1) We humans recognize that non-human animal behaviour is often predictable and that animals appear.

1) We humans recognize that non-human animal behaviour is often predictable and that animals appear to have clearly defined goals and purposes in their behaviours. Which of the following is the most accurate and complete statement about this “purposefulness?” a. Purposeful behaviour represents the strategies that are most successful in replicating the design information that builds those behaviours, arising in deliberate pursuit of biological reproduction. b. Purposeful behaviour reflects the inherent purposefulness of the entire universe, representing the drive by the universe to
1) We humans recognize that non-human animal behaviour is often predictable and that animals appear to have clearly defined goals and purposes in their behaviours. Which of the following is the most accurate and complete statement about this “purposefulness?” a. Purposeful behaviour represents the strategies that are most successful in replicating the design information that builds those behaviours, arising in deliberate pursuit of biological reproduction. b. Purposeful behaviour reflects the inherent purposefulness of the entire universe, representing the drive by the universe to understand itself. c. 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. d. Purposeful behaviour 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 behaviour where none exists. 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 behaviours. 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 behaviour 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 behaviour. 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. 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. 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.