The following is a conversation with Richard Dawkins, an evolutionary biologist and author

of the selfish gene, the blind watchmaker, the god delusion, the magic of reality, and the greatest show of earth and his latest all-growing god.

He is the originator and popularizer of a lot of fascinating ideas in evolutionary biology and science in general, including funny enough the introduction of the word meme in his 1976 book The Selfish Gene.

Which, in the context of a gene-centered view of evolution, is an exceptionally powerful idea.

He's outspoken, bold, and often fearless in the defense of science and reason, and in this way is one of the most influential thinkers of our time.

This conversation was recorded before the outbreak of the pandemic for everyone feeling the medical, psychological, and financial burden of this crisis.

I'm sending love your way. Stay strong, or in this together, will beat this thing.

This is the Artificial Intelligence Podcast. If you enjoy it, subscribe by YouTube, review it with 5 stars on Apple Podcasts, support it on Patreon, or simply connect with me on Twitter, at Lex Friedman spelled F-R-I-D-M-A-N.

As usual, I'll do a few minutes of ads now and never any ads in the middle that can break the flow of the conversation.

I hope that works for you and doesn't hurt the listening experience.

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And now, here's my conversation with Richard Dawkins.

Do you think there's intelligent life out there in the universe?

Well, if we accept this intelligent life here, and we accept that the number of planets in the universe is gigantic.

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