Page 237 - The Errors the American National Academy of Sciences

The NAS's Errors in the Chapter on Creationism and
The Evidence for Evolution

a simpler one. The fact is, however, that every eye, no matter what its
level of complexity, still possesses irreducible complexity. The NAS au-
thors claim that the complex eye gradually formed from a single, very
simple, light-sensitive spot, saying "The steps proceed from a simple eye

spot made up of light-sensitive retinula cells (as is now found in the flat-
worm)..." (Science and Creationism, p. 22) The point that needs to be con-
sidered here, though, is how simple—or rather how complex—the spot
referred to by the NAS authors actually is.
In order for "sight," even in its simplest form, to emerge, certain
cells in an organism need to become sensitive to light and to possess the

ability to transform that sensitivity into electrical signals. Then, a special
nerve network is needed to transfer these signals from the light-sensi-
tive cells to the brain, as well as a visual centre in the brain to analyze
that information. It is irrational to suggest that all this could happen by
chance, all at once and all in the same creature. In his book Evrim Kurami

ve Bagnazlik (The Theory of Evolution and Bigotry), written with the aim
of defending the theory of evolution, the Turkish evolutionist author
Cemal Yildirim accepts this fact in these words:
In order to see, there is a need for a large number of mechanisms to
cooperate: we may speak of links between the eye and its internal
mechanisms and between the eye and the special center in the brain.
How did this complex structure come about? According to biolo-
gists, during the process of evolution the first step in the formation
of the eye was taken with the formation of a small, light-sensitive re-

gion in the skins of certain primitive creatures. However, what evo-
lutionary advantage could such a small occurrence bestow on an
organism all by itself? Together with that region, a nerve network
connecting it to a visual centre in the brain would also need to be
constructed. Unless these rather complex mechanisms are linked to-
gether, we cannot expect the phenomenon we know as "sight" to

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