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The Eye: Evolution versus Creationism
Sox2 writes "SciScoop is running a story about researchers in Germany who claim to have solved the "mystery" surrounding the evolution of the mamalian eye. The work, published in Science, goes some way to answering the issues raised in the "intelligent design" debate that has become the mainstay of creationist thinking."
Please do not skimp on the religious, hate-filled rants as well.
If you're in a burning house you don't really wonder "Gee I wonder who the architect is?", "I wonder how much he got paid?", you just might want to get out and not really worry about it.
Even if you could answer the question regarding an intelligent creator (WHICH you can't), it's pointless.
Pray tell, what evidence? The fossil record shows many fully-formed creatures, but no "half-way" creatures (sans a very few controversial exceptions, some shown to be hoaxes).
The biggest problem I have with evolution in any shape or form is the horrific odds against such a theory, and at any stage within the process of that theory. (From the 'big bang' to the creation of initial life to the "improvement" on said initial life up to and including a form of intelligence... it flies in the face of entropy.)
It's neat to see how many of the harder questions regarding the validity of evolution are neatly avoided by making massive assumptions, such as the passage (paraphrased) "the light sensitive cells formed in the (exposed?) brain and moved outward to form crude eyes, then improved further from that point" completely ignores the problem of having said brain in the first place.
More importantly, it doesn't deal with the transition period in which the presumably useless-unless-exposed pseudo-eyes moved out from the brain and into their final position, a time when the organism would be spending resources on useless organs, therefore making it less efficient, less competitive, and less likely to survive among its own, let alone achieve sexual maturity and pass off its mutation to its offspring who then would suffer the exact same handicap for untold generations until the presumably useless organs actually became useful. Seems like just another variant of the "hopeful monster".
Contrast this with the human body (or just about any other vertebrae), where the brain is the most heavily armored organ by far, and there are virtually NO useless organs. Except for that funky thing in the inside corner of your eye. Not sure what to make of that.