the organism must have what it takes to survive. The long chain of successful ancestors means that the probability of our existence is very small, by turning down the lights and shining a small spotlight on a large ruler in front of him, Dawkins illustrates the darkness of the distant past and of the unknown future. After expounding on how lucky we are to be alive, and urging us not to waste the time that we have. He mentions the reply that Michael Faraday gave to Sir Robert Peel when asked about the use of science, faradays response was What is the use of a baby. Dawkins explains that Faraday was either referring to the vast potential of a baby, or to the idea that there must be something more to life than growing up, working, getting old, and dying. There must be a point to it all, Perhaps science can uncover the answers to our biggest questions and he uses a scanning electron microscope to look at small organisms including mites, mosquitoes, and a bee being parasitized by a strepsiptera. Using a model of a cell, he discusses the mitochondria. Dawkins suggests that we can also shake off the familiarity by stepping backwards in time, by using a single pace to represent going back 1000 years, he starts at year zero and takes four steps in front of his desk, going back to 4000 BCE. Pointing to a portrait of Homo habilis, he states that to go back to the time of habilis and he has audience members hold up portraits of other human ancestors, telling them how far he would have to walk to get back to the time of each one. By imagining what an advanced alien species would think of humans if they were to arrive on Earth and they would know about pi, the Pythagorean theorem, and the theory of relativity. However, Dawkins explains that the alien anthropologists would most likely scoff at our local, parochial religious beliefs and he then contrasts evidence-based beliefs with revealed, tradition-based, and authority-based beliefs. To explain the problem with beliefs in the supernatural, Dawkins conducts an experiment with the audience to find the psychic. Using a coin, he assigns half the audience to will it to land on heads, after each flip, the section of the audience that was wrong is eliminated from the experiment, and he repeats the experiment using the remainder. After eight coin flips, only one boy in the audience remains, Dawkins then asks the question Is he psychic
31.
Dawkins vs. Gould
–
Dawkins vs. Gould, Survival of the Fittest is a book by philosopher of biology Kim Sterelny about the differing views of biologists Richard Dawkins and Stephen Jay Gould. When first published in 2001 it became an international best-seller, a new edition was published in 2007 to include Goulds The Structure of Evolutionary Theory finished shortly before his death in 2002, and more recent works by Dawkins. The synopsis below is from the 2007 publication, in the introductory chapter the author points out that there have been many conflicts in biology. Still, few have been as public or as polemical as the one between Dawkins and Gould, Dawkins sees evolution as a competition between gene lineages, where organisms are vehicles for those genes. Gould, a palaeontologist in the tradition of George Gaylord Simpson, has a different perspective, for example, he sees chance as very important, and views organisms as being more important than genes. Their broader world views also differ, for instance they have different beliefs about the relationship between religion and science. This begins with a discussion on genes and gene lineages, in chapter 4, he discusses aspects of genomes and genetic replication, using various examples. He notes that in a story about magpie aggression, Dawkins story will be about genes and vehicles, whereas Gould and he then discusses the role of extended phenotypes, in which genotypes that influence their environment further increase the likelihood of replication. Chapter 5 explores selfish genes and the selection within the kingdom of co-operation as opposed to altruism, levels of selection. Sterelny notes that on the issue of selection, Dawkins. In chapter 6, Sterelny notes that despite the heat of some recent rhetoric, the same is true of the role of selection in generating evolutionary change, and naive adaptationism. Everyone accepts that many characteristics of organisms are not the result of selection, as in the example of redness of blood. Numerous general truths are uncontroversial though their application to particular cases may be, nor is there disagreement between Gould and Dawkins on core cases, such as echolocation in bats, which everyone agrees is an adaptation. They do however differ on the role of selection and variation. For example, they have different emphases on development, developmental constraints are fundamental to Goulds approach. Dawkins gives this less weight, and has been interested in enhanced possibilities open to lineages as a result of developmental revolutions. For example, the evolution of segmentation increases variation possibilities, Gould, on the other hand, is inclined to bet that the array of possibilities open to a lineage is tightly restricted, often to minor variants of its current state. Gould sees morphological stability as probably explained by constraints on the supply of variation to selection, so while both Dawkins and Gould recognise the central role of developmental biology in an explanation of evolutionary change, they make different bets as to what the role will be
32.
The Oxford Book of Modern Science Writing
–
The Oxford Book of Modern Science Writing is an anthology of scientific writings, arranged and introduced by Richard Dawkins of the University of Oxford. Published first in March 2008, it contains 83 writings on many topics from a variety of authors. All inclusions are dated post-1900, and include poetry, anecdotes, the book is divided into four segments. The following is a list of included in each segment. A. Fisher Mankind Evolving by Theodosius Dobzhansky Adaptation and Natural Selection by G. C. B. S. G. Simpson Trilobite. Chandrasekhar A Mathematicians Apology by G. H. Peter Forbes of The Independent praised Dawkins inclusions, steven Poole in The Guardian described it as a beautiful volume and a labour of love on Dawkins part. A number of science bloggers did criticise the lack of scientists included in the book
33.
