Yesterday, Rita Levi-Montalcini, an Italian neurologist and Nobel laureate, died at the age of 103. I don’t have enough words for an adequate tribute, so read more about her here.
- Dear Hacker Community – We Need To Talk – A post about misogyny and sexism in the hacker community. From Amy.
- Amnesia and the Self That Remains When Memory Is Lost – The case of a man who lost his memory but not his intelligence.
- Saudi Arabia uses capital offence of ‘apostasy’ to stifle debate – From CriticalDragon1177.
- Peter Higgs criticises Richard Dawkins over anti-religious ‘fundamentalism’ – From Amy.
- Convention Season Is Coming: Here’s How to Talk to Women Cosplayers
I partially agree with Higgs, Dawkins is a giant windbag and is the posterchild for overly-long-and-predictable arguments about why Jesus isn’t cool.
Seriously, whenever I see atheists or skeptics online writing long and large rebuttals of religion, I roll my eyes. Yes, religion is untrue. Do we need to write 8000 paragraphs explaining that fact?
Is he a fundamentalist? I wouldn’t say so. Does he love the sound of his own voice? Absolutely.
I agree with you. That’s probably why I avoid Dawkins’ books.
There’s that and his sexist remarks that keep me from getting his stuff.
I’m 100% with all you guys on that. A pretentious pommie prat. Embarrassing. Luna makes a great point too.
“Does he love the sound of his own voice? Absolutely.”
Makes it sound as if Dawkins is the William Shatner of the atheist community. :)
What might be a better approach for Dawkins to take?
In my mind? To shut the fuck up ASAP :).
But from his perspective, he can making long ranting writings that validate his own ego and he makes millions from it. Not only that but he’s got tons of fanboys and girls telling him how awesome he is.
I’m sure it feels like the best job in the world.
Thanks for the article on Rita Levi-Montalcini.
Local media here never carries news like that (far as I’ve seen).
Mary,
Thanks for helping draw attention to Raif Badawy’s plight. While I’m glad you posted a link to the Amnesty international story about him, I was really hoping that you would also post a link to the petition to free Badawy. While, it isn’t much, it may end up being his only hope of not being execute for speaking his mind.
Free and safeguard Raif Badawy, a liberal Saudi accused of “Apostasy”
http://www.change.org/petitions/free-and-safeguard-raif-badawy-a-liberal-saudi-accused-of-apostasy
It’s about time people spoke up about Dawkins. Yes, we know Creationists need to be stopped. Other than that, Dawkins and his ilk have some nerve acting as though they are speaking for the scientific community when Dawkins hasn’t even published any studies in recent memory.
Sorry, but science isn’t about emotion, and that’s what Dawkins’ drivel boils down to; a long and boring temper tantrum.
I think you’re right. I would go further. This is something I have thought about a lot and it’s hard to put in words.
Science>>>>>>>Skepticism and Atheism>>>>Dawkins or any other individual.
Science, Grand Canonical Science, with all its millions of members in all the countries of the world, its professional bodies and peer reviewed journals, etc, will make up its own mind in its own good time about what is good and bad science and who is a good or a bad scientist.
“We”, whether Skeptics or Atheists or Dawkins, should be a bit careful to be sure that “we” are a good ally.
If you value your sanity I would avoid reading the comments, on the Cryptoparty link.
I think Dawkins is quite funny and he’s been hugely influential in making people publicly declare themselves atheists. I very much enjoy his books and I think that frankly, in this respect, Peter Higgs is being a coward and a prick.
I’d happily agree that Dawkins isn’t perfect (and he was an utter cock about the whole Elevator Incident) but as this isn’t religion and Dawkins isn’t some kind of Messiah figure, he doesn’t need to be. And I think, on balance, he’s definitely ahead. Much like Hitchens who’s also made some stupid and dickish statements but whom I still regard as a net positive.
So here’s a voice in support of Dawkins and a request that Peter Higgs go eat a fucking turd.