In your soduku example, you were exactly as constrained as I indicated. Now, I am very ignorant of how Soduku works, but let me point out the following:
1) All of your changes followed the rules of Soduku. Did you also consider changes that violated the rules of Soduku? This greatly limits the set of possible changes.
2) None of the fitness jumps required a search of more than 500 bits.
Searches do work for limited search steps. They do not work when a large step is required to maintain fitness. An organism cannot survive the few million years it would take to find the appropriate adaptation.
"I disagree. They seem contrained against a random mechanism being a key player in evolution. I suspect this is because they are not content with a designer that sets the first lifeform up and lets the ball roll from there."
Wells would not be content, but Dembski certainly would, as would Denton.
"There is a reason to "hang on" to the mechanisms of RM and NS. First they are known to occur, second the algorithm is known to design."
Are the mutations really random? We now know that many mutations in bacteria are caused because the bacteria decided it needed the mutation. It even has special DNA polymerases to cause specific kinds of mutations, whose use is regulated.
Please point me to a research article that shows (a) a beneficial mutation, and (b) shows that the mutation is in fact random, for any common-sense or mathematical definition of the word.
Oh??
Neat trick!
"We now know that many mutations in bacteria are caused because the bacteria decided it needed the mutation. It even has special DNA polymerases to cause specific kinds of mutations, whose use is regulated. "
As a microbiologist, I'd like to know more about this. Please enlighten me, preferably using references.