Richard Dawkins

The Kendrick/Drake Rap Battle Is Meme Culture at Its Finest

Kotaku's Alyssa Mercante explains why the ongoing beef was made for the internet.

2023 Was the Weakest Year for Memes in History

Call it an obituary. The meme wars are over, and I can’t tell if we won or lost.

The 140 Funniest Tweets of All Time

The tweets that hopefully survive if Elon Musk really does destroy Twitter through his incompetence.

Spiders Weave Intricate Insect-Catching Nets Hugely Bigger Than Themselves

This is a scientific experiment. Richard Dawkins, the Neil DeGrasse Tyson of evolutionary biology, is broadly credited with coining the term meme in 1976. On Monday, the 79-year-old public intellectual became a meme in his own right when he decided to ponder the mysteries of the universe on Twitter. “If lions were discovered weaving antelope-catching…

This Video Will Save You From Wasting So Much Time Arguing Online

If you’re familiar with the original definition of “meme,” you know that ideas can spread and mutate. But what makes memes spread faster? Anger. Here’s a video that explores how “angry thought germs” can spread, and reinforce opposing viewpoints. Some quick background: The video, created by YouTuber CGP Grey, is based in large part on…

I Origins Shows That The Science Vs. Spirituality Debate Is Played Out

Writer-director Mike Cahill made an impression with Another Earth, which used a science-fiction premise as the backdrop for a personal story. In his second feature, I Origins, the science-fictional premise is front and center — and you can see the downside of trying to tell a personal story about huge science-fiction ideas. I’m going to…

I Origins Went To Insane Lengths To Get Its Science Right

Mike Cahill’s new movie I Origins, out tomorrow, is about a molecular biologist studying the evolution of the human eye. And Cahill tells io9 he was absolutely determined to get the science right — not just having scientific advisers, but giving them headphones and planting them in front of monitors on set. We were lucky…

Is Richard Dawkins a science fiction writer? Former Pope Benedict XVI thinks so. He just wrote a letter to mathematician Piergiorgio Odifreddi, in which he explains, “The Selfish Gene by Richard Dawkins is a classic example of science fiction.” Read more about this mysterious assertion at The Telegraph.

Where Memes Really Come From

Though history will probably remember Richard Dawkins as the activist who spearheaded a new atheist movement, there is something far more famous and important that he invented — and few people know it. He is the guy who first popularized the idea of the meme, way back in the 1970s. That’s right. Dawkins is indirectly…

Evolution Is the Greatest Show On Earth—And This Video Is Pretty Cool Too

If you liked Carl Sagan’s autotuned music videos celebrating the wonders of the cosmos, you will like this one celebrating the wonders of evolution too, featuring David Attenborough, Richard Dawkins and Bill Nye. It’s the latest part of the Symphony of Science, created by musician John D. Boswell. [Symphony of Science]

Listen to an Auto-Tuned David Attenborough and Bill Nye croon about evolution

The latest Symphony of Science track is out, and it is a doozy. Listen to David Attenborough, Richard Dawkins and Bill Nye get their rave on for evolution. Who knew synths intermingled with amoebas on the Tree of Life? Hat tip to Krakenstein2!

A Children’s Book That Celebrates the Wonders of Real

We tell our children stories about fairies and giants and wizards and trolls—all still favorites, even as an adult. So let’s not stop with the fables. But can’t we also share with kids the wonders of what’s real? That’s what evolutionary biologist Richard Dawkins has done with The Magic of Reality, a children’s book that…

Is Science Fiction Really A Religion-Free Zone? Two More Points Of View

The debate over religion’s place in science fiction still rages on the Internet, and two new blog posts take very different stances on the matter. Over at Tor.com, Teresa Jusino posts that good science fiction acknowledges the place of religion in our lives, and even accepts that people of faith could have valid opinions about…

Expelled Conspiracy Revealed!

We knew there was something going on, and at last night’s press screening of Expelled: No Intelligence Allowed, we found out just how deep the rabbit hole goes. Yes folks, the rumors are true — the stars, producers and even the film’s financial backers are pushing a pro-neo-subliminal-Darwinist agenda in a bid to bring down…

The Coming War Between Religion And Super-Science

The 21st century may well see a final showdown between scientific rationalists and religious fundamentalists. We’ll see more and more conflicts — like Dawkins vs. creationists, or Bush vs. stem cells — as scientists discover more facts that challenge religious beliefs. But I’ve been racking my brains to think of science fiction stories that depict…