Question

1) We humans recognize that non-human animal behavior is often predictable and that animals appear to have clearly defined goals and purposes in their behaviors. Which of the following is the most accurate and complete statement about this "purposefulness?"

a. Purposeful behavior represents the strategies that are most successful in replicating the design information that builds those behaviors, arising in deliberate pursuit of biological reproduction.

b. Purposeful behavior reflects the inherent purposefulness of the entire universe, representing the drive by the universe to understand itself.

c. Purposeful behavior simply represents the strategies that are most successful in replicating the design information that builds those behaviors, blindly arrived at by natural selection.

d. Purposeful behavior reflects the inherent purposefulness of biology, with biology having arisen in order to bring purpose into the universe. e. Organisms do not behave purposefully; our human minds are vulnerable to the illusion of purposeful behavior where none exists.

2)One feature of large animals that might worry us is their spectacular complexity (think of their minds and organ systems, for example). Perhaps this means that organisms are so complicated that we have no chance of understanding the origins and logic of their behaviors. Which of the following is the most accurate and complete resolution of this conundrum as discussed in TOPIC 3?

a. The apparent complexity of animals is produced by simple interaction, a long sequence of macromolecules, each building the next.

b. We do not understand the complexity of animals; thus, our ability to understand their behavior is sharply limited.

c. The apparent complexity of animals is produced by simple interaction, hierarchically nested combinatorial deployment of diverse classes of structural elements.

d. We do not understand the complexity of animals; however, we don't need to understand these features in order to understand the logic of their behavior.

3)

We briefly examined the mechanics of living organisms at the simplest levels (chemical and molecular). Which of the following is the most accurate and complete description of our current picture of these mechanics?

	a.	Organisms obey all the same laws as non-biological entities and no others; natural selection has produced devices that exploit these laws and replicate chemically encoded design information.
	b.	Organisms obey all the same laws as non-biological entities; however, natural selection has also created new fundamental chemical laws that are unique to biology.
	c.	Organisms exploit a distinct set of physical and chemical laws unique to biology and distinct from those controlling non-biological processes; these laws are the domain of evolution by natural selection.
	d.	Organisms exploit a distinct set of physical and chemical laws unique to biology and distinct from those controlling non-biological processes; natural selection operates in the tiny region of overlap between these biology-specific laws and the laws governing the larger universe.

4)

Which of the following is the most accurate and complete statement about the nature of phylogenetic analysis and its deployment to understand evolution, as discussed in TOPIC 1?

	a.	Phylogenetic analysis exploits the properties of currently surviving organisms to deduce the properties of their evolutionary ancestors; this approach is very informative and always trumps all other sources of insight (like the fossil record, for example).
	b.	Phylogenetic analysis makes exclusive use of DNA sequence and fossil evidence to deduce the trajectory of evolutionary change; this approach is very informative and always trumps all other sources of insight (like examining the properties of currently surviving organisms, for example).
	c.	Phylogenetic analysis exploits the properties of currently surviving organisms to deduce the properties of their evolutionary ancestors; this approach can be very informative about evolutionary change but can sometimes suggest incorrect hypotheses.
	d.	Phylogenetic analysis makes exclusive use of DNA sequence and fossil evidence to deduce the trajectory of evolutionary change; this approach can be very informative about evolutionary change but can sometimes suggest incorrect hypotheses.

5)

Which of the following is the most accurate and complete statement about reductionist scientific explanations (theories), as we discussed them in TOPIC 1?

	a.	Scientific theories vary dramatically in their complexity, depending on the complexity of what is being explained; they are arrived at by induction and attempted falsification.
	b.	Scientific theories are always simple, no matter what is being described and they are arrived at by induction and attempted falsification.
	c.	Scientific theories vary dramatically in their complexity, depending on the complexity of what is being explained; they are arrived at by deduction and careful logical proofs.
	d.	Scientific theories are always simple, no matter what is being described and they are arrived at by deduction and careful logical proofs.

Answer 1

1c. . Purposeful behaviour simply represents the strategies that are most successful in replicating the design information that builds those behaviours, blindly arrived at by natural selection.

Natural selection decides which behavioural design is to be replicated and which is to be not. The most successful behavioural design allows the animals to survive and thus that behavioural design is selected and repeated in the next generation as well.

2. a. The apparent complexity of animals is produced by simple interaction, a long sequence of macromolecules, each building the next.

For example, DNA which is a highly complex molecule is made by simple monomers called nucleotides.

3. d. Organisms exploit a distinct set of physical and chemical laws unique to biology and distinct from those controlling non-biological processes; natural selection operates in the tiny region of overlap between these biology-specific laws and the laws governing the larger universe.

There is lot of difference between the living and non-living world and thus the laws controlling each world are different but certainly, the laws overlap somewhere where there are common things present between the two worlds and this region is governed by natural selection.

4. b. Phylogenetic analysis makes exclusive use of DNA sequence and fossil evidence to deduce the trajectory of evolutionary change; this approach is very informative and always trumps all other sources of insight (like examining the properties of currently surviving organisms, for example).

5. c. Scientific theories vary dramatically in their complexity, depending on the complexity of what is being explained; they are arrived at by deduction and careful logical proofs.

Scientific theory is always placed in front of people when it is supported by rationalism and logical proofs and which can e proved anywhere i.e are nearly universal.