It was a particular pleasure to attend PZ Myer’s lecture on complexity at Queen’s University last night.
The lecture focused on how complexity arises naturally (i.e. in nature) to produce apparently designed outcomes. The apparent design, of course, is the reason why creationists and intelligent design advocates (such as the DUP’s very own Edwin Poots – living proof that Grammar Schools don’t always produce well educated people) argue that there must be a designer AKA, um, God.
PZ used many examples of how nature does indeed produce – with designed-like qualities – complexity.
My preferred example was – bless ‘em – creatures with a penchant for eating nylon. No I’m not talking about some fetishist here, I’m referring, of course, to the Flavobacterium Sp. K172 that chomps away merrily on the Nylon effluent produced by plastics manufacturers in Japan.
Long and short, these bacteria evolved rapidly to attain this rather esoteric ability. Moreover scientists have managed to replicate this particular process of natural selection in a test tube.
Over on Wikipedia these celebrity bacteria have their very own page on the role they have played in debunking the creationist and intelligent design mumbo jumbo.
I have had a creationist/IDer tell me that Gawd installed the ability to produce nylonase into the bacteria. As the saying goes, you cannot reason someone out of a position they didn’t use reason to get themselves into.
Michael, well said.
Almost representitive of reality Jeff, almost. I’m still a subscriber though