Page 101 - Genesis: Book of Beginnings and Science Behind it

The Law of Conservation of Angular Momentum applied to the
universe says, ”if a spinning object explodes, the pieces breaking off from
that object are going to spin in the same direction”. The Big Bang theory
(nebular hypothesis) says that a revolving nebula collapsed, then
exploded, forming the stars, galaxies, and planets as we know them
between 14 and 17 billion years ago. If this were true, then all the
planets and their orbits should all be spinning or orbiting in the same
direction as the original revolving nebula. This is called a prograde
rotation.

However, there are three planets (Venus, Uranus, and “Pluto” – (just lost planet status)) and several
moons that revolve backward, called retrograde rotation. Triton, Neptune’s large moon, and Charon,
Pluto’s satellite, all orbit retrograde. The moons Ananke, Carme, Pasiphaë, and Sinope all orbit Jupiter in
a retrograde direction. Many other minor moons of Jupiter orbit retrograde. The moon Phoebe orbits
Saturn in a retrograde direction. Some comets have a retrograde orbit. Some moons even orbit the
planet backward! Obviously, if the nebular hypothesis were true, then these retrograde orbits would
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fly in the face of this law.

Irreducible Complexity
As scientists study systems within living things, they have discovered that
some systems are extremely complex and have systems that require other
systems to perform their functions, so they can perform theirs. If any one of
these interrelated systems fails, all the systems fail, generally leading to the
debilitation or death of the organism. Michael Behe, the author of Darwin’s
Black Box, describes irreducible complexity as “a single system which is
composed of several interacting parts that contribute to the basic function, and where the removal of
any one of the parts causes the system to effectively cease functioning. An irreducibly complex system
cannot be produced gradually by slight, successive modifications of a precursor system since any
precursor to an irreducibly complex system is by definition nonfunctional. cxiii

In The Origin of Species, Charles Darwin stated: “If it could be demonstrated that any complex organ
existed which could not possibly have been formed by numerous, successive, slight modifications, my
theory would absolutely break down.” cxiv

To help you understand the concept of
irreducible complexity, let’s look at the
components of a mousetrap. “If any one of
the components of the mousetrap (the base,
hammer, spring, catch, or holding bar) is
removed, then the trap does not function.
In other words, the simple little mousetrap
cannot trap a mouse until several separate
parts are all assembled. Because the
mousetrap is necessarily composed of
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several parts, it is irreducibly complex.”

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