(February 18, 2012 at 8:18 pm)Sciwoman Wrote: Same here leo. I suppose my respect for him as a human being has been greatly diminished, but I still have some regard for him as a writer, a scientist, and a spokesperson for atheism. Dawkins may be good at explaining science and talking about atheism, but he's rather lacking in the ability to connect with others.

I am being a little left field here, however I have always wondered if Richard Dawkins is Mildly Autistic?

(February 19, 2012 at 1:43 am)Justtristo Wrote:

(February 18, 2012 at 8:18 pm)Sciwoman Wrote: Same here leo. I suppose my respect for him as a human being has been greatly diminished, but I still have some regard for him as a writer, a scientist, and a spokesperson for atheism. Dawkins may be good at explaining science and talking about atheism, but he's rather lacking in the ability to connect with others.

I am being a little left field here, however I have always wondered if Richard Dawkins is Mildly Autistic?

Could be somewhere on the spectrum. However, I put it down to having spent so much of his life in the ivory tower of academia - dealing with the proles just doesn't come naturally to him.

(February 18, 2012 at 6:14 pm)Cosmic Ape Wrote: What a bunch of ridiculous reasons not to like Richard Dawkins. haha

Do you care to expand upon that?

(February 19, 2012 at 7:33 am)Tiberius Wrote:

(February 18, 2012 at 6:14 pm)Cosmic Ape Wrote: What a bunch of ridiculous reasons not to like Richard Dawkins. haha

Do you care to expand upon that?

Despite other good things Dawkins has done/said you're going to stop liking/respecting the guy because he shut down a forum? I can take it or leave it on this one if you felt strongly about it.. but your second reason for not respecting him is because you happen to think his book wasn't well written philosophically after you read more books, well woop dee doo honestly...is that seriously a reason? it sounds petty and ridiculous. If you actually have a good reason to stop respecting Dawkins maybe you'd want to expand on that yourself because a forum (of his right?) and a style of writing being your reasons aren't good enough reasons in my eyes, not that my eyes matter but you asked me to expand. Wouldn't you say the things he's done have far outshined the things you seem to have issues with?

(February 19, 2012 at 12:30 pm)Cosmic Ape Wrote:

(February 19, 2012 at 7:33 am)Tiberius Wrote:

(February 18, 2012 at 6:14 pm)Cosmic Ape Wrote: What a bunch of ridiculous reasons not to like Richard Dawkins. haha

Do you care to expand upon that?

Despite other good things Dawkins has done/said you're going to stop liking/respecting the guy because he shut down a forum? I can take it or leave it on this one if you felt strongly about it.. but your second reason for not respecting him is because you happen to think his book wasn't well written philosophically after you read more books, well woop dee doo honestly...is that seriously a reason? it sounds petty and ridiculous. If you actually have a good reason to stop respecting Dawkins maybe you'd want to expand on that yourself because a forum (of his right?) and a style of writing being your reasons aren't good enough reasons in my eyes, not that my eyes matter but you asked me to expand. Wouldn't you say the things he's done have far outshined the things you seem to have issues with?

You missed the point. I never said he couldn't do what he liked with the forum. My point was that he seems to be unable to connect with people outside of the ivory tower of academia. He actually could not understand why people were upset with the way it was handled by Josh - the slowing down of the loading time of the forum, turning off PM's so people could not contact each other, the random deletion of users and threads, the outright lies Josh told RD about the forum. One of my friends who had been on staff sent him an email - Dawkins was far more concerned about a misplaced apostrophe in his name than he was about any of the concerns my friend was trying to bring to his attention. I don't dislike Dawkins, I just don't think he can relate to those who are not within academia's ivory tower, hence my loss of some of my respect for him. Hitchens would share a drink with you at the pub. Dawkins is better off staying behind a podium and talking to you from the pages of a book.

(February 19, 2012 at 12:30 pm)Cosmic Ape Wrote: ...a style of writing being your reasons aren't good enough reasons in my eyes...

It wasn't his style I had a problem with, it was the content. It has "converted" a load of people to atheism for all the wrong reasons imo. Like I said before, I still respect him as a biologist, but biologists should keep out of philosophy.

Quote:Wouldn't you say the things he's done have far outshined the things you seem to have issues with?

The last I checked, he was against private faith schools...so no, I don't think things like that outshine the others. On the skepticism front, I think he's more of a liability than anything else. On the public education / science front, I think he's brilliant.

(February 19, 2012 at 2:42 pm)Tiberius Wrote: It wasn't his style I had a problem with, it was the content. It has "converted" a load of people to atheism for all the wrong reasons imo. Like I said before, I still respect him as a biologist, but biologists should keep out of philosophy.

Unless those biologists actually know philosophy, Richard Dawkins does not which is disapponting for somebody who considers himself interested in the philosophy of science.

True. Sam Harris would be a good example I guess; he started out as an author / philosopher and has recently become a neuroscientist.

(February 19, 2012 at 2:42 pm)Tiberius Wrote: The last I checked, he was against private faith schools...so no, I don't think things like that outshine the others. On the skepticism front, I think he's more of a liability than anything else. On the public education / science front, I think he's brilliant.

Why would you be in favor of faith schools as an atheist? (I think you had militant atheist in your religious views right?) Not that you should be against it but I'd think a Militant Atheist would be against kids being forced into going to a faith school that their parents choose for them and the school prostelystizes and makes another generation of retarded sycophants.

I'm a secularist. I believe government and religion should be completely separate. That means the government cannot support religious schools, but at the same time cannot stop them from being formed privately.

I'm also a big believer in parent's rights. I think parents should have the ultimate say over what their children are taught. I intend to teach my children science; other parents might teach their children creationism. I have no right to demand that the government tries to stop them, because at the end of the day, I wouldn't want the same thing happening to me.