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July 19, 2006 One of the tenets of creationism and its illigitimate step-child of intelligent design, is the myth of irreducible complexity. This is the false concept that biological systems could not have evolved slowly over time in incremental steps because without any single component the system simply doesn't work. The example used most often is the complex eye of modern vertebrates. If any of the parts of our eyes don't work, we can't see. If our retina is damaged or our iris or cornea, then we are effectively blind. However, this doesn't mean that all eyes of all organisms need to be built like ours in order to benefit the animal. Deer, for the most part, are color blind yet they survive just fine. Some animals can't see beyond the end of their noses yet they manage to find enough food with their sense of smell to make a decent living. If we look down at invertebrates we find a huge range of "eyes" in various stages of ability and they all serve the organism perfectly well. Starfish, for example, have simple, light-sensitive spots which are the most rudimentary "eyes" of any organism yet it is enough to make the difference between life and death for the starfish. What's going on here is that the doctrine of irreducible complexity is a false theory. It was contrived in a desparate attempt to salvage intelligent design from self-destruction. However, it has managed to cut its own throat because it assumes that what we see around us today is exactly what nature (God) intended. In other words, we are the product of long-term planning on the part of an intelligence and that's why things are the way they are. However, nothing could be further from the truth. Let's explain why this is so with an example. Let's imagine that I'm going to drive from Los Angeles to Albuquerque. The quickest way is to get on Interstate 210 and go east to I-15 at San Bernadino. Take I-15 north to I-40 at Barstow and then head east on I-40. If I stay on I-40 through the Mojave Desert, all the way across Arizona and continue on into New Mexico, I will eventually get to Albuquerque. In fact, Albuquerque is a little more than 800 miles from Los Angeles. This trip is a series of events all desinged with a specific, long-range goal in mind: get to Albuquerque. But evolution doesn't work like that. Evolution is a process governed by responses to the environment not the long-range goals of an intelligent designer. It's as if I started my trip in Los Angeles but I went to Albuquerque the long way around. For the sake of understanding, let's just assume that I didn't really care where I went as long as I got out of L.A. So, first I went north to San Francisco to see the Golden Gate Bridge. Then I went further north to Portland to visit my sister. From there I continued on northward to Seattle to visit my brother. From there I turned east and went to Spokane and on into Idaho to see Lake Cour d'Alene. From there I dropped down into Wyoming to see Yellowstone National Park and then decided to visit the Rocky Mountains and Denver while I was in the area. Then the snow came and so I decided to find a warmer climate so I headed southeast to Florida. On the way I stopped in Oklahoma to visit my mother. While I was in Florida the hurricane season started so I headed back west again to avoid any trouble. Along the way I stopped in New Orleans, Dallas, Austin, and San Antonio. Since I was now back on the western side of the nation, I figured I might as well go the rest of the way home to L.A. One night while driving through the deserts of New Mexico I get hungry and decide to stop and get something to eat. I just happen to pick a restaurant in Albuquerque. The waitress is curious and so she asks me where I'm from. "L.A.," I respond. She logically assumes that I had driven straight to Albuquerque from L.A. Would she be right? No, of course not! She would have no way of knowing about all the side trips I took before I reached Albuquerque. But she cannot simply assume that just because I'm from L.A. that I drove straight to Albuquerque either, as tempting as it seems. However, if she talked to my sister, my brother, my mom and any other people I encountered along the way, she could gradually piece together enough evidence to figure out exactly how I got to Albuquerque. Evolution is like that! We cannot assume that just because humans exist that we were exactly what nature (God) was aiming for all along. In reality, there is no rhyme or reason for us being here. We are simply a product of our environment. We are nothing more and nothing less and so is everything else in the universe. And those, my friends, are the cold, hard facts of the matter. ------------ About the author: Keith Cantrell lives in a small town in Oregon where he was a fundamentalist, born-again, evangelical Christian for over 35 years. After many years of questioning and research he has finally become an agnostic. He has written a book entitled "The World's Most Dangerous Book" and it tells the history and origins of the Bible. It's the only book on the market that takes the Bible from cover to cover, Genesis to Revelation and explores who wrote it, where it came from and how it all got put together. It's the 21st century. Isn't it time you knew the truth about the Bible? This book is available at Barnes and Noble, Borders, Waldenbooks and Amazon.com. Read it and tell me what you think! After all, I could be wrong! Email: kwcantrell@yahoo.com Comment on this article here! ------------ All articles are EXCLUSIVE to Useless-Knowledge.com. Please link to this article rather than copying and pasting it onto your site (which would be unauthorized and illegal). |
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