I watched the second episode this week Phizzy. I like Richard Dawkins. I've read The God Delusion and The Selfish Gene.
This episode he was talking about Life After Death. He looked at various aspects of religious ceremonies to do with death.
Then he said something like ' I'm on a voyage to tell you what science says about death'. Which sparked my interest because I do agree with what Dawkins often says, that science is so amazing that we do not need anything supernatural to fill us with awe.
Then he had his genome mapped which was facinating. I eagerly awaited the results but I found it a little dissapointing. He said that the genome project will allow us eventually to say what a person is likely to die of and when they are likely to die.
His genome showed that he had the gene for runny earwax, the ability to smell asparagus in his urine after he'd eaten it and the possibility for the diseases Porphyria and lung cancer.
Then it cut to his family crypt and showed that he had an aristocratic great great great great grandmother. Okay????
I just seem to have missed the conclusion from the genome mapping.
What was the amazing thing that science has to tell us about death?
Was he saying that when all of us can afford to have our genome mapped we will be able to prevent genetic diseases and dramatically extend life?
Sorry but that episode just seemed to fizzle out! Maybe it's me?
It's on channel4.com by the way.