Bill Cole's Case For Design

[T_aquaticus]

@colewd

Denton estimated 10^44 total evolutionary resources since first life.

And how many of those resources results in an eye? Without that number we can’t get past this initial number.

@colewd

Science’s misconception that the “black box” of light sensitivity would be simply explained is demonstrated by Michael Behe through a series of animations and illustrations diagraming the complicated chemical processes involved with sight.

Figure 2a is an animation showing the first event in the pathway to vision. When the light photon first hits the retina, it interacts with the molecule “11- cis-retinal”. As the photon is absorbed, the 11-cis-retinal molecule goes from an elbow-type position to a straight position.

Figures 2b and 2c illustrate much of the rest of the pathway. In a complicated series of reactions, 11-cis-retinal is bound to the protein “rhodopsin” (RH). The change in the shape of the retinal forces changes in the shape of the rhodopsin (RH). This provides the rhodopsin with the ability to interact with the protein “transducin” (T). This interaction creates a situation in which a small organic molecule “GDP” falls off the transducin and is replaced by another molecule “GTP.” The complex of T and GTP has the ability to interact with “phosphodiesterase”, whose shape is changed by the interaction, causing a “cutting” of the molecule "cyclicGMP (cGMP), turning cGMP into 5-prime-GMP (5’-GMP).

Some of the cGMP interacts with a protein “ion channel” to allow sodium ions from the outside into the inside of the cell. The ion channel closes down, the sodium concentration changes, and this changes the voltage across the membrane, causing a current to be sent down the optical nerve to the brain to be interpreted.

In short, this is a much-oversimplified explanation of the “simple light- sensitive spot” of Darwin.

That’s only one solution, the solution that did evolve. How many other possibilities are there?