THE EDGE OF EVOLUTION

'''The Edge of Evolution: The Search for the Limits of Darwinism''' is a intelligent design book by Discovery Institute fellow Michael Behe, published by the conservative publisher Free Press in 2007. In the book Behe argues that while evolution can produce changes within species, there is a limit to the ability of evolution to generate diversity, and this limit (the "edge of evolution") is somewhere between species and orders.^[1] Thus, he asserts, known evolutionary mechanisms cannot be responsible for observed diversification from the last universal ancestor and thus only the intervention of a intelligent designer can adequately account for the diversity of life. It is Behe's second intelligent design book, his first being his 1996 ''Darwin's Black Box'', also published by Free Press.

Contents

Content

Reviews

References

External links

Content

Evolution, according to Behe, comprises three distinct ideas that are often assumed to depend on each other for coherence, but are in fact distinct. These three ideas consist of Common Descent, Natural Selection, and Random Mutation. Behe quickly asserts his support for the ideas of Common Descent and Natural Selection, but questions the scope and power of Random Mutation. He terms "Darwinian evolution" the type of evolution relying on all three of these factors, and applies the label "Darwinists" to scientists who hold the view that Darwinian evolution is the only existing form of evolution, and who take exception to Intelligent Design as well as other theistic and non-theistic complexity theories.
Behe's central assertion regarding Darwinian evolution is that it exists, but that it is better at breaking existing molecular machinery than at making new molecular machinery, and is therefore plays only a limited role in the development and diversification of life on Earth. He examines the genetic changes undergone by the malaria plasmodium genome and the human genome in response to each other's biological defenses, and identifies that "the situation resembles trench warfare, not an arms race".
He contrasts this hemoglobin-destroying, protein pump-compromising "war by attrition" with the "creative process" required to develop (irreducibly?) complex structures such as the bacterial flagellum as well as stupendously complex systems such as the immune system.
Behe calculates the "edge of evolution"-- the point at which Darwinian evolution is no longer an efficacious agent of creative biological change-- by taking into account the number of mutations required to "travel" from one genetic state to another, as well as population size for the organism in question. He concludes that Purposeful Design plays a major role in the development of biological complexity, through the mechanism of producing "non-random mutations", which are then subjected to the sculpting hand of Natural Selection.
Design that favors the development of intelligent life, argues Behe, is not only demanded by "the most recent findings concerning biological complexity", but also by discoveries in the fields of chemistry (he uses the example of the peculiar, life-supporting structure of water), and of cosmology (here he refers to the familiar calculations of our universe's extremely improbable ability to develop and sustain life).
Intelligent design, and Behe's claims supporting it, represent a minority view within the scientific community. Behe himself alludes several times to an awareness of this fact within the pages of ''The Edge of Evolution''. He implies that, for this reason, he avoids detailed discussion about the nature of Life's Designer, and takes deliberate steps to distinguish himself from the "young earth creationism" movement.

Reviews

Intelligent design, and Behe's claims supporting it, have been overwhelmingly rejected by the scientific community. The book has been panned by reviewing scientists,^[2][3] God as Genetic Engineer, , Sean B., Carroll, Science, ^[4] to whom Behe has responded in depth at his Amazon blog.^[5]
Biology professor Richard Dawkins reviewed the book, and commented that it read as if Behe had "given up" and that Behe has "cut himself adrift from the world of real science." Dawkins commented that Behe's work would not pass muster in a peer reviewed journal, and challenged "Behe to submit a mathematical paper to The Journal of Theoretical Biology, say, or The American Naturalist, whose editors would send it to qualified referees." However, he noted, Behe "has bypassed the peer-review procedure altogether, gone over the heads of the scientists he once aspired to number among his peers, and appealed directly to a public that — as he and his publisher know — is not qualified to rumble him." Dawkins also commented about how creationists would read the book asking "Do his creationist fans know that Behe accepts as 'trivial' the fact that we are African apes, cousins of monkeys, descended from fish?"
University of Pittsburgh professor David Snoke pointed out Behe's inclusion of an argument for universal common descent, noting that this would "make him no friends among young earth creationists," and praised Behe for independent thinking and the book for drawing in "new facts, especially the data on malaria, that have not been part of the public debate at all up to now." ^[6]
Chicago geneticist Jerry Coyne wrote what Dawkins called a "devastating review" of Behe's work in ''The New Republic''. Coyne remarked, "What has Behe now found to resurrect his campaign for ID? It’s rather pathetic, really. Basically, he now admits that almost the entire edifice of evolutionary theory is true: evolution, natural selection, common ancestry." Coyne noted Behe argued, "the genetic variation that fuels natural selection–mutation–is produced not by random changes in DNA, as evolutionists maintain, but by an Intelligent Designer. That is, he sees God as the Great Mutator." Sean Carroll wrote a similar review for ''Science''. ^[7]
Dr. Philip Skell, Evan Pugh Professor of Chemistry, Emeritus, at Pennsylvania State University and member of the National Academy of Sciences, noted that much earlier evidence on the matter ("prior to the genomics revolution") was somewhat indirect and speculative, but that we are currently beginning to deal with more direct lines of evidence, of which he said that "this book offers the best possible treatment." ^[6]
Dr. Jason Rosenhouse commented on Behe's misleading quote mining, which took quotes out of context for Behe's aims.^[9]
Dutch biologist Gert Korthof conducted an analysis of the book, and says that Behe still has failed to offer any actual theory for intelligent design, ten years since his ''Darwin's Black Box''. Korthof concluded that Behe's claim that intelligent design is quite compatible with the view that the universe operates by unbroken natural law contains a logical contradiction: "There could be no greater incompatibility between claims that 99% of life was designed and common descent. Common Descent is based on genetic continuity in the history of life on earth and ultimately based on unbroken natural law. Design, as Behe describes it, is based on the discontinuity of the tree of life (broken natural law). Therefore, design and common descent are incompatible. It is either design or common descent. It is logically impossible to hold both."^[10]

References

1. See scientific_classification
2. Inferior Design Richard Dawkins
3. The Great Mutator Jerry Coyne
4. Falling over the edge, , Kenneth R., Miller, Nature,
5. Michael Behe's Amazon blog
6. Editorial Review of The Edge of Evolution
7. God as Genetic Engineer
8. Editorial Review of The Edge of Evolution
9. Quote Mining in EoE Jason Rosenhouse
10. Either Design or Common Descent Gert Korthof. Was Darwin Wrong? July 22, 2007.

External links

★ The Edge of Evolution Official