Brief Candle in the Dark

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Brief Candle in the Dark Page 43

by Richard Dawkins


  Paternal clan chart (slightly amended): © Oxford Ancestors; RD and James Dawkins: photo supplied by the author

  Commander Gennady Padkalka (top), Charles Simonyi (centre) and Flight Engineer Michael R. Barratt on Expedition 19 launch day in Kazakhstan, March 2009: NASA/Bill Ingalls; Charles Simonyi at home in Seattle, c. 1997: © Adam Weiss/Corbis; Martin Rees, Astronomer Royal, May 2009: © Jeff Morgan 12/Alamy; Richard Leakey in Kenya, January 1994: David O’Neill/Associated Newspapers/Rex; Paul Nurse, October 2004: © J. M. Garcia/epa/Corbis; Harry Kroto, 2004: Nick Cunard/Rex; Carolyn Porco presenting the first images transmitted from the spacecraft Cassini at a news conference in Pasadena, July 2004: Reuters/Robert Galbraith; Steven Pinker, 1997; Jared Diamond, Aspen, Colorado, February 2010: © Lynn Goldsmith/Corbis; Daniel Dennett, Hay Festival, May 2013: © D. Legakis/Alamy; Richard Gregory: Martin Haswell

  Enemies of Reason team; Tim Cragg and Adam Prescod filming Genius of Charles Darwin: both courtesy ClearStory; RD at the Wailing Wall, Jerusalem; RD, Lourdes: both Tim Cragg, Root of All Evil; RD and gorilla: Tim Cragg, Genius of Charles Darwin; RD and Russell Barnes, Faith Schools Menace: courtesy ClearStory

  RD in a junkyard: photo courtesy author; Daniel Dennett, Sue Blackmore and RD at Memelab, Devon, 2012; making Chinese junks at Memelab: both photos by Adam Hart-Davis, courtesy Sue Blackmore; chair covers and Lalla with cube: all supplied by the author; RD at home, 1991: Hyde/Rex

  70th birthday dinner, New College, 2011: photo Sarah Kettlewell

  INDEX

  The pagination of this electronic edition does not match the edition from which it was created. To locate a specific entry, please use your e-book reader’s search tools.

