1. Charles Simonyi Professorship in the Public Understanding of Science

Comment #125186 by retrotransposon on February 11, 2008 at 3:48 am

Dear Richard, thanks for the many books and articles you wrote. They opened my eyes to the wonderful world of science, especially the science of evolution. Indeed, your writings are a major reason why I became a biologist. Thanks for inspiring me and thanks for inspiring a whole generation of scientists, science students and people who are simply interested in science. You have raised our consciousness about the world and demanded that we think for ourselves. happy retirement.

On the subject of the next appointee to the Simonyi Professorship, I think the person to succeed Richard should be a physicist. Richard has raised our consciousness in the field of biology, maybe its time that the wonderful world of physics can be presented to the public in such a way that it can be enjoyed by the rest of us, just like what Richard did with evolution and biology.

2. Happy Newton Day!

Comment #98956 by retrotransposon on December 15, 2007 at 2:47 am

Happy Newton Day, everybody

=)

3. Lecture on Neo-Darwinism

Comment #53216 by retrotransposon on June 30, 2007 at 6:47 am

I really enjoyed Richard's lecture. He makes complicated topics very clear, even to lay people. I hope he compile a series of lectures on evolutionary biology on a DVD. I would certainly buy it.

4. Penn & Teller's Bullshit - Holier Than Thou With Christopher Hitchens

Comment #45940 by retrotransposon on May 29, 2007 at 5:16 pm

With mother theresa and Ghandi, I must admit these are the facts that I never knew.

But I think the "facts" relating to the dalai lama is misleading and are just used to spice up the show.

1. The Dalai Lama was only 15 when he fled Tibet, so if there is a lama class in Tibet who enjoyed the good life at the expense of the the rest of the population, it wasnt his fault anyway, and I dont think its true that he wanted to restore this.

2. The reference to Tibetans having yucky barley and yak tea is misleading too. This is their traditional food. Its like saying that we have yucky hamburgers and yucky fizzy drinks (in this sense, i probably think barley and yak tea gives a lesser chance of a heart attack)

3. As james767 has point out in #45936, the dalai lama has repeated stated that he wants tibet to have a democracy or rather autonomy, similiar to what the system that Hong Kong is under now.

4. I am no buddhist, but i feel that the dalai lama actually preach good stuff. Sure everyone is not perfect, but the sort of buddhism that the dalai lama is preaching is rather a form of philosophy rather the a religion.