As I read chapter four, I noticed
the increased use of examples by Dawkins in his attempts to illuminate the
reader, yet I found that he lacked explanation on certain aspects which he
implies without giving us a reason or telling us why he did so. After spending
such an exhaustive amount of parallels, you can assume that his goal is to make
his writing clear, so his elusive statements disconcerted me.
Dawkins
states that modern survival machines have “evolved a property we call ‘consciousness’,”
and then states that computers are designed beforehand to behave “as if
motivated by a purpose” (which drives our consciousness). However, computers
are able to predict possible outcomes, often times better than we can
ourselves. How have human beings been able to instill such a remarkable
property on inanimate objects? I believe that what I am truly asking is how and
why computers “think” and although I realize that technology is not Dawkins’
forte, this specific example confused me a great deal. 
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