Evolution Icon Evolution
Intelligent Design Icon Intelligent Design

As Behe’s Revolution Reminds Us, the Evolution Debate Pits Icon Versus Icon

Presidential elections dramatically pit figures iconic of their respective political and philosophical outlooks. The hardly less dramatic contest between intelligent design and Darwinian theory, posing the ultimate question of biological origins, likewise often seems to come to down to a match between icons — in this case, classes of scientific evidence.

The full trailer for the new hour-long documentary Revolutionary: Michael Behe and the Mystery of Molecular Machines highlights one category of ID icons. See it above.

Molecular machines — the bacterial flagellar motor, joined by “energy-producing turbines, information-copying machines, and even robotic walking motors,” all “exquisite examples of nanotechnology” — have generated “heated controversy among biologists over the past two decades.” And rightly so. Those twenty years mark the time since biologist Michael Behe published his revolutionary book Darwin’s Black Box, followed by other insurgent work.

Meanwhile Darwin advocates have their own icons, of course, but most seem to miss the point. Darwin’s finches, peppered moths, Miller-Urey — none of these explain how biological information is composed in order to bring about life’s fantastic novelties. As their latest iconic offering, evolutionists have proposed…cancer. Right, stunningly sophisticated living nanotechnology versus one of the world’s most destructive diseases.

Behe’s revolution, the argument for ID from irreducible complexity, continues to sting Darwinists — as Evolution News noted here just two days ago (“More on That Gecko Anti-Design Claim“). There seems every reason to think Behe will continue to inflame the Darwin debate until this contest is eventually settled. Get your copy of Revolutionary on DVD or Blu-ray at Amazon now.

I’m on Twitter. Follow me @d_klinghoffer.

David Klinghoffer

Senior Fellow and Editor, Evolution News
David Klinghoffer is a Senior Fellow at Discovery Institute and the editor of Evolution News & Science Today, the daily voice of Discovery Institute’s Center for Science & Culture, reporting on intelligent design, evolution, and the intersection of science and culture. Klinghoffer is also the author of six books, a former senior editor and literary editor at National Review magazine, and has written for the Los Angeles Times, New York Times, Wall Street Journal, Washington Post, Seattle Times, Commentary, and other publications. Born in Santa Monica, California, he graduated from Brown University in 1987 with an A.B. magna cum laude in comparative literature and religious studies. David lives near Seattle, Washington, with his wife and children.

Share

Tags

Films and VideoRevolutionary