In article
<
623880a7-652f-41f4...@hs8g2000vbb.googlegroups.com>,
Loirbaj <
Rhod...@wmconnect.com> wrote:
> Dawkins 'set the pattern'? In a recent
> and fatal NYTimes interview Dawkins
> opened up after 2 hours and dispayed
> his personal disbelief in God.
After two hours of conversation, Professor Dawkins walks far afield. He
talks of the possibility that we might co-evolve with computers, a
silicon destiny. And heąs intrigued by the playful, even soul-stirring
writings of Freeman Dyson, the theoretical physicist.
In one essay, Professor Dyson casts millions of speculative years into
the future. Our galaxy is dying and humans have evolved into something
like bolts of superpowerful intelligent and moral energy.
[So the context of discussion is now established as being in Dyson's far
future, and the following must be interpreted in that context]
Doesnąt that description sound an awful lot like God?
[Again establishing that the context is Dyson's future universe]
łCertainly,˛ Professor Dawkins replies. łItąs highly plausible that in
the [Dyson future] universe there are God-like creatures.˛
He raises his hand, just in case a reader thinks heąs gone around a
religious bend. łItąs very important to understand that these [future]
Gods came into being by an explicable scientific progression of
incremental evolution.˛
Could they be immortal?
The professor shrugs. łProbably not.˛ He smiles and adds, łBut I
wouldnąt want to be too dogmatic about that.˛
A version of this article appeared in print on September 20, 2011, in
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/09/20/science/20dawkins.html?pagewanted=all