The Missing Link and the Irreducible Complexity of the Eye

[Minimalist]

Always found it curious the more conservative realms of Christianity have such a rough time understanding evolution

Well, it's hard.  And these dumb fucks don't do "hard" very well.

[Rhondazvous]

If I were a cretinist, I don't think I'd wonder much about the plausibility(?) of photoresponses evolutionary development.....I'd wonder more at the fact that photoresponse was literally baked in at a point well -before- biological evolution.  The very first moment that the very first life arose, at least one of the means by which photoresponse is and was achieved already existed.  Photoresponse predates cells.....

That is so true. The potential for photoresponse goes at least as far back as the great oxygenation event. Consider how plants respond to the sun, following its course across the sky. Then consider the possible evolutionary connection between plants and animals at the time of the oxygenation event. It's all there.

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That's just a regular Big Mac.

This is why it's always so dark in McDees, to keep the hamburgers from evolving into something that stares back at us.

[Amarok]

I also love the "the scientists  are just in it for the money"  If scientists were out to enrich themselves then there are far easier and far more profitable ways to make money with far more job security

[Cyberman]

This is why it's always so dark in McDees, to keep the hamburgers from evolving into something that stares back at us.

"And when you gaze long into a happy meal the happy meal also gazes into you."

[Thumpalumpacus]

"And when you gaze long into a happy meal the happy meal also gazes into you."

Quote the whole thing! To start with --

"Therefore, beware that when fighting Happy Meals, you do not yourself become a Happy Meal ..."

[Rhondazvous]

I also love the "the scientists  are just in it for the money"  If scientists were out to enrich themselves then there are far easier and far more profitable ways to make money with far more job security

Never heard a scientist tell me I'd be weeded out by natural selection if I don't give him ten percent of my income.

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This is why it's always so dark in McDees, to keep the hamburgers from evolving into something that stares back at us.

"And when you gaze long into a happy meal the happy meal also gazes into you."

That's why it's happy. It's eye level with my boobs. New happy meal song, "This Joint is Jumpin'."

[Gawdzilla Sama]

An eye is complex. A horse is slightly more so. We can trace the evolution of the horse.

[John V]

Organisms survive in their environment because they have what is necessary to do so. In an environment where there is not a lot of light, having eyes can actually be detrimental becase they use up metabolic resources the body could put to better use developing other senses needed in that environment.

If an organism can find food, reproduce and avoid predators with nothing more than light sensitive cells, it will survive, and eyes will not evolve unless the environment changes.

OK - organisms were apparently eating and reproducing before light sensitive cells, so what changed to make eyes evolve?

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Consider: Most animals having a neurosystem have nerves at the skin for heat detection. The odds are that that photosensitive cell would be linked to a nerve at one point or another. And given the complexity of even nonhuman brains, and their plasticity, I don't see that a scaffold has not already been built.

This is the typical type of response to irreducible complexity, and it's not very satisfying. The tell is "given." Basically, given an organism that already has all but one piece of the system, adding one piece is plausible.

Even so, in this case, you haven't solved the problem. A photosensitive cell feeding information to a brain that's interpreting the input as heat is getting faulty information, and the organism is at a disadvantage relative to its peers.

[Aegon]

If evolution is real, then why haven't my eyes evolved to see through pretty girls' dresses? I'm sure that'd be an essential evolutionary trait.

[Minimalist]

I also love the "the scientists  are just in it for the money"  If scientists were out to enrich themselves then there are far easier and far more profitable ways to make money with far more job security

Yeah.  Religion for example.  Plenty of rich motherfuckers conning assholes out of their money every sunday.

I'm sure A/M joyfully pays up so jesus keeps loving his ass.