Richard Dawkins: Has Technology Changed Human Evolution?

Complete video at: http://fora.tv/2010/03/01/Meet_The_Author_Richard_Dawkins

Evolutionary biologist Richard Dawkins toys with the idea that technology might be effecting human evolution. Using the example of poor eyesight mitigated by the invention of vision-correcting glasses, Dawkins points out the "obvious survival value" in being able to "see an approaching saber tooth tiger."

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He's the King of All the Atheists, and now Richard Dawkins is hammering home what he sees as his key argument against the existence of God. In his book, The Greatest Show on Earth, Dawkins aims to put the theory of evolution in a factually unassailable position.

Here, at Adelaide Writers' Week in 2010, he goes through his book chapter by chapter, and in doing so attempts to convince his audience of the absolute veracity of Darwin's theories. - Australian Broadcasting Corporation

Richard Dawkins is a world-renowned evolutionary biologist and author. He is a Fellow of the Royal Society and, until recently, held the Charles Simonyi Chair of Public Understanding of Science at Oxford University. His first book, The Selfish Gene, was an instant international bestseller, and has become an established classic work of modern evolutionary biology.

He is also the author of The Blind Watchmaker, River Out of Eden, Climbing Mount Improbable, Unweaving the Rainbow, A Devil's Chaplain, The Ancestor's Tale The God Delusion, and most recently, The Greatsest Show on Earth.

Professor Dawkins's awards have included the Silver Medal of the Zoological Society of London (1989), the Royal Society's Michael Faraday Award (1990), the Nakayama Prize for Achievement in Human Science (1990), The International Cosmos Prize (1997) and the Kistler Prize (2001).

He has Honorary Doctorates in both literature and science, and is a Fellow of the Royal Society.

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[MikeEmery9]

Woah, he's 68?

[b991228]

It gets tedious how people work so hard trying to present ridicules suppositions showing how evolution is a hoax? I'm not asking that healthy skepticism be suspended but you should at least open your eyes and allow yourself to see the real evidence. Ones who deny the obvious do not make evolution false but rather bring themselves ignorance.

[ec123456789able]

@PutrydByle I personally believe that we have evolved to a point where manual genetic engineering will take over. I don't particularly like the idea of parents choosing what their children look like, but if it can be used to wipe out defects then I say that is a good thing.

[billroscoe76]

Nasa says, too, a Hiroshima sized bomb dropped in the upper atmosphere above heartland America will cause our entire electrical grid to fail So what was your "poster boy" scientists thinking knowing the danger of unshielded electronics... Our military: less than 5% of hardware used can survive an EMP attack or burst. Within 30 days of total grid failure, millions will start to die (no fuel pump, waterpump, rotted food, no water, riots, mayhem, anarchy..." That's science for you.

[billroscoe76]

Chew on this anti-theists: science could very well have brought mankind into the brink of extinction. The issue is EMP, of which NASA heavily warns is the most likely doomsday scenario... scientists proved a hypothesis Enrico Fermi had that EMP would be the result of a nuclear weapon. We have known about this since 1953. Now, science fails: instead of controlling the frailty of items that use micro electronics, we are set up for a massive upheaval if and WHEN a gamma ray burst hits us AGAIN.

[PutrydByle]

His points are valid enough, but he doesn't really address the question. I'd be very interested to hear what someone with his expertise has to say about potential technological influences on current and future human evolutionary developments.

[Patience1138]

@k8k8k8er Okay, I remember this now. Wow, it HAS been a while! As I have yet to do my own research on this particular scenario, I choose to refrain from answering at this time. I hope that you understand.

[k8k8k8er]

@Patience1138 this is from the assumpsion that if according to the bible, torah or quaran the world was covered completely by water and only noah was able to gather EVERY animal onto his boat. and if he landed somewhere in mideast, then there should be an evidence of ALL animals living or migrating from mideast to their various location that they occupy today. and theres aboslutely no evidence of a polar bear or kangaro being in mideast or the route from mideast to north pole or australia.

[pburto]

We ARE evolving... through technology. We are becoming cyborgs. We are already dependent upon technology to survive. If you don't believe me, try sleeping naked in a cave, then go find some food to survive until tomorrow.

ALL OTHER mammals can do such things very easily... except we humans find it very difficult. We would have mass extinctions without cars and WalMart. In fact, money itself is a human invention.

[Patience1138]

@k8k8k8er lol I don't even remember what this is from.

[k8k8k8er]

@Patience1138 sorry i have no idea what u r refering to?

if u r refering to the supposet migration of kangaros from mideast to austrailia or the polar bear from mideast to north pole. then i have to say that is just rediculous, a there is no evidence of their existance in mideast or their migration from there. i hope this answer ur question. just imagining a polar bear in mideast is ridiculous enough. lol