Dawkins extending more humanity to a language model than he does toward Muslims or trans people is hardly a surprise based on his personal and political views. But even if he had not moved rightward in his senesence, when you consider Dawkins’s scientific views about what minds are and how they function, seeing him flirting with a chatbot is completely expected.
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Besides being a virtual instantiation of his ideal woman (servile, obsequious, and always ready to hear more), the coquettish chatbot that Richard Dawkins had first addressed as “he” and then “christened” as female was a mirror of himself, in a way that’s rather similar to the Greek mythical figure of Narcissus, who became enthralled at his reflection in a pool of water.
Narcissus died because he couldn’t stop looking into his own eyes, whereas Dawkins has only embarrassed himself. But thanks to his self-centered philosophy of mind, there’s almost no chance that he’s learned anything from the episode.
Claudia seemed real to him because actual women and their desires are not real to Dawkins. He loved conversing with his flirty friend because it always agreed with him—unlike those “woke” atheists who insist he has to respect everyone.
He believed a trans chatbot character’s obviously false claims to miss him were credible. He reacts in the opposite way to the personal testimony from lived experience of millions of trans people who certainly know their own bodies and minds.