  action at a distance 328–32

  Adams, Douglas 156, 162

  Break the Science Barrier 4–5, 203–4

  Digital Biota (1998) 394

  Dirk Gently’s Holistic Detective Agency 204–5

  42nd birthday 205

  friendship with RD 204

  introduces RD to Lalla Ward 149–50

  on religion 424–5

  The Restaurant at the End of the Universe 113–14

  Royal Institution Christmas Lectures 205

  adaptationism 341–5, 347, 349–50, 377

  adaptive evolution 398, 403

  agents, literary 147–9, 151, 161, 162, 171

  al-Khattab, Yousef (Joseph Cohen) 221–2

  Aldrin, Buzz 102, 103

  Alexander the Great 34

  Alfred P. Sloan Foundation 298–9

  Algol 60: 363, 382

  alleles 321

  allergies 339

  Amis, Kingsley 37

  Amis, Martin 5, 266–7

  Ammophilia campestris 81–2

  anatomy 348

  ancestors 17, 357–9, 406–7

  The Ancestor’s Tale 162–6, 171

  origami embryology 401

  The Lamprey’s Tale 390–1

  publication 172

  ancestral genes 390, 406, 407

  Anders, Bill 102

  Andrews, Edgar 243–4

  Animal Behaviour 70

  Animal Behaviour Research Group (ABRG) 63

  animals

  animal artefacts 324–5

  behaviour 55, 316, 330

  camouflage 144–5

  characteristics 344

  classification 360–2

  on common land 191

  D’Arcy Thompson’s transformations 372, 373

  ESS theory 48, 59

  Galápagos Islands 136

  genes 362, 412

  moral attitudes to 113

  Museum of All Possible Animals 363, 367, 374, 377

  reproduction 313, 314, 357, 359

  signals 328–9

  symmetry in 385

  anti-Semitism 249–50, 425–6

  ants

  leaf-cutter 47–50

  ponerine 48

  An Appetite for Wonder 3–4, 7, 91, 181

  audio recording 157

  meeting with Michael Rodgers regarding 141

  promotion of 98

  recursive subroutines 381, 383

  Taxicab Theory of Evolution 311–12

  Apple Computers 204, 205, 288, 363–4, 387, 389

  Applelink 204

  The Archers 289

  ‘argument from statistical improbability’ 416–19

  Argyll, Duke of 254

  arms race 327, 328, 338–9, 340–1

  Armstrong, Karen 177, 286

  Armstrong, Neil 102, 103, 301

  Arnold, Matthew 64

  arthromorphs 388–94

  Artificial Life conference (1987) 375–7, 384–5, 388, 394

  artificial selection 364, 388, 389, 393

  Asquith, Pamela 88

  Astbury, W. T. 90

  Asteroid 8331 Dawkins 302

  Atheist Alliance of America 268–70, 293–4

  Atheist Alliance International 268n, 293

  atheists and atheism 30, 212, 254, 260, 295, 432

  Aveling, Edward, and Büchner, Ludwig 253–4

  Coyne, Jesuit Father George 248–9

  The God Delusion 425

  Hitchens, Christopher 270

  Miller, Jonathan (TV series presented by) 172

  Murray, Douglas 248

  New Atheism 174–5, 176

  RD as an atheist 144, 160, 177, 178

  Richard Dawkins Award 268, 293–4

  Atkins, Peter 7, 420

  Atkinson, Will 372–3

  Attenborough, David 107, 128, 159–60, 162

  Break the Science Barrier 203

  Climbing Mount Improbable review 158

  Life 187–8

  Life on Air 193

  Seven Wonders of the World 206–7

  Attenborough, Richard 157, 159

  Attneave, Fred 357

  Aunger, Robert 407

  Australia 155–6, 250–2

  Australian National University 156

  auto-immune diseases 339

  Aveling, Edward 253, 254, 255

  Axelrod, Robert 188–90, 194

  Ayer, Sir Alfred (‘Freddie’) J. 30, 32, 144, 147

  Baerends, Gerard 81–2

  Baker, John 413n

  Baker, Tom 150

  Balliol College, Oxford 241

  Barash, David 96

  Barker, Dan 426

  Barlow, George 95

  Barlow, Horace B. 353, 354, 355–6, 357, 412

  Barnes, Russell 216–17, 222, 224, 417

  Baron-Cohen, Simon 21

  Barro Colorado Island 41, 42, 43–9

  Bass, Thomas 376

  Batalha, Natalie 316n

  Bateson, William 403

  bats 350–2, 354

  BBC 109, 196, 212, 228, 229, 243, 258

  Beautiful Minds 440

  The Blind Watchmaker 194–8, 417

  Desert Island Discs 98

  Face to Face 233–4

  Horizon 147, 187, 188–98, 417

  Loose Ends 99

  Newsnight 173, 257–8

  Nice Guys Finish First 147, 188–94

  Paxman interviews RD 256

  RD interviews Maynard Smith 234–7, 320

  Richard Dimbleby Lecture 160, 305

  Royal Institution Christmas Lectures 107, 116

  Seven Wonders of the World 206–7

  University Challenge 14

  Beachy Head, East Sussex 223–4

  Beagle 134, 136, 137

  beavers 324, 335, 336, 339, 361

  behaviour, animal 55, 316, 330

