The Blind Watchmaker Simulation
Introduction: In this lab simulation, we studied the different factors that go into natural selection. These factors were things such as: fertility, the complexity of genes, the use of natural selection versus not using it, and the rate of mutation. All of these things would then affect the amount of generations it would take to get the “target phrase.” This target phrase was used as a tool to understand the complexity of some genes compared to the simplicity of others. The first chapter in Dawkins’ book, “The Blind Watchmaker,” correlates the most when it comes to what we studied in the lab. In the first chapter, he describes that complex things such as animals must have been made by design. However, he also explains that this designer is
…show more content…
natural selection. He refers to this designer as the blind watchmaker because natural selection is a blind process. Natural selection does not know what it is designing, but it learns what genes allow for survival. In this lab, this is exactly what we aim to learn from this study. We want to know what affects the process of gene adaptation and observe how long it takes to create complex genes. For the first experiment we wished to learn how fertility affects the rate of evolutionary change.
My hypothesis for this experiment was that if there are more children per generation, then it will increase the rate of evolution. I believed this to be the case because there is more opportunity for mutation and for diversification in offspring, if there is more offspring. This could be easily backed up with a basic knowledge of statistics. The second experiment, was a basic comparison to the first test. It was to see if the fertility rate and a simplified gene code would get a different result. For this experiment, my hypothesis was that if the adaptation is more simplistic, then it will increase to rate of evolution. I believed this to be true because with a less complex adaptation, there is more chance that it will reach the genetic code needed. We discussed this idea in class. This can be backed up by an analogy that Dawkins made. This analogy is that it would be almost impossible for airplane parts that were sitting in a junk yard to be blown up by the wind and be put together to create an actual airplane (Dawkins, 1996). Why is this? This is mostly because it is an incredibly complex structure. As stated by Dawkins it would take probably the entire existence of the Earth for the probability of that event to
actually occur. However, when a structure is less complex, there is a higher probability that something like that could be done. In the third experiment, we tested the effect of natural selection. In this part of the experiment, we were testing a very simplistic code; it only had one letter. Therefore, my hypothesis was that when there is only one letter for the code, then there will be no noticeable affect when selection is on or off. I believed this because the probability of landing on the correct letter would be the same. Again, I felt as though this could be explained by basic knowledge of statistics. In the fourth experiment, we tested to see if adding another letter to what we did in the third experiment would change anything. For this experiment, my hypothesis was that if the selection is on, then it will take fewer generations to get the two letter code. I felt this to be true because I learned that when the selection is on, it cannot duplicate incorrect letters. Therefore, the process must be shorter. Also, the code was slightly more complicated which would cause the trial without selection to more inefficient. This is because natural selection learns from its mistakes through species dying off due to bad genes. The final experiment, was to test the rate of mutation. For my hypothesis, I stated that if the mutation rate increases, then it will take fewer generations to mutate. I believed this because if you increased the rate of mutation, then the genes would mutate faster. I believed this would help because it would cause quicker adaptations and increase the chance that it would create the code faster. Therefore, I thought that it would take fewer generations to reach the ideal outcome. Overall, I felt as though my task was decently simple and that I had properly predicted the outcomes of the experiments.
Methods:
My methods for this were pretty simple. I downloaded the Dawkins Weasel NetLogo model. For the first experiment, I used the target phrase (which stood in place of a genetic code): “METHINKS IT IS LIKE A WEASEL.” I made sure the mutation rate was .05. For the first trial in this experiment I set the number of children per generation at 100. Then I clicked “set up” and then I clicked “go.” I would then record the number of generations it took to reach the target phrase. I would then complete this five times. After the five times, I would find the mean and the median. For the second trial I used the same process except I set the number of children per generation at 1000. For the third part of the trial I also completed the same steps except this time I set the number of children per generation at 10. For the second experiment, I completed all of the same steps as the first experiment except I changed the target phrase to “CAT.” For the first part of the third experiment, I kept the mutation rate at .05, put the number of children per generation at 100, made sure the selection was on, changed my target phrase to “Q,” clicked “set up,” and then clicked “go.” I would then record the number of generations it took to reach the target phrase. I then would click “set up” and then “go” again. I would do this for five trials and record the number of generations for each trial. Afterwards, I found the median and the mode. For the second part of the third experiment, I completed the same steps except this time I turned selection off. For the fourth experiment, I completed the same steps as the first and second part of the experiment. The only change I made was to change the target phrase to “QI.” Otherwise, the first part of experiment three and the first part of experiment four had the same steps. The same goes for the second parts of experiments three and four. For the final experiment, I set the number of offspring per generation to 100, turned selection on, and used the target phrase “WHAT SHOULD MY PHRASE BE.” For the first trial within in this experiment I set the rate of mutation at .05. Then I clicked “set up” and “go.” I did this five times and recorded the number of generations it took to get the target phrase for each time. Then for the second trial within this experiment, I set it to .5. Again, I did this five times and recorded the number of generations it took to get the target phrase for each time. Then for the third trial within this experiment, I set the rate of mutation to 1.0. Then, I did this five times and recorded the number of generations it took to get the target phrase for each time. This concludes the steps I took throughout the lab.
natural selection. He refers to this designer as the blind watchmaker because natural selection is a blind process. Natural selection does not know what it is designing, but it learns what genes allow for survival. In this lab, this is exactly what we aim to learn from this study. We want to know what affects the process of gene adaptation and observe how long it takes to create complex genes. For the first experiment we wished to learn how fertility affects the rate of evolutionary change.
