Michael Behe is one of the few working scientists among the Intelligent Design crowd. In his first book, Darwin's Black Box, he argued that certain biochemical pathways in organisms displayed "irreducible complexity"; that is, they could not have evolved by a series of simple steps. Almost no biologists were persuaded by this argument. Now he has a new book, The Edge of Evolution. There is a devastating review at the New Republic by Jerry Coyne.
I note only how much ground Behe is willing to concede to evolutionary theory. From Coyne:
For a start, let us be clear about what Behe now accepts about evolutionary theory. He has no problem with a 4.5-billion-year-old Earth, nor with evolutionary change over time, nor apparently with its ample documentation through the fossil record -- the geographical distribution of organisms, the existence of vestigial traits testifying to ancient ancestry, and the finding of fossil "missing links" that show common ancestry among major groups of organisms. Behe admits that most evolution is caused by natural selection, and that all species share common ancestors. He even accepts the one fact that most other IDers would rather die than admit: that humans shared a common ancestor with chimpanzees and other apes.
This is how much ground you have to concede if you wish to maintain some scientifically legitimate ground from which to challenge evolutionary theory.
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