John Cleese: ”We scientists”, ”God gene” and much more

Joel Kontinen

Richard Dawkins is fond of using the expression ”we scientists” although he has not had the time to do much science in the past few decades. He has obviously noticed that writing speculative quasi-religious books is an easier way of making a living.

In this brief video actor John Cleese discusses the wonderland of genes from a perspective that differs considerably from that of Dawkins. He does not neglect to mention the ”God gene”, the gene that makes people eat coconut ice cream after a fish dinner and some other interesting ”genes”.



Naturally, Cleese does not shy away from reminding his audience of the importance of the authority of scientists.

Cleese’s parody brings to mind that what Mark Twain wrote about the claims of science as well as the just-so-stories so prevalent in Darwinian mythology.