
Darwin's Black Box
by Michael J. Behe · first published 1996
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3HN commenters
2012–2024first – last mentioned
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Virtually all serious scientists accept the truth of Darwin's theory of evolution. While the fight for its acceptance has been a long and difficult one, after a century the battle is over. Biologists are now confident that their remaining questions, such as how life on Earth began, or how the Cambrian explosion could have produced so many new species in such a short time, will be found to have Darwinian answers. They, like most of the rest of us, accept Darwin's theory to be true. But should we? What would happen if we found something that radically challenged the now-accepted wisdom? As Behe
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Examples from Michael Behe's book Darwin's Black Box: Blood's ability to coagulate is a cascading system with over 30 parts. Remove one part and it's fatal for the individual. How could a system like that evolve gradually over time? He lists quite a few…
on “The Worst Argument In The World” ↗You recommend Behe's book; I read his earlier book "Darwin's Black Box"a while back. I found it interesting, well-written, and superficially convincing but fundamentally flawed and ultimately a waste of time.
on “Scientists create simple synthetic cell” ↗…biology. DNA replication, transcription, and translation are complex processes facilitated by a variety of proteins and enzymes, which themselves evolved. Regarding Prof. Michael Behe's arguments in "Darwin's Black Box," while thought-provoking, they have been widely critiqued and refuted in the scientific community. Behe's concept of "irreducible complexity" has been shown not to preclude evolutionary origins, as numerous…
I read "Darwin's Black Box" over 20 years ago so I can't give a lot of details. His fundamental idea was "irreducible complexity", a system that won't work if you take away any piece, such as a mousetrap. He claimed that a lot…
on “Scientists create simple synthetic cell” ↗