In recent years, the idea that evolution can explain all of the bio-diversity on Earth has been challenged by a scientist named Michael Behe. His argument revolves around the idea of irreducible complexity. His thesis is that there are some parts of organisms that are very complex and could not have evolved their functions in a piecemeal way. If the whole contraption doesn't exist from the start, Behe argues that there is no logical way that we can see it evolving. However, we do know that an intelligent being can take disparate parts and put then together to form very complex machines. Therefore it is reasonable to posit that some intelligent being guided the design and development of complex living organisms. The theory of evolution does not become useless or obsolete from his point of view because it can still explain a lot - just not everything.
This website is devoted to exploring the topic of irreducible complexity. It is brought to you by David Dilworth and Nicholas Monco for the spring 2005 Life in the Universe class, Pomona College.
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for Life in the Universe
