Thursday, March 29, 2018

Irreducible #2

(cont'd from yesterday's post)

Step by tiny step, that's the evolutionary process.

If, say, a bushing (see diagram below) was produced by mutation, what advantage would it give to the bacterium?

Evolution cannot think, "I must retain this bushing, because it's going to be important to the flagellum."

Thinking ahead, progressing according to a goal for the future, requires intelligence. If that bushing is not useful by itself to the bacterium - without all the other parts of the flagellum motor - then it will not be retained in the genes.

The flagellum can't function while it waits for the last few parts to mutate. But the bushing and all the other parts are there, and they work together incredibly well. Michael Behe doesn't think evolution (random mutations/undirected natural selection) did that. He thinks it looks designed.

The flagellum needs every single part to be present in order to function. It has "irreducible complexity." This is the idea that Behe contributed to the whole intelligent design theory.


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