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Persona #153

Richard Dawkins

1941–
British evolutionary biologist and popularizer; principal figure of the New Atheism

The Selfish Gene — replicator-centric evolutionary biology with a militant naturalist polemics against religion

Attribute Fingerprint

Rows where personas disagree are highlighted in gold. The full ontology grid (32 attributes) is shown.

Attribute Richard Dawkins
Time · Extent Finite
Time · Ontological Status Substantival
Time · Grain Continuous
Time · Freedom Deterministic
Time · Traversability Linear
Time · Dimensionality One
Time · Direction Uni-directional
Space · Extent Finite
Space · Ontological Status Substantival
Space · Curvature Curved
Space · Dimensionality Three
Space · Locality Local
Matter · Extent Finite
Matter · Ontological Status Substantival
Matter · Conservation Conserved
Matter · Dimensionality Three
Matter · Locality Local
Observer · Time Instance Single
Observer · Space Instance Single
Observer · Knowledge Extent Mediated
Observer · Knowledge Retainment Partial
Observer · Physicality Embodied
Observer · Agency Active
Observer · Number Plural
Observer · Metaphysical Agency None
Observer · Moral Authority Reason
Observer · Theological Method N/A
Energy · Extent Finite
Energy · Ontological Status Substantival
Energy · Conservation Conserved
Energy · Dispersibility Irreversible
Information · Ontological Status Substantival
Information · Cosmic Conservation Conserved
Information · Personal Conservation Non-conserved
Information · Granularity Continuous

Dimension-by-Dimension Evidence

What each persona's writings reveal about their stance on each of the six dimensions.

Time

Richard Dawkins

Standard cosmological time; deterministic biological evolution.

Space

Richard Dawkins

Standard substantival; general-relativistic curvature at cosmological scales.

Matter

Richard Dawkins

Standard substantival matter; gene-centric biology as the molecular layer.

Observer

Richard Dawkins

Plural physical observers; no metaphysical agency.

Energy

Richard Dawkins

Standard physics.

Information

Richard Dawkins

Genetic information conserved across generations; personal soul not.

Internal Tensions

Where each persona's working synthesis strains against itself.

Richard Dawkins

Dawkins's public-Twitter polemics on race, gender, and Islam in the 2010s cost him much of the goodwill of liberal-religious and progressive-secular interlocutors who had appreciated his biology. Critics from within evolutionary biology (S. J. Gould, Lynn Margulis) disputed the gene-centric reductionism on biological rather than religious grounds.