Vestigal Features: Why?

Rei,I think you need to read Darwin's Black Box again, as I do quasi-religiously every summer. Evidence of poor design, redundant design, or the absence of design are not sufficient cause to abandon a design perspective. You're assuming that the Designer (whether God, other deities, cartoonists, extraterrestrials, or what have you) intended the design to be optimal, and your basis for that assumption is invalid. It would be just as valid (or moreso, since Behe said so) to assume that the Designer intended the design to be poor, redundant, or to have the appearance of having evolved. This is what makes Design such a powerful hypothesis. Useful? Works for me.Remember, only IDC proponents are qualified to make judgments concerning how a Designer would design. And even we can't decide how a Designer wouldn't design. But when we do, we'll let you know. Maybe.------------------
I would not let the chickens cross the antidote road because I was already hospitlized for trying to say this!-Brad McFall

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Wasn't his creation scenario like this: God created the ur-cell with every feature that would show up later in all kinds of creatures?

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One of the major problems with this, ahem, hypothesis is that Behe's front-loaded 4-billion-year-old cell certainly couldn't have been a eukaryote cell. Clare Stevens (who calls Behe's scenario 'ludicrous') is quick to ask:"If Behe's cell contained designs for all subsequent biochemistry,how come we Eukaryotes can't do all those clever things bacteria can do like 'fixing' Nitrogen or living off sulphur or crude oil? Perhaps the designer made a different cell for the bacteria or have we just failed to 'turn on' these systems?"{added by edit:}
As you said, if this cell is not only the common ancestor of all life on earth, but already contained genes for all biological functions, wouldn't we expect to find vestiges in our genome of abilities (such as photosynthesis) that we no longer use?------------------
The bear thought his son could talk in space about the time matter has to rotate but twisted heaven instead.
-Brad McFall[This message has been edited by MrHambre, 10-18-2003]