Участник:AdmiralHood/Эволюционишница
Профессор биохимии Майкл Бехе[англ.], автор термина «неупрощаемая сложность», определяет неупрощаемо сложную систему как систему, представляющую собой совокупность нескольких хорошо соответствующих друг другу взаимодействующих частей, одинаково важных для выполнения основных функций системы, так что удаление любой из этих частей делает систему неработоспособной[5]. Для ряда случаев «неупрощаемой сложности» специалистами в области эволюционной биологии предложены сценарии эволюции таких систем[6][7], что позволяет считать аргумент «неупрощаемой сложности» попадающим под логический принцип Argumentum ad ignorantiam («незнание не есть научный аргумент»)[8]. В 2005 году в ходе судебного дела «Кицмиллер против Школьного округа территории Довер[англ.]» Бехе выступил в качестве эксперта по вопросу о «неупрощаемой сложности». Суд установил, что «утверждения профессора Бехе опровергнуты в рецензируемых научных работах и в большинстве своём отвергаются научным сообществом»[2]. ОпределенияТермин «неупрощаемая сложность» был введён Майклом Бехе[англ.]. Систему, которая обладает неупрощаемой сложностью, он определил следующим образом:
Сторонники теории разумного замысла утверждают, что в неполном составе такая система или орган либо не будет функционировать вообще, либо приносить ущерб организму, так что организм не сможет выжить в условиях естественного отбора. Хотя они и признают, что появление некоторых сложных систем и органов можно объяснить эволюцией, основа концепции остаётся неизменной — неупрощаемо сложные системы и органы были либо созданы разумным конструктором, либо разумный конструктор управлял их эволюцией. Соответственно, дискуссия о непреодолимой сложности касается двух вопросов: встречается ли неупрощаемая сложность в природе, и если встречается, то какую роль она в ней играет. Майкл Бехе дал ещё одно определение этого термина, рассматривающее неупрощаемо сложную систему с точки зрения эволюционного процесса, который должен был привести к её появлению:
Сторонник теории разумного замысла Уильям Дембски[англ.] даёт такое определение:
ИсторияПредвестникиПредшественником аргумента о неупрощаемой сложности является одно из телеологических доказательств бытия Бога (аргумент от сложности). Оно гласит, что некоторые вещи в природе настолько сложны, что не могут возникнуть иначе как будучи специальным образом сконструированы. Уильям Пэли[англ.] в 1802 году в своей знаменитой «аналогии часовщика»[англ.] утверждал, что сложность природы предполагает наличие Бога так же, как существование часов предполагает существование часовщика[11]. Этот аргумент имеет долгую историю, он известен как минимум со времён «De Natura Deorum»[англ.] Цицерона[12][13]. До XIX векаГален (I-II в н.э.) писал, что больше количество частей, из которых состоит тело человека, и их взаимодействие являются свидетельством творения[14]. Мысль о том, что взаимозависимость между частями тела существенна для решения вопроса о происхождении жизни поднимался писателями, начиная с Пьера Гассенди в середине XVII века[15] и Джона Уилкинса, который писал, цитируя Галена: «Необходимо признать в высшей степени иррациональными взгляды, что все эти вещи могут быть приведены в порядок, для которого необходимо бесконечное число идей, без деятельности некого мудрого агента»[16]. В конце XVII века Томас Бернет[англ.] говорил о «множестве точно соединённых частей», как аргументе против вечного существования жизни[17]. В начале XVIII века Николя Мальбранш[18], выступая на стороне преформизма против эпигенеза?!, писал: «организованное тело содержит бесконечное число частей, которые взаимно зависят друг от друга в отношении конкретных целей и которые должны быть соответствующим образом сформированы для того, чтобы работать как целое»[19]. Похожие взгляды на происхождение особей высказывались другими исследователями XVIII века[20]. В 1790 году Кант в своей книге «Критика способности суждения» писал: «мы не можем себе представить, как нечто целое, которое появляется постепенно из своих частей, может, тем не менее, быть причиной свойств этих частей»[21]. 19th centuryChapter XV of Paley's Natural Theology discusses at length what he called "relations" of parts of living things as an indication of their design.[11] Georges Cuvier applied his principle of the correlation of parts to describe an animal from fragmentary remains. For Cuvier, this was related to another principle of his, the conditions of existence, which excluded the possibility of transmutation of species.[22] While he did not originate the term, Charles Darwin identified the argument as a possible way to falsify a prediction of the theory of evolution at the outset. In The Origin of Species, he wrote, "If it could be demonstrated that any complex organ existed, which could not possibly have been formed by numerous, successive, slight modifications, my theory would absolutely break down. But I can find out no such case."