Yes
it is designed - Michael Behe
Michael
Behe claims that science can only go so far in explaining how
organisms develop over time. He argues Darwin’s theory is weakened
when he is asked to explain how something as complex as an eye is
created by natural selection. (Even Darwin himself thought that this
was a tricky one)
Behe
uses the term ‘irreducible complexity’ to explain parts of nature
which can’t be explained by evolution. An eye consist of many
different features that form a process of sensation. The components
have no use of their own without each other – so, when they evolved
separately, the question is WHY did they evolve? How did they help
their owner SURVIVE? They were of no value until they came
together.
Michael
Behe believes the only way that the eye is possible is if it all was
designed/made whole at the start and didn’t go through evolution.
He claims the eye is like a mouse trap - if any of the components of
the trap was missing, the trap wouldn’t work. The components work
in harmony with each other like this because a designer wanted it to
be this way. This is same with a human eye if a part was removed the
eye wouldn’t work and would be pointless. This concludes Behe’s
point that the evolutionary theory fails to explain about how such
amazing structures like an eye exist.
Summary: Behe argued the
eye is far too complex to be made by evolution and purely random
mutations, as all parts of the eye work together in perfect sync to
function. Therefore there must be someone who has designed this
(God).
“A
single system which is composed of several interacting parts that
contribute to the basic function, and where the removal of any one of
the parts causes the system to effectively cease functioning”
THE EYE IS NOT DESIGNED
However,
Richard Dawkins argues against Behe, saying that the eye went through
multiple small changes throughout thousands of years. He pointed out
that Behe was viewing each stage of evolution as being one massive
step, whereas Dawkins believes that each stage of evolution is one
tiny little step generation by generation. He began saying how the
eye started out as a light sensitive cell, so the organism was able
to tell when it was day or night. As the generations went on, the
creature began to develop a cone around the light sensitive cells,
allowing the organism to see where the light was coming from. As the
cone grew through the generations, the organism’s ability to see
where the light was coming from increased. It got to a point where
the cone only had a small hole which allowed the light sensitive
cells to see precisely where the light was coming from and to see a
very rough image of their surroundings. He then went on saying how
the eye began to grow lenses over their eyes to allow the hole to be
protected and to have a more precise image. Dawkins also stated that
this happened with many different organisms in many different ways.
He used a Swedish scientist’s prediction, what was gained through
computer analysis, for how long this would take. It would take
roughly 220,000 years which, although is a long time for us, is a
very small time for how long the world and the universe is.
Summary: He
believes that the eye was created from the process of evolution over
millions of years through natural selection. This is possible because
the eye formed over such a long period of time that there were ‘baby
steps’ towards the production of a fully functioning eye. This
started by one mutation which caused the species to see slight
light/movement and as this gave them a huge advantage this mutated
gene survived (naturally selected) and was passed down generations
eventually evolving so much the full eye was formed.
