This was the question first raised by William Paley in his book Natural Theology, a text that Charles Darwin attempted to refute by arguing that natural selection and random variations could mimic the work of a creator or designer. Writers such as Dennis Danielson have also argued that Sagan and others have simply taken empirical evidence without making sufficient links or providing logical steps, and have not only implied a conclusion but claimed the observations are proof of metaphysical realities. Sagan was really continuing the false assumptions of Harlow Shapley who coined the phrase The
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