Event: Richard Dawkins speaking at Portland State University (PSU), October 10, 2009
So…I made it down to the PSU Stott Center tonight, amazed to see hundreds of people waiting in line to hear Richard Dawkins read from his new book, THE GREATEST SHOW ON EARTH.
Note: I’ve never seen a crowd this size at a book reading. Where did these people come from? My wife, an agnostic who doesn’t know or care who Dawkins is, remarked that the crowd was young-looking (early 20s, by and large).
This young demographic bodes well for the next generation of critical thinkers, I guess, but my inner critic wonders if some were just pursuing the carrot of extra-credit points. I say this because a few younglings looked bored stiff as Dawkins riffed on DNA and phenotypes. Also, it’s possible that many of these hatchlings were drawn in by Dawkins’ frustrating association with the braying jackass Bill Maher. Who knows. Whatever the case, this was a very large crowd. I cede that the incentive getting people there is irrelevant. It’s nice to see a giant swarm of curious minds at such a gathering.
My curious mind is still fresh from the proceedings, so here’s a few thoughts on the readings and Dawkins’ Q&A session (adroitly set up via text messaging):
- The sound system sucked. Would it have killed the organizers to do a quality soundcheck prior to Dawkins’ arrival on-stage? Even Dawkins got annoyed. At one point, he slammed his papers on the floor to go turn off an additional stage mic. (I don’t want to be too hard on the people in charge of the festivities, but this was pretty distracting).
- In reading passages from his book, Dawkins noted that fossil records are not essential in proving evolution. Dawkins made the analogy of a spy camera at the scene of a crime. Sure, it’s great that its film animates the crime scene, but the photos are extraneous in the hands of a skilled forensic analyst.
- The audio screw-ups took some enjoyment out of Dawkins’ readings. The event organizers, to their credit, eventually got the stuff sorted out and the Q&A session was more engaging.
- When asked about the flood of “rebuttal” books that followed THE GOD DELUSION, Dawkins quoted Yeats and said “Was there ever a dog that praised his fleas?” He then directed us to the fleas on his Web site.
- Dawkins said age 7 or 8 would be a good time to introduce evolution to young minds. Evolution is rather easy to understand, unlike say, quantum physics.
- Dawkins noted that astronomers err in using evolutionary terms to describe stars. I think he said “embryology” better suited celestial objects. He did concede that universes may spawn “daughter” universes, though, and perform a kind of natural selection in that regard.
- Dawkins discussed homosexuality and added some interesting points to the dialogue of its origination. He said we may be asking the wrong question when contemplating the whereabouts of a homosexuality gene. Perhaps there is no homosexuality gene but rather a gene that may be conditioned through nurturing to alter its genetic propensity. To illustrate, Dawkins described a baby with one such malleable gene; the gene’s susceptibility to change is triggered by bottle-fed milk in lieu of breast-fed milk. Dawkins stressed that he does not endorse this theory, necessarily, but it’s another tool to help further the discussion.
- Another interesting talking point on homosexuality: Dawkins went back to our ancestral apes for this one. Who better to watch the clan when the alpha male goes hunting than — not necessarily the strongest male — but the strongest male least likely to shagg the alpha male’s harem. In short, homosexuality may have gotten through natural selection’s discriminating filters because it provided a valuable service.
- I don’t follow evolution issues very closely but Dawkins broached the “aquatic ape theory,” which is brand-new territory for me. Per Wikipedia, this alternative evolutionary hypothesis entails a poolside lifestyle for our ancestral brethren.
- No shocker here, but Dawkins’ words for Bibical literalists and creationists were unkind. As Dawkins said himself, he is happy to take an intellectual sledgehammer to their small nuts.
- Dawkins quoted A.J. Ayer in rationalizing why it’s OK for an atheist to say grace at a meal: “I won’t utter falsehoods, but I’ve no objection to uttering meaningless statements.”
- Dawkins said he thinks the universe has plenty of alien life. He did discuss the possibility that Earth life is unique, though, and that this possibility is rife with consequence. I’m not sure I understood his point, but allow me to pontificate: a “rare Earth” means the God of Intelligent Design is a poseur. If all He can assemble is one measly planet of sentient beings — in an infinite or near-infinite universe of his own making — then precisely what purpose does his floundering omnipotence serve?
- As Dawkins hammered away at holy book literalists, he brought up Noah’s Ark. He asked, if the Mountains of Ararat were the final destination point for Noah’s magic yacht, then where is the evidence left behind by marsupials who ditched Armenia and road-tripped to Australia? Where is the residual cha cha cha of chinchillas who carpooled to South America? Or the fossilized camp sites of penguins en route to the South Pole?
- Dawkins was in fine form for this item: If the cheetah is a machine built for killing gazelles — and it is — then what does this say about the gazelle? The unique build of the gazelle, after all, makes it nature’s most skilled cheetah dodger. So…what kind of paradoxical mind-fuck is taking place here? Whose side is God on? Or is God a sadist? WHISKEY TANGO FUCK?
- Dawkins said it’s troubling that young scientific minds do not veer toward physics. He described a recent encounter with state-of-the-art physics technology (the Large Hadron Collider, I believe) whose beauty reduced him to tears. Now is the time for bright young minds to embrace this discipline.
- An audience member asked Dawkins if he had seen IDIOCRACY. The answer was no.
- Dawkins politely shut down a meme question.
In sum, a fine evening. Thanks to the Center for Inquiry for its hard work and for making sure the sound gaffes did not spiral out of control. I hope this blog post does not provide cheating fodder for PSU students on their extra-credit projects. (Cheap shot! Sorry, kids. Some of you did look really bored, though.)
