Thoughts in a Haystack

Someone named Jerry Newcombe has an "Exclusive" article at WingNutDaily (which, as Ed Brayton often points out, means it is too crazy to find the light of day anywhere else), entitled "Explaining 'Darwin's Doubt."

Here's how he starts:

Every time I log into a computer and have to enter my password, I'm reminded of how impossible evolution is.

One little mistake on the keypad and I can't log in. There's even a website where I seem to be in permanent "log-in purgatory." I can't log in ever. Granted, it's operator error. But still …

How does this tie to evolution? Because if evolution were true, then we are to believe a whole series of complex sequences managed to get everything right – repeatedly.

Of course, to begin with, to buy this argument you have to assume that there is one and only one solution to your problem. And, yes, if you assume that there is only one way to have an eye or an immune system, it looks harder to get "from here to there." But we have evidence that there are multiple routes to such things. And if the "differential reproductive success" of many species depends on "finding" such disparate routes, then if some, by chance, do, then they will be the likely survivors. The ones that don't are likelier to become extinct, which some 98% of all species have done.

It is like Newcombe's ancestors achieving the highly improbable task of managing to "get everything right," in terms of having sex that resulted in children who lived long enough to, in turn, have children and so forth, for thousands (at least) years, ultimately resulting in an unbroken line of "improbable" events in order to unleash his ignorance upon an unsuspecting world.

But, once again, the ID unwashed just can't help letting the cat out of the bag:

Meyer adds, "It's just like in computer science. If you want to have a new function on your computer, you've got to have lots of code, lots of instruction. If you want to build these complex animal forms, we now know, you need information, you need instructions. And that's the crucial question that is really creating an impasse in evolutionary theory. Where does that information come from?"

Oh, I get it – "In the beginning was the Word …"

Yep, it's all about the Bible and creationism. Newcombe recognizes it. Science supporters recognize it. Heck, even the Discovery Institute recognizes it. The only thing is that the DI is dishonest enough to lie about it.