IC^-90 was IC^2, i.e. Behe's Irreducible Complexity Squared

Brian D Harper (bharper@postbox.acs.ohio-state.edu)
Thu, 03 Sep 1998 17:52:10 -0400

At 01:59 PM 9/3/98 -0700, Joseph wrote:
>With regard to Stan Zygmunt's inquiry on Behe's irreducible complexity,
>I offered a short summary explaining the impossibility of even a part of
>a living structure "evolving" because nothing functions or has any use
>without all the parts which must be structurally and functionally
>interfaced according to a unique blueprint and all of this requires
>complex nanoengineering.
>
>That was a simplified summary because the parts mentioned are composed
>of proteins by the scores of thousands and each protein has a unique
>blueprint

Really? According to Hubert Yockey's (**) analysis you are only off
by a factor of about 10^90. Not even good enough for us engineers :).

(**) <Information Theory and Molecular Biology>, Cambridge University
Press, 1992.

> of usually more than 100 (50 to 1000) amino acids of which
>there are about twenty to choose from. So each portion of a part, the
>protein, is composed of scores, perhaps hundreds, of subparts or
>building blocks, the amino acids, and there are twenty different kinds
>of building blocks which must also be flawlessly selected, sequenced,
>joined and made to function according to a unique blueprint.

Where is this blueprint?

>The first
>paragraph renders a superficial description properly known as
>irreducible complexity. This slightly deeper look may be called
>irreducible complexity squared.
>
>And this isn't the whole story either. The further we go, the greater
>the complexity and the more incredible the level of nanoengineering
>required for even one cell. In my opinion, Behe's book is one of the
>most powerful refutations of "evolution" to come along in the last 100
>years.
>

Really? My impression was that it was a critique of Darwinism,
not evolution.

>Note. I put "evolving" and "evolution" in quote marks because the idea,
>more than 2,000 years old, exists and has existed only as a fallacy.
>
>Joseph Mastropaolo
>
>
Brian Harper
Associate Professor
Applied Mechanics
The Ohio State University

"It appears to me that this author is asking
much less than what you are refusing to answer"
-- Galileo (as Simplicio in _The Dialogue_)