381:, reflecting on the book, denies the connection of evolution to the validity of arguments from design to God: whereas, he asserts, Dawkins seems to consider the arguments to rest entirely on that basis. Willard argues that Chapter 6, "Origins and Miracles", attempts the "hard task" of making not just a blind watchmaker but "a blind watchmaker watchmaker", which he comments would have made an "honest" title for the book. He notes that Dawkins demolishes several "weak" arguments, such as the argument from personal incredulity. He denies that Dawkins's computer "exercises" and arguments from gradual change show that complex forms of life could have evolved. Willard concludes by arguing that in writing this book, Dawkins is not functioning as a scientist "in the line of Darwin", but as "just a naturalist metaphysician".
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possible new shapes (mutations), which were displayed on screen so that the user could choose between them. The chosen mutation would then be the basis for another generation of biomorph mutants to be chosen from, and so on. Thus, the user, by selection, could steer the evolution of biomorphs. This process often produced images which were reminiscent of real organisms for instance
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by drawing a parallel with the way in which the existence of a watch compels belief in an intelligent watchmaker. Dawkins, in contrasting the differences between human design and its potential for planning with the workings of natural selection, therefore dubbed evolutionary processes as analogous to
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After arguing that evolution is capable of explaining the origin of complexity, near the end of the book
Dawkins uses this to argue against the existence of God: "a deity capable of engineering all the organized complexity in the world, either instantaneously or by guiding evolution ... must already
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In developing his argument that natural selection can explain the complex adaptations of organisms, Dawkins' first concern is to illustrate the difference between the potential for the development of complexity as a result of pure randomness, as opposed to that of randomness coupled with cumulative
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The program displayed a two-dimensional shape (a "biomorph") made up of straight black lines, the length, position, and angle of which were defined by a simple set of rules and instructions (analogous to a genome). Adding new lines (or removing them) based on these rules offered a discrete set of
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To dispel the idea that complexity cannot arise without the intervention of a "creator", Dawkins uses the example of the eye. Beginning with a simple organism, capable only of distinguishing between light and dark, in only the crudest fashion, he takes the reader through a series of minor
366:, comments that Dawkins "succeeds admirably in showing how natural selection allows biologists to dispense with such notions as purpose and design". He notes that analogies with computer programs have their limitations, but are still useful. Ghiselin observes that Dawkins is "
297:. Dawkins speculated that the unnatural selection role played by the user in this program could be replaced by a more natural agent if, for example, colourful biomorphs could be selected by butterflies or other insects, via a touch-sensitive display set up in a garden.
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modifications, which build in sophistication until we arrive at the elegant and complex mammalian eye. In making this journey, he points to several creatures whose various seeing apparatus are, whilst still useful, living examples of intermediate levels of complexity.
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In an appendix to a later edition of the book (1996), Dawkins explains how his experiences with computer models led him to a greater appreciation of the role of
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constraints on natural selection. In particular, he recognised that certain patterns of embryological development could lead to the success of a related
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have been vastly complex in the first place ..." He calls this "postulating organized complexity without offering an explanation."
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In the preface, Dawkins states that he wrote the book "to persuade the reader, not just that the
Darwinian world-view
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read the book in 1986 and became fascinated by evolution and natural selection. Since 1990 he has been building
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Pountain, Dick (November 2016). "Nature's 3D printer exposes Pokémon Go as a hollow replica".
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content with rebutting creationists" but goes on to press home his arguments against
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The Blind
Watchmaker: Why the Evidence of Evolution Reveals a Universe without Design
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Science in the Soul: Selected
Writings of a Passionate Rationalist
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446:"Richard Dawkins' watchmaker still has the power to open our eyes"
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In his choice of the title for this book, Dawkins refers to the
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edition was released in 2011, narrated by
Richard Dawkins and
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of artificial selection implemented in a program also called
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Richard
Dawkins: How a Scientist Changed the Way We Think
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Flights of Fancy: Defying
Gravity by Design and Evolution
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The
Greatest Show on Earth: The Evidence for Evolution
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to be true, but that it is the only known theory that
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selection. He demonstrates this by the example of the
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339:, in principle, solve the mystery of our existence."
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Books Do
Furnish a Life: Reading and Writing Science
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The Magic of Reality: How We Know What's Really True
420:, as the most important popular science book since
23:. For the documentary film based on this book, see
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780:An Appetite for Wonder: The Making of a Scientist
538:. An exhibition of Theo Jansen's work in Espacio
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403:, capable of walking when impelled by the wind.
281:, which was sold separately as a teaching aid.
505:"Reflections on Dawkins' The Blind Watchmaker"
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582:. New York: W. W. Norton & Company, Inc.
788:Brief Candle in the Dark: My Life in Science
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19:For the album by Mana ERG, see
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16:Book by Richard Dawkins
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886:Nice Guys Finish First
700:The Extended Phenotype
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33:The Blind Watchmaker
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578:The Blind Watchmaker
540:Fundación Telefónica
474:(14 December 1986).
472:Ghiselin, Michael T.
422:The Blind Watchmaker
279:The Blind Watchmaker
261:a blind watchmaker.
72:Evolutionary biology
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748:The Ancestor's Tale
597:Maynard Smith, John
410:'s 2005 account of
358:Michael T. Ghiselin
44:First edition cover
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740:A Devil's Chaplain
606:112 (20 Nov.): 61.
480:The New York Times
395:kinetic sculptures
363:The New York Times
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234:watchmaker analogy
194:is a 1986 book by
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910:The Atheism Tapes
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240:in his 1802 book
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391:Theo Jansen
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565:References
556:(265): 26.
250:published
222:Lalla Ward
145:576.8/2 21
1031:Go God Go
991:Gerin oil
574:(1996) .
385:Influence
343:Reception
218:audiobook
200:evolution
78:Publisher
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969:See also
599:(1986).
532:Archived
452:. London
228:Overview
132:35648431
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1106:Portals
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287:beetles
68:Subject
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554:PC Pro
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337:could
314:group
295:trees
293:, or
107:Print
976:Meme
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291:bats
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113:ISBN
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