At 03:56 PM 9/12/00 -0400, Nelson wrote:
[...]
>Nelson:
>Atoms may or may not be IC, however, you missed the entire point of my post.
>Atoms are not selected for, do not replicate themselves, do not undergo
>mutations,etc. IC is a biological concept, and it describes molecular
>machines. Apply the concept of IC to atoms is likeing applying Darwinian
>natural selection to rocks.
I'm confused. Are mousetraps irreducibly complex?
Actually, this brings up an important point which I've
tried to raise a couple of times. There are two separate
aspects in IC. Irreducibility and complexity. Things can
be irreducible but not complex. In fact, Maxwell once
gave an argument from design based on irreducible
simplicity. I can find the reference if anyone is interested.
How about a mousetrap? Well, this is obviously irreducibly
simple, at least in comparison with biological systems.
With this is mind, let's try the argument by analogy. The hallmark
of design is irreducible simplicity. Biological structures are
irreducibly complex. There are no known examples where a
designer has been able to fabricate a device that even approaches
the complexity we find in biology. Therefore, biological structures
are not designed.
Brian Harper
Associate Professor
Mechanical Engineering
The Ohio State University
"One never knows, do one?"
-- Fats Waller
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