The bodies of animals that evolution produces are, Darwin believed, like the machines Rube Goldberg produced:
Although an organ may not have been originally formed for some special purpose, if it now serves for this end we are justified in saying that it is specially contrived for it. On the same principle, if a man were to make a machine for some special purpose, but were to use old wheels, springs, and pulleys, only slightly altered, the whole machine, with all its parts, might be said to be specially contrived for that purpose. Thus throughout nature almost every part of each living being has probably served, in a slightly modified condition, for diverse purposes, and has acted in the living machinery of many ancient and distinct specific forms.
(Quoted from page 61 of Defining Darwin, by Michael Ruse. Prometheus Books, 2009.)
For a brief biography of Charles Darwin, click here. For images of or relating to Charles Darwin, click here.
For images of some of Rube Goldberg’s machines, click here.
For a brief biography of Rube Goldberg, click here.
For a brief biography of Michael Ruse, click here. For images of or relating to Michael Ruse, click here.
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