Which Better Explains Why Flies Are so Hard to Swat, Natural Evolution or Irreducible Complexity?
This is is a three-step post:
Step One is to check out the Nature 4:40 video below in this post explaining the fly’s amazing wing hinge for one of the most fascinating illustrations you are ever likely to see, a tiny example of the seemingly endless miracles of nature.
For all their irritating qualities, common flies are capable of what can often appear to be impossible maneuvers in flight. One instant, the fly that keeps buzzing your head alights on the desk in front of you.
And it’s right where you are poised with the swatter to end its flying forever! But the instant you eagerly flex your arm muscles to bring down that swatter, the fly disappears so quickly that you have no idea where it went.
Turns out the fly’s wings are actuated by an immensely complicated hinge joint that enables multiple angles of propulsion and stability. But here’s the bigger question not addressed by the Nature video:
How could such a multi-faceted feature evolve since every individual part of it is required for it to function as needed? Isn’t at least as logical to conclude that the fly’s hinged wing is an illustration of Irreducible Complexity?
That brings us to Step Two, which is for you to view the second video below on the amazing Flagellum and Irreducible Complexity. This 3:17 video from the Discovery Institute explains the concept of Irreducible Complexity in layman’s terms using superb animation.
The third and final step is up to you – Which of the two concepts, Natural Chance-based Evolution or a Designer’s Irreducible Complexity, makes the most sense to you as an explanation for the fly’s hinged wing?
The fly’s wing structures are certainly marvelous (that is, worthy of marvel), but a bigger factor in the practical difficulty of a human swatting a fly is that the brain of a fly is different. Although the fly’s brain (like all insect brains) is much smaller than a human brain, the fly’s brain has a different style of internal interconnection. In the fly brain, the neurons communicate by electrical signals, whereas in a human brain the inter-neuron communication involves what is essentially a chemical relay. The chemistry works slower than electricity, and thus the fly’s brain can calculate how to dodge our swat faster than our brain can track the fly’s motion and adjust the aim of the flyswatter.
The big downside of an electrical-synapse brain is that the connections between neurons cannot be modified or modulated during life. In computer-science terms, the fly is hardwired to behave in certain ways, and it cannot learn. So, we should be thankful that our human brains have the ability to learn.