[23] Darwin's theory of evolution challenges the teleological argument by postulating an alternative explanation to that of an intelligent designer—namely, evolution by natural selection. By showing how simple unintelligent forces can ratchet up designs of extraordinary complexity without invoking outside design, Darwin showed that an intelligent designer was not the necessary conclusion to draw from complexity in nature. The argument from irreducible complexity attempts to demonstrate that certain biological features cannot be purely the product of Darwinian evolution.[24] In the late 19th century, in a dispute between supporters of the adequacy of natural selection and those who held for inheritance of acquired characters, one of the arguments made repeatedly by Herbert Spencer, and followed by others, depended on what Spencer referred to as co-adaptation of co-operative parts, as in: "We come now to Professor Weismann's endeavour to disprove my second thesis — that it is impossible to explain by natural selection alone the co-adaptation of co-operative parts. It is thirty years since this was set forth in "The Principles of Biology." In §166, I instanced the enormous horns of the extinct Irish elk, and contended that in this and in kindred cases, where for the efficient use of some one enlarged part many other parts have to be simultaneously enlarged, it is out of the question to suppose that they can have all spontaneously varied in the required proportions."[25][26] The history of this concept in the dispute has been characterized: "An older and more religious tradition of idealist thinkers were committed to the explanation of complex adaptive contrivances by intelligent design. ... Another line of thinkers, unified by the recurrent publications of Herbert Spencer, also saw coadaptation as a composed, irreducible whole, but sought to explain it by the inheritance of acquired characteristics."[27] St. George Jackson Mivart raised the objection to natural selection that "Complex and simultaneous co-ordinations … until so far developed as to effect the requisite junctions, are useless"[28] which "amounts to the concept of "irreducible complexity" as defined by … Michael Behe".[29] 20th centuryHermann Muller, in the early 20th century, discussed a concept similar to irreducible complexity. However, far from seeing this as a problem for evolution, he described the "interlocking" of biological features as a consequence to be expected of evolution, which would lead to irreversibility of some evolutionary changes.[30] He wrote, "Being thus finally woven, as it were, into the most intimate fabric of the organism, the once novel character can no longer be withdrawn with impunity, and may have become vitally necessary."[31] In 1974, Young Earth Creationist Henry M. Morris introduced a similar concept in his book Scientific Creationism in which he wrote; "This issue can actually be attacked quantitatively, using simple principles of mathematical probability. The problem is simply whether a complex system, in which many components function unitedly together, and in which each component is uniquely necessary to the efficient functioning of the whole, could ever arise by random processes."[32] A book-length study of a concept similar to irreducible complexity, explained by gradual, step-wise, non-teleological evolution, was published in 1975 by Thomas H. Frazzetta. "A complex adaptation is one constructed of several components that must blend together operationally to make the adaptation "work". It is analogous to a machine whose performance depends upon careful cooperation among its parts. In the case of the machine, no single part can greatly be altered without changing the performance of the entire machine." The machine that he chose as an analog is the Peaucellier machine, and one biological system given extended description was the jaw apparatus of a python. The conclusion of this investigation, rather than that evolution of a complex adaptation was impossible, "awed by the adaptations of living things, to be stunned by their complexity and suitability", was "to accept the inescapable but not humiliating fact that much of mankind can be seen in a tree or a lizard."[33] In 1981, Ariel Roth, in defense of the creation science position in the trial McLean v. Arkansas, said of "complex integrated structures" that "This system would not be functional until all the parts were there ... How did these parts survive during evolution ...?"[34] In 1985 Cairns-Smith wrote of "interlocking", "How can a complex collaboration between components evolve in small steps?" and used the analogy of the scaffolding called centering used to build an arch then removed afterwards: "Surely there was 'scaffolding'. Before the multitudinous components of present biochemistry could come to lean together they had to lean on something else."[35][36] However, neither Muller or Cairns-Smith claimed that their ideas were evidence of something supernatural.[37] An essay in support of creationism published in 1994 referred to bacterial flagella as showing "multiple, integrated components", where "nothing about them works unless every one of their complexly fashioned and integrated components are in place" and asked the reader to "imagine the effects of natural selection on those organisms that fortuitously evolved the flagella ... without the concommitant [sic] control mechanisms".