David Klinghoffer April 29, 2021, 12:39 PM
Photo credit: Michael Rivera, CC BY-SA 3.0 , via Wikimedia Commons.
Neo-Darwinism faces what you could call the “Can’t get there from here” problem. Doug Axe explains in a sample lecture from his new online course, “Douglas Axe Investigates Molecular Biology and Intelligent Design.” Modern Darwinian theory assumes that all life’s wonders were arrived at by unguided genetic mutation. In other words: You CAN get there from here, via known, purely material processes.
But as Professor Axe explains, there are major problems with this underlying assumption. For one thing, scientists have experimented extensively on the classic lab animal, the fruit fly, mutating its genes in every way they can. The mutations produce either no effect, or debilitating effects. None sets the creature out on a road to becoming a new type of animal. A more fundamental question involves the evolutionary origin of eukaryotic from bacterial cells. Even if we assume the truth of the endosymbiotic theory, that the eukaryotic cell originated from the engulfing of a smaller bacterium by a larger bacterium, first, that is not a Darwinian process, and second, while it might explain the origin of mitochondria, it leaves unexplained the origins of other organelles in the cells that make up your body, or the body of a fruit fly, or any complex organism. That is to say, if the only road open is the neo-Darwinian one, evolution “Can’t get there from here.” Only intelligent design can get around the roadblock.
Enjoy a brief, accessible discussion of the conundrum by molecular biologist Doug Axe, author of Undeniable: How Biology Confirms Our Intuition That Life Is Designed, and consider enrolling for the full course. It’s an amazing resource for adult learners, homeschoolers, and anyone curious about the ultimate mystery of life, how it arose and diversified.
SENIOR FELLOW AND EDITOR, EVOLUTION NEWS
David Klinghoffer is a Senior Fellow at Discovery Institute and the editor of Evolution News & Science Today, the daily voice of Discovery Institute’s Center for Science & Culture, reporting on intelligent design, evolution, and the intersection of science and culture. Klinghoffer is also the author of six books, a former senior editor and literary editor at National Review magazine, and has written for the Los Angeles Times, New York Times, Wall Street Journal, Washington Post, Seattle Times, Commentary, and other publications. Born in Santa Monica, California, he graduated from Brown University in 1987 with an A.B. magna cum laude in comparative literature and religious studies. David lives near Seattle, Washington, with his wife and children.
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