239K views · May 5, 2012 · 14:10 · 2 HN recommenders · 4 mentions · discussed 2013–2023
An excerpt from Richard Dawkins's lecture on Climbing Mount Improbable demonstrating how a complex eye can evolve through incremental steps. It answers the creationist irreducible complexity argument.
Why Hacker News points people here: HN uses it as the go-to rebuttal to irreducible complexity, showing that even simple photoreceptors are useful and stages exist in living animals.
“Showing quite clearly how incremental beneficial change leads to the development of complex features.”HN comment, 2023
“the various stages of its evolution can be seen in animals that exist today.”
Dawkins explains the stages of eye evolution seen in living animals.
Actually the history of the eye has been farily well understood, and the various stages of its evolution can be seen in animals that exist today. Dawkins explains it: this video
“Showing quite clearly how incremental beneficial change leads to the development of complex features.”
Rebuts irreducible complexity of the eye via incremental change.
Dawkins invalidating the notion that the eye is irreducably complex: this video . Showing quite clearly how incremental beneficial change leads to the development of complex features. But it will never matter to creationists: link . (Don't even bother with that last link.) They'll always just build another straw man.
“An organ of great complexity, but one that is very easily explained by logical evaluation”
Eye evolution explained without a designer.
Just because something looks "engineered", doesn't mean it is. A perfect example is the eye. An organ of great complexity, but one that is very easily explained by logical evaluation, as well as existing living creatures and fossils: this video If you're a software engineer, I hope you understand how procedural systems and algorithms can transform data and functions. Similar processes take place via chemistry and biological interaction. Conway's Game of Life is a good example of a simple system giving rise to complex interaction and patterns. Complex beauty can arise from the interaction of systems, but if you say to yourself that it "must have been engineered by something greater than me", you settle in your mind, and shortcut around critical thinking and never progress toward understanding . And that's a great, great shame.
“where he shows the usefulness of even simple photo-receptor designs”
Shows even simple photo-receptors are useful.
Makes me think of Dawkins' demonstration of eye evolution, where he shows the usefulness of even simple photo-receptor designs: this video