[38][39] An early concept of irreducibly complex systems comes from Ludwig von Bertalanffy, a 20th-century Austrian biologist.[40] He believed that complex systems must be examined as complete, irreducible systems in order to fully understand how they work. He extended his work on biological complexity into a general theory of systems in a book titled General Systems Theory. After James Watson and Francis Crick published the structure of DNA in the early 1950s, General Systems Theory lost many of its adherents in the physical and biological sciences.[41] However, Systems theory remained popular in the social sciences long after its demise in the physical and biological sciences. OriginsMichael Behe developed his ideas on the concept around 1992, in the early days of the 'wedge movement', and first presented his ideas about "irreducible complexity" in June 1993 when the "Johnson-Behe cadre of scholars" met at Pajaro Dunes in California.[42] He set out his ideas in the second edition of Of Pandas and People published in 1993, extensively revising Chapter 6 Biochemical Similarities with new sections on the complex mechanism of blood clotting and on the origin of proteins.[43] He first used the term "irreducible complexity" in his 1996 book Darwin's Black Box, to refer to certain complex biochemical cellular systems. He posits that evolutionary mechanisms cannot explain the development of such "irreducibly complex" systems. Notably, Behe credits philosopher William Paley for the original concept, not von Bertalanffy, and suggests that his application of the concept to biological systems is entirely original. Intelligent design advocates argue that irreducibly complex systems must have been deliberately engineered by some form of intelligence. In 2001, Michael Behe wrote: "[T]here is an asymmetry between my current definition of irreducible complexity and the task facing natural selection. I hope to repair this defect in future work." Behe specifically explained that the "current definition puts the focus on removing a part from an already functioning system", but the "difficult task facing Darwinian evolution, however, would not be to remove parts from sophisticated pre-existing systems; it would be to bring together components to make a new system in the first place".[44] In the 2005 Kitzmiller v. Dover Area School District trial, Behe testified under oath that he "did not judge [the asymmetry] serious enough to [have revised the book] yet."[45] Behe additionally testified that the presence of irreducible complexity in organisms would not rule out the involvement of evolutionary mechanisms in the development of organic life. He further testified that he knew of no earlier "peer reviewed articles in scientific journals discussing the intelligent design of the blood clotting cascade," but that there were "probably a large number of peer reviewed articles in science journals that demonstrate that the blood clotting system is indeed a purposeful arrangement of parts of great complexity and sophistication."[46] (The judge ruled that "intelligent design is not science and is essentially religious in nature".)[47] According to the theory of evolution, genetic variations occur without specific design or intent. The environment "selects" the variants that have the highest fitness, which are then passed on to the next generation of organisms. Change occurs by the gradual operation of natural forces over time, perhaps slowly, perhaps more quickly (see punctuated equilibrium). This process is able to adapt complex structures from simpler beginnings, or convert complex structures from one function to another (see spandrel). Most intelligent design advocates accept that evolution occurs through mutation and natural selection at the "micro level", such as changing the relative frequency of various beak lengths in finches, but assert that it cannot account for irreducible complexity, because none of the parts of an irreducible system would be functional or advantageous until the entire system is in place. Мышеловка в качестве примера![]() В качестве иллюстративного примера этого понятия Бехе использует мышеловку. Мышеловка состоит из пяти взаимодействующих частей — базы, ловушки, пружины, прижимной планки и спускового крючка. Для нормальной работы мышеловки все они должны быть на месте, так как удаление любой составной части разрушает функцию мышеловки. Аналогично, биологические системы для нормального функционирования требуют нескольких составных частей, работающих вместе. Сторонники разумного замысла утверждают, что естественный отбор не может создать с нуля такие системы, для которых наука не в состоянии найти жизнеспособный эволюционный путь, состоящий из последовательных незначительных изменений, так как функция выполняется только тогда, когда все части собраны. В 2008 году в своей книге «Только теория», биолог Кеннет Р. Миллер оспаривает утверждение Бехе о том, что мышеловка обладает неупрощаемой сложностью. Миллер отмечает, что различные подмножества из пяти компонентов могут формирования системы, которые выполняют различные функции. В биологических терминах это означает, могут стать функциональные spandrels перед адаптировались к новой функции ловле мышей. В пример, взятый из его школьные годы, Миллер напоминает, что один из его одноклассников In his 2008 book Only A Theory, biologist Kenneth R. Miller challenges Behe's claim that the mousetrap is irreducibly complex. Miller observes that various subsets of the five components can be devised to form cooperative units, ones that have different functions from the mousetrap and so, in biological terms, could form functional spandrels before being adapted to the new function of catching mice. In an example taken from his high school experience, Miller recalls that one of his classmates
