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Richard Dawkins off the deep end
By Michael White | October 29th 2008 09:13 PM | 4 comments | Print | E-mail | Track Comments
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About Michael White

Welcome to Adaptive Complexity, where I write about genomics, systems biology, evolution, and the connection between science and literature, government, and society.

I'm a biochemist


... Full Bio

At long last I'm getting a paper out the door, which means my latest blog column's been delayed.

In the mean time, John Hawks (whose blog you should be reading) has some priceless stuff on Richard Dawkins' war on Harry Potter:

Well, since he's outlining what would be the topic of a fifteen-year longitudinal study on cognition and reading experiences, I would guess that he'll settle for just waving his arms around and saying "wizards-bad-BAD." Which is pretty much what he did in The God Delusion.

I like Dawkins, but that's only because I've been very selective in my Dawkins reading. The Ancestor's Tale was amazing. I purposely haven't touched The God Delusion. (Daniel Dennett probably did a much better job in Breaking The Spell ).

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Hank's picture
Well, since he's outlining what would be the topic of a fifteen-year longitudinal study on cognition and reading experiences, I would guess that he'll settle for just waving his arms around and saying "wizards-bad-BAD." Which is pretty much what he did in The God Delusion.

Perfect. And as if that wasn't money quote enough ...
I'm wondering whether we should be scaring children with Dawkins...

I went to blogroll him and noticed that URL he has is some sort of Byzantine maze ... or a dare: http://johnhawks.net/weblog/hawks/hawks.html

Hank Campbell | 10/29/08 | 21:53 PM
adaptivecomplexity's picture
Yeah, Hawks has a pretty extensive setup. He says he tries to use his website to help his research productivity, which means he is much more organized than I am.

Michael White | 11/03/08 | 12:49 PM
Steve Davis's picture
Michael, if you like Dawkins, check out his treatment of Freeman Dyson a few months back. You might change your mind.

Steve Davis | 10/31/08 | 15:31 PM
adaptivecomplexity's picture
I haven't heard anything about his treatment of Dyson. I'll have to go check it out.

As I said, I do like Dawkins's science stuff very much. And in books like A Devil's Chaplin he makes some very passionate and excellent arguments for wider application of the scientific method.

But going off on Harry Potter? I'm baffled. Also, I'm not a religious believer myself, and I hate the influence of conservative religion on US politics, but I find some of Dawkins' attacks on all religion over the top.

Michael White | 11/03/08 | 12:47 PM

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