Comment by Planktonne
20 hours ago
It's been clear for a long time now that Dawkins was never actually very skeptical; he likes taking contrary positions based on spite more than reason, as can be seen from his increasing adoption of the religion he used to rail against [1].
At this point, 'person who is popularly thought to be intelligent thinks AI is conscious' should make you question the first part, not endorse the second.
[1] https://ewtn.co.uk/article-famous-atheist-richard-dawkins-sa...
A "cultural X" is a totally valid position. Many Jewish atheists consider themselves "cultural Jews" and see no problem with celebrating Jewish festivals even if they don't believe in God. Being an atheist doesn't mean you have to reject the culture you grew up in.
I would agree with that, but Dawkins made a career of not doing so, and only modulated his position when it gave him new targets to rail against.
He never did such a thing. Most of his career was in evolutionary biology and his atheism was only relevant in that many of his critics were people rejecting evolution on religious grounds. And even his "God Delusion" (which was only published 20 years ago, when his scientific career was winding down) wasn't about why celebrating Christmas or singing carols was bad, only the part about believing in a God.
I don't think it's "spite," I just don't think he's that smart -- or wise -- to be precise. He just has "zealotry in the other direction."