Other systems identified by Miller that include mousetrap components include the following:[49]
Consequences of irreducible complexityBehe's original examples of irreducibly complex mechanisms included the bacterial flagellum of E. coli, the blood clotting cascade, cilia, and the adaptive immune system. Behe argues that organs and biological features which are irreducibly complex cannot be wholly explained by current models of evolution. In explicating his definition of "irreducible complexity" he notes that:
Irreducible complexity is not an argument that evolution does not occur, but rather an argument that it is "incomplete". In the last chapter of Darwin's Black Box, Behe goes on to explain his view that irreducible complexity is evidence for intelligent design. Mainstream critics, however, argue that irreducible complexity, as defined by Behe, can be generated by known evolutionary mechanisms. Behe's claim that no scientific literature adequately modeled the origins of biochemical systems through evolutionary mechanisms has been challenged by TalkOrigins.[50][51] The judge in the Dover trial wrote "By defining irreducible complexity in the way that he has, Professor Behe attempts to exclude the phenomenon of exaptation by definitional fiat, ignoring as he does so abundant evidence which refutes his argument. Notably, the NAS has rejected Professor Behe’s claim for irreducible complexity..."[52] Stated examplesBehe and others have suggested a number of biological features that they believe may be irreducibly complex. Blood clotting cascadeThe blood clotting or coagulation cascade in vertebrates is a complex biological pathway which is given as an example of apparent irreducible complexity.[53] The irreducible complexity argument assumes that the necessary parts of a system have always been necessary, and therefore could not have been added sequentially. However, in evolution, something which is at first merely advantageous can later become necessary.[54] Natural selection can lead to complex biochemical systems being built up from simpler systems, or to existing functional systems being recombined as a new system with a different function.[52] For example, one of the clotting factors that Behe listed as a part of the clotting cascade (Factor XII, also called Hageman factor) was later found to be absent in whales, demonstrating that it is not essential for a clotting system.[55] Many purportedly irreducible structures can be found in other organisms as much simpler systems that utilize fewer parts. These systems, in turn, may have had even simpler precursors that are now extinct. Behe has responded to critics of his clotting cascade arguments by suggesting that homology is evidence for evolution, but not for natural selection.[56] The "improbability argument" also misrepresents natural selection. It is correct to say that a set of simultaneous mutations that form a complex protein structure is so unlikely as to be unfeasible, but that is not what Darwin advocated. His explanation is based on small accumulated changes that take place without a final goal. Each step must be advantageous in its own right, although biologists may not yet understand the reason behind all of them—for example, jawless fish accomplish blood clotting with just six proteins instead of the full 10.[57] Eye![]() (a) A pigment spot (b) A simple pigment cup (c) The simple optic cup found in abalone (d) The complex lensed eye of the marine snail and the octopus The eye is a famous example of a supposedly irreducibly complex structure, due to its many elaborate and interlocking parts, seemingly all dependent upon one another. It is frequently cited by intelligent design and creationism advocates as an example of irreducible complexity. Behe used the "development of the eye problem" as evidence for intelligent design in Darwin's Black Box. Although Behe acknowledged that the evolution of the larger anatomical features of the eye have been well-explained, he claimed that the complexity of the minute biochemical reactions required at a molecular level for light sensitivity still defies explanation. Creationist Jonathan Sarfati has described the eye as evolutionary biologists' "greatest challenge as an example of superb 'irreducible complexity' in God's creation", specifically pointing to the supposed "vast complexity" required for transparency.