(2) Technological Assumption
The evolutionary algorithm must assume that for all evolved forms there exists an unbroken chain of changes going all the way back to its origin. Each one having a small but statistically significant selective advantage for survival over its predecessor.
Not only does the evolutionary algorithm assume such a chain exists but the requirement for a selective survival advantage at each stage also precludes the change from being 'infinitesimally small' or even just small.
The simplest and most obvious impasse to this assumption is in the direct comparison of biotechnology with human technology where they are functionally the same. So we may compare the design of the bacterial flagella motor to an ordinary electric motor. Both have the following component parts..
Case housing two sets of bearings, a lubricant and lubrication system, a stator providing a variable 'poled' magnetic field, an armature with complimentary magnetic poles with a precise phase relationship to the stator, electrical connections conforming to a workable circuit producing the required poles, an adequate power source for the required task, a fully reversible, variable speed control circuit and lastly a functional output device to perform the task for which the motor was designed.
We KNOW and can say with confidence.. such a machine CANNOT be designed and constructed incrementally in some hypothetical series of small steps where each step..
(a) Has a useful function.. which part do you make first and what does it do? and..
(b) Gets progressively better after each step at performing the same function.
If the function of one stage is different from that of its predecessor then you have effectively multiplied the problem.. What replaces it in its former function and what was performing the new function before the change? Or are we to suppose the requirement for both functions changed simultaneously at the moment a random mutation miraculously occurred to provide a solution??
a bit more on this one..
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