Richard Dawkins

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

20:06 min
Biology, Science
466 pages, 1986

Richard Dawkins' "The Blind Watchmaker" grapples with the question: how can life's complexity emerge without a creator? With vivid analogies, Dawkins walks readers through the answer - cumulative natural selection, slowly building over vast timescales. From echolocation to eye evolution, this short reveals how gradual selection traverses immense design possibilities. Dawkins expertly refutes rival theories while showcasing Darwinian evolution's unparalleled ability to shape life's stunning adaptations. This short explains the mechanism behind nature's apparent design and highlights the simple yet powerful process that has molded our living world.

Richard Dawkins

Richard Dawkins is an evolutionary biologist and ethologist known for his popular science books explaining the gene-centric view of evolution. He received his MA, DPhil, and DSc degrees from Oxford University and served as the University of Oxford's Professor for Public Understanding of Science from 1995 to 2008. Dawkins is most famous for proposing the concept of the "selfish gene" in his influential 1976 book, The Selfish Gene, and advocating an evolutionary worldview in later books such as The Blind Watchmaker, The God Delusion, and The Greatest Show on Earth. His accessible scientific writing style has helped bring modern evolutionary theory and atheism to widespread public attention.

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Biology studies complex living systems that appear purposefully designed, unlike simpler physical systems. This complexity arises through gradual, cumulative processes rather than chance or grand concepts.
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Cover of The Blind Watchmaker: Why the Evidence of Evolution Reveals a Universe without Design