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It is a shock to us in the twentieth century to discover, from observations science has made, that the fundamental mechanisms of life cannot be ascribed to natural selection, and therefore were designed. But we must deal with our shock as best we can and go on.

Michael Behe

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Michael Behe
Age: 72
Born: 1952
Born: January 18
Biochemist
Chemist
University Teacher
Writer
Altoona
Pennsylvania
Michael J. Behe
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If you take away a rock from a pile of rocks you haven't changed much. It's still a heap of rocks - just a rock or two smaller. Take away a component from the mousetrap and it isn't a mousetrap any more.
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We are not inferring design to account for a black box, but to account for an open box.
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I find the idea of common descent (that all organisms share a common ancestor) fairly convincing, and have no particular reason to doubt it.
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Irreducible complexity is a problem for Darwinian evolution. Whenever we see these complex functional systems we realise that they have to be designed.
Michael Behe
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There is no publication in the scientific literature - in prestigious journals, specialty journals, or books - that describes how molecular evolution of any real, complex biochemical system either did occur or even might have occurred.
Michael Behe
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In Darwin's time all of biology was a black box: not only the cell, or the eye, or digestion, or immunity, but every biological structure and function because, ultimately, no one could explain how biological processes occurred.
Michael Behe
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The trap does not work until all the parts were there. The system itself doesn't work until you fit all of them together.
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Under my definition, a scientific theory is a proposed explanation which focuses or points to physical, observable data and logical inferences. There are many things throughout the history of science which we now think to be incorrect which nonetheless would fit that which would fit that definition. Yes, astrology is in fact one.
Michael Behe
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Many people, including many important and well-respected scientists, just don't want there to be anything beyond nature. They don't want a supernatural being to affect nature.
Michael Behe
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Skin is made in large measure of a protein called collagen.
Michael Behe
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A man from a primitive culture who sees an automobile might guess that it was powered by the wind or by an antelope hidden under the car, but when he opens up the hood and sees the engine he immediately realizes that it was designed.
Michael Behe
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As the number of unexplained, irreducibly complex biological systems increases, our confidence that Darwin's criterion of failure has been met skyrockets toward the maximum that science allows.
Michael Behe
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In private many scientists admit that science has no explanation for the beginning of life... Darwin never imagined the exquisitely profound complexity that exists even at the most basic levels of life.
Michael Behe
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In order to say that some function is understood, every relevant step in the process must be elucidated.
Michael Behe
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Despite some remaining puzzles, there's no reason to doubt that Darwin had this point right, that all creatures on earth are biological relatives
Michael Behe
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Science is not a game in which arbitrary rules are used to decide what explanations are to be permitted.
Michael Behe
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It is often said that science must avoid any conclusions which smack of the supernatural.
Michael Behe
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As can be seen even by this limited number of examples proteins carry out amazingly diverse functions.
Michael Behe
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The conclusion of design flows naturally from the data we should not shrink from it we should embrace it and build on it.
Michael Behe
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The strong appearance of design [in nature] allows a disarmingly simple argument: if it looks, walks and quacks like a duck, then, absent compelling evidence to the contrary, we have warrant to conclude it's a duck. Design should not be overlooked simply because it's so obvious.
Michael Behe