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Growing Up in the Universe Season 1 Episodes

Season 1 Episode Guide

Season 1

5 Episodes 1991 - 1991

Episode 1

Waking Up in the Universe

58 mins

What natural conditions are necessary to become an ancestor and how all human stories and beliefs are extremely recent compared to biological ancestry of all living creatures.

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Episode 2

Designed and Designoid Objects

58 mins

How natural shapes, creatures and man-made things seem so similar that it is easy to mistake natural laws and circumstances that shape the first two for supernatural force or divine intelligence. Computer simulations are used in analysis.

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Episode 3

Climbing Mount Improbable

58 mins

How gradual evolution can be mistaken for intelligent design with evolution of eye and creation of camera as an example. Also, two computer programs try to simulate creativity, and experiment explains how bugs evolved chemical defense.

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Episode 4

The Ultraviolet Garden

55 mins

How exponential growth of life creates an illusion that there is a purpose behind it. As an example, Douglas Adams, author of The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, reads a passage from his book about the Ameglian Major Cow.

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Episode 5

The Genesis of Purpose

58 mins

How evolution of the human brain created the false need for purpose. Computer simulation of virtual reality is used in analysis.

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