Backwards retina (Introduction)

by xeno6696 , Sonoran Desert, Monday, July 04, 2011, 22:16 (4891 days ago) @ David Turell


> > > The article is only making the point that the retina is masterfully designed. It has to be backwards to increase energy delivery efficiency, and then these corrective measures are added.
> 
> Here Cornelius Hunter, an avowed theist, describes how the retina goes from one photon to electric currents, via a force field. you may not agree with his point of view, but his sceintific description is excellent.
> 
> http://darwins-god.blogspot.com/2011/06/vision-cascade-is-initiated-not-by.html-When dealing with the mutation rates you discuss in your book (independently verified) it definitely appears that the traditional "gradual" model doesn't work, hence Gould. -As for the link... he doesn't explain what exactly the problem is. -"The new research, however, found that when isomerization is disabled the vision cascade continues to function normally. It seems that a key step, occurring before isomerization, is a shift in the electron distribution of the chromophore. This shift modifies the electric field surrounding the molecule, and this in turn influences several amino acids of the opsin protein, which in turn leads to the activation of the transducin molecules."-So the system still functions even when you knock out a particular procesa... this isn't a big deal. Beta-lactase knockout experiments explained how a bacteria could create a lactase-like chemical in order to digest lactase under stress. -Aside from not explaining explicitly what the problem is, he's already arguing from a position of design... meaning that he argues from the outset that the molecule had to have all of these features designed in from the beginning. There isn't enough information here for me to agree with or deny his claim. He discusses the paper briefly, then just says "This is a problem for evolution, QED." But there's no arguments linking paper to evolution to QED.

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