Yesterday in Tuke Hall, London, comedian and Distinguished Supporter of the British Humanist Association, Robin Ince, presented the 2012 Voltaire Lecture on the topic of ‘The Importance of Being Interested’.
Robin Ince has described himself as ‘not man or beast; I am bibliosexual, and a seedy bibliosexual who haunts the streets, laden with carrier bags held by blistered fingers, stooping under the weight of the rucksack that has brought on sciatica and a Dickensian demeanour’ and for those in the full-to-capacity audience who were already aware of what to expect, the lecture fulfilled expectations.
A comedian with a love of books, in 2006 Robin won the Time Out Award for Outstanding Achievement in Comedy following his successful Book Club night—an event celebrating human achievement (however misguided) through the reading of various second-hand books.
Having been warned in advance that the lecture would include plenty of references to Charles Darwin and Richard Feynman, it was a surprise to many on the night to also see included in the line up a box of worms, a trombone, a swede, and packs of spaghetti.
Robin began the evening introducing himself as ‘a scrapbook’ and an atheist, and went on to present convincing arguments for the need to be interested. Illustrating this with reference to Charles Darwin’s The Formation of Vegetable Mould through the Action of Worms (1881), which Robin describes as the best non-fiction book on worms ever published, and Darwin’s 20 years of studying barnacles, he managed to pull together stories spanning hundreds of years and make them relevant today. During the lecture he drew conclusions from Darwin’s experience of the early deaths of three of his children to the modern scaremongering of tabloids about the effects of child vaccinations, how technological advancement has created new forms of drudgery, and how, if we just teach children facts , then they may win a pub quiz but they’ll never win a Nobel Prize.
Finishing on a sombre note describing the death of Richard Feynman and his relationships throughout his life, Robin told the heart-warming story of a long held agreement between Feynman and his sister. He went on to describe the death of Carl Sagan, and called for us to focus on the wonder and joy that can be found through being interested.
The lecture was not only funny, but thought provoking and inspiring. It left us with a sense of pride in our daily pursuits, our BCG scars, and all our trials and errors.
Notes
Read tweets from the lecture here.
The Voltaire Lectures Fund was established by the legacy of Theodore Besterman, biographer of Voltaire, for lectures on ‘any aspect of scientific or philosophical thought or human activity as affected by or with particular reference to humanism.’ The British Humanist Association now oversees the fund. Previous Voltaire lecturers have included: Natalie Haynes, Baroness Wootton, Herman Bondi, Bernard Crick, Richard Dawkins, Michael Foot, Robert Hinde, Ludovic Kennedy, Simon Blackburn, Ray Tallis and Lord Taverne.