Climbing Mount Improbable

  beetles, mimicry, 7–8 (figs.)

  Bennet-Clark, Henry, 228

  ‘best of a bad job’ theory

  bees, 314

  and stable balance theory, 316–7

  biomorphs, 30–6, 239 (fig.)

  artificial selection, 30–2

  Blind Watchmaker program, 33 (fig.) {333}

  Colour Watchmaker program, 34

  embryology of, 226

  kaleidoscopic mirrors, 227 (fig.)

  land, 200

  trees, 31 (fig.)

  birds

  evolved from dinosaurs, 123

  large grounded, 127–8

  long evolutionary journey, 126

  start of flying, 125

  wings, 127

  birth defects, genetic, 97

  Biston betularia, evolution of, 87

  Blind Snailmaker, 212

  Blind Watchmaker, The

  bats, 38

  genetic space, 200

  many ways of being dead, 99

  Blind Watchmaker computer program

  ‘computer biomorphs’, 30–4

  no five-way symmetry, 239

  Brassica oleracea, artificial selection, 27 (fig.), 26–8

  breathing, air, in water-dwelling animals, 130

  bulldog, English, artificial selection, 29

  butterflies, prey to spiders, 52–3

  cabbage, wild, artificial selection, 27 (fig.), 26–8

  California, University of, 113

  Callaerts, Patrick, 192

  camera, and human eye, 19

  see also eye camera

  caterpillar, segmentation, 240, 241

  cells

  eucaryotic, 287

  generations, 272

  light-sensitive, preliminary evolution, 166

  machine code of, 271

  principles, 287

  centipede, segmentation, 240

  chance, 79, 101

  chihuahua, artificial selection, 29 (fig.)

  classification of species, 106

  co-evolution, wasps and figs, 262, 301, 308–10, 324

  Colour Watchmaker, biomorphs bred by, 34 (fig.)

  compound eye, see eye, compound

  computer simulations, 68

  arthromorphs, segmentation, 243–4

  fish, 69–72

  lens, 153 (fig.)

  model of natural selection, 62

  selective breeding, 32

  shells: artificial selection, 215 (fig.)

  resemblance to real shells, 217 (fig.)

  snails, 216 (fig.)

  spiders, 57–68

  webs, 66–7 (fig.)

  see also biomorphs

  cone, human retina, 172

  convergent evolution, 19–21 (fig.), 21

  crayfish spermatozoon, symmetry, 232 (fig.)

  creationists

  favourite quotation, 197

  favourite target, 136

  species classification, 106

  cross-fertilization, by pollen, 259–60

  cup eye, see eye, cup

  currency-conversion factor, fly and silk protein, 68

  dachshund, artificial selection, 29 (fig.)

  Darwin, Charles

  and artificial selection model for natural selection, 34

  on the eye, 139

  theory of evolution, 74

  Darwinism

  dependent on heredity, 90–1

  misunderstood, 80

  non-random natural selection, 75

  problem of improbability, 77

  Dennett, Daniel, 200

  design

  vs. accident, 6

  illusion of, 223

  designoid objects

  definition, 6

  ‘second order’, 18

  traps, 14

  diatoms, kaleidoscopic mirrors, 233 (fig.)

  diffraction, problems for pinhole eyes, 150–1

  dimensions

  four, 200

  two, and physics of real life, 36–7

  dinosaurs, evolution of birds from, 123

  DNA, 4

  and exponential growth, 292–3

  and heredity, 90

  horse as robot vehicle for, 290 (fig.)

  living things host to, 268, 276

  shuttled by evolution, 326

  in trees, 30

  virus, 274 {334}

  dogs, artificial selection, 29 (fig.)

  dolphin, convergent evolution, 21 (fig.)

  Douglas-Hamilton, Iain, 92

  Douglas-Hamilton, Oria, 92

  Drexler, Eric, 294

  Drosophila

  eye genes, 190

  homeotic mutation, 249–51

  dugongs, dry-land history, 133

  ‘Duplicate Me’ program, 269, 282, 297

  eagles, use of thermals, 128

  Eberhard, William, 53

  echinoderms

  and biomorphs, 238, 239 (fig.)

  five-way symmetry, 236

  mirrors of symmetry, 235 (fig.)

