Hacker News new | ask | show | jobs
by wolvesechoes 45 days ago
Man that got famous by confidently making claims on stuff he has zero idea about (religion and philosophy) is still making claims on stuff he has zero idea about.

Dawkins should stick to pop-biology, and we should be more demanding before granting someone a title of public intellectual.
3 comments
dang 43 days ago
"Please don't post shallow dismissals, especially of other people's work. A good critical comment teaches us something."

https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html

link
bad_username 45 days ago
I never particularly revered Dawkins, but he always ranked reasonably high in educated circles, and his books were very popular.

But my goodness, the buckets of crap that get poured on him nowadays, in stark contrast with even 10 years ago. Parent comment is an exhibit.

I am 99% convinced that it's because Dawkins ended up on some "anti hate" group target list, after he said things in 2021 that the trans movement found offensive.

link
wolvesechoes 44 days ago
> he always ranked reasonably high in educated circles

Unless someone was educated in philosophy of religion, for example.

> and his books were very popular.

Hard to deny. I have a beef with pop-science in general, but nothing particularly bad about his books on evolution.

> But my goodness, the buckets of crap that get poured on him nowadays, in stark contrast with even 10 years ago. Parent comment is an exhibit.

My comment is not exhibit - I poured crap on him more than even 10 years ago, when he was one of the Four Horsemen (and I poured crap on other three as well), and generally celebrated.

I was there before it was fashionable.

> I am 99% convinced that it's because Dawkins ended up on some "anti hate" group target list, after he said things in 2021 that the trans movement found offensive.

Couldn't care less about trans movement or Dawkins opinion on gender issues.

link
tim333 44 days ago
You don't have to be expert in all subjects to be respected for one you do know, evolution in Dawkins case. The fact he considers religion to be nonsense and hence has limited knowledge of it doesn't change that.
link
mrkeen 45 days ago
It didn't go well for him staying in his area of expertise - evolutionary biology.

Can't blame a guy for branching out.

link