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recommend book⇒The Blind Watchmaker: Why the Evidence of Evolution Reveals a Universe Without Design | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| by | Dr. Richard Dawkins | 978-0-14-102616-9 | paperback | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| birth | 1941-03-26 age:77 | 978-0-393-99343-1 | hardcover | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| publisher | Penguin | 978-0-14-196642-7 | eBook | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| published | 2006-04 | 978-1-4558-4813-3 | audio | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Originally published in 1986 and republished in 2006-04 with an introduction. The title refers to the Rev. William Paley’s 1802 work, Natural Theology, which argued that just as finding a watch would lead you to conclude that a watchmaker must exist, the complexity of living organisms proves that a Creator exists. Dawkins argues that all appearances to the contrary, the only watchmakers in nature are the blind forces of physics, albeit deployed in a very special way. Natural selection is an anti-chance process, which gradually builds up complexity, step by tiny step. The end product of this ratcheting process is an eye, or a heart, or a brain — a device whose improbable complexity is utterly baffling until you spot the gentle ramp that leads up to it. He explains the astounding difference between single step and cumulative selection. Using a computer simulation, single step selection would take many millions of times the age of the universe to solve a problem where cumulative selection can solve it in 11 seconds. Creationists either don’t or pretend they don’t understand the difference. Dawkins bends over backwards to excuse those who presumed a creator god was responsible, prior to Darwin. There simply was no other explanation. He is less kind to modern creationists who use lies and logical fallacies to peddle their religious superstitions. The CD audio is a whopping 12 discs. Dawkins himself is the narrator, spelled off every once in a while by a his wife, Lala Ward, especially when having mock dialogs. This is definitely a book for the layman. He uses very concrete language, almost like a children’s story. He almost never says and so forth He always spells out his explanations completely and repetitiously after the manner of a fairy tale using specific quantities. He scrupulously avoids speaking abstractly or in generalisations. This makes him quite easy to understand, though somewhat tedious. If you drift off for a second there is sufficient repetition, that it is unlikely you will miss anything critical. The book carries on in Climbing Mount Improbable. I think this book should have been called The Witless Watchmaker: How the Evidence of Evolution Reveals a Universe Without Design Blind watchmakers still plan ahead. Why often implies gods and their purposes. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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