Richard Dawkins is one of the most respected scientists in the world.

He is an international author. His most popular books are The Selfish Gene, The Ancestor’s Tale, Climbing Mount Improbable, Unweaving the Rainbow, The Blind Watchmaker, A Devil’s Chaplain, The Greatest Show on Earth, The God Delusion, and The Magic of Reality. His new books are his two-part autobiography, Part 1 An Appetite for Wonder, released and A Brief Candle in the Dark.

He was asked “Does God Exist” by Brian Greene, watch the video below for his answer.

Dawkins, claims that humans are just “throwaway survival machines” whose only meaning of life or purpose of life is to survive and replicate their genes. Further, he adds, we are foolish to understand that our desires are our purpose of life. The purpose of life cannot be found in materialistic world, rather, we have to detach ourselves from the world and start questioning on our existence and consciousness.

He once shared his view on Religion and he shared why he is against the concept of religion. We cannot find the purpose of life by following any religion, rather, it will be said as service delivered to one’s community.

“I am against religion because it teaches us to be satisfied with not understanding the world. Isn’t religion actually trying to give answers to what we don’t understand?”

– Richard Dawkins

Dawkins has done a great deal to advance and celebrate the origins and look for the meaning of life on Earth.

My eyes are constantly wide open to the extraordinary fact of existence. Not just human existence but the existence of life and how this breathtakingly powerful process, which is natural selection, has managed to take the very simple facts of physics and chemistry and build them up to redwood trees and humans. That’s never far from my thoughts, that sense of amazement.”

– Richard Dawkins

He is the creator of the word ‘meme’ and of the extremely influential ‘selfish gene’ model of evolutionary biology. He is the embodiment of the truly intellectual person – a scientist whose ideas have proven influential in all levels of society.

Dawkins used to complain about people confusing him with Stephen Hawking and asking him ‘why aren’t you in your wheelchair?’

He on the Podcast with Lex Fridman talks about the Meaning of life:

Meaning of life Richard Dawkins

“From the scientific point of view the meaning of life is propagation of DNA, but that’s not what I feel, that’s not the meaning of my life.”

– Richard Dawkins
Purpose of life Richard Dawkins

According to Dawkins, we don’t yet understand what is consciousness. But he is confident that the neuroscience will tell us what is consciousness very soon.

Credit for Richard Dawkins’ Portrait to Frederic Aranda @fredericaranda