That can mean just one thing: The Church of the Infinite Chasm is now in session.
Last Sunday’s inaugural sermonette, you may recall, pointed out the subtle differences between the human hand, one of the most exquisite tools of all time, and an early version of a robotic hand which looked, shall we say, less than exquisite. In fact, it looked cumbersome and unwieldy and a very poor substitute for what it was ostensibly imitating. Despite that, the conventional wisdom would have us believe the robotic hand had an intelligent designer, while the human hand and all its intricately interacting muscles and tendons and bones and nerves and circulatory vessels evolved on its own through random chance and natural selection.
As an addendum to last week’s lesson, here’s a portion of The Wonderer by Canadian poet Robert Service (1874-1958):
I wish that I could understand
The moving marvel of my Hand;
I watch my fingers turn and twist,
The supple bending of my wrist,
The dainty touch of finger-tip,
The steel intensity of grip;
A tool of exquisite design,
With pride I think: “It’s mine! It’s mine!”
Let’s stay on the subject of intelligence for today’s session.
It’s not difficult to find scientists gushing with excitement over discoveries that show the intelligence and intuitive problem-solving skills of birds and animals as proof of evolution. Sciencemag.com posted this week three years ago the news that crows use tools and understand physics. Pressed for details, in a separate article they clarified that crows use sticks to get bugs out of holes, and that crows “comprehend basic principles of physics at the same level as a 6-month-old baby.” Think about that for a moment. It is roughly equal to this statement: “Trees can solve complicated math problems on the same level as a full-grown earthworm.” That statement is true as far as we know. But does it prove anything? Does a 6-month old baby understand one iota about physics?
Please take a moment to watch this brief video of a naturalist enthusing over the “sophisticated” tool use of chimpanzees. It’s about four minutes long. Take note at about the 1:25 mark of what you’re watching, and that it’s described as “remarkably sophisticated.”
Now that you’ve seen the creative, complex, intuitive, inventive, and sophisticated way chimps use rocks – so complicated, by the way, that it will take a young chimp six or seven years to learn how to hit a nut on a rock – please take two minutes to watch this video and ponder the differences between the two.
This video portrays inventive and complex creativity on an infinitely higher plane, yet it’s really nothing exceptional in the realm of human endeavor.
Comparing the two, do you think breaking nuts on rocks is really a “remarkably sophisticated” act, even for chimps?
Or does comparing the two reveal an infinite chasm between humans and the highest forms of any other life on earth?
If so, that chasm presents a thorny dilemma for proponents of evolution.