The Greatest Show on Earth: The Evidence for Evolution, Richard Dawkins - Essay Example

There were no fossils available at this time to make comparisons or linkages. As a result, what was available was visual and the comparison was made to gorillas and chimpanzees which included bonobos. Authors and researchers A. C. Wilson and V. M. Sarich wrote that quantitative comparisons made of serum albumins, transferrins, hemoglobins, and DNA show that man is more similar to African Apes than to old-world monkeys. They argued that the inference made by some regarding monkeys to men is not correct. (Wilson, Sarich 1088) This argument is made well simply because the original argument made by Darwin as Dawkins points out was in favor of Apes and chimpanzees versus monkeys. Additional support for the theories originally postulated by Darwin abounds as a result of the use of DNA.

Dawkins addresses the various fossils and skeletons found, Ape Man, Java man, Peking man, and more and debunks the creationist approach in this regard. He does make it clear that he respects the creationist's approach regarding the use of arguments that are not valid, though his disdain for them shines through in the surrounding texts. Though the argument against the missing links has valid points, the author Dr. Marvin Lubenow makes it clear that the fossil presentations can be called into question simply because they cannot be definitively shown to be human or of human ancestry. (Lubenow 10-17) Dawkins continues to place what is known and accepted ahead of these arguments however and shows that some of the more lurid attempts to challenge the fossil records are not based on science but on popular belief.

As we read through the next two chapters we are quickly made to see that some of the more normal arguments made against evolution truly are baseless. One argument for which Dawkins quotes a brilliant response is the argument that man could come from a single cell. The response is swift and to the point, we did it ourselves, and it only took nine months. (Dawkins, Ph.D. FRS, FRSL) One author explains that DNA is not the blueprint for life as is so commonly misunderstood but more of a set of plans; it does not explain how to build a person it does, however, contain the information. (Potter 1) Dawkins compares DNA to origami; you start with the base material and then through a series of changes end up with something entirely different made from the base material. As he looks at the various building blocks for DNA and the human body Dawkins cannot help but act as though he is awed. I am also awed based primarily on the amount of information included to assist in my journey through this book.

Chapter nine brings us to see the globe itself. Dawkins address’s the new species born every year and states that every new species is a cousin of another, every two species is descended from an ancestral species, which split in two. (Dawkins, Ph.D. FRS, FRSL) Graduate student and researcher Laura Reed of the University of Arizona has found a new species of fly this was discovered during observations of breeding patterns of fruit flies living on rotting cacti. (Whitehouse) With this observation from 2004 and Dawkins's approach with dogs and other similar animals, it seems appropriate to assume that new species regularly evolve as a result of various stimuli. For the flies it was the limited interbreeding for dogs it is the forced breeding to gain new characteristics. As with the approach in chapter three, the focus on domestic animals seems appropriate. For me, it is easy to understand the science he outlines as well as understanding the role we humans have had in our evolution.