My hypothesis for this experiment was that if there are more children per generation, then it will increase the rate of evolution. I believed this to be the case because there is more opportunity for mutation and for diversification in offspring, if there is more offspring. This could be easily backed up with a basic knowledge of statistics. The second experiment, was a basic comparison to the first test. It was to see if the fertility rate and a simplified gene code would get a different result. For this experiment, my hypothesis was that if the adaptation is more simplistic, then it will increase to rate of evolution. I believed this to be true because with a less complex adaptation, there is more chance that it will reach the genetic code needed. We discussed this idea in class. This can be backed up by an analogy that Dawkins made. This analogy is that it would be almost impossible for airplane parts that were sitting in a junk yard to be blown up by the wind and be put together to create an actual airplane (Dawkins, 1996). Why is this? This is mostly because it is an incredibly complex structure. As stated by Dawkins it would take probably the entire existence of the Earth for the probability of that event to
actually occur. However, when a structure is less complex, there is a higher probability that something like that could be done. In the third experiment, we tested the effect of natural selection. In this part of the experiment, we were testing a very simplistic code; it only had one letter. Therefore, my hypothesis was that when there is only one letter for the code, then there will be no noticeable affect when selection is on or off. I believed this because the probability of landing on the correct letter would be the same. Again, I felt as though this could be explained by basic knowledge of statistics. In the fourth experiment, we tested to see if adding another letter to what we did in the third experiment would change anything. For this experiment, my hypothesis was that if the selection is on, then it will take fewer generations to get the two letter code. I felt this to be true because I learned that when the selection is on, it cannot duplicate incorrect letters. Therefore, the process must be shorter. Also, the code was slightly more complicated which would cause the trial without selection to more inefficient. This is because natural selection learns from its mistakes through species dying off due to bad genes. The final experiment, was to test the rate of mutation. For my hypothesis, I stated that if the mutation rate increases, then it will take fewer generations to mutate. I believed this because if you increased the rate of mutation, then the genes would mutate faster. I believed this would help because it would cause quicker adaptations and increase the chance that it would create the code faster. Therefore, I thought that it would take fewer generations to reach the ideal outcome. Overall, I felt as though my task was decently simple and that I had properly predicted the outcomes of the experiments.
Methods:
My methods for this were pretty simple. I downloaded the Dawkins Weasel NetLogo model. For the first experiment, I used the target phrase (which stood in place of a genetic code): “METHINKS IT IS LIKE A WEASEL.” I made sure the mutation rate was .05. For the first trial in this experiment I set the number of children per generation at 100. Then I clicked “set up” and then I clicked “go.” I would then record the number of generations it took to reach the target phrase. I would then complete this five times. After the five times, I would find the mean and the median. For the second trial I used the same process except I set the number of children per generation at 1000. For the third part of the trial I also completed the same steps except this time I set the number of children per generation at 10. For the second experiment, I completed all of the same steps as the first experiment except I changed the target phrase to “CAT.” For the first part of the third experiment, I kept the mutation rate at .05, put the number of children per generation at 100, made sure the selection was on, changed my target phrase to “Q,” clicked “set up,” and then clicked “go.” I would then record the number of generations it took to reach the target phrase. I then would click “set up” and then “go” again. I would do this for five trials and record the number of generations for each trial. Afterwards, I found the median and the mode. For the second part of the third experiment, I completed the same steps except this time I turned selection off. For the fourth experiment, I completed the same steps as the first and second part of the experiment. The only change I made was to change the target phrase to “QI.” Otherwise, the first part of experiment three and the first part of experiment four had the same steps. The same goes for the second parts of experiments three and four. For the final experiment, I set the number of offspring per generation to 100, turned selection on, and used the target phrase “WHAT SHOULD MY PHRASE BE.” For the first trial within in this experiment I set the rate of mutation at .05. Then I clicked “set up” and “go.” I did this five times and recorded the number of generations it took to get the target phrase for each time. Then for the second trial within this experiment, I set it to .5. Again, I did this five times and recorded the number of generations it took to get the target phrase for each time. Then for the third trial within this experiment, I set the rate of mutation to 1.0. Then, I did this five times and recorded the number of generations it took to get the target phrase for each time. This concludes the steps I took throughout the lab.