In this revolutionary, richly illustrated book, Richard Dawkins demonstrates how the body, behavior, and genes of every living creature can be read as a book—an archive of the worlds of its ancestors. Dawkins explains that in the future, a zoologist will be able to decode the ancestral history of any unknown animal, reading its unique 'book of the dead'. This approach is already revealing the remarkable ways animals overcome obstacles, adapt to their environments, and develop similar solutions to life’s problems.
Jean-François Lyotard's "The Postmodern Condition" is a seminal work in postmodern thought, exploring the nature of knowledge and its relationship to power in contemporary society. Lyotard argues that postmodernity is characterized by a decline of grand narratives and a proliferation of localized knowledge systems. He introduces the concept of legitimation by paralogy, suggesting that knowledge is increasingly validated through consensus rather than objective truth. The book examines the impact of technology and information on knowledge production and dissemination. Lyotard's work has had a significant influence on various fields, including critical theory, cultural studies, and education.
In 'Catching Fire: How Cooking Made Us Human,' Richard Wrangham presents a revolutionary theory that cooking was the key factor in human evolution. He argues that the shift from raw to cooked foods led to significant physiological changes, including a smaller digestive tract and larger brain. Cooking also influenced social structures, such as pair bonding, marriage, and the sexual division of labor. The book draws on evidence from various disciplines, including anthropology, biology, and nutritional science, to support Wrangham's hypothesis that cooking was essential for the emergence of Homo erectus and the development of modern humans.
Today's guest is evolutionary biologist and outspoken atheist Richard Dawkins, whom Reason's Nick Gillespie interviewed last fall in Milwaukee as part of his "Final Bow" tour. Gillespie and Dawkins talked about why he believes science can't thrive without freedom, why gender ideology is starting to look a lot like Soviet Lysenkoism, and why some truths—like the binary nature of biological sex—shouldn't be up for political negotiation.
Dawkins discusses his new book, The Genetic Book of the Dead, what it means to live in a "colony of cooperating viruses," and why he thinks both religious dogma and postmodern relativism are enemies of progress (as an unapologetic postmodern libertarian, Gillespie argues about that last point).
They also explore how moral progress happens, whether atheism needs a replacement as a social and intellectual movement, and how cultural Christianity still casts a long shadow in an increasingly secular world.
This is a conversation for anyone who believes that science, skepticism, and freedom belong together—and who refuses to kowtow to ideological orthodoxy, wherever it comes from.
Upcoming Reason events:
0:00—Introduction
2:06—Dawkins' new book, The Genetic Book of the Dead
6:13—Selfish and cooperative genes
16:50—Heritability, variance, and twin studies
20:50—Cultural change leads to physical change
22:37—Ancient Babylon was just yesterday
24:28—Dawkins' first memory
25:13—New Zealand's "indigenous science" initiative
34:43—"Sex is the only biological binary"
37:46—Gender, transgenderism, and intersex
47:31—The folly of gender "norms"
49:42—Liberal inquiry and the shifting moral zeitgeist
53:15—Atheism's influence on knowledge and culture
57:27—Is Dawkins really a "cultural Christian"?
1:02:00—Death and legacy
1:03:50—Q&A
The post Richard Dawkins: Why Atheism Is Winning appeared first on Reason.com.
The Reason Interview With Nick Gillespie 
