Toward a theory of devolution? III

Fasten Your Seat Belt; Behe’s Darwin Devolves Launches Today!
David Klinghoffer | @d_klinghoffer

To judge from the debate so far around Michael Behe’s book Darwin Devolves: The New Science About DNA That Challenges Evolution, you would think it had been out for weeks. But no! You can only get a copy as of today, the official publication date. The book completes the trilogy that began with Darwin’s Black Box, which introduced the phrase “intelligent design” to many people around the world. But its critique, going to the core of evolutionary theory, stands on its own.

“Darwin’s mechanism,” Behe shows in the new book, “works chiefly by squandering genetic information for short-term gain.” That’s unguided evolution for you! How such a blind and fundamentally wasteful process could fashion the vertebrate eye you use in reading this, or the gear teeth that send the planthopper on its wonderful leaps — to cite two examples of “fathomless elegance” that Behe discusses — is the question that conventional evolutionary theory can’t answer.

Behe’s celebratory publication event is tomorrow evening in Bethlehem, PA, with Eric Metaxas. But in case you are thinking about joining them, it’s sold out. You will need to get on a waiting list.

A Scientific Dissent from Darwinism

Interestingly, the book takes flight just three weeks after Discovery Institute shared the news that the Scientific Dissent from Darwinism list had topped well over 1,000 PhD signers. That is, a thousand plus scientists who, in advancing the paradigm of design in biology over blind material forces alone, join Behe in being willing to see their careers and reputations abused for their candor. No evolutionist faces any similar threat.

Many more scientists are (prudently, often under Discovery Institute’s advice) waiting for the right time to step forward publicly. So Behe and Darwin Devolves represent far more than one biochemist on a lonely “quixotic” quest.

Now that the book is out, if the past few weeks are any guide, there will be ample turbulence ahead. Dr. Behe will be buffeted by winds of criticism, both fair and foul. There’s no surprise in that. Behe is the “Father of Intelligent Design,” according to Stephen Colbert. He is “close to heretical,” according to the New York Times Book Review. Of course they are going to come after him in fury.

Get your copy of Darwin Devolves today. And fasten your seat belt, please.