[58]Ошибка: некорректно задана дата установки (исправьте через подстановку шаблона) In an often misquoted[59] passage from On the Origin of Species, Charles Darwin appears to acknowledge the eye's development as a difficulty for his theory. However, the quote in context shows that Darwin actually had a very good understanding of the evolution of the eye. He notes that “to suppose that the eye ... could have been formed by natural selection, seems, I freely confess, absurd in the highest possible degree”. Yet this observation was merely a rhetorical device for Darwin. He goes on to explain that if gradual evolution of the eye could be shown to be possible, “the difficulty of believing that a perfect and complex eye could be formed by natural selection ... can hardly be considered real”. He then proceeded to roughly map out a likely course for evolution using examples of gradually more complex eyes of various species.[60] ![]() Since Darwin's day, the eye's ancestry has become much better understood. Although learning about the construction of ancient eyes through fossil evidence is problematic due to the soft tissues leaving no imprint or remains, genetic and comparative anatomical evidence has increasingly supported the idea of a common ancestry for all eyes.[61][62][63] Current evidence does suggest possible evolutionary lineages for the origins of the anatomical features of the eye. One likely chain of development is that the eyes originated as simple patches of photoreceptor cells that could detect the presence or absence of light, but not its direction. When, via random mutation across the population, the photosensitive cells happened to have developed on a small depression, it endowed the organism with a better sense of the light's source. This small change gave the organism an advantage over those without the mutation. This genetic trait would then be "selected for" as those with the trait would have an increased chance of survival, and therefore progeny, over those without the trait. Individuals with deeper depressions would be able to discern changes in light over a wider field than those individuals with shallower depressions. As ever deeper depressions were advantageous to the organism, gradually, this depression would become a pit into which light would strike certain cells depending on its angle. The organism slowly gained increasingly precise visual information. And again, this gradual process continued as individuals having a slightly shrunken aperture of the eye had an advantage over those without the mutation as an aperture increases how collimated the light is at any one specific group of photoreceptors. As this trait developed, the eye became effectively a pinhole camera which allowed the organism to dimly make out shapes—the nautilus is a modern example of an animal with such an eye. Finally, via this same selection process, a protective layer of transparent cells over the aperture was differentiated into a crude lens, and the interior of the eye was filled with humours to assist in focusing images.[64][65][66] In this way, eyes are recognized by modern biologists as actually a relatively unambiguous and simple structure to evolve, and many of the major developments of the eye's evolution are believed to have taken place over only a few million years, during the Cambrian explosion.[67] Behe maintains that the complexity of light sensitivity at the molecular level and the minute biochemical reactions required for those first “simple patches of photoreceptor[s]” still defies explanation. Other intelligent design proponents claim that the evolution of the entire visual system would be difficult rather than the eye alone.[68] FlagellaThe flagella of certain bacteria constitute a molecular motor requiring the interaction of about 40 different protein parts. Behe asserts that the absence of any one of these proteins causes the flagella to fail to function, and that the flagellum "engine" is irreducibly complex as if we try to reduce its complexity by positing an earlier and simpler stage of its evolutionary development, we get an organism which functions improperly. Scientists regard this argument as having been disproved in the light of research dating back to 1996 as well as more recent findings.[69][70] They point out that the basal body of the flagella has been found to be similar to the Type III secretion system (TTSS), a needle-like structure that pathogenic germs such as Salmonella and Yersinia pestis use to inject toxins into living eucaryote cells. The needle's base has ten elements in common with the flagellum, but it is missing forty of the proteins that make a flagellum work.[71] The TTSS system negates Behe's claim that taking away any one of the flagellum's parts would stop it from working. On this basis, Kenneth Miller notes that, "The parts of this supposedly irreducibly complex system actually have functions of their own."[72][73] Dembski has argued that phylogenetically, the TTSS is found in a narrow range of bacteria which makes it seem to him to be a late innovation, whereas flagella are widespread throughout many bacterial groups, and he argues that it was an early innovation.[74][75] Against Dembski's argument, different flagella use completely different mechanisms, and publications show a plausible path in which bacterial flagella could have evolved from a secretion system.