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Evolution Makes a Child’s Error

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Evolution
Intelligent Design
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Below, protein chemist Douglas Axe briefly clarifies what Darwin got right, and what he got wrong. The problem with evolutionary theory is this: It assumes that natural selection — true as far as it goes, in the sense that helpful variations, judged for survival and reproduction, will outcompete less helpful ones — can account for clever inventions in the history of life. All clever inventions.

But as Dr. Axe explains, we know from our experience as human inventors that novelties are never devised the way Darwin imagined nature does it — with every single step along the way yielding an advantage. In human creativity, work without advantage must precede the emergence of the final product or any part of it. That requires a preconceived intention.

Our intuition, trained by experience, recognizes as much at a glance. As Dr. Axe explains in his new book, Undeniable: How Biology Confirms Our Intuition That Life Is Designed, this intuition is a form of science and is born out by science.

Not every intuition is accurate or insightful, obviously, but this one is. Every human life that reaches adulthood is a long-term experiment repeatedly confirming it. That’s why it is properly termed “scientific.” It’s a lesson that every child has to learn: profitless work, step by step, guided by forethought, must come before enjoying the reward. A bed doesn’t make itself, as Axe points out, any more than an omelet does. To imagine otherwise is really a child’s error.

Undeniable is getting fantastic reviews on Amazon, by the way. Check them out. Note especially the ones designated as “Verified Purchase.”

I’m on Twitter. Follow me @d_klinghoffer.

David Klinghoffer

Senior Fellow and Editor, Science and Culture Today
David Klinghoffer is a Senior Fellow with Discovery Institute’s Center for Science and Culture. He is the author of seven books including Plato’s Revenge: The New Science of the Immaterial Genome and The Lord Will Gather Me In: My Journey to Jewish Orthodoxy. A former senior editor at National Review, he has contributed to the New York Times, Wall Street Journal, and other publications. He received an A.B. magna cum laude from Brown University in 1987. Born in Santa Monica, CA, he lives on Mercer Island, WA.
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