Originally Posted by
Alex
Ok I watched the documentary and found it quite stimulating, it was worth watching because it does make one think about how amazing some of the things around us are.
I was driven to questioning one of my fundamental beliefs, namely evolution. Evolution for me has been able to describe more than just a biological process, I see similar "survival of the fittest" mechanisms at work all around - workplaces, politics, technology, scientific ideas...
The fundamental argument of the documentary was presented in a very compelling manner. The visual impact of amazing, complex biological
machinery seemed to add weight to the scientist's claims.
(For those of you who haven't seen it yet, its worth watching because it would make what I'm saying more meaningful)
However, I did find that one fundamental logical error seems to destroy their entire argument. They claimed that intelligent intervention was responsible for the development of the most complex biological machintery, an idea which I am very open to if it can be demonstrated. They claimed that the existance of such complex machinery is absolute evidence of some kind of intelligent manipulation. Again, I am open to the idea, if it can be demonstrated.
They claim that it is impossible or highly unlikely for a rotary electrical motor to suddenly appear on a bacterium. I agree, such an occurance would be incredibly, incredibly improbable. Then, they say that the machine as it stands today is in its lowest level of complexety, which is true. Each component from the rotor to the bend to the shaft is required as an entirety to make the machine useful. It just won't work otherwise. Mutated bacteria that lack one part or another can't get around, their motors don't work.
So, where the argument falls down for me is that they go on to say that since the bacterial flagellum (rotating tail driven by an electrical motor) is so perfect and efficient, and since each individual component is required to make the motor in its entirety, and that the likelihood of all these components coming together suddenly to make a working motor is so remote as to be deemed impossible - all these factors taken into consideration - it must have been put there by some higher intelligence.
Thats in interesting idea if you don't think about it for too long. Unfortunately the documentary doesn't propose any alternative theories worth mentioning, besides one that I forget the name of but it involves being able to swap machinery parts around when required. So they've tried to use a very questionable counter-argument to lend weight to their own theory, since I don't believe their reasoning is solid enough to stand up to intelligent scrutiny.
First objection: While they are correct in assessing the highly improbable nature of a biological machine suddenly coming into existence with all its required operatonal parts, they decide its not worth wondering if maybe a more simple machine evolved into what they see today.
I think its just as reasonable if not more reasonable to assume once, on a very early bacteria so simple as to be unrecognisable as a bacteria today - perhaps it was only a few molecules big - but it developed a simple rotating part, perhaps it was just a chain of molecules attached in such a way that it could rotate. Each of its ancestors inherited this simple rotating "tail", which enabled the bacteria to move around in a fluid rather than drift with the current, meaning they came into contact with more food and were able to reproduce more quickly. After a few zillion generations and many such tiny additions here and there, each of which gave the bacteria a slight edge which improved its survival chances and procreation rate (or, for some it could have made things worse and they didn't do quite as well), the device had become as efficient as it is today.
Same story for DNA and protiens. They were simple chemical messengers, but they got better over time.
An analogy that suits this film well is that you could go to a formula one race track and look at the cars, the perfectly tuned engines, the weighted suspension, the sheer design of the whole thing. Better yet, find someone who has been libing in a closet their whole life, and show it to them. Ask them to explain it. They don't know the history of the evolution of the motor vehicle from the horse drawn cart, through steam engines, early internal combusion engines, computer testing and simulation... They would think the machine had come into existance as if by magic. But, if you could show them the history of the automobile, how it first started as clunky, inefficient, and crude, and then evolved with minor improvements and additions - the carburettor, the air filter, computer controlled anti lock brakes... those changes which survived because they were good, and also the cars which didn't survive because they exploded on impact, rolled over on corners... Then they would see that the machine is simply the current generation in a logical sequence of minor imrpovements, each of which supersedes the previous generation and sets the standard upon which future improvements (or stuff ups) can be made.
I know the analogy is slightly odd because cars are obviously intelligently designed, but they wouldn't exist without a reason, and for any piece of technology to survive in its human environment, it has to be useful for humans. Technology doesn't survive if its useless. Technology can adapt to changing needs the same way organisms adapt to changing environments - those which fail to adapt simply die.
But the documentary is a good one, because for the first time in ages something seriously challenged my beliefs and it made me think.
I have lots of other things I'd love to talk about, concerning the progression of man from apes (if that happened, where are the man-ape hybrids... personally I reckon sucessive generations of humanoids wiped them out, racism isn't a new concept and hairy ape people must have seemed an inferior race to slightly less hairy, slightly less apey people...)
Whew...
Good movie - even though I disagree with its conclusion. What do you guys think?
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