Richard Dawkins

The Life Scientific

BBC

Technology, Personal Journals, Society & Culture, Science

4.6 • 1.4K Ratings

🗓️ 4 September 2012

⏱️ 29 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Richard Dawkins' first book on evolutionary biology "The Selfish Gene" was published to much acclaim and some controversy in 1976. In this interview with Jim Al-Khalili, Professor Dawkins discusses his enthusiasm for the science that inspired the book and how he popularised the idea of the immortal gene. Using the source material from scientists such as Bill Hamilton, Robert Trivers and John Maynard Smith, he presented a gene's eye view of the world. He's written many other books on evolutionary biology, such as "The Extended Phenotype" "Unweaving the Rainbow" and "The Ancestors Tale". In 2006 he published a polemic which he describes as "a gentlemanly attack on religion", "The God Delusion". Jim asks what he hoped to achieve by writing the book and finds out why he would rather be known for his science than his atheism.

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0	Once you've wrapped up this podcast, how about trying a very British cult?
0:06.0	What happens if the person you trust with your future isn't what you think they are?
0:10.0	I did feel the whole time he was watching me Yeti. I saw a footprint and that really gave me gusmas.
0:16.4	Or people who knew me. Emme, I remember every secret, every lie. I'm the only one who knows the truth.
0:23.0	Discover more of our biggest podcast from 2003.
0:27.0	Listen on BBC Sounds.
0:29.0	Thanks for downloading The Life Scientific from BBC Radio 4.
0:33.6	I'm Jim Allele and in this interview I talk to Richard Dawkins
0:37.6	and find out why he'd much rather chat about science than religion.
0:41.6	Richard Dawkins is one of the best known scientists in Britain.
0:45.0	As a writer, his books such as The Selfish Gene,
0:48.0	unwaving the Rainbow, and the Ancestor's Tale,
0:51.0	all bring evolutionary theory to a popular audience. But less commonly
0:56.1	for a popular science writer, Richard is also praised for his literary style. An
1:01.0	advocate for science and rationalism, he's also famous, some might say, infamous for his
1:05.8	championing of atheism and his book The God Delusion has sold over 2 million copies.
1:10.8	He's also recently received an honorary award at the British Humanist
1:14.1	Society for Services to Humanism. Welcome Richard.
1:17.6	Thank you.
1:18.6	Probably your two best-known books are The Selfish Gene and The God Del God delusion published in 1976 and 2006 respectively.
1:27.0	With these two books, do you think you hit a nerve or a need among the general population? Two different nerves, I suppose.
1:34.0	I mean, the selfish gene is about biology, it's about evolutionary biology,
	...

Please login to see the full transcript.

Previous episode | Next episode

Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from BBC, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.

Generated transcripts are the property of BBC and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.