The Blog

In 1859, Charles Darwin wrote, “If it could be demonstrated that any complex organ existed, which could not possible have been formed by numerous, successive, slight modifications, my theory would absolutely break down.” We now know that there are many organs, systems, and processes in life that match that description.

One of those is the cell. In Darwin’s day the cell was described as a “black box” – a mysterious little part of life that no one could speculate. But now that we have the ability to closely examine the cell, we see that life at the molecular level is immeasurably more complex than Darwin ever dreamed.

In fact, it is irreducibly complex.

A irreducibly complex system is “composed of several well-matched, interacting parts that contribute to the basic function, wherein the removal of any of these parts cause the system to effectively cease functioning.” Those are the words of Michael Behe, professor of biochemistry at Leigh University, who wrote the revolutionary book “Darwin’s Black Box: The Biochemical Challenge to Evolution”.

Behe’s research verifies that living things are literally filled with molecular machines that perform the numerous functions of life.

These molecular machines are irreducible complex, meaning that all the parts of each machine must be completely formed, in the right sizes, in the right places, in operating order, at the same time, for the machine to work.

A car engine is a relevant example of an irreducible complex system. If a change is made in the size of the pistons, this would require simultaneously changes in the block, cam shaft, engine counterparts, and other systems, or the new engine will be unable to function.

With painstaking detail, Behe shows that numerous functions in the body – such as cilia, blood clotting, and vision – require irreducibly complex systems that could not have developed in the gradual Darwinian fashion. Why? Because the intermediates would be nonfunctional.

As with car engine, all the right parts must be in place in the right size at the same time for there to be any function at all. You can build an engine part by part and that takes intelligence, but you cannot drive to work with only a partial engine under the hood. Nor could you drive to work if one essential part of your engine were modified and others were not.

In the same way, living systems quickly would become nonfunctional if they were modified piece by piece.

The degrees of irreducible complexity in living things is mind-boggling. Recall that DNA’s genetic alphabet consists of four letters: A, T, C, and G. Well, within each human cell, there are about 3,000 million pairs of those letters. Not only does your body have trillions of cells and make millions of new cells every second, but each cell is irreducible complex and contains irreducibly complex subsystems.

Personal Reflection:
Why can’t the irreducible complexity of life be attained through the Darwinian method?