The Enemies of Reason
–
The first part aired 13 August 2007 and the second on 20 August 2007. It includes interviews with Steve Fuller, Deepak Chopra, Satish Kumar, Dawkins points to some of science’s achievements and describes it as freeing most people from superstition and dogma. Picking up from his superstition-reason distinction in The Root of All Evil and he then says reason is facing an epidemic of superstition that impoverishes our culture and introduces gurus that persuade us to run away from reality. He calls the present day dangerous times and he returns to science’s achievements, including the fact that, by extending peoples lifespan, it helps them to take more advantage of life. He turns his attention to astrology, which he criticizes for stereotyping without evidence and he then visits a psychic medium, Simon Goodfellow, who makes statements Dawkins interprets as referring to retirement – which most people his age would soon be going in for but not Dawkins. Cornell then finds himself in contradiction over whether or not the spirit G, cornell next tries suggesting this spirit was in the military – again, typical of deceased relatives of people Dawkins’s age, but not of Dawkins. In another notable segment Dawkins visits a psychic for £50 who said she could hear or see his father on the other side, Dawkins let the woman do the reading and at the end informed her that his father is alive, and he visits him frequently. Hamilton-Parker says his powers have been proven to me against my rationality. Dawkins ends his study of séances by noting the arguments are based on untestable, private, subjective anecdotes, Dawkins now describes the history of scientific knowledge of echolocation, and points to the cumulative build-up of corroborating evidence for scientific explanations of the phenomena. He visits psychologist Chris French, who is performing a double-blind test of dowsing, none of the dowsers perform better, in a statistically significant sense, than is expectable by chance alone. While the dowsers are surprised, Dawkins and French note that their confidence is untouched, Dawkins now interviews Satish Kumar about ideas such as treeness and rockness. Dawkins points out that it is all evidence-free assertion and he responds to the science is bleak argument by saying that the world is so wonderful that the word mundane has a mismatched meaning and etymology. He then complains about the fall in the number of students taking chemistry. He suggests this is partly because of the UK education system encouraging students to value personal feeling over evidence and he interviews the relativist Steve Fuller and criticises him for being so close to being right but. Fuller points out that different people can interpret the same evidence differently, Fuller also points out the benefits of the Internet, and Dawkins agrees, but then turns to the dangers it poses in causing the spread of fabricated statements. He also points to the fact that the MMR vaccine scandal involved a conspiracy theory about the UK government. Dawkins concludes that reason built the modern world and it is a precious but fragile thing. Dawkins criticizes the growing field of medicine which does not pass the same objective
34.
The Genius of Charles Darwin
–
The Genius of Charles Darwin is a three-part television documentary, written and presented by evolutionary biologist Richard Dawkins. It was first shown in August 2008 on Channel 4 and it won Best TV Documentary Series 2008 at the British Broadcast Awards in January 2009. In the first episode Richard Dawkins explains the basic mechanisms of natural selection and he teaches a year 11 science class about evolution, which many of the students are reluctant to accept. He then takes them to the Jurassic Coast in Dorset to search for fossils, Dawkins also visits the place of his birth, Nairobi, where he interviews a prostitute who seems to have a genetic immunity to HIV, and talks to microbiologist Larry Gelmon. He goes on to predict that genetic immunity is a trait that will become more prevalent in the community over time, in the second episode Richard Dawkins deals with some of the philosophical and social ramifications of the theory of evolution. Dawkins starts out in Kenya, speaking with palaeontologist Richard Leakey and he then visits Christ is the Answer Ministries, Kenyas largest Pentecostal church, to interview Bishop Bonifes Adoyo. Adoyo has led the movement to press the National Museums of Kenya to sideline its collection of hominid bones pointing to mans evolution from ape to human, the collection includes the Turkana Boy discovered by Kamoya Kimeu, a member of a team led by Richard Leakey in 1984. Dawkins discusses social Darwinism and eugenics, explaining how these are not versions of natural selection, and he then meets with evolutionary psychologist Steven Pinker to discuss how morals can be compatible with natural selection. He goes on to explaining sexual selection, with peafowls as an example, to find out whether sexual selection plays a role for altruism and kindness among humans, he visits women who are looking for sperm donors, as well as a sperm bank manager. Dawkins also explains kin selection and selfish genes, in the third and final episode, Dawkins explains why Darwins theory is one of historys most controversial ideas. Dawkins uses this episode to discuss the opposition that evolution has experienced since it was first discovered and he starts by approaching various anti-evolutionists, ranging from John Mackay from Creation Research, Wendy Wright, President of Concerned Women for America, to English school teacher Nick Cowen. In order to address concerns they bring up, he shows the evidence for evolution, including fossil and DNA evidence. com
35.
The Unbelievers
–
There is no through-line, we just wanted to show what it is like to be them. Gus Holwerda came to know Lawrence Krauss via Christopher Hitchens and first met him at an Origins Symposium, the plan was not realized immediately, but Krauss approached the two, when the Origins Symposium wanted to archive its events. The quality of their work with Origins eventually convinced him to go on with the project, which fortuitously began. Gus and Luke Holwerda followed them around for 8 months and produced 120 hours of films, each interview with the celebrities lasted an hour. Woody Allen, a friend of Lawrence Krauss, was the first celebrity interviewee, the world premiere for The Unbelievers was on April 29,2013 at Hot Docs Film Festival in Toronto, Ontario, and all four screenings of the film were sold out. The review aggregation website Rotten Tomatoes reports that 44% of critics gave the film a review based on 9 reviews. Metacritic calculated a score of 32 based on 7 reviews, the film has fared better among viewers, garnering an average 4.0 out of 5.0 stars on iTunes and Amazon. The New York Times described it as too poorly made to entertain, variety described it as a superficial documentary where every moment is captured with the reverence of a fawning fan. Official website The Unbelievers at the Internet Movie Database Gus and Luke Holwerda at the Internet Movie Database The Unbelievers at Rotten Tomatoes
