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Mechanical Design: Let's start our analysis of the evidence indicative of intelligent design by discussing the construction of our bodies; in particular by analyzing the structure of bone. In chapter 6 of his book, "Metals and Engineering in Bone and Joint Surgery"1, Professor Charles O. Bechtol, former professor and chairman of the department of orthopedics at UCLA (the author's medical school, alma-mater) wrote as follows: "The architecture of a single bone when analyzed with relation to the forces which it must transmit in supporting the body and acting as an attachment for muscles and ligaments indicate that bone is a prime example of the relationship of structure and function. Bone when analyzed by standard engineering techniques represents a nearly perfect adaptation to the principal stresses which are placed upon it with development of the maximal amount of strength with a minimal amount of material. In analyzing the component parts of a bone we begin with the joint cartilage which is the bearing surface. This cartilage has at least a limited power of self repair, providing it is not subject to major injury, and offers great durability. The cartilage, however has no mechanical strength and is quite flexible. It is supported by the subchondral plate of bone and the subchondral plate is in turn supported by system of trabeculae. Each individual trabeculum ends at. approximately right angles to the surface of the subchondral plate. These trabeculae then course in such a way that they reflect the known engineering principles in transmission of stress. They are supported at right angles by stiffening trabeculae, once again a known engineering principal in the support of long thin columns. The trabecular system transmits force to the cylindrical shaft of the bone. A cylinder has long been recognized as an extremely efficient method of transmitting force, particularly when the force may represent compression, bending, twisting, or tension. Although an I-beam will support slightly more bending tension than a cylinder of the same cross sectional area, it can do this only in one direction. The I-beam is extremely weak when placed under a twisting force. The cylinder thus represents the ideal shape for the central portion of the bone. …… it is more than 400 percent as strong as the same amount of material made into a solid rod. At the opposite end of the bone the same sequence of events is found, the force transmitted by the cylindrical shaft transferred to a system of trabeculae which end up at right angles to the surface of the subchondral plate which again supports the cartilage-joint bearing surface. It should be recognized that the forces applied to the bone and joints are very high. Inman has calculated that in standing still on one leg the pressure through the hip joint represents approximately 2 1/2 times body weight and the momentary forces during running and jumping must be fantastically high and represent many times body weight."1 In the chapter following the above quote, professor Bechtol, et al discuss the self- maintaining properties of bone; particularly noting that unlike metal supports, used in construction, bone accommodates to the internal and external stresses and strains placed upon it, i.e. Wolff's. Law.9, 11 "In this way, fatigue fractures that are frequently encountered in products fabricated of metal, are observed in bone under only the most severe and prolonged stresses and strains. " Does the reader remember either the Lockheed Elektra, propjet; or, the first British passenger jet, the Comet? The airframes of both of these production aircraft failed because of metal fatigue in spite of the fact that both had cylindrical-type fuselages. The crashes that put both planes out of service could have been avoided if their airframes had been able to respond to the stresses and strains placed upon them, as does mammalian bone. Let's, again consult Prof. Bechtol regarding bone and bone's ability to respond to the stresses and strains placed upon it. In chapter 7 of his book Dr. Bechtel wrote: "The weight-bearing structural elements of the body are the bones. They follow the well-known laws of mechanical design. Bones, however have one very remarkable quality in that only under the most extreme circumstances are they subject of failure by fatigue. Fatigue failure of a structural material is that quality which causes the material to break after it has been repeatedly bent to a small degree. The bending may be so small as to be almost imperceptible and the piece of material may not have been bent so far that it assumes a permanently bent position and in some cases it may take many millions of bends before fatigue failure will finally occur. When the critical number of bends. has reached, however, the material will snap in two as though it were a brittle substance. This type of fatigue failure happens to bone under only the most extreme conditions. It is called march fracture in this name indicates that it usually occurs in Army training when someone from sedentary life is suddenly subjected to the rigors of vigorous training marches. …… The only other situation in which we observed such fatigue fractures are in conditions which makes the bones of the body exceedingly weak because of some abnormality of the general metabolism of the body. Bone thus demonstrates the extremely important quality of self repair and it is this which poses a very difficult and sometimes insoluble problem when we attempt to replace a portion of bone with some type of nonliving substance. When we are asked to define what constitutes that quality of living tissue we usually think in terms of motion, growth, or ability to reproduce itself. However, when we enter the field of attempting to replace living tissue with some artificial design device we're immediately struck by the amazing ability of this tissue to continuously repair itself by a process which we would call "maintenance" if related to machinery when we give this matter a little further thought we have always been aware of some of these characteristics. Hair, fingernails, and toenails are continuously replaced, and although the process is less spectacular the skin of the entire body is always being gradually replaced from underneath. …… We know from long experience that metal parts placed in the body to take a place of portions of bone can undergo fatigue failure and break. Because of the extreme difficulty of the experiments involved we do not know what the fatigue limits are and we cannot at present time give the engineer exacted design criteria for his use in the development of these replacement appliances …….. even a normal slight bending of a bone may eventually lead to the fatigue failure of metal. There are examples of fractures in which a rod has been placed down the marrow cavity of the bone to maintain position during fracture healing. After the fracture is completely healed in some cases the rod has not been removed. After several years of walking around with the rod in place the x-rays have shown that the rod is broken in two because of repeated small bending within the bone. This brings up an additional problem in design since one of the reasons for the fracture of the rod is the difference and flexibility (modulus of elasticity) of bone and the metal rod. ……. The metal is considerably less flexible than the bone. This is only one of the problems posed by living tissue