New structures would be useless until fully developed
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Contents |
Claim
New structures or organs would not develop incrementally because they would not function until fully developed. For example, what use is half an eye?
Source
- Morris, Henry M., 1974. Scientific Creationism, Master Books, Arkansas, p. 53.
Responses
- What does "half an eye" look like, and how would you recognize one if you saw it? There are creatures which have light-sensitive spots on their skin; is a light-sensitive spot "half an eye"? The nautilus is a creature with lensless eyes like pinhole cameras; is a pinhole camera-style eye "half an eye"? There are creatures whose eyes grant them better-than-human vision; is the human eye "half an eye"?
- Features can have other functions when they are developing. An arm can be considered "half a wing". Likewise, a lobed-fin can be considered "half an arm". See Exaptation.
- add more responses
Further Reading
- Gould, Stephen Jay, 1977. The Problem of Perfection, or How Can a Clam Mount a Fish on Its Rear End?, in Ever Since Darwin: Reflections in Natural History, W.W. Norton & Co., New York, pp. 103-110. Excerpted at [1]
- Dawkins, R., The Blind Watchmaker, River Out of Eden (Ch.3) and Climbing Mount Improbable all deal with claims like this one.