  Edmonds, Donald, 58

  efficiency

  of knives, 11–2

  measures of, 11–2

  of model eye, 161–2

  of natural objects, 10–12

  of spider webs, 38

  of wings, 114

  Eldredge, Niles, 105–6

  elephants, trunk, evolution of, 4, 92, 94

  embryology

  biomorphs, 226

  insect, 224

  kaleidoscopic, 224–55

  mammal, 224

  model of evolution, 162

  mutations dependent on, 224

  embryos, changes in, 104

  enzymes, improbability of, 75

  epiphytes, 265

  eucaryotic cells, 287

  evolution

  alternative routes, 135

  co-evolution, 324

  convergent, 21 (fig.)

  importance of macro-mutation, 103

  improvement, recipe for, 136

  necessary ingredients for, 88

  no reversal allowed, 135

  return to old way of life, 130

  shuttling DNA codes, 326

  exponential growth, 291, 292

  eye, 138–97

  arrangement of parts, 78

  camera and, 19

  compound, 147, 177

  apposition, 179 (fig.)

  on man, 182 (fig.)

  primitive, 184 (fig.)

  principle, 180

  problems with detail, 180

  superposition, 188, 189 (fig.)

  cup, 146–9, 147 (fig.)

  direction of light, 147–8 (fig.)

  inside out, 179 (fig.)

  problems with, 149

  Darwin's discussion of, 139

  double, 196 (fig.)

  fish, model of evolution, 163, 164 (fig.)

  focus, changing, 166–7

  intermediates between compound and camera, 181

  invertebrate, 152 (fig.)

  mirror, 177

  model, efficiency assessment, 161

  mutational damage to genes, 193

  necessary size, 141

  non-image forming, 142

  pinhole, see pinhole eye

  problems for evolutionists, 136

  snails, 141, 141 (fig.)

  types, 139–40

  eye camera

  jumping spiders, 173

  rate of evolution, 190

  face

  human eagerness to see, 24

  mimicry, on insects, 24

  feathers

  insulation, 124

  modified scales, 124

  feathertail glider, 117 (fig.)

  fertilization, cross., by pollen, 260

  figs (Pints spp.), 3–4, 299, 305–6

  agreement between male and female, 322

  co-evolution with wasp, 262, 301, 307–9, 320, 324–5

  cup, 301

  dioecious, 318

  flowers, 301

  literary, 3

  mimicry, 321

  po
llinators, 301

  pores, 303–4

  two kinds of female flower, 304

  strangling, 306

  fire, reproduction of, 88–9

  fish

  computer simulation, 69–70 {335}

  eye, model of evolution, 163, 164 (fig.)

  flying, 120–3, 121 (fig.)

  four-eyed, 196 (fig.)

  Fisher, R. A., 79, 104

  flapping, 127

  flare (shells), 204, 206 (fig.), 207 (fig.)

  expansion rate of spiral, 204

  flat-fish, alternative positions, 134 (fig.)

  fleas, segmentation, 242

  flies

  halteres, 242 (fig.)

  protein, spider calculations, 65

  segmentation, 242

  flight, 108

  evolution of, 113–30

  origin in birds, 129

  beginning on ground, 120

  different uses by birds, 126

  flapping, 127

  and physics, 108

  problems of size, 113

  floating, in air, small animals, 113

  flounder, and skate, 134 (fig.)

  flowers

  figs, 301

  preferred pollination strategy, 262–3

  purpose of, 256–68

  transmission of DNA, 273

  flying, see flight

  focus, eye, 166, 167

  fossils

  classification, 106–7

  elephant tusks, 92–4

  evidence of evolution, 91–2

  Fuchs, Peter, 58

  Gehring, Walter, 192–4

  generation time, and size, 109 (fig.)

