Why Evolution is on Life Support

Critics with scientific backgrounds are questioning it. A key early book was Darwin’s Black Box: The Biochemical Challenge to Evolution (1996) by chemist Michael J. Behe. He argued that cells contained “irreducible complexity,” making random incremental changes impossible. He and others have developed the argument since in additional books. Darwin was unaware of these complications at the time (1859).

1.      New evidence suggests that DNA, which acts as a blueprint, contains a coding mechanism analogous to computer codes. Partial random code changes would only disable the mechanism.

2.      The culture of our scientific elite does not want ever to open the door to the existence of a deity, which the proffered “intelligent design” theory appears to do. To be associated with “religious zealots”—their characterization—would condemn them to the very bottom of the academic pecking order.

3.      For a complex mechanism to modify a species requires that all the elements of the mechanism be in place before a competitive advantage arises. The random event must provide all the necessary pieces before a population can adopt the change. Close does not count. Imagine you have eternal life, and your goal is to throw a pile of parts of a working watch into the air, waiting for all of them to assemble by chance as they fall down. Good luck.

4.      Darwin’s theory does explain minor adaptations, like bird beak shapes and moth wing colors.

5.      That science cannot fully explain evolution (or the beginning of life from inert chemicals for that matter) does not prove the existence of a God, but does leave a huge dark hole in scientific theory that many would rather not talk about.