Irreducible complexity is a concept used by those, such as Michael Behe, in contention against Darwinian evolution. It has been posited that various biological systems--systems such as the eye, the blood clotting cascade, or the motor in a cell's flagellum--are so complex, or composed of such a multiplicity of independent parts, each requiring the other to function, that it is not feasible causal, gradual adaptations could result in such a dense, well-orchestrated system. In the least, they argue, it would take ceaseless systematic failure of adaptation to result in a working model.
It should be noted that there are disparate arguments which use the concept. Both arguments could be seen as holistic--one, the intelligent design of life, is simply less naturalistic in that in relies on an undescribed creator.
This argument of intelligent design of life, specifically that of Michael Behe, applies the term to indicate that complex systems cannot evolve from simpler systems. The argument bifurcate from normal science in that holistic approaches--specifically ones that have a deus ex machina creator--are taken when basic naturalism does not explain their hypotheses.
Dissimilarily, proponents and researchers of emergence have come upon complex systems in nature that seemingly spring from less complex systems, and insist on a strictly naturalistic approach. These complex systems are seen as natural, e.g.: if examined individually, the physical property of a molecule of air has no apparent evidence to infer that a large amount would transmit sound; and ant colonies, where each ant acts as an individual automaton, spurred on by genetic impulse, but yet each ant has the seeming ability to act as a unit insofar they can, for example, solve geometric problems.
However, reliance on both emergence and intelligent design could in many cases be considered a reliance on an argument from ignorance--in the case of the molecules of air, it could merely be that our knowledge is limited and that, for example, subatomic characteristics heretofore unexamined infer sound transmission. In the case of the ant colony, it could argued that the resulting properties of a colony are not unpredictable or unknowable, but merely requiring of intense focus on details and a superb mathematical model to predict the outcome. In the case of irreducible complexity, it could be be another example that obscurity of the details is the cause of confusion. It might only take expansion or reevaluation of knowledge to solve the mystery; some specific examples of irreducible complexity have been confuted (to arguable degrees of accuracy, of course) in different scenarios, e.g. the legal case Kitzmiller v. Dover Area School District.
In contrast to irreducible complexity, which is where discrete parts in the whole are required, minimum function is the lowest state at which a system can work. It is, as Behe states, "the ability to accomplish a task in physically realistic circumstances." (p. 45) Behe suggests that although a system could have all the right parts, it might still fail because a specific part is underperforming to the level that is required of it to function at all--that is, the minimum function. Behe illustrates the point with a motorboat, which, even though it possesses all the right parts to permit aqueous transportation, fails to meet the demands of its use because its propeller only rotates once per hour.
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It should be noted that there are disparate arguments which use the concept. Both arguments could be seen as holistic--one, the intelligent design of life, is simply less naturalistic in that in relies on an undescribed creator.
This argument of intelligent design of life, specifically that of Michael Behe, applies the term to indicate that complex systems cannot evolve from simpler systems. The argument bifurcate from normal science in that holistic approaches--specifically ones that have a deus ex machina creator--are taken when basic naturalism does not explain their hypotheses.
Dissimilarily, proponents and researchers of emergence have come upon complex systems in nature that seemingly spring from less complex systems, and insist on a strictly naturalistic approach. These complex systems are seen as natural, e.g.: if examined individually, the physical property of a molecule of air has no apparent evidence to infer that a large amount would transmit sound; and ant colonies, where each ant acts as an individual automaton, spurred on by genetic impulse, but yet each ant has the seeming ability to act as a unit insofar they can, for example, solve geometric problems.
However, reliance on both emergence and intelligent design could in many cases be considered a reliance on an argument from ignorance--in the case of the molecules of air, it could merely be that our knowledge is limited and that, for example, subatomic characteristics heretofore unexamined infer sound transmission. In the case of the ant colony, it could argued that the resulting properties of a colony are not unpredictable or unknowable, but merely requiring of intense focus on details and a superb mathematical model to predict the outcome. In the case of irreducible complexity, it could be be another example that obscurity of the details is the cause of confusion. It might only take expansion or reevaluation of knowledge to solve the mystery; some specific examples of irreducible complexity have been confuted (to arguable degrees of accuracy, of course) in different scenarios, e.g. the legal case Kitzmiller v. Dover Area School District.
In contrast to irreducible complexity, which is where discrete parts in the whole are required, minimum function is the lowest state at which a system can work. It is, as Behe states, "the ability to accomplish a task in physically realistic circumstances." (p. 45) Behe suggests that although a system could have all the right parts, it might still fail because a specific part is underperforming to the level that is required of it to function at all--that is, the minimum function. Behe illustrates the point with a motorboat, which, even though it possesses all the right parts to permit aqueous transportation, fails to meet the demands of its use because its propeller only rotates once per hour.
POST RANDOM TXTS/DOCUMENTS OF WORDS U WROTE!!!!!!!! YEEEEEEEEZZZZZZAGGLAHR!!!!!!!!!!!