  generations, of cells, 292

  genes

  ‘clean up’ following mutation, 105

  control of mutation rate, 82

  DNA instructions, 298

  ‘Duplicate Me’ program, 297–8

  effect on embryo, 104

  gradient, 248–9

  for cooperative digging, 309

  kaleidoscopic, 253

  mammals’ eyes, 194

  modifier of others, 105

  mutational damage to, effect on eye, 193

  naming convention, 190

  phenotypic effect, 104

  rearranged by sexual reproduction, 83–4

  segment, 247

  tagma, 247

  spontaneous, arthromorph evolution, 244

  survival climates, 86

  transfusions, 136

  variation, 199

  genetic space, 199–200

  geode, designoid stones, 10

  Gigantocypris, mirror solutions to image-forming, 173–7, 175 (fig.)

  giraffe

  evolution of long neck, 101–3, 102 (fig.)

  and okapi, 101

  glass, principle of refraction, 155

  glider, feathertail, 117 (fig.)

  gliding

  off surface of water, 121 (fig.)

  vertebrates, 116–23, 119 (fig.)

  God

  control over nature, 74–5

  as mountaineer, 77

  Godfray, Charles, 321

  Goldschmidt, Richard, 98

  Gould, Stephen, 105–6

  Grafen, Alan, 321

  grass, 267

  Great Dane, artificial selection, 29 (fig.)

  growth, exponential, 291–3

  Grzeszczuk, Radek, 69–71

  Haeckel, Ernst, 232

  Haemoglobin Number, 78

  Haider, George, 192–4

  Halley's Comet, photons from, 144

  halteres, 242 (fig.)

  Hamilton, W. D., 304, 309–10, 316

  Hardy, Alister, 176

  hedgehogs, 20 (fig.)

  heredity

  Darwinism dependent on, 91

  different from reproduction, 88

  and DNA, 90

  heritability, 165

  ‘hopeful monster’ theory, 98

  horse, as robot vehicle for DNA, 290 (fig.)

  Hoyle, Fred, 77, 100

  human-centred view of the world, 258

  Hyptiotes, variable tension web, 54–5

  Iberian Ophrys, 261 (fig.)

  imagination, 19

  immunoglobulins, nanotechnology, 295–6

  insects

  catching methods, efficiency, 38

  compound eye, 147

  flight, 114

  garden inclosed for benefit of, 310 {336}

  lenses, different development, 171 (fig.)

  pots, 15–6

  trapping, pitcher plant, 12–4

  Internet Worm, 271

  Israel, mason bees, 16

  jellyfish, stalked, four-way symmetry, 231 (fig.)

  Juniper, Barrie, 12

  Kaehler, Ted, 243, 248

  kaleidoscope, embryos, 224–5

  Kelvin, Lord, 76

  Keplerian telescope, 187

  Kettlewell, Bernard, 87

  Kingdon, Jonathan, 40

  Kingsolver, Joel, 113

  Kirby, Reverend William, 256

  Kirschfeld, Kuno, 182 (fig.)

  Koehl, Mimi, 113

  Krink, Thiemo, 58

  ladder web, 53 (fig.)

  land animals, return to water, 130–3

  Land, Michael, 172–6, 195

  Langton, Christopher, 69

  Laputan authorship, 77

  leafy sea dragon, 9–10

  legs, caterpillar, 240–1

  lenses

  complex, 160 (fig.), 159

  computed, 153 (fig.)

  evolution of, 154, 160–3, 170–2

  insect, different development, 171 (fig.)

  makeshift, 157 (fig.)

  pebble, 156

  principle of, 149

  life

  existence elsewhere, 283

  in nanoworld, 297

  origin of, 283–4

  rarity of, 283

  light

  detection of, 146–7

  principle of refraction, 155 (fig.)

  rays, bending, 154–5

  light-sensitive cells, preliminary evolution, 166

  Lin, Lorraine, 58

  lobsters, homeotic mutation, 253

  local doubling, 291

  luck, ‘smearing out’, 91

  lung, evolutionary origin of, 96

  Machina speculatrix (robot ‘tortoise’), 280

  macro-mutation, 96, 99

  and natural selection, 97

  favoured by natural selection, 253

  importance in evolution, 103

  no connection with punctuated equilibrium, 105–6

  males, two types, 313–4

  man, dominion over living things, 256

  marlin, blue, convergent evolution, 21 (fig.)

  marsupial gliders, 116

  Mastopbora, single-thread web, 56

  Maynard Smith, John, 95

  Medawar, Sir Peter, 228

  medusae, six-way symmetry, 237 (fig.)

