One of the events that possibly propelled New Atheism —which is (or was) nothing but the defense of a world free of religious oppression— was the 2007 conversation between Christopher Hitchens, Richard Dawkins, Sam Harris and Daniel Dennett in the apartment of the first, in Washington, DC, which was titled The Four Horsemen of Atheism —the name by which the group of these four authors came to be known— and whose popularity at that time offered hope for a more rational, free and egalitarian world, at least for a brief moment in human history:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n7IHU28aR2E
Today, 12 years later —after Christopher Hitchens’ death and New Atheism was destroyed/hijacked by the regressive left— the transcript of the Four Horsemen video was finally made into book and will go on sale this year — The Four Horsemen: The Conversation That Sparked an Atheist Revolution:
At the dawn of the new atheist movement, the thinkers who became known as “the four horsemen,” the heralds of religion’s unraveling—Christopher Hitchens, Richard Dawkins, Sam Harris, and Daniel Dennett—sat down together over cocktails. What followed was a rigorous, pathbreaking, and enthralling exchange, which has been viewed millions of times since it was first posted on YouTube. This is intellectual inquiry at its best: exhilarating, funny, and unpredictable, sincere and probing, reminding us just how varied and colorful the threads of modern atheism are.
Here is the transcript of that conversation, in print for the first time, augmented by material from the living participants: Dawkins, Harris, and Dennett. These new essays, introduced by Stephen Fry, mark the evolution of their thinking and highlight particularly resonant aspects of this epic exchange. Each man contends with the most fundamental questions of human existence while challenging the others to articulate their own stance on God and religion, cultural criticism, spirituality, debate with people of faith, and the components of a truly ethical life.
The book will be available from March 19, 2019, and can already be pre-ordered, both for Kindle and in hardcover. All proceeds of the book will go to the Richard Dawkins Foundation.
Even though the video is available online (for the time being, at least), it wouldn’t hurt to buy the book, even if it’s only as a souvenir of a time when reason and science had the chance to dominate the conversation, or for those of us who miss the kind of honest exchanges of ideas, free of biological essentialism and bigotry, in which arguments carry weight by themselves rather than depending on the biological or cultural traits of those who expose them, or where they stand on the political spectrum.
For more information, in episode #147 of his Making Sense podcast — the most recent at the time of this post{s publication, Sam Harris and his guest, Stephen Fry, spoke in greater depth about the book.
