ID musings

[Richard Jensen]

It's relatively easy to come up with examples of poor design (e.g., what
"engineer" in his right mind would utilize the same pathway for air and food
intake, given the numerous opportunities for choking death that arise from
this).  Unfortunately, such arguments are generally wasted - the true
believer doesn't question the reasoning of the designer; there was some
greater purpose at work here.

Gasping for air as I eat my bana..........,

Dick



Steve Manning wrote:

> At 07:13 PM 1/14/2005 -0800, Curtis Clark wrote:
> >I was giving a guest lecture about photosynthesis last quarter, and I
> >pointed out that one of the best arguments against intelligent design is
> >RuBisCO, the enzyme that fixes CO2 in photosynthesis. It is one of the
> >most abundant proteins, and the most abundant enzyme, in nature, it has
> >a reaction rate ten to a hundred times slower than your average enzyme,
> >and it will give up on the reaction, and even run backwards, if the
> >substrate concentration runs low. If RuBisCo were an employee, it would
> >be the boss's idiot nephew. RuBisCo makes sense in the evolutionary
> >context of using what you've got, but if I were an intelligent designer,
> >I'd be ashamed to have created RuBisCO.
>
> That is assuming designing something to be efficient is an intelligent
> thing to do!  (Maybe it would be less fun that way for the designer to
> contemplate).
>
> >--
> >Curtis Clark                  http://www.csupomona.edu/~jcclark/
> >Web Coordinator, Cal Poly Pomona                 +1 909 979 6371
> >Professor, Biological Sciences                   +1 909 869 4062
>
> Dr. Steve Manning
> Arkansas State University--Beebe
> Mathematics and Science
> Professor of Biology
> P.O. Box 1000
> Beebe, AR  72012
> Phone: 501-882-8203
> Fax: 501-882-4437

--
Richard J. Jensen              | tel: 574-284-4674
Department of Biology      | fax: 574-284-4716
Saint Mary's College         | e-mail: rjensen at saintmarys.edu
Notre Dame, IN 46556    | http://www.saintmarys.edu/~rjensen