Dawkins and the Dodo

Popularizing science is a difficult task in our present day, few care to know about it and those who do must grapple with ideas seemingly far removed from their day-to-day experience. These days, there is little public debate about any subject outside of the biological sciences, and what debates there are have less to do with the quality and direction of the science itself than with the supposed implications of whatever theory, usually natural selection, on religious-minded laymen. It seems to me undoubtedly the case that we are, in North America at least, at a low ebb in both an interest in and understanding of science.

That is why it is sad to learn that Richard Dawkins, perhaps the most prominent English-speaking scientist alive today, has announced that he is retiring from his position as Oxford University's Charles Simonyi Chair for the Public Understanding of Science. Dawkins has been at the forefront of lucid science writing ever since his controversal book The Selfish Gene was published in the late 1970s. The book provides his famous "gene's eye view of evolution" and notoriously implied, to some, that human beings and all other organisms for that matter were merely "survival machines" for the genes which comprise them. Dawkins produced numerous other monographs and anthologies all of which aimed at normalizing and publicizing the profound and exciting implications of Charles Darwin's theory.

It is telling that Dawkins is leaving the position just ahead of the 150th anniversary of Darwin's landmark On the Origin of Species next year. I can't imagine him lying low during such a momentous occasion given his apparent obsession with combating religious "readings" of science, especially those categorized as "creationism" and "intelligent design." In recent years Dawkins has been gadfly par excellence to religious folk who hope to infuse science education with their always particular and exclusionary views. He pestered disgraced evangelical Ted Haggard about this issue, published a best-selling book on the topic subtly entitled The God Delusion, and most recently helped put together a so-called atheism ad campaign in London. It's hard to imagine these debates without Dawkins' abrasive eloquence.

Dawkins' successor to the Simonyi chairmanship is Oxford mathmatician Marcus du Sautoy. Du Sautoy will likely be a breath of fresh air, and has a long and proven track record in popularizing the arch-arcane domain of mathematics. Most recently, he presented an illuminating series on the history of math for the BBC. Time will tell if du Sautoy will be as controversial and confrontational as his predeccessor. It seems likely that he will try to steer his position into other areas given the inordinate emphasis on biology in our conflicted times. Du Sautoy, who brings an enthusiasm and relative youthfulness (he is 43) to the job, has stated that he is "passionately dedicated to giving as many people as possible access to the exciting and beautiful world of mathematics and science."

Unfortunately he will face an uphill battle despite Dawkins' dogged efforts. In a recent interview with the Guardian, Dawkins discussed his work as Simonyi chair and the work still left to do: "I would say that when my academic career began there was probably just as much ignorance," he says, "but less active opposition [to science]." So that's where we are at today, not simply is there indifference to science but a growing opposition is emerging, and not only in Afghanistan's caves. Here in the science-buttressed West we too are turning away from science. I guess science doesn't really matter much these days, unless of course it comes in neat little technologies with bovine-friendly user interfaces!