Are you one of the forty percent of Americans who think that humans were created by God in the last ten-thousand years? If you are, then you should have gone to hear the Royal Society and Royal Society of Literature Fellow, Richard Dawkins, speak at the Tribeca Barnes and Nobles last night.

Dawkins discussed his new book, The Greatest Show on Earth: The Evidence for Evolution. This book is a followup to The God Delusion. The number of people who came to hear him speak was astounding. There must have been hundreds of people squashed into the back of the Barnes and Nobles Children’s Section.

Dawkins opened his discussion by talking about the “40-percenters.” Dawkins said that forty percent is not a small percent. If it was a percent of error, it would be off by forty percent. In terms of the distance across North America, that margin of error would result in an absurd distance. That would be like saying “the distance from New York to California is only eight yards long.” These people deny history like the Holocaust Deniers.

Dawkins then systematically went through the chapters of his book, choosing to read or discuss the most important parts. He said, “Creationists love the fossil record. They think that because it has gaps, evolution doesn’t exist.” He then read a passage from his book that explained the fossil record merely has gaps, but not errors. Gaps are to be expected considering how old the fossils are. However, there have been no anachronistic fossils found. Everything is in the right place. If an anachronistic fossil was found though, that would be strong evidence against evolution.

Dawkins also explained fossils need to be labeled as intermediaries, so Creationists can’t “wrongfully use fossil names against us.” He then recounted a conversation an evolution skeptic had with J.B.S. Haldane. The skeptic said, “Even given the billions of years that you say were available for evolution, I simply cannot believe it is possible to go from a single cell to a complicated human body, with its trillion of cells organized into bones and muscles and nerves, a heart that pumps without ceasing for decades, miles and miles of blood vessels and kidney tubules, and a brain capable of thinking and talking and feeling.” Haldane responded, “But madam, you did it yourself. And it only took you nine months.” This of course elicited an enormous amount of laughter from the audience.

Dawkins brought up the 40-percenters who believe Noah’s Ark literally, word for word. He said that, “We can’t ignore them because they control the schools. They are senators and governors.” They build museums where children can ride on camels and dinosaurs, because humans of course existed along with dinosaurs. Dawkins noted, “They learned their science from the Flintstones.”

Dawkins commented that God must be sadistic if he created the gazelle to be able to run away from the leopard, but then created the leopard to be able to sink his sharp teeth into the gazelle. “For heaven’s sake, who’s side is the creator on?” he joked.

Dawkin’s discussion concluded with questions by the audience members. One member asked why evolution is still a theory one-hundred and fifty years after Darwin’s On the Origin of Species. Dawkins stated that for all practical purposes, evolution is a fact, like the heliocentric theory of the sun.

One audience member asked how Dawkins felt about the Ray Comfort version of On the Origin of Species. It has a fifty page introduction full of “creationist bollox.” Dawkins is upset by this because on Amazon.com, all the negative reviews of Ray Comfort’s version are hurting the ratings for the real Origin of Species and the positive ratings for the real Origin of Species are pulling up the ratings for the Ray Comfort fake. Dawkins actually spoke to an Amazon official about this yesterday and signed his copy of the book with, “Thank you for solving the fake Darwin problem.” Now it certainly will get fixed.

When the question period ended, Dawkins signed people’s books. It took me an hour to finally get to the front of the line. Dawkins signed my copy of The Greatest Show on Earth and The God Delusion. I was ecstatic. I told him I was writing about the event for the Columbia Spectator and told him he could read the article if he was interested. I hope he reads it! Dawkins is a personal hero of mine. I probably wouldn’t have waited on an hour long line for another author. The discussion was fascinating to hear, although my view of Dawkins was obstructed by the multitude of people who came to watch. I look forward to reading his forthcoming book on evolution for children. I hope that one day soon, all children will read that book before they go to bed. Let’s leave the 40-percenters and their bible-hugging ways in the past.

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