Understanding Evolution With A Handful Of Dice

Imagine you’re holding a handful of dice. There is a table in front of you. You are asked to place all the dice with the number 6 facing up on the table. I can think of 3 different ways to do this.

A. I will set the dice one by one on the table with 6 facing up with my hand.

B. Let’s assume that I’m incredibly lucky. I will toss all the dice on the table at once. And fortuitously, all of them are 6.

C. I will toss all the dice on the table. I will pick up the dice except for the ones which are already 6, and toss them again. Again, I will pick the dice which aren’t 6 and toss them. I will repeat this procedure until all the dice have 6 facing up.

If you ask someone who thinks evolution doesn’t exist ‘’How did creatures reach their current forms?’’ he/she will answer with A.

If you ask the same person ‘’What do you think evolution is?’’ he/she will answer with B.

In fact, evolution, which has been ongoing for millions of years suggests the answer C and what it requires is time more than luck.

6 Comments Understanding Evolution With A Handful Of Dice

  1. Joe October 10, 2015 at 12:05 pm

    Hi,
    Great analogy

    Suggest you edit your author profile, you have a then/than mix up.

    Should read “…more than 20 years.”

    Reply
    1. Tunart October 10, 2015 at 2:43 pm

      Many many thanks Joe 🙂 I fixed it.

      Reply
  2. Pingback: Evolution explained with Dice. | disillusionist

  3. Lawrence Aviles October 11, 2015 at 3:15 pm

    Sweet and simple, just how I like it.
    Thanks buddy.

    Reply
  4. jim October 11, 2015 at 7:49 pm

    Yahtzee!
    srsly, though; good simplification of the weasel program.

    Reply
  5. Selina Dunn October 19, 2015 at 7:17 pm

    That is a really amazing example which you have shared over here. It clearly conveys the thoughts that you wanted to convey. According to me I do believe that evolution is like the point C. Changing continuously and upgrading until you reach the best level.

    Reply

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