It seems that he does. I have yet to hear him even mention the term ‘genetic drift’. But Behe is a failure and irrelevant. I can’t believe he really still believes in irreducible complexity when he is told why in great detail it is a failed idea. So, either he is a liar or incompetent. Take your pick.

I’m also slogging my way through Behe’s book, The Edge of Evolution. So far, at least up through Chapter 5, it’s all a probability game. For instance, he looks at the odds for getting a certain mutation in the gene for hemoglobin to create Sickle-C. While it has benefits for malaria immunity, it also has bad consequences when both the mother and father transfer the gene. He says the odds of this mutation occurring are 1 in 100,000,000. But there is also the C-Harlem mutation, which acts like Sickle Cell, but doesn’t have the adverse effects. However, C-Harlem requires two mutations in the amino acid sequence within hemoglobin. That means 1 in 100,000,000 squared. So, you can take a number like this and compare it to the number of atoms in the universe, or say that the chances of this happening would require 100 billion years of evolution.

Yet, C-Harlem exists. But it exists in North America where malaria has been eradicated. Meanwhile, where this is enormous selective pressure for C-Harlem to evolve (3rd world countries), it has so far failed to do so and therefore evolution can’t explain C-Harlem.

These are all interesting numbers and they would lead a thinking person to say “Hmmm…wonder why that is?”, and then design an experiment to find the answer. IDists would rather jump to a conclusion that supports their agenda without taking that extra leap to gain more knowledge. Why would C-Harlem develop in North America? Could it be because we’re a melting pot with many different gene sets to mix together? I don’t know, but that’s worth considering at least.

Evolution can bite a chunk out of Behe’s ass, and he’ll still think there’s design behind the missing flesh.

BTW…excellent posts. Very understandable for the layperson.