Courtesy of GrrrlScientist at Guardian Blogs (who I found courtesy of the venerable yet still awesome ScienceURLs), I got a chance to view an interview of Richard Dawkins conducted by Matt Ridley.   Dawkins is a polarizing figure and maybe not a great public face for people who just want to do positive science outreach but when he stays on message there's really no one better.

In the video, he talks about what E.T. might be like, the same topic Michael Shermer wrote about for us in What Aliens Can Tell Us About Evolution:  

In discussing what life is, he gets into virtual technology and reveals that his Second Life avatar is "a very nubile female" - so fanboys beware.