impossible-instincts

HURDLE NUMBER 47. THE IMPOSSIBLE INSTINCTS HURDLE.

The following quote is from the book Evolution at The Bar, by Philip Mauro, published by Hamilton Bros., Boston, Mass., 1992, page 51:-

The author quotes Darwin:- “Many instincts are so wonderful that their development will probably appear to the reader A DIFFICULTY SUFFICIENT TO OVERCOME MY WHOLE THEORY.” (My capitals.)

Here is a quote from the book – What Darwin Got Wrong, by Jerry Fodor (Professor of Philosophy and Cognitive Science at Rutgers University, New Jersey) and Massimo Piattelli-Palmarini (Professor of Cognitive Science at The University of Arizona), published by Profile Books 2010, pages 89 to 90:-

The authors describe “The Zombifying Wasp”, which cleverly “zombifies” a cockroach by stinging at carefully chosen locations, and is then able to lead the now docile cockroach by the antennae to the wasp’s nest. The authors point out that this “complex, sequenced, rigidly pre-programmed behavior could have gone wrong in many ways, at any one of its steps.” (The venoms have to be correct in type and quantity to be effective, but not actually killing the prey, and then having to drag the heavy cockroach to the nest. The wasp might have failed to understand that the cockroach can be led by the antennae.) The authors comment:- “Not even the most committed - - - - - Neo-Darwinians suppose that all kinds of alternatives have been blindly tried out by the ancestors of the wasp, and that better and better solutions were progressively selected, and that this optimal solution was finally retained and encoded for the genes - - - - - - Some 400 million years - - - is not long enough time to try out innumerable alternative behavioral solutions - - - - WE HAVE NO - - - - - EXPLANATION AT PRESENT; AND IF WE INSIST THAT NATURAL SELECTION IS THE ONLY WAY TO TRY, WE WILL NEVER HAVE ONE.” (My capitals.)

The next quote is from the book – The Great Evolution Mystery by Gordon Rattray Taylor (Chief Science Advisor to BBC Television), published by Secker and Warburg, 1983, page 14:-

The author give the following account:- The Hydra has stinging cells which can be ejected with explosive force when touched. A planarian worm eats the hydra – somehow avoiding getting stung, gets all the stinging cells, positions them on the outside of its own body, AND DISCHARGES THEM AT APPROACHING ENEMIES. When the stinging cells are all discharged, it eats another hydra. The author then comments:- “A PLOY WHICH STRIKES AT THE HEART OF EVOLUTIONARY THEORY - - - - defies explanation on any grounds yet available to science.”