[76] Researchers have debated whether or not the TTSS is the older evolutionary precursor to the flagellum, or if the flagellum is the older evolutionary precursor to the TTSS. [77][78] A recent study based on updated genomic data claims to have definitively shown through three distinct phylogenetic lines of evidence that the TTSS evolved from the flagellum through a series of deletions of flagella-specific genes. [79] Further studies have shown that, contrary to claims of "irreducible complexity", flagella and related protein transport mechanisms show evidence of evolution through Darwinian processes, providing case studies in how complex systems can evolve from simpler components.[80][81] Response of the scientific communityLike intelligent design, the concept it seeks to support, irreducible complexity has failed to gain any notable acceptance within the scientific community. One science writer called it a "full-blown intellectual surrender strategy."[82] Reducibility of "irreducible" systemsPotentially viable evolutionary pathways have been proposed for allegedly irreducibly complex systems such as blood clotting, the immune system[83] and the flagellum,[84][85] which were the three examples Behe used. Even his example of a mousetrap was shown to be reducible by John H. McDonald.[48] If irreducible complexity is an insurmountable obstacle to evolution, it should not be possible to conceive of such pathways.[86] Niall Shanks and Karl H. Joplin, both of East Tennessee State University, have shown that systems satisfying Behe's characterization of irreducible biochemical complexity can arise naturally and spontaneously as the result of self-organizing chemical processes.[7] They also assert that what evolved biochemical and molecular systems actually exhibit is "redundant complexity"—a kind of complexity that is the product of an evolved biochemical process. They claim that Behe overestimated the significance of irreducible complexity because of his simple, linear view of biochemical reactions, resulting in his taking snapshots of selective features of biological systems, structures and processes, while ignoring the redundant complexity of the context in which those features are naturally embedded. They also criticized his over-reliance of overly simplistic metaphors, such as his mousetrap. In addition, research published in the peer-reviewed journal Nature has shown that computer simulations of evolution demonstrate that it is possible for complex features to evolve naturally.[87] It is illustrative to compare a mousetrap with a cat, in this context. Both normally function so as to control the mouse population. The cat has many parts that can be removed leaving it still functional; for example, its tail can be bobbed, or it can lose an ear in a fight. Comparing the cat and the mousetrap, then, one sees that the mousetrap (which is not alive) offers better evidence, in terms of irreducible complexity, for intelligent design than the cat. Even looking at the mousetrap analogy, several critics have described ways in which the parts of the mousetrap could have independent uses or could develop in stages, demonstrating that it is not irreducibly complex.[48][49] Moreover, even cases where removing a certain component in an organic system will cause the system to fail do not demonstrate that the system couldn't have been formed in a step-by-step, evolutionary process. By analogy, stone arches are irreducibly complex—if you remove any stone the arch will collapse—yet we build them easily enough, one stone at a time, by building over centering that is removed afterward. Similarly, naturally occurring arches of stone are formed by weathering away bits of stone from a large concretion that has formed previously. Evolution can act to simplify as well as to complicate. This raises the possibility that seemingly irreducibly complex biological features may have been achieved with a period of increasing complexity, followed by a period of simplification. In April 2006 a team led by Joe Thornton, assistant professor of biology at the University of Oregon's Center for Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, using techniques for resurrecting ancient genes, reconstructed the evolution of an apparently irreducibly complex molecular system. The research was published in the April 7 issue of Science.[6][88] It may be that irreducible complexity does not actually exist in nature, and that the examples given by Behe and others are not in fact irreducibly complex, but can be explained in terms of simpler precursors. There has also been a theory that challenges irreducible complexity called facilitated variation. The theory has been presented in 2005 by Marc W. Kirschner, a professor and chair of Department of Systems Biology at Harvard Medical School, and John C. Gerhart, a professor in Molecular and Cell Biology, University of California, Berkeley. In their theory, they describe how certain mutation and changes can cause apparent irreducible complexity. Thus, seemingly irreducibly complex structures are merely "very complex", or they are simply misunderstood or misrepresented. Gradual adaptation to new functionsThe precursors of complex systems, when they are not useful in themselves, may be useful to perform other, unrelated functions. Evolutionary biologists argue that evolution often works in this kind of blind, haphazard manner in which the function of an early form is not necessarily the same as the function of the later form. The term used for this process is exaptation. The mammalian middle ear (derived from a jawbone) and the panda's thumb (derived from a wrist bone spur) are considered classic examples. A 2006 article in Nature demonstrates intermediate states leading toward the development of the ear in a Devonian fish (about 360 million years ago).