The Blind Watchmaker
From SkepticWiki
- Full Title: The Blind Watchmaker : Why the Evidence of Evolution Reveals a Universe without Design
- Author: Richard Dawkins
- ISBN: 0393315703
Contents |
[edit] Synopsis
This book presents an evolutionary counterargument to the famous "watchmaker" argument in favor of creationism made famous by William Paley and recently revived by intelligent design proponents such as Michael Behe and William Dembski. The author steps through examples of apparent "design" in nature such as the human eye and echolocation in bats, showing how evolution can account for such "adaptational complexity." Much of the book describes a computer simulations of the process of evolution and natural selection and shows how so-called "macro"-evolution can occur by the accumulation of very small evolutionary steps.
He also discusses several other aspects of broader evolutionary theory, including theories of abiogenesis, sexual selection, coadaptation, and taxonomy. He also discusses and analyzes several variations on Darwinian evolution (including the theory of punctuated equilibrium) as well as rival theories of the complexity of life such as Lamarkian evolution, neutralism, mutationism, molecular drive, and of course creationism.
This book has won numerous international awards, including the Royal Society of Literature's Heinemann Prize and the Los Angeles Times Book Award.
[edit] Memorable Quotes
- "If a single, well-verified mammal skull were to turn up in 500 million year-old rocks, our whole modern theory of evolution would be utterly destroyed. Incidentally, this is a sufficient answer to the canard, put about creationists and their journalistic fellow travellers, that the whole theory of evolution is an 'unfalsifiable' one."
- "When I wrote the program [Blind Watchmaker], I never thought that it would evolve anything more than a variety of tree-like shapes. I had hoped for weeping willows, cedars of Lebanon, Lombardy poplars, seaweeds, perhaps deer antlers. Nothing in my biologist's intuition, nothing in my 20 years' experience of programming computers, and nothing in my wildest dreams, prepared me for what actually emerged on the screen....On my wanderings through the backwaters of Biomorph Land, I have encountered fairy shrimps, Aztec temples, Gothic church windows, aboriginal drawings of kangaroos, and, on one memorable but unrecapturable occasion, a passable caricature of the Wykeham Professor of Logic."
[edit] Review
Dawkins' writing is, as always, a pleasure to read and his grasp of the facts of biology is formidable. Although the book is somewhat dated (first published in 1996), very little of the underlying science has changed substantially. As of late 2005, creationists and their intellectual kindred in intelligent design still push the Paley argument. The arguments in this book against "design" are as current as when originally published.
This book also addresses several other creationist misconceptions in detail as well. For example, the "Blind Watchmaker" program described in the third chapter provides a clear-cut example and explanation of how apparently large ("macro") changes can obtain from a sufficient number of small evolutionary steps, a counterargument to the often-cite micro/macroevolution distinction proposed by creationists. Similarly, his detailed analysis of a variety of alternatives to Darwinian evolution disproves the false dichotomy that if "Darwinism" can't explain something, the only alternative is God.
In the final analysis, however, this book should be read not because it's useful as a debating tool, but simply because it's a brilliant example of how good science writing can be.
