Why Neo-Darwinism Can’t Take the Credit for Design of Life
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If life is built on complex molecular machines and information that is both complex AND specified, can unguided evolution actually get the credit? On this ID The Future, host Andrew McDiarmid concludes a two-part conversation with molecular biologist Dr. Douglas Axe and biochemist Dr. Michael Behe, two experts featured in the new movie The Story of Everything. Over two episodes Axe and Behe are discussing their participation in the movie and unpacking some of the insights they share in it. And you’ll enjoy more exclusive clips from the movie too!
In this segment, Dr. Axe emphasizes the staggering rarity of functional protein sequences, noting his past research on the probability of functional sequences being reached through a chance process. He also unpacks the concept of specified complexity to distinguish between merely improbable arrangements and those that perform a specific communication or biological function, like DNA. Axe also discusses the beauty principle. Nature displays an extravagant, artistic expression that goes far beyond the brutalist, cobbled-together architecture one would expect from a Darwinian process.
Dr. Behe highlights the concept of irreducible complexity, the idea that some biological systems consist of multiple parts where, if even one is removed, the entire system ceases to function. How would an unguided process produce such systems? He argues that while Darwinian evolution can account for minor changes, it does so by breaking or degrading existing genes to provide a temporary survival advantage. Behe contends that the complex molecular machines at work at work in cells point directly to a rational intelligence, as only minds can produce the type of information that powers life.
This is Part 2 of a two-part conversation.
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