Friday, March 19, 2010

 

Reflux Redux


Richard Marshall is at it again, giving his "arguments for Intelligent Design in the Fort Scott (Kansas) Tribune. It's hard to believe, but these are even more inane than the last ones:

The most amazing phenomenon in the world is the human body. Have you ever wondered why the most vulnerable organ in the body has the most protections? The most vulnerable organ, the brain is enclosed within a bone enclosure. The next most vulnerable organs -- the heart and lungs are enclosed in the rib cage. I would say that the evidence is clear that the human body was intelligently designed this way.

Uh, most (if not all) vertebrates have a skull and rib cage. In fact, the morphological similarities between vertebrates was pretty much what stated people, long before Darwin, thinking that there might have been some sort of evolution. There is nothing unique about humans in this regard.

The nervous system is not just the most awesome system in the body but the most awesome phenomenon in the whole world. The nervous systems is so extensive that if everything was removed from the body except the nervous system, that the form of the body would still be there. It is through our nervous system that we have contact with and relate to our environment.

Well, yeah. It's pretty much obvious that, in order to get the advantage of having a nervous system, it has to reach all the parts of your body, in that it both controls all the various parts (if it didn't, your arms, legs, naughty bits, etc. would just flop around) and transmits "information" (i.e. "signals") about the environment back to the central processor so you know better than to flop your arms, legs, naughty bits, etc. onto hot stoves and the like. It's kind of like being amazed that the electrical system in you car reaches the engine, headlights, tail lights, radio, etc.

Yes, the human brain and eye and circulatory system are complex but not orders of magnitude more complex than other animals. Chimps, bonobos, dolphins and whales have brains closely matching ours in complexity. Cephalopod eyes are "better" than ours in some ways. And giraffe circulatory systems are more complex than ours.

This time Marshall has nothing really to do but repeat the "Gee whiz! That's complicated, it must of been designed!" argument from personal incredulity ... though he does throw in both the watch and his previous Cadillac analogy.

The only question is whether his lack of imagination is what makes him believe in creationism or whether it what makes him think these are cogent arguments.
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I like when he refers to the "astranaught" out in space.

I'm surprised he can't spell that word right. Clearly, this guy is a space cadet.
 
Regarding that 'protection of vulnerable organs' argument, one word: scrotum.
 
I'm surprised he can't spell that word right.

I'm wondering if the editors are snickering.

one word: scrotum

Thanks. Best laugh I've had in a while.
 
One of the minor things that strikes me about all of these "too complicated" arguments is that the examples always seem to be about anatomy. There is a lot more complexity in the world of life in, for example, biogeography, embryology, comparative anatomy, taxonomy, paleontology, genetics, ... Is there some reason that there is no interest in those complex features of the world of life which support "descent with modification"? Those features couldn't have occurred "by accident". They must have been either due to natural regularities or else "purposefully designed" to look as if there was a long history of common descent.

TomS.
 
Is there some reason that there is no interest in those complex features of the world of life ...

Sure ... the same reason he points to human skulls and rib cages. As far as they are concerned, it's all about us ... the attempt to show we are somehow special. To think about other aspects of life is to take away that focus.
 
Have you ever wondered why the most vulnerable organ in the body has the most protections? The most vulnerable organ, the brain is enclosed within a bone enclosure.

Has the man never heard of, or even better experienced concussion? The brain is in reality incredibly badly packaged. It would be much better off in the stomach.
 
Truly marvelous is the octopus,
He needs no ribcage like the rest of us.
Divine creation, or my imagination?
This argument is ridiculous.
 
The sells are organized into organs...


Is he an organ trader?
 
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