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This test consists of 5 multiple choice questions, 5 short answer questions, and 10 short essay questions.

Multiple Choice Questions

1. What does Dawkins postulate would preserve a gene forever?
(a) A being that used only one gene.
(b) An undying being continuing to reproduce.
(c) A being that passed on all its DNA through sexual reproduction.
(d) A gene that caused nothing but remained in the DNA.

2. What would molecules that started to manufacture energy using the sun eventually become?
(a) Inorganic materials.
(b) Animals.
(c) Plants.
(d) Single-celled organisms.

3. In Dawkins' metaphor about DNA, what represents a gene?
(a) A line on a page in a book.
(b) A chapter in a book.
(c) A word in a book.
(d) A page in a book.

4. What is the most stable type of behavior in the computer simulations of ESS?
(a) Retaliator.
(b) Bully.
(c) Dove.
(d) Hawk.

5. What mixture tends to arrive in ESS simulations of multiple types of behavior?
(a) A mix of retaliators, bullies, and hawks.
(b) A mix of retaliators, doves, and prober-retaliators.
(c) A mix of proper-retaliators, hawks, and doves.
(d) A mix of hawks, doves, and bullies.

Short Answer Questions

1. What would molecules that grouped and built protective walls around themselves become?

2. What do the letters A, T, C, and G stand for?

3. How common does Dawkins say doubt about evolution is?

4. In the science fiction story Dawkins cites, is the machine created by the instructions beneficial or dangerous?

5. Why does Dawkins say kind or cooperative behavior arises?

Short Essay Questions

1. How are the beginning and end of genes in DNA marked?

2. In ESS simulations, what happens when a hawk enters a stable group of doves?

3. Why doesn't Dawkins find it statistically remarkable that an early molecule would arise that would copy itself?

4. Explain what a prober-retaliator is.

5. What does Dawkins say about how genes "teach" a behavior to a bee?

6. How do genes directly and indirectly control behavior?

7. What happens to genes in sexual reproduction?

8. What is a cistron?

9. What two ways does Dawkins picture that the first self-copying molecule might copy itself?

10. What does Dawkins say would be a natural extension of valuing one's own species more than other species?

(see the answer keys)

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