  Meinhardt, Hans, 220

  membranes, retinal cell, 144

  mimicry, 7–8

  between human eye and camera, 19

  face on insects, 23–4

  mirror eye, 173–5 (fig.)

  More, Henry, 257

  moths

  evolution of, 87–8

  prey to spiders, 52–3, 56

  Mount Improbable

  eye region, 195 (fig.)

  parable of, 73

  Mount Rushmore, 3–37

  Move Watch, spider simulation, 58–60, 59

  Muller's Ratchet, explanation for sex, 85

  Museum of All Possible Animals, 201

  Museum of All Possible Shells, 207, 211–2, 219

  mutation bias, 81

  chance in Darwinism, 80

  ‘clean up’ following, 104–5

  controlled by genes, 83

  directed, 82

  good and bad, 84–5

  homeotic, 249, 251 (fig.)

  macro-mutation, 96, 97

  different kinds, 100


  importance in evolution, 103

  no connection with punctuated equilibrium, 105–6

  and natural selection, 86, 97, 224

  non-random, 80

  and stress, 83

  nanotechnology, 294 (fig.)

  immunoglobins, 294

  nanoworld, life in, 297

  Natural History Museum, 4

  natural selection

  and artificial selection, 34–5

  illusion of design, 222

  and macro-mutation, 97, 253 {337}

  male wasps, 316–7

  mimicry in animals, 7–8

  misapprehension, 101

  mutation and, 86, 97, 224

  non-random cumulative, 75

  penalising mutation, 86

  pressure on evolution, 198

  similarities to Laputan authorship, 76

  simulations, 36–7, 62, 64–5

  and variation, 165

  neck, evolution of, 101–3, 102 (fig.)

  nectar

  bribery of bees, 258

  fuel for insect, 260

  Nesse, Randolph, 293

  NetSpinner simulator, 162

  overnight evolution of web, 63 (fig.)

  theoretical spiders, 60–8

  Nilsson, Dan, 161–5, 182, 190, 196

  Noctuidae, prey for bolus spider, 56

  O'Toole, Christopher, 16

  okapi, evolution of neck, 102 (fig.), 101–3

  ommatidia, 180–1

  dark pigment, side effects of, 185

  orchid

  bucket, 261–2

  hammer, 262 (fig.)

  insect-mimicking, 261 (fig.)

  Paecilopachys, horizontal orb web, 56

  partnerships, flowers and bees, 264

  Pasilobus, triangular web, 55 (fig.)

  pebble, as lens, 156

  Pelger, Susanne, 161–6

  penguin, galapagos, convergent evolution, 21 (fig.)

  Pennycuick, Colin, 128

  photocell, biological, 142, 145 (fig.)

  photons

  economics of, 144

  from Halley's Comet, 144

  random nature of, 144

  remote sensing technology, 138

  photosynthesis, 142

  physics

  artificial, in simulation of natural selection, 68–9

  flapping flight, 127

  and flying, 108

  of real life, not two-dimensional, 36

  Pilkington, James, 256

  pinhole eye, 160–3

  problem with diffraction, 151

  remedy for shortcomings, 173

  pitcher plant, economy ratio, 12

  poison, spiders, 52

  pollen

  fig wasps, 301

  transmission of, 259–60

  pollination, strategy, 262–3

  pollinators

  of figs, 301

  specialist, 262–3

  population, exponential growth, 291

  possums, flying, 117 (fig.)

  pots

  efficiency of, 10–6

  insect, 15–6

  pre-adaptation, 95

  primeval soup, 282

  printer, 3-D, 278

  pseudo-design, recognition of, 18

  punctuated equilibrium, no connection with macro-mutation, 905–6