>What about presupposition? Behe's favorite analogy is the mousetrap. If you
>find a mousetrap, you would be hard put to show how it evolved
>gradualistically. The trap platform alone does not catch mice, and so one
>cannot maintain that the platform evolved into the trap because the trap
>would catch more mice. It is the same with the other parts of the trap--the
>spring alone catches no mice, etc. Behe discusses in his book several
>biological systems that fall into this category.
First, the mousetrap is an inappropriate analogy. Mousetraps are not
iterative, that is, they do not reproduce offspring with genetic errors in
their DNA. However, as a marvelous intellectual challenge I am going to try to
show how a mousetrap could evolve. What I think is the case with the mouse
trap is that we recognize that it is designed because it is too complex to
have just happened by stages, BECAUSE of the fact that it has NO reproductive
potential. Like Paley's watch, it has no ability to reproduce itself.
But granting Behe and the mousetrap the ability to procreate, I think I can
see how to evolve an efficient mousetrap, given two assumptions: that the
mousetrap will reproduce after it kills a mouse, and that we start with a flat
wooden board e.g., the trap platform. The board lies flat on the ground.
Occasionally a plant grows at the edge of the platform lifting it up. as below
<pre>
mouse trap platform
|
V
/ V flower at top of plant. :-)
/ |
/ |
/ | plant
________|__________ground.
<\pre>
Once in a while a mouse walks under this board supported by the plant and
jostles the plant, the board falls and bopps the mouse on the head. Once in a
while, the board kills a mouse and reproduces.
The next step is for a spring to be added as follows:
<pre>
mouse trap platform
|
V
/ V flower at top of plant. :-)
/ |
/& |
/ & | plant The & is the spring.
___&____|___________ground.
<\pre>
Now when a mouse jostles the plant, the bopp on the head is harder and more
mice are killed and this model reproduces faster.
Next the plant evolves to be pollinated by the flies attracted by rotting
mice. Thus a wonderful symbiotic relationship is developed. The mousetrap
reproduces, the plant gets pollinated and mice, the scourge of the world are
eliminated.
After this, the plant evolves odors which attract mice. This makes the whole
affair more efficient. Mice by the thousands are now flocking to the
mousetraps and the traps are reproducing like mad.
Next, since the ground is soft, a few mice survive the force of the trap
closing on them. A new mutation occurs two boards connected by a spring. It
looks like this:
<pre>
mouse trap platform
|
V
/ V flower at top of plant. :-)
/ |
/ & |
/ & |
/ & | plant & is spring; --- is second board
--------- |
__________|________ground.
<\pre>
Now the plant does something that parasites do, he began to live in the bodies
of the mousetrap or should I say board. Now it looks like this:
<pre>
mouse trap platform
|
V
/ V flower at top of plant. :-)
/ |
/ & |
/ & |
/ & | plant & is spring; --- is second board
----------|--
_________________ground.
<\pre>
The next change is that the plant now no longer grows straight up but grows at
an angle which forces the boards wider apart.
<pre>
mouse trap platform
|
V
board
|V flower at top of plant. :-)
| \
|& \ plant
| & \ | is first board now.
| & \ \ is parasitic plant; & is spring; --- is second board
------------ board
_________________ground.
<\pre>
Eventually, to increase the force of the blow on the mouse, the plant grows
and pushes the two boards flat.
Now the trap looks like
V_______________
------&&&&&&----|---- ___ is parasitic plant;--- is board &&& is spring
The final change is that the upper board become less wind resistive so that it
can close faster. It developes a huge hole in the middle so that the air can
pass through it.
Thus, when I find a mouse trap, that is capable of reproduction, I will have
no certainty that it was designed rather than evolved.
glenn
glenn
Foundation,Fall and Flood
http://members.gnn.com/GRMorton/dmd.htm