Author’s note: This is Part Four in a series of conversations with Stuart Burgess, author of Ultimate Engineering: An Engineer Investigates the Biomechanics of the Human Body.
Q. In her article for The Conversation, University of Bristol anatomist Lucy Hyde goes on to say that the wisdom teeth give “another example of evolutionary lag.” What’s she talking about there?
A. Again, she’s assuming that humans have evolved from ape-like quadruped creatures. Most apes have very powerful jaws that are bigger than ours. Our jaws are relatively small. She’s claiming that our jaws shrunk, but that our teeth didn’t shrink as fast, and so that’s why there’s a mismatch in size. So the whole argument is based on an assumption of evolutionary change.
There are two things to say in answer to this. One is that, in western societies, we now have too much processed food. There is evidence that because our food is so soft, we’re not challenging our jaws enough. Our jaws are not fully developed and hence not quite fully grown, because of modern, highly processed food.
The Reality of Devolution
There is a second factor that evolutionists like Lucy Hyde can’t see. And that is the principle of devolution. Michael Behe has written about this and shown how scientific evidence supports this process. We live in a devolving world, which is the opposite to evolution, and so genetic errors are appearing in all of us. This principle applies to each of her examples. As time goes on, our bodies are gathering imperfections. This means that parts of our bodies are no longer fitting as well as they did in the original humans. Some people have major genetic defects that are obvious to see, but there are also small defects that are not so obvious. So genetic devolution is likely another reason why we sometimes have a problem with wisdom teeth.
My book Ultimate Engineering clarifies that even though we now live in a devolving world, we can still identify ultimate engineering in the human body by taking into account the effects of genetic defects. In other words, in general, we can see how the original ultimate design looked.
Subpar Design or Misuse?
Lucy Hyde also claims that another sign of bad design is that we’re suffering from tooth decay. That is another real problem today, but it’s actually well known that tooth decay is a modern problem because of the introduction of refined sugar. Not only is modern unhealthy food too soft, but it’s far too sugary. If you go back 100 years, tooth decay was not so bad when people ate raw vegetables and a more wholesome diet. The modern diet is really quite unhealthy. It’s too processed, too soft, too sugary, and there’s too much junk food!
Q. America is probably extra unhealthy that way. This also seems like a corollary to the idea of misuse, which you mentioned earlier when we talked about the spine. We cause problems when we use our body in ways it was not designed to be used. Our diet does not help us have healthy teeth and jaws.
A. I think you make a good point. I like the way you’ve drawn that parallel. If we use our bodies as they are intended, like an engineered machine, then we will have far fewer health problems in life and in longevity.
Q. There’s a saying that says, when all else fails, consult the instructions.
A. Yes, exactly.