- Discuss 1 thing in each video that surprised or interested you. Be specific
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4dwjS_eI-lQ&feature=emb_title
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T8eGw1oyYoQ
Watch the following video and then answer the questions.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ov00SrBwjKQ
Describe what you thought as you watched the Nova video:
--What did you expect to see? Did your expectations change as you watched?.
--Was the video helpful to you in understanding Wilson? How, specifically.
WHAT DIDN'T DARWIN KNOW?
What is ONE of the things that Darwin didn't know that the Nova video shows us? Explain (if you can) why he didn't know it.
Wilson's Evolution for everyone Chapter 7-9
- Explain the meaning of the following scenario:
Imagine a surreal dream that begins with a ballroom of dancers in elegant attire. Suddenly one member of each pair vanishes, but their partners dance on as if nothing has changed. Their arms remain outstretched and they continue to circle as if they were dancing with ghosts. Then a bottomless pit appears in the middle of the dance floor. You watch spellbound as the solitary dancers approach the edge of the pit…Alas, the dancers are as heedless of the pit as they are of the disappearance of their partners. There is nothing you can do as they plummet one by one out of sight (51).
- Explain how “putting a fast-food restaurant on every corner is like lighting up the inland sky for baby sea turtles" (55).
- Wilson says that knowledge of how we and others are “dancing with ghosts” is urgent(57). Explain what he means.
Chapter 10-12
6.MISSILE
How is natural selection thinking UNLIKE “a heat-seeking missile that unerringly finds its target”(65)?
7.YOUR DOCTOR VS YOUR MECHANIC
Explain: "the next time that you visit a doctor you should hope that she is enlightened enough to appreciate the importance of belief for physical and mental health, but you should also be glad that she doesn’t resort to supernatural explanations any more than your car mechanic"(69
- God-Given vs Standing Apart
According to Wilson, in what ways are religious beliefs in “god-given abilities” similar to secular beliefs that “we stand apart” (pp. 68-69)?
In what ways are they different? Why are evolutionists skeptical of both sets of beliefs?
Sample Solution