Failed ideas tend to eventually crumble under the weight of contrary evidence. Is modern evolutionary theory heading for the same fate? On a new episode of ID the Future, I speak with biochemist Michael Behe about his core arguments for intelligent design and his recent experience sharing them at an Ivy League school. Behe, a professor of biochemistry at Lehigh University and author of Darwin’s Black Box, recently presented some of his ID arguments to faculty, students, and post-docs at Cornell University. Behe reveals how his talk was received and shares some of his key insights highlighting the problems with Darwinian evolution.
Two Primary Categories
In this conversation, Behe addresses two primary categories of structural obstacles to Darwinian evolution: irreducible complexity and devolutionary processes, which fundamentally resist the mechanism of random mutation and natural selection. He emphasizes that these structural obstacles are not merely due to a lack of current knowledge about Darwinian explanations. Rather, they are based on discovered reasons why the process is incapable of achievement. The first structural obstacle rests on the reality that modern biology has revealed the cell to be made of machines, complex systems within the cell that cannot originate in the gradual fashion upon which Darwinism insists. A second, more recently discovered structural obstacle arises from scientists’ ability in the last 20 years to track molecular changes (mutations in DNA) over time and generations. The data shows that the Darwinian process often helps organisms adapt, but it does so overwhelmingly by breaking things that already existed in the organism’s genome. A process that degrades aboriginal design might bring about limited change over time, but it doesn’t have the power to create new forms.
The Fall of Communism
In light of this evidence, Behe argues that Darwinism will eventually collapse. He likens the current state of Darwinian theory to the fall of Communism: an ideology that everyone knew was failing but kept plugging along until it suddenly collapsed. Behe says Darwinism persists because it’s an ideology supported by people who want it to be true for reasons other than science. But history shows us that a failed idea can’t stay propped up indefinitely. “In science you can’t deny the data forever,” notes Behe, “and all of the data as science advances is pointing strongly away from Darwinian theory and very strongly towards the need for a mind, an intelligence behind biology.”
Dig Deeper
- Go in depth with Dr. Behe’s latest arguments for intelligent design in his latest book Darwin Devolves!
- Watch Revolutionary, a documentary that brings to life Dr. Behe’s research and arguments for intelligent design: