The Blind Watchmaker: Why the Evidence of Evolution Reveals a Universe without Design

The Blind Watchmaker: Why the Evidence of Evolution Reveals a Universe without Design

By
Richard Dawkins

http://www.richarddawkins.net

Today I would like to introduce you to one of the original thinkers included in The Third Culture: beyond the Scientific Revolution (Simon and Schuster, 1995) by John Brockman. Richard Dawkins who you can read about on http://www.edge.org or on his own website RichardDawkins.net (A Clear Thinking Oasis). Both websites are examples of the new community of intellectuals in action. Thinkers who are defining the key interesting and scientific questions of our times.

In The Blind Watchmaker the author Richard Dawkins who is definitely one of the great ones and one of the leading intellectuals of our time talks about the difference in the complexity of design.

“Biology is the study of complicated things that give the appearance of having been designed for a purpose. Physics is the study of simple things that do not tempt us to invoke design.”
Of course as Mr. Dawkins points out we think physics is complicated because it is hard for us to understand. I agree with the author the best we can do is understand the general principles of science of biology and physics. After we understand the basic principles then we can understand “hierarchical reductionism”, which we can use to describe the view that complex systems can be described with a hierarchy of organizations.

Dawkins talks about another eighteen-century theologian William Paley who in his Natural Theology- or Evidence of the Existence and Attributes of the Deity Collected from the Appearances of Nature, published in 1802 argues for design and the existence of a God. Mr. Dawkins greatly admirers the Paley’s writing skills but disagrees with his conclusions. Dawkins argues for the Darwin view.

“Natural selection, the blind, unconscious, automatic process which Darwin discovered, and which we now know is the explanation for the existence and apparently purposeful form of all life, has no purpose in mind. It has no mind’s eye. It does not plan for the future. It has no vision, no foresight, no sight at all. If it can be said to play the role of watchmaker in nature. It is the blind watchmaker.

I think the question should be why are these views or set of ideas; the Darwinian explanation vs the Conscious Designer theory not a part of our general education system? Why are these ideas not understood nor discussed? Hopefully I can inspire you to read more by Richard Dawkins and other Third Culture intellectuals. This is the best part of the Internet. It aids us and makes possible our questions with research and information that can lead us to knowledge, to understanding the intellectuals and ourselves. It leads us to ask the right questions, which is still one of the best ways to logical change and learning.