Episode Details

Richard Dawkins wrote The Selfish Gene and reframed evolution around the gene rather than the organism, coined the word "meme" before the internet existed, and then turned his scientific reputation into a weapon against organized religion with The God Delusion. He became the most famous public intellectual in biology and one of the most divisive figures in public discourse.

This episode traces Dawkins from his Kenyan childhood through the gene-centered revolution, the meme concept that escaped biology entirely, and the New Atheism crusade that won him millions of followers and at least as many enemies.

• The Selfish Gene and the radical reframing of evolution from the gene's point of view
• The invention of the "meme" concept and its escape from biology into internet culture
• The God Delusion and the New Atheism movement that made Dawkins a cultural lightning rod
• The feuds with Gould, the controversies on social media, and Dawkins's complicated legacy