This is a really excellent TV series narrated by Richard Dawkins. I'm very impressed with Dawkins as a TV personality and I agree completely with his view of Darwin as an extraordinary genius. The one thing that bothers me is the adaptationist bias of Dawkins—the same thing I've been complaining about in several other postings.At the beginning of Part 1, Dawkins says ...
This series is about perhaps the most powerful idea ever to occur to a human mind. The idea is evolution by natural selection and the genius who thought of it was Charles Darwin.... What Darwin achieved was nothing less than the complete explanation of the complexity and diversity of all life. And yet it's one of the simplest ideas that anyone ever had.This is not correct. The complete explanation requires knowledge of genes, genetics, population genetics, random genetic drift, speciation, horizontal gene transfer, biochemistry, physiology, embryology, developmental biology, molecular drive, mutation, recombination, punctuated equilibria, species selection (possibly), cladistics, mass extinctions, plate tectonics, and much more. Even with all that there are still some things we're unsure about, like how to explain the Cambrian explosion
Part 2
Part 3
Part 4
Part 5
A couple of times during the program (particularly at the beginning) he says that he is an atheist, and links this to his knowledge of Darwinian evolutionary theory. These statements don't quite flow and a few people remarked on this on Dawkins site - to which he posted the following, somewhat surprising statement.
ReplyDelete"I have to admit that this, and other honest statements of atheism, were thrust upon me, against my will (especially right at the beginning of Episode 1), not by the Director or the television company, but by the LAWYER! That sounds weird. It isn't strictly a legal worry, but a worry about satisfying Ofcom, the regulatory body that controls British television. I don't fully understand it, but I THINK it has something to do with the need to 'respect' creationists. The lawyer thought that Ofcom would have preferred me to present 'both sides'. Because I obviously wasn't going to do that, he thought the next best thing was to be completely up front and announce, in advance, that the reason I took the line I did was that I was an atheist.
Of course, I don't like the sound of that at all. I'd prefer to say I'm an evolutionist because the evidence is so convincing. It is as though the lawyer has been infected by the 'all opinions are equally valid' viewpoint. So it's OK to promote evolution rather than creation, so long as I announce, IN ADVANCE that I am an atheist."
Good that CLinton Dawkins conectes atheism with evolution.
ReplyDeleteIs the Origin of Species doctrine?
ReplyDelete"I believe in one, indivisible origin of all living things, creator of all species...."
If the Origin is doctrine, is Darwin a Prophet?
Please let us know when episode 2 comes out.
ReplyDelete