  Behaviour (journal) 44

  Bell, Colin 128–9, 131

  Bell Burnell, Jocelyn 203

  Berrill, N. J. 90

  Berthon, Simon 227

  Betjeman, John 135

  Bible 215, 250, 426–30, 431, 438

  Bielefeld 91, 93

  Bingham, Roger 262

  Biology and Philosophy (journal) 97, 333, 334–5, 338

  biomorph program 155, 197, 288, 363–77, 384–93

  birds
r />   canaries 328, 329–30

  kleptoparastism 60–1

  nightingales 329

  peacocks and peahens 326

  red kites 135

  weaver birds 335

  Birkett, Michael 124

  Blackmore, Susan 285, 287–8

  meme theory 407–8, 410

  Blakemore, Colin 153

  Blenheim Palace Literary Festival (2014) 98–9

  Blind Watchmaker (biomorphs program) 155, 197, 288, 363–77, 384–93, 394n

  The Blind Watchmaker (book) 48, 196, 315

  ‘Accumulating small change’ 363–6

  agents 148

  ‘argument from statistical improbability’ 416–17, 419

  bat sonar 350–1

  Bateson, William 403

  biomorphs 373–4

  cover design 363

  German edition 142–3

  index 145–7

  publication 144

  ‘Stretched DC–8’ 378–9, 380

  The Blind Watchmaker (TV documentary) 188, 194–8

  Der blinde Uhrmacher 143

  Bloom, Claire 152

  blueprint embryology 401

  Boehringer conference 85–8

  Bohr, Niels 7, 283

  Bombardier Beetle Damp Squib display 115

  Bondi, Sir Herman 246–7

  Boswell, James 231

  Bottlewrack 331

  Boyd, Sir John 123–4, 437

  Boyd, Julia 123

  Boyd, William 5

  Bragg, Melvyn 182, 424

  The Brains Trust 210–11, 212

  Brasstronaut 99

  Bray, Michael 219–20, 221

  Break the Science Barrier (TV documentary) 4–5, 192, 198–204, 206

  Brenner, Sydney 30, 211

  Briggs, Asa 167

  Brightwell, Robin 188

  Brockman, John 5, 274

  The Ancestor’s Tale 163, 164

  Dennett, Dan 286

  ‘Edge’ website 148–9, 398

  first meets RD 150, 151–2

  The God Delusion 162, 171–2, 176

  The Greatest Show on Earth 179

  ‘A prayer for my daughter’ 168

  Science Masters series 152–3, 296–7

  Unweaving the Rainbow 161

  Brockman Inc. 148, 152, 166

  Brockmann, Jane 44

  Behaviour 44

  Concorde Fallacy 78, 79–82, 347

  kleptoparastism 60, 61

  Journal of Theoretical Biology 69–75

  Sphex ichneumoneus 56, 57, 58, 59, 61–2, 63–75

  Trypoxylon politum studies 75–7, 322, 325

  Bromham, Lindell 170

  Brown, Derren 201

  Browne, Cecil 251

  Bryan, Felicity 143

  Büchner, Ludwig 253

  Buckminster Fuller, Richard 302

  buckminsterfullerene 302–3

  Bunch (dog) 400

  Bush, George W. 133, 162, 171, 175

  Bushnell, G. H. 90

  Buxton, John 145

  Byatt, A. S. 5

  caddis larva 325, 328, 335

  Cain, Arthur 147, 343, 344–5, 360, 362

  Callan, Kevin 199–200

  Cambridge Union 243, 248

  camouflage 144–5

  Campbell, Commander A. B. 210

  Canaanite tribe 245–6

  canaries 328, 329–30

  Canary Islands 101–3

  cancer, Darwinian approach to 338–9

  Canon, Alan 394n

  Capel, Georgina 153

  Carlisle, Tamsin 78, 79

  Carroll, Sean 7

  Cecil, Lord David 37

  Celebrity Xpedition 134, 135

  CERN 102

  Channel Four

  Break the Science Barrier 198–204, 206

  Enemies of Reason 200, 224–5

  Faith Schools Menace 224

  The Genius of Charles Darwin 217–18, 224

  Inside Nature’s Giants 346

  Root of All Evil? 217, 218–22, 224, 417–18

  Sex, Death and the Meaning of Life 223–4

  Chapman, Matthew 267

  Chardin, Teilhard de 286

  Charles Simonyi Lectures 282–4, 288, 292, 293, 295–6, 298, 301–7

  Charles Simonyi Professorship of Public Understanding of Science 274–307

  Chaucer, Geoffrey 85, 165, 166

  Cheetham, Anthony

  The Ancestor’s Tale 162, 163–4

  A Devil’s Chaplain 166

  Science Masters series 152–3, 297

  Cherfas, Jeremy 195

  Cherwell 34–5

  Chesterton, G. K. 437

  Chomsky, Noam 292, 383–4

  Chopra, Deepak 286

  Christiansen, Eric 145–6

  Churchill, Randolph 250

  Churchill, Winston 207

  Clarke, Arthur C. 131, 203

  Cleese, John 161–2

  Climbing Mount Improbable 388

  ‘Kaleidoscopic embryos’ 385–8

  ‘Museum of All Possible Animals’ 363, 367, 374, 377

  promotional tour 155–6, 157

  spider webs 350, 352–3

  statistical improbability of apparent design 419

  title 152

  virus analogy 316

  Clutton-Brock, Tim 342

  Cohen, Joseph (Yousef al-Khattab) 221–2

  Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory, Long Island 289–92

  Coleridge, Samuel Taylor 163, 204, 211

  Colman, Andrew 78–9

  Colorado Springs 218–20, 417–18

  common land 190–2

  computers

  biomorph program 155, 197, 288, 363–77, 384–93

  viruses 316, 405

  ‘Concerned Women for America’ 217–18

  conchomorphs 368, 372, 373

  Concorde Fallacy 78–82

  conjurors 200–3

  Cooke, Arthur 351

  cooperative gene 394–7

  Copperfield, David 202

  Coren, Alan 4

  Cornwell, Robin Elisabeth 180

  Cortez (Hernán Cortés) 43

  Coulter, Ann 256

  Coyne, Father George 248–9, 250

  Coyne, Jerry 180

  crabs 371–2

  Cragg, Tim 219, 222

  Craig, William Lane 244–6

  creationists and creationism 145, 378, 418, 419

  bombardier beetle 115

  Paluxy River 195

  principal argument of 416

  RD and debates with 213, 214–15, 217, 243–6

  Wright, Wendy 217–18

  Creed, Robert 344, 396

  Crick, Francis 178, 211, 287, 390, 402

  Crick, Odile 287

  Cronin, Helena 7, 31, 141, 147, 182, 314

  cuckoos 327, 328, 336, 341

  Cullen, Mike 93, 328

  Cunningham, Michael 274, 275, 276

  Curie, Marie 298–9

  Currey, John 344, 345

  Dalai Lama 223

  Dalio, Ray 126–7, 128, 131, 132

  Dallas, Duncan 226–7

  Danielli, J. F. 90

  Daphne Major 136

  D’Arcymorphs 372–3

  Darwin, Charles 137, 197

  animal behaviour 57–8, 316

  Cain’s criticism of 344–5

  centenary of death 397

  evolution and statistical improbability 419, 420

  Galápagos Islands 133

  as a ‘gradualist’ 381

  and Hitler 215

  natural selection 305, 312–13, 316, 384

  Origin of Species 71–2, 144, 284, 416–17

  Origin of Species audio recording 157–8

  and racism/sexism 430

  religious beliefs 251–5

  scepticism about 378

  Universal Darwinism 397–404

  ‘view of life’ 315

  Darwinism

  Darwinian engineer 348, 351–2, 353

  neo-Darwinism 325, 398

  Univ
ersal Darwinism 397–404

  Davidson, Sam 99

  Davies, N. B. 341

  Dawkins, Eve (née Barham, RD’s 2nd wife) 167–8, 169–70, 171, 197

  Dawkins, Henry Colyear (RD’s uncle) 153–5

  Dawkins, James 230–3

  Dawkins, James (RD’s great-great-great-greatgreat-great uncle) 231

  Dawkins, Juliet (RD’s daughter) 113, 167–71, 196–7, 348

  Dawkins, Lalla (née Ward, RD’s 3rd wife) 5, 6, 301

  acting career 150, 217, 242, 247–8, 267

  The Ancestor’s Tale 163

  audio books 157–8

  charity work 216

  Climbing Mount Improbable 155–6, 157

  embroidery 387–8

  Eve Dawkins’ illness and death 168–9, 170

  EWI 99, 100

  Galápagos Islands 133–4

  influence on Unweaving the Rainbow 160

  IVF 158

  meets RD 149–51, 168, 206

  RD’s search for giant squid 128

  RD’s 70th birthday 437

  River Out of Eden 153

  Royal Institution Christmas Lectures 116, 121, 122, 123

  Starmus (2011) 102, 103

  ties and scarf designs 93–4, 209–10

  Dawkins, Marian (née Stamp, RD’s 1st wife) 3, 26, 190, 354, 356, 364

  Dawkins, Richard

  awarded honorary doctorates 156–7

  at Balliol College, Oxford 241, 342–3, 347

  childhood in Africa 3, 48, 49

  IVF 158

  marriage to Eve 167–8

  meets Lalla 149–51, 168, 205

  at New College, Oxford 12–37, 273–4

  prizes 123–5

  retirement 282

  sabbatical in Florida 76–82 70th birthday 437

  Simonyi Professor 276–307

  television work 187–237, 256, 257–8

  35th birthday 3–4

  ties 93–4

  at Zoological Department, Oxford University 11–12, 25, 26–7, 64–9

  Dawkins, Colonel William 231

  Dawkinsia 132–3

  Dawnay, Caroline 147–8, 149

  Day, Robin 243, 256

  debates 241–70, 314–15

  Delius, Juan 43

  Delius, Uta 93

  Dennett, Daniel 7, 174, 177, 263, 268, 295

  afterword to The Extended Phenotype 333–4

  Breaking the Spell 175

  Charles Simonyi Lecture 282, 284–5, 306

  illness 286

  ‘Library of Mendel’ 367

  meme theory 285–6, 407–8

  RD visits 150–1

  Richard Dawkins Award 268

  River Out of Eden 153

  The Selfish Gene (30th anniversary edition) 182

  Dennett, Susan 150–1

  Denville Hall, Northwood 209, 210

  Desert Island Discs 98

  A Devil’s Chaplain 166–7, 168, 179, 214

  Huxley poem 412–13

  publication 172

  trip to Kenya 297–8

  Diamond, Jared 153, 282, 288–92

 

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