Research Overview
Proponents of Creationism and Intelligent Design make some valid points. Walking my daughter home from school today, we happened upon a red-headed woodpecker pecking away at about 20 pecks-per-second. I wondered how such a trait evolved: was it that 20 pecks-per-second gave this marvel of a bird a competitive edge over other birds who could only achieve an inferior 18 pecks-per-second? Or was it that 20 pecks-per-second was an absolute necessity for survival of that particular species? Or, perhaps, was it some fortuitous combination of these two necessities? I.e., did intraspecies competition necessitate the evolution of an incredible 20 pecks-per-second which in turn allowed the species as a whole to survive through hard times? I guess what I was wondering, without really knowing it, was whether evolution was really a valid principle and could explain what we see in nature? I mentioned that the right balance between intraspecific competition (called "soft" selection) and population or species survival (called "hard" selection) would require a degree of fortuity. I guess it boils down to finding the line that separates the fortuitous from the miraculous and then asking on which side of that line does the exact balance between soft and hard selection lie. Proponents of Intelligent Design would argue that evolution (by soft selection) is not efficient enough to achieve 20 pecks-per-second by the time hard times roll around (hard selection) for which 20 pecks-per-second are necessary for survival. A valid and central point that Intelligent Design proponents bring to the table, therefore, is the keen observation that the validity of evolution as "principle" or "law" hinges critically on the question of efficiency.
While I have been fortunate enough to avoid getting myself embroiled in the debate surrounding Intelligent Design, my work does have direct bearing on the issue of efficiency in evolution.
The second law of thermodynamics dictates that order is continuously being eroded, i.e., entropy always increases.
While I have been fortunate enough to avoid getting myself embroiled in the debate surrounding Intelligent Design, my work does have direct bearing on the issue of efficiency in evolution.
The second law of thermodynamics dictates that order is continuously being eroded, i.e., entropy always increases.