December 14, 2007
dawkins says "happy newton day!"
For better or worse, ours is historically a Christian culture, and children who grow up ignorant of biblical literature are diminished, unable to take literary allusions, actually impoverished. I am no lover of Christianity, and I loathe the annual orgy of waste and reckless reciprocal spending, but I must say I'd rather wish you "Happy Christmas" than "Happy Holiday Season".Fortunately, this is not the only choice: 25 December is the birthday of one of the truly great men ever to walk the earth, Sir Isaac Newton. His achievements might justly be celebrated wherever his truths hold sway. And that means from one end of the universe to the other. Happy Newton Day!
more from The New Statesman here.
Posted by Morgan Meis at 10:12 AM | Permalink
Comments
Personally, I celebrate the winter solstice which marks the end of days getting darker and drearier and the beginning of the sun's return. That's something worth celebrating, unless you live in Australia, of course.
Posted by: Jared | Dec 14, 2007 11:30:01 AM
This is a funny thing to see written by the most widely-read science popularizer of all time:
Setting aside the truly weird idea that the oraculations of the prophet Isaiah , one's mind is led to Dawkins' most famous book, which tells the tale of how little nucleic acid fragments exert complete and absolute control over all living processes in the biosphere, characterized by ruthless selfishness. Oh, and also how little parasitical culture fragments called memes (which have no known measurable existence) are engaged in endless competition to colonize that fitness landscape we naively call the brain.
Dawkins knows, and knows he knows, that no interest will be paid any factual truth that is not attired in dramatic costume. It's not merely the "religious mind" that seeks out meaningful and compelling symbols; it's all minds, and Dawkins' enormous success over the years is a testament to that fact.
Posted by: Chris Schoen | Dec 14, 2007 3:46:44 PM
"Dawkins knows, and knows he knows, that no interest will be paid any factual truth that is not attired in dramatic costume." Well, thanks for speaking for Mr. Dawkins, but I would prefer he speak for himself since we are led to believe he is an avid reader of 3quarks. Then again, I imagine he has better things to do...
Posted by: Jared | Dec 14, 2007 4:09:13 PM
I wonder what non-symbolic meanings Dawkins is able to wring from Newton's writings about the "Green Dragon" or the "menstrual blood of the sordid whore?"
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/newton/alch-flash.html
Posted by: Vicki Baker | Dec 14, 2007 4:25:28 PM
Jared, I think Chris is right -- Dawkins is very talented in knowing how to endow his ideas with drama, thus ensuring they stick in our minds and in our culture. Except for his appreciation of "story" in making his points, and his being really cute in that autumnal sort of way, many of us would have overlooked what he has had to contribute since the long-ago days of _The Selfish Gene_. I am regularly astonished at how much play he's gotten out of plain old atheism. I imagine, too, that he has an assistant monitor sites and offline media where his name is likely to show up, and abstract what can be found there. His whole self-presentation is very managed -- right down to that super-sized dollop of arrogance that people hate, but would miss. If I were handling him, I'd tell him it was about time he weathered a personal crisis of some sort for his audience -- fence-sitters will be wanting to see see how the Foremost Atheist manages when the going gets tough.
Posted by: Elatia Harris | Dec 14, 2007 5:02:17 PM
I'm sorry, I left out a big chunk in that post. It should have read something like:
"Setting aside the truly weird idea that the oraculations of the prophet Isaiah were intended to be taken at literal face value..."
Posted by: Chris Schoen | Dec 14, 2007 5:47:40 PM
"the most widely-read science popularizer of all time"
Carl Sagan wrote 31 books and 500 papers-AND died young. Untold millions saw his show.
Steven Jay Gould wrote 22 books and authored 779 papers.
Dawkins lists 79 articles on his site. Amazon says he has about 10 books.
In terms of volume, The God Delusion sold 1.5 million copies. I can't find numbers on The Selfish Gene, but, in contrast, Hawking's Brief History of Time sold over 20 Million copies.
Posted by: Carlos | Dec 15, 2007 1:22:56 AM
You guys sure get your panties all in a bunch whenever Dawkins' name pops up. Is there anything you like about the man?
Posted by: anon | Dec 15, 2007 3:12:23 AM
Didn't I say he was cute?
Posted by: Elatia Harris | Dec 15, 2007 9:54:13 AM
I admire his ability to offend. Does that count?
Posted by: Carlos | Dec 15, 2007 10:26:01 AM
Sigh. Sometimes the man has no idea which battles are worth fighting. This is tone-deafness on a par with calling the irreligious 'brights'
Posted by: D | Dec 15, 2007 12:31:11 PM
Lol. Okay, okay.
Posted by: anon | Dec 15, 2007 12:32:18 PM
Carlos,
Mea culpa. Sagan and Hawking didn't even come to mind when I wrote that. In the ten or so seconds I spent wondering if that "most widely read" part might actually be true, I was weighing his readership against names like Asimov, Lewis Thomas, and Feynmann. I confess that I succombed to the Dawkins PR machine that Elatia has written of so incisively.
Anon,
I buy my panties pre-bunched, to save on time.
Posted by: Chris Schoen | Dec 15, 2007 5:58:43 PM
Vicki, the symbolic meanings used in alchemy of course are intended. Alchemy as practised in Newton's time might reasonably claim to be a science, as it was based on experiment and observation.
Posted by: Sagredo | Dec 15, 2007 6:57:20 PM
Sagredo - symbolic meanings have a way of running away with themselves. Polysemy's a bitch. Of course science -including the "science" of witch identification - had its roots in the resurgence of magic in the Renaissance.
Chris- I prefer the pre-twisted knickers, myself.
Posted by: Vicki Baker | Dec 15, 2007 8:12:30 PM
Say what you like about Dawkins, but I had the same thought independently three years ago, and this December 25th will be the fourth celebration of Newton's Day at 3QD. You can see the others, in chronological order, here, here, and here.
Posted by: Abbas Raza | Dec 16, 2007 2:44:42 AM
Abbas
You seem to feel this gets you off the hook?
You have given your 3qd readers 3 consecutive very interesting Happy Newton's Day essays. I don't think Morgan's reportage of the New Statesman's article quite approaches your personal touch. Don't stop now!
Posted by: Carlos | Dec 16, 2007 9:09:00 AM
Christmas, Shistmas - Hannukah is much better: it lasts 8 days, you get to light lots of candles (and maybe burn the house down) you vanquish the Greeks and you regain the sacred right to be circimcised OOUUWCH !!!
Posted by: aguy109 | Dec 16, 2007 10:28:28 AM
Newton was born on Dec 25th according to the julian callendar, not the current gregorian callendar.
Just a reminder.
Posted by: Manfredo | Jan 4, 2008 2:52:59 PM
Which would make his real birthday yesterday. Was he perhaps 2 days premature? Tomorrow marks the celebration of the Feast of the Epiphany, a Catholic Feast Day commemorating the 3 wise men visiting the Christ Child. Close enough for Royal Society work. Isaac may have been one of our wisest.
Happy Birthday Mr. Newton.
Posted by: Carlos | Jan 5, 2008 6:46:10 PM
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