Re: Kansas munchkins (as Gould will call them)

--- Ted Davis <tdavis@messiah.edu> wrote:
> Only certain things *can be shown to be* irreducibly complex. These things
> *require* a design inference *in science.* Other things, such as the whole
> of nature, may also be designed in a more traditional religious sense; it's
> just that the design inference to a scientifically necessary designer cannot
> be made.
>
I would be cautious about the claim that something "can be shown to be
irreducibly complex".
Take as an example the mousetrap -- a favorite example of some ID spokespeople.
Granted that if you remove any part of a modern mousetrap, it won't function.
But mousetraps have a long history, which probably began with someone observing
that if he suspended a log over an animal trail and rigged a rope so he could
pull the log down on a passing animal, he could enjoy a meal. Later someone
else came up with the idea of bait, and someone came up with the idea of tying
the bait to a support so the animal's efforts to get the bait would bring the
log down on him. This progression continued through substituting metal for wood
and substuting springs for gravity, etc., etc. So in a sense the modern
mousetrap "evolved".

Bill Hamilton
William E. Hamilton, Jr., Ph.D.
586.986.1474 (work) 248.652.4148 (home) 248.303.8651 (mobile)
"...If God is for us, who is against us?" Rom 8:31

                
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Received on Sun May 22 17:35:28 2005