The Myth of Vestigial Organs and Bad Design: Why Darwinism Is False

Discovery Institute ^ | May 4, 2009 | Jonathan Wells, Ph.D.

[GodGunsGuts]

Ping!

[SandWMan]

When I was in high screwel, we were actually still taught “embryonic recapitulation”, which was disproven as outright fraud 100 years ago....but, it works as propaganda.

[Neidermeyer]

Correct me if I’m wrong but isn’t current thought that the appendix is a specialized part of the digestive tract that traps/stores and releases as necessary minor nutrients and that it is only thought of as unnecessary due to our abundance and variety of foods that our modern farming affords us?

[Glenn]

Fools.

[BlueStateBlues]

Thanks. Saving for study later.

[Michael.SF.]

organs that may have once had a function but are now useless

You mean kind of like Al Gore?

[Drill Thrawl]

No Gore is a tool not an organ.

[count-your-change]

Darwin might be excused on the basis of ignorance at the time he wrote but one can hardly make that claim for Coyne.

Now it must be called deliberate obtuseness.

[CharlesWayneCT]

Coyne illustrates the illusive nature of evolutionary "predictions":

“When a trait is no longer used, or becomes reduced, the genes that make it don't instantly disappear from the genome: evolution stops their action by inactivating them, not snipping them out of the DNA. From this we can make a prediction. We expect to find, in the genomes of many species, silenced, or ‘dead,’ genes: genes that once were useful but are no longer intact or expressed. In other words, there should be vestigial genes.

So, when did evolutionary science make this prediction? Well, they did so after they "surprisingly" found large swaths of DNA that they presumed didn't do anything.

Like the man who thinks he has a fool-proof method to predict the stock market, which is built by reprogramming the code each day after the market closes to incorporate "the new data", this type of "prediction" isn't very useful -- and in fact isn't a prediction at all, but is instead an excuse, and excuse for finding something they didn't expect that didn't seem to fit, and determining how to get the new facts to fit the flawed theory.

I typed this with my vestigial fingers. After all, I'm certain that when Evolution created my fingers, they didn't expect me to use them to type on a keyboard. :-)

[Alamo-Girl]

Thanks for the ping!

[count-your-change]

Plastics.

[GodGunsGuts]

While I see your point, you have to quit being so hard on yourself, Glenn. It’s bad for your self esteem.

[GodGunsGuts]

LOL!

[Desron13]

"In The Descent of Man, Darwin cited the human appendix as an example of a vestigial organ."

We also have "eye teeth", vestigial fangs. An internal tail bone. I actually had a friend that had to have an operation because he was growing hair on the underside of his tail bone internally. Sorry guys. The argument for evolution is pretty strong. Switch on the wrong dormant gene sequence and you get some rather startling results. Clearly these genes are present in our DNA.

[handy old one]

The brain in some species of humun beings is vestigial because they do not use it just look at some of the people (humuns) *** those are people that go hum!!! and think that the idea is a good thought and must be followed at all cost no mater what it ignores or over looks.

[Daniel II]

Oh, please! He’s a *ick, and you know it. LOL! :)

[Drill Thrawl]

That phase for Gore only applies in polite company.

[GunRunner]

I wish we’d evolve out of our wisdom teeth. I had all four removed and still remember the misery.

[TenthAmendmentChampion]

Lots of good stuff today GGG!