The pony fishs glow chapter summaries Term Paper

The pony fishs glow chapter summaries - Term Paper Example examining human traits, modern biologists tend to not recognize elements of prior planning; rather such structures are perfected by the process of natural selection. The features, such as ears, are maintained because individuals with better versions of the feature are more likely to survive and reproduce. This is known as the adaptationist program. Petitioners of the program examine each trait in organisms, and look at how this relates to the way in which the organism survives to pass on its genes. Such questions get more complex as one looks at features more closely, such as the number of incisors in a jaw. The author summarizes his view of the study of biological adaptation in the first five chapters. He considers that adaptation is the development of something that is effective functionally from natural selection. He uses the pony fish as an example of this. This fish has a special type of light that helps it in many aspects of its life. However, other parts of its body aren’t as logical. For example, it only has two eyes, while more would make better sense given the environment which the fish exists in. â€Å"The Sun exists to illuminate the surface of the Earth, and we have eyes to allow us to make use of the sunlight†. These two statements which the author considers imply a cause and effect relationship between the Earth and the Sun. However, when you examine the two statements more closely, you find that there is no evidence for the first being true while the second is not only true but has special implications. If the purpose of the Sun was to serve the Earth, why would it be so large in comparison, and why is the Earth so far away. The eye however, is a complex structure with many regulatory capacities and is clearly designed to enable the organism that possesses it to observe the world around them. If an eye is designed, then does there necessarily have to be a designer? Paley argues that for a watch to exist, it must have been created by someone who