[89] Furthermore, recent research shows that viruses play a heretofore unexpectedly great role in evolution by mixing and matching genes from various hosts.Ошибка: некорректно задана дата установки (исправьте через подстановку шаблона) Arguments for irreducibility often assume that things started out the same way they ended up—as we see them now. However, that may not necessarily be the case. In the Dover trial an expert witness for the plaintiffs, Ken Miller, demonstrated this possibility using Behe's mousetrap analogy. By removing several parts, Miller made the object unusable as a mousetrap, but he pointed out that it was now a perfectly functional, if unstylish, tie clip.[49][90] Falsifiability and experimental evidenceSome critics, such as Jerry Coyne (professor of evolutionary biology at the University of Chicago) and Eugenie Scott (a physical anthropologist and executive director of the National Center for Science Education) have argued that the concept of irreducible complexity, and more generally, intelligent design is not falsifiable, and therefore, not scientific. Behe argues that the theory that irreducibly complex systems could not have been evolved can be falsified by an experiment where such systems are evolved. For example, he posits taking bacteria with no flagellum and imposing a selective pressure for mobility. If, after a few thousand generations, the bacteria evolved the bacterial flagellum, then Behe believes that this would refute his theory.Ошибка: некорректно задана дата установки (исправьте через подстановку шаблона) Other critics take a different approach, pointing to experimental evidence that they believe falsifies the argument for Intelligent Design from irreducible complexity. For example, Kenneth Miller cites the lab work of Barry G. Hall on E. coli, which he asserts is evidence that "Behe is wrong."[91] Other evidence that irreducible complexity is not a problem for evolution comes from the field of computer science, where computer analogues of the processes of evolution are routinely used to automatically design complex solutions to problems. The results of such Genetic Algorithms are frequently irreducibly complex since the process, like evolution, both removes non-essential components over time as well as adding new components. The removal of unused components with no essential function, like the natural process where rock underneath a natural arch is removed, can produce irreducibly complex structures without requiring the intervention of a designer. Researchers applying these algorithms are automatically producing human competitive designs—but no human designer is required.[92] Argument from ignoranceIntelligent design proponents attribute to an intelligent designer those biological structures they believe are irreducibly complex and whereof they say a natural explanation is insufficient to account for them.[93] However, critics view irreducible complexity as a special case of the "complexity indicates design" claim, and thus see it as an argument from ignorance and God of the gaps argument.[8] Eugenie Scott, along with Glenn Branch and other critics, has argued that many points raised by intelligent design proponents are arguments from ignorance.[94] Behe has been accused of using an "argument by lack of imagination", and Behe himself acknowledges that a failure of current science to explain how an "irreducibly complex" organism did or could evolve does not automatically prove the impossibility of such an evolution. False dilemmaIrreducible complexity is at its core an argument against evolution. If truly irreducible systems are found, the argument goes, then intelligent design must be the correct explanation for their existence. However, this conclusion is based on the assumption that current evolutionary theory and intelligent design are the only two valid models to explain life, a false dilemma.[95][96] Irreducible complexity in the Dover trialWhile testifying at the Kitzmiller v. Dover Area School District trial Behe conceded that there are no peer-reviewed papers supporting his claims that complex molecular systems, like the bacterial flagellum, the blood-clotting cascade, and the immune system, were intelligently designed nor are there any peer-reviewed articles supporting his argument that certain complex molecular structures are "irreducibly complex."[97] In the final ruling of Kitzmiller v. Dover Area School District, Judge Jones specifically singled out Behe and irreducible complexity:[97]
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