On Mon, 8 Jan 1996 11:28:19 -0800 (PST) you wrote:
[...]
RW> I debated Dawkins book with an atheist friend of mine. When I pointed
>out this error, I gave him two options. I said this could be
>
> 1) A deliberate deception.
>
> 2) A gigantic mistake.
>
>He could not come up with a third alternative and we was
>uncomfortable with the idea that Dawkins had attempted to
>deliberately misleade his audience, so he opted for for choice 2).
>I personally believe that Dawkins carefully crafted a deception to
>mislead his audience, but I am not going to accuse him of lying in my
>pamphlet.
>
>By the way, the 251,963,120,000 to 1 number does not appear in
>Dawkin's book, nor does any distinction between hand and deal.
Agreed. It is difficult not to believe that Dawkins is being
deliberately deceptive. It is not the only place, that he uses
"tricks of the advocate's trade". Walter ReMine has pointed out in
The Biotic Message that Dawkins' gives the impression that his
simulation programs demonstrate rapid evolution, when in reality they
are programmed with many unrealistic assumptions that make rapid
"evolution" inevitable:
"Dawkins' readers got the impression he casually threw the computer
simulation together and speedy evolution just happened automatically.
In reality, Dawkins carefully designed his simulation to favor rapid
evolution. One could hardly design a simple, easily understood
simulation that is faster. His computer simulation aids the illusion
that evolution is simple in concept, inevitable, and fast." (ReMine
W.J., "The Biotic Message: Evolution Versus Message Theory", St.
Paul Science: Saint Paul, 1993, p233).
God bless.
Stephen
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