Meet Dave

The Human structure is extremely complex. Reading chapter two made me realize exactly how complex it was. There was a certain point in chapter three were I really wasn't getting anything of what I was reading. It was really complex. However, as always Dawkins shows the complex as something simple. Dawkins used the following analogy to explain how the human being is composed by certain genes that act together each one with specific functions so that the body can function properly as a whole. “One oarsman on his own cannot win the Oxford Cambridge boat race. He needs eight colleagues. Each one is a specialist who always sits in a particular part of the boat - bow or stroke or cox etc. Rowing the boat is cooperative venture,but some men are nevertheless better than others.” After this analogy, I could finally understand what I had struggled to understand through the last three pages. I understood that the body can assemble a kind of dream team of genes to function the best he can. This again made me think of how the human is a “survival machine” as Dawkins calls it and how it will do its best he can to survive.

         Dawkins analogy reminded me of the movie Meet Dave. The movie is about some outer space aliens, which come to Earth to take over the whole water supply of planet. The aliens are all about the size of a finger, so in order for them to come to earth they assemble a human body that is their “ship.” They also assemble a dream crew to take command of the ship. Their objective is to go to Earth and try to take over the water supply of the world. Each crew member is given a specific number and a specific function just like in Dawkins analogy about the rowing boat. This is a perfect team that makes the human body function perfectly. There are several members working in the legs to make the ship move properly, several others working in the hands and fingers, and, finally, the captain of the ship is in the brain. This compares perfectly to Dawkins’ analogy.