and its attempted replacement. …….." The problems encountered with joint replacement are equally great. Not surprisingly, just as the circular design of long bones, filled with reinforcing trabeculae, oriented along lines of stress is the ultimate design for structural support in human extremities and the extremities of mammals of any kind, so the joints of all animals correspond perfectly to the stresses and strains placed upon them. For example, our knee joints, are the ultimate design in accommodating to the stresses and strains of daily living that are placed upon them. The manufacture of components for total knee replacement arthroplasties has taught us that the best design is that which simply resurfaces what "nature" provided as normal standard issue in the first place. Human engineering has not been able to improve on that design. The human knee, as designed, is already the ultimate in design considerations. Design Engineering, And Dembski's Complex Specified Information: William Paley discussed design in terms of common sense when he talked about the difference between design and chance as compared to seeing a watch or stone lying on a heath. Others have talked about design in terms of probability. Still others have talked about design in terms of complexity, and information theory. Michael Behe has intimated design in terms of irreducible complexity.2 Why the interest in design, because in terms of biology the primary question is whether or not biologic systems are the result of design, or the result of chance. William Dembski has taken Shannon information theory and modified it for use in biologic systems,using the concept of complexity in combination with specificity. In his book Intelligent Design, he defines complex specified information (CSI) as follows: "information that is both complex and specified will be called complex specified information, or CSI for short. CSI is what all the fuss over information has been about in recent years, not just in biology but in science generally."7 Although it is true that Shannon information theory is important to electronic transmission of information, it is not true that Shannon information theory applies to biologic systems. Electronic transmission of signals requires a complete system, which is not present in biologic systems. Electronic transmission of signal requires a source; a transducer; a transmitter; the production of signal intertwined with background noise, a receiver; another transducer; and an interpreter. By contrast, biologic systems use the shaped space of DNA and RNA and their polymerases to inculcate information into each succeeding generation of organisms. Thus, the use of information theory by Hubert Yockey and others is inappropriate.12 Whereas Shannon information theory eliminates alternative possibilities in light of increased amounts of information, CSI (the shaped space of DNA and RNA) is active rather than passive in its application. Dr. Dembski exemplifies CSI as follows: "It is CSI that for Manfred Eigen constitutes the great mystery of life's origin, and one he hopes eventually to unravel in terms of algorithms and natural laws. It is CSI that Michael Behe has uncovered with his irreducibly complex biochemical machines. It is CSI that for cosmologists underlines the fine-tuning of the universe and that the various anthropic principles attempt to understand. It is CSI that David Bohm's quantum potentials are extracting when they scour the micro world for what Bohm calls 'active information'. It is CSI that enables Maxwell's demon to outsmart a thermodynamic system tending towards thermal equilibrium. It is CSI that for Roy Frieden unifies the whole of physics. It is CSI on which David Chalmers hopes to base a comprehensive theory of human consciousness. It is CSI that within the Kolmogorov-Chaitin theory of algorithmic information identifies the highly compressible nonrandom strings of digits. How CSI gets from an organism's environment into an organism' s genome, is one of the long-standing questions addressed by the Santa Fe Institute." (Dembski, William A.: Intelligent Design, 1996; Inter Varsity Press, Downers Grove Illinois; page 159) In summary, what Dr. Dembski is saying is that the information that controls anything, and in particular the form and function of living organisms, must be not only complex, but also specific to the intended function. Therefore, in the case of biologic organisms, CSI is the result of design, not chance. But why should Dr. Dembski have to go to the trouble of writing a book on "Intelligent Design" -- or, CSI? Isn't the presence of design something that is obvious to everyone? Yes, it was until -- Darwinists introduced the concept of chance evolution, and determinists introduced the concept of a zero starting- point. Since then, what was once simple has now become complex. But, it doesn't have to be, as regards animate objects.7 Again, using Ocham's razor, it is more likely than not, that CSI was designed into the first DNA molecules. The recognition of the chicken-and-egg relationship between DNA, RNA, and proteins, alone, one cannot be produced without the other -- should convince us of the probability of design in biologic systems. Other Examples of Design: We could call attention to the fact that the coefficient of friction in human joints is 10 times less than the ice on ice10, We could call attention to the elegant engineering principles contained in human knee: in which the instant center of motion is constantly tangential to the joint surface; thus minimizing wear;5 and, that the ligaments twist when the knee extends into full extension; thus, producing stability when stepping down, yet it derotates to produce relaxation and marked lessening of wear during flexion. Or, we might consider that the menisci of the knee convert compression forces into tensile forces, and thus decrease the load on the articular surfaces of the knee by approximately 50 percent; or, that the presence of the patella increases the mechanical advantage by 30 percent,8 and therefore decreases the required mass of the quadraiceps muscle, and energy requirements, by a similar amounts. This, and other examples are discussed in the monograph on Intelligent Design, available from this web site. A plot of the narrowing of the human trachea against the optimal narrowing of a passageway in order to produce maximal air velocity, and a maximal cough. The two are the same! (by chance, or design?) The optic chiasm is essential for the conversion of lateral vision to forward-facing binocular vision. Thus, in order to produce binocular vision, evolution would have had to simultaneously produced mutations of various genes; to modify the skull, muscular repositioning and reinnervation, and produce and optic chiasm, and a new visual cortex. The integration of the basal ganglia and the cortex of a human brain cannot be produced on a stepwise stochastic basis; the concept exceeds the bound of probability of Borel. Thus Darwinism is falsified.3, 4, 6 If the Earth were a little closer to the sun water would boil off. If the Earth were a little further from the sun water would be frozen and un-usable. If the Earth were closer to the sun the sun's gravity would stop the Earth's rotation. If there were no moon, the Earth would wobble. The Earth's liquid iron core and subsequent magnetic field protect us from the solar wind, etc.
Edmund T. Dombrowski MD
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