A conversation with Richard Dawkins and Sam Harris. Both good friends of, and carries of the flame for, Hitch and his ideas. Dawkins and Harris were half of the well known Four Horsemen of the Non-Apocalypse (the others being Hitch and Dan Dennett). If you haven’t seen the video, check out the link. It’s a fascinating conversation around Hitch’s dining room table.
Sam Harris makes a good argument – that Hitch may have been willing to overlook Hilary’s shortcomings as a Presidential candidate, providing she planned to take action on the issue that was most important to him at the time: stopping Al Queda and its surrogates (which would have included Isis). This was back in 2007. I think if Hitch were here today, he would also be very concerned about Trump’s attacks on the free press. Let’s remember that Hitch was a First Amendment absolutist. He would not like Trump’s stated goal of making it easier to sue the press.
In case you haven’t heard, Richard Dawkins had a stroke last week. It appears that he is recovering. As many of you know, he was a great friend to Christopher, and is a strident spokesman for science and reason. Humorously, his doctor told him that in the future he should stay away from controversy. Good luck having that order followed, doctor.
Here is a personal audio. message from Richard Dawkins, which he recorded for his fans:
Personal audio message from Richard Dawkins
Richard was one of the The Four Horsemen of the Non-Apocalypse, the informal discussion of the so called new-athiests
Dawkins and Hitch
Check out this Daily Beast article for some insight into the new book by Sam Harris and former extremist turned reformer Maajid Hawaz on extemism:
Daily Beast Article:
The book is available from Amazon:
In this clip from Real Time with Bill Maher, Bill and Richard Dawkins discuss the disconcerting trend on the left toward what Sam Harris calls “regressive leftism”. It describes people, usually left leaning, that are afraid to defend ideas they usually support (like free speech) because they think they might be labeled as Islamophobes.
Yes, they are all nice faces, but beyond that, they are all trustees of Project Reason, an organization dedicated to spreading science and secular values, founded by Sam and Annaka Harris. Christopher was a trustee.
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Project Reason is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit foundation devoted to spreading scientific knowledge and secular values in society. We seek to encourage critical thinking and wise public policy through a variety of interrelated projects. The foundation can convene conferences, produce films, sponsor scientific studies and opinion polls, hold contests, publish original research, award grants to other charitable organizations, and offer material support to religious dissidents and public intellectuals — all with the purpose of eroding the influence of dogmatism, superstition, and bigotry in our world. While Project Reason is devoted to fostering critical thinking generally, we believe that religious ideas require a special focus. Both science and the arts are built upon cultures of vigorous self-criticism; religious discourse is not. As a result, religious dogmatism still reigns unchallenged in almost every society on earth—dividing humanity from itself, inflaming conflict, preventing wise public policy, and diverting scarce resources. One of the primary goals of Project Reason is to change this increasingly unhealthy status quo.
Please read more at http://www.project-reason.org/about/#sthash.h0wvHad9.dpuf
The site has trustee bios, but not much more. However, you can sign up to receive informational emails.
Dr. Gad Saad is an evolutionary behavioral scientist at Concordia University, in Montreal. He is known for applying evolutionary psychology to marketing and consumer behavior. If you don’t know exactly what that entails (I didn’t) please see his web page. While there, also check out his personal bio. (He has a beautiful family and two cute dogs).
After Christopher’s death, Dr. Saad wrote a piece for Psychology Today called Christopher Hitchens: The Personification of Intellectual Courage.
In this interview with Dave Rubin (The Rubin Report), he discusses topics readers will appreciate, including atheism, political correctness, and free speech. Additionally, he defends our friend Sam Harris from the sharp barbs thrown his way after the highly controversial Bill Maher, Sam Harris, Ben Affleck kerfuffle (I’m pretty sure that’s the official name of the incident…I mean kerfuffle).
Dr. Saad is an articulate voice for reason and I hope we will be seeing more of him.
Many of you will have seen this classic, but for those of you that are new to Hitchens and his orbit, it is well worth watching.
The film documents an almost two-hour roundtable discussion with the so-called new atheists: Hitchens, Richard Dawkins, Sam Harris and Daniel Dennett. The group, also nicknamed “The Four Horsemen of the Non-Apocalypse”, met at Hitchens’ Washington DC apartment on September 30, 2007. For the non-Biblical scholars amongst you, the name is a reference to the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse in the Book of Revelations.
I am glad someone had the foresight to document this.
Enjoy being a fly on the wall.
Anyone interested in Christopher Hitchens will likely appreciate activist Ayaan Hirsi Ali’s most recent book, Heretic: Why Islam Needs a Reformation Now. Ayaan was born in Somalia, but escaped her repressive upbringing, and a bumpy road (she was working with Danish cartoonist Theo Van Gogh when he was killed), and became an activist. In Heretic she asserts that Islam must be reformed, and that change can come only from within the religion. She then lays out recommendations for how such reform can be achieved. Not surprisingly, this has irritated some. Brandies University, in a sad move for a learning institution, revoked it’s offer to give her an honorary degree (New York Times: Brandeis Cancels Plan to Give Honorary Degree to Ayaan Hirsi Ali, a Critic of Islam). The University caved in to pressure from those calling her anti-Islam. Hitchens warned on many occasions, that the day would come where one would not even be able to criticize Islam without being called an Islamophobe. We are there.
Ayaan and Christopher had a connection. He contributed the forward to her 2008 book Infidel and also wrote about her in an piece for Slate Magazine in 2007 (She’s No Fundamentalist: What people get wrong about Ayaan Hirsi Ali).
Ayaan was scheduled to participate in the original meeting of the so called Four Horseman (the provocative informal two-hour discussion with Hitchens, Richard Dawkins, Daniel Dennett and Sam Harris) but had to cancel at the last minute. She did, however, participate in a follow up event with the same group (minus Christopher of course) at the 2012 Global Atheist Convention, in Australia. Dawkins welcomed her as a Horsewoman.
In the clip below, Ayaan responds to a question by Mr. Hitchens at the 2007 at the American Enterprise Institute.
If you want to learn more about Ayaan Hirsi Ali, visit the site of her foundation, the AHA Foundation, which aims to put an end to honor violence, forced marriages and female genital mutilation.
provokinghitchens.com 