mikemonty on Nostr: An email I’ve sent to Richard Dawkins tonight, which most likely will never be read ...

An email I’ve sent to Richard Dawkins tonight, which most likely will never be read or responded to, but I still want to post it somewhere.

“

Dear Richard, or whomever may see this,

Tonight, while finishing the first chapter of The Magic of Reality with my kids, my 9-year-old son asked me about giraffes, which brought a smile to my face, knowing you’ve been involved in dissecting one. I asked him how he thought their long necks evolved. He said it was because they stretched their necks to reach the leaves, which made me smile.

I explained to him that it was a little more complicated. I told him that even if he stretched his neck to survive, his children wouldn’t be born with longer necks. Instead, I said that, at some point in history, a giraffe ancestor was born with a slightly longer neck than its siblings, which gave it access to food others couldn’t reach. That small advantage allowed it to eat more and survive longer, while those with shorter necks may have starved. The survivors, with their longer necks, passed the trait to their offspring, and so it continued.

At first, my son shut his eyes and acted like he didn’t want to hear it—which, I’ll admit, was frustrating. So, I said, “Okay, just listen to the book,” and we moved on to the dialogue about newts and frogs. Afterward, I asked if what I had explained about the giraffes made more sense now that we had talked about gradual change from newt to frog. He said it did.

I’m grateful to have a book like yours to back me up. Otherwise, I imagine it would be his relatives with their book saying, “It popped into existence.” I hope other parents are using The Magic of Reality as a foundation for their teaching, too.

There was a moment recently that saddened me. My son came home from the bus one day and told me that a kid had said, “Your dad doesn’t believe in the right god.” I couldn’t help but laugh and respond, “Actually, I don’t believe in any gods. Your friend is just repeating what his parents believe—not what he knows to be true.”

It’s been disheartening to see how my kids seem more inclined to believe their peers, who are so adamant about their views of reality, rather than what I’ve come to understand as the truth. That was part of what convinced me to homeschool them when their mother suggested it a year and a half ago. I thought that if their peers could so easily pull them toward ignorance, perhaps I could guide them toward reality—toward what we know to be closer to the truth than the creator myth.

I want to thank you for your work and your dedication to keeping the light of knowledge alive in what feels like a new dark age, swirling with ignorance. I wish we could meet someday, and I wish you all the best on your upcoming tour!

Sincerely,
Michael