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Darwin appears to have been right in his observations about the eye.
Darwin said, "To suppose that the eye, with all its inimitable contrivance for adjusting the focus to different distances, for admitting different amounts of light, and for the correction of spherical and chromatic aberration, could have been formed by natural selection, seems, I freely confess, absurd in the highest possible degree." Darwin, C., The Origin of Species, John Murray, London, p. 186, 1859
He was right.
There is a fascinatiing essay by Jerry Bergman here on they eyes, albeit technical.
A snippet from the conclusion -
"Much disagreement exists about the hypothetical evolution of eyes, and experts recognize that many critical problems exist. Among these problems are an explanation of the evolution of each part of the vision system, including the lens, the eyeball, the retina, the entire optical system, the occipital lobes of the brain, and the many accessory structures. Turner stressed that ‘the real miracle [of vision] lies not so much in the optical eye, but in the computational process that produces vision. All of these different systems must function together as an integrated unit for vision to be achieved. As Arendt concludes, the evolution of the eye has been debated ever since Darwin and is still being debated among Darwinists. For non-evolutionists there is no debate." References are available at the foot of the essay.
For folk to say the eye just happened, evolved, not to mention the rest of the universe, they ought to just paint a big 'S' on their head and be called stupid.
Comments
How come there are so many Christian creationists wearing glasses quote mining Darwin to try to prove the eye didn't evolve?
Even Jesus apparently had problems fixing the mistakes of his perfect creation. He had to perform the miracle twice before the man was healed.
Mark 8:22-25 (King James Version)
22 And he cometh to Bethsaida; and they bring a blind man unto him, and besought him to touch him.
23 And he took the blind man by the hand, and led him out of the town; and when he had spit on his eyes, and put his hands upon him, he asked him if he saw ought.
24 And he looked up, and said, I see men as trees, walking.
25 After that he put his hands again upon his eyes, and made him look up: and he was restored, and saw every man clearly.
Darwin continues...
"Yet reason tells me, that if numerous gradations from a perfect and complex eye to one very imperfect and simple, each grade being useful to its possessor, can be shown to exist; if further, the eye does vary ever so slightly, and the variations be inherited, which is certainly the case; and if any variation or modification in the organ be ever useful to an animal under changing conditions of life, then the difficulty of believing that a perfect and complex eye could be formed by natural selection, though insuperable by our imagination, can hardly be considered real. How a nerve comes to be sensitive to light, hardly concerns us more than how life itself first originated; but I may remark that several facts make me suspect that any sensitive nerve may be rendered sensitive to light, and likewise to those coarser vibrations of the air which produce sound."
This is in Chapter 6 of "On the Origin of Species".
Have you ever read it, Bill?
How ironic of you to say that Darwin was right about the eye, considering (as pointed out by others) that he said that there are no show-stoppers in the evolution of the eye.
On the plus side, your ignorance of Darwin and science, along with the usual quote-mining that IDists/creationists utilize, ended up causing you to say something correct.
Glen Davidson
tinyurl.com/mxaa3p
Three comments and here are your three "S's" for these oblivious commentors..............undereducated idiots. Good FACTUAL report, thank you.
Justin gets two "S's" for being especially stupid in his feable attempt to use scripture he clearly doesn't understand...
In The Origin of Species Darwin referred vaguely to the Creator in connection with the evolution of the eye. One of his tricks.
This is so often quoted, that people seem to forget that there is actually an entire book written around it.
The fact is that the eye is one of the least problematic organs to explain. After all, part of an eye is more useful than no eye.
Light sensitive chemicals are everywhere and natural selection is good at improving things. Start small evolution says.
Dave says: "Justin gets two "S's" for being especially stupid in his feable attempt to use scripture he clearly doesn't understand..."
Really? Be my guest and explain those verses to me and tell me where I am wrong. The first attempt at healing results in seeing "men as trees walking" in other words he can see blurry shapes and can't distinguish what they are. It is only after Jesus' second healing that he can bring men into focus.
Their origins is not the only mystery surrounding eyes. Box jellyfish have multiple eyes but no brains, thus they see without the benefit of a system for interpreting the information collected by the eyes. We need complex brains for this. Box jellyfish don't. No one knows how they interpret what they see without a brain.
Both eyes and the brain are mysterious organs. Considering how little we know about our own brains, assuming we understand how complex biological systems work in other creatures is sheer arrogance.
Lisa A. Shiel
author of The Evolution Conspiracy
EvolutionConspiracy.com
@ Dave
[Three comments and here are your three "S's" for these oblivious commentors..............undereducated idiots.]
You seem to think that I got something wrong in my previous post. Would you mind telling me what it is?
...or were you just trolling?
Lisa A. Shiel says: "Their origins is not the only mystery surrounding eyes..."
Funny someone that runs a blog about paranoraml events and thinks there is a connection between UFOs and bigfoot doesn't understand that science is about finding answers to questions.
Wow, a degree in Library Science
"With a library science degree, you can specialize in a single area, such as acquisitions, cataloguing, bibliography, reference, special collections, or administration."
And that qualifies you write about evolution how?
Dishonest quote mining of Darwin. Typical stupid ***hole Christian.
Dishonest quote mining of Darwin. Typical stupid ***hole Christian.
People what is naturally selection? How does it think how does it decide what is better or worse? If anything natural selection is a God making these decisions.
Justin Templer it's evolutionist who generally are the ones who mention UFO and aliens. A recent theory for evolution was that aliens from the past came from the future and planted the first cell. Of course there is so many theories just pick the one you like the best though what will satify you now will die with you.
...And to complete your Darwin quote "Yet reason tells me, that if numerous gradations from a perfect and complex eye to one very imperfect and simple, each grade being useful to its possessor, can be shown to exist; if further, the eye does vary ever so slightly, and the variations be inherited, which is certainly the case; and if any variation or modification in the organ be ever useful to an animal under changing conditions of life, then the difficulty of believing that a perfect and complex eye could be formed by natural selection, though insuperable by our imagination, can hardly be considered real. How a nerve comes to be sensitive to light, hardly concerns us more than how life itself first originated; but I may remark that several facts make me suspect that any sensitive nerve may be rendered sensitive to light, and likewise to those coarser vibrations of the air which produce sound. (Darwin 1872, 143-144)
"..He then spends 3 pages showing how the evolution happened.
So to sum up. The evolution of the eye is easy to see (haha) in the modern world. You can see animals that have only light sensitivity. This is better than nothing.
You have animals with blurry black and white vision. Better than just light. etc... after all in a blind world the one-eyed are king.
Natural selection is a perfect excuse for the eye..which by the way ours are quite mediocre...think of the eye of a hawk for example. Baby steps.
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