Intelligent Design

My recent article about the limitations in the current theory of evolution caused something of a stir. I've been reading up on the matter a bit, and it turns out that this "anti-Darwin"ism has a name, so-called Intelligent Design. This is the new, hipper, term for creationism, that carefully avoids using the bible, but still argues that natural selection is wrong, and that an "intelligent being" (God or Aliens) must be responsible.

It does seem that many of my naive criticisms of Darwinian theories of natural selection fall under the Intelligent Design camp, which is probably not a good thing. (Intelligent Design is essentially a pseudoscience). What has troubled me, however, is the assertion by many scientists, who should be in the know, that natural selection can explain all my concerns, yet they seem unable to back up their claims. So I did some reading. As I've been discovering more and more lately, wiki is a great place to start. That article goes some way to exploring possible explanations for "irreducible complexity". This article is a well written case study of how a particular example of irreducible complexity (hemoglobin) may have arisen through natural selection. It's not totally convincing, and lacking in hard data, but it's definitely plausible.

A recent article in Wired magazine highlights the ongoing battles the Intelligent Design camp are having to get alternative theories to evolution discussed in American schools. It's an exceptionally one-sided article, but has good breadth and discusses many of the role players in the current debate and as such is well worth a read.

Update: This article at talkorigins discusses Irreducible Complexity (IC) in some detail, and essentially dismisses it, establishing that either systems are not IC, or demonstrates ways in which known IC systems could have evolved by means of natural selection.

It identifies possible ways in which IC systems could have evolved:

• Previously using more parts than necessary for the function
• The parts themselves evolve
• Deployment of parts (gene regulation) evolves
• New parts are created (gene duplication) and may then evolve.

For instance, the swimming mechanism of flagella may well have involved an arm waving about in earlier forms. This arm may have been insufficient to propel the flagellum, but it would have disturbed the water around it, which in itself is a useful function, in terms of bringing food within range.