From: bivalve (bivalve@mail.davidson.alumlink.com)
Date: Fri Nov 07 2003 - 21:23:06 EST
>>Well, first, irreducible complexity (IC) is an ID prediction, and, as you have just asserted, it is falsifiable. That is the risk of making a real prediction.<<
The falsifiability of IC depends on its definition, which is not entirely clear. On the one hand, defining it as the impossibility of "naturally" constructing a system that requires all its parts to achieve its function is a testable assertion. This has been tested and falsified. In addition to the possibility that the modern system is simplified from the original version, thus hiding the intermediate steps, it is also possible to assemble a system that has a new function by the stepwise assembly of parts that have other functions.
On the other hand, if such examples are dismissed as therefore being reducible, then the definition of irreducible complexity is changed to refer to complex systems that lack an explanation for formation through "natural" processes. This definition is inherently untestable.
On the perceived difficulty of "naturally" constructing a certain amount of information, this argument runs afoul of the problem of posterior specification. Unless we can calculate the necessity of a given protein sequence, not just for its curent function but to all possible ways of making life, the size of the target (the number of informative sequences) is unknown. It also makes doubtful assumptions about the mechanisms for generating sequences (e.g., the assumption that selection cannot act on the relevant parts when in fact all important parts are subject to selection; not obviously taking into account mechanisms such as duplication).
It's also worth noting that even with the proposed upper limits on generation of information, this contradicts the popular Intelligent Design claim that new information cannot be generated "naturally".
Dr. David Campbell
Old Seashells
University of Alabama
Biodiversity & Systematics
Dept. Biological Sciences
Box 870345
Tuscaloosa, AL 35487-0345 USA
bivalve@mail.davidson.alumlink.com
That is Uncle Joe, taken in the masonic regalia of a Grand Exalted Periwinkle of the Mystic Order of Whelks-P.G. Wodehouse, Romance at Droitgate Spa
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