The former argument, the argument from perfection, loses just from sheer incompatibility with the real world. More than 99% of all species that ever existed are extinct, and no current species is perfectly adapted to its environment - so much for perfection.
I am not disagreeing with your entire post but wouldn't this suggest that the enviroment was imperfect, and not the species that is doing everything it can to adapt/survive?
LIFE has not become extict...if we are all the descendants of those past species then we are all connected, as long as ONE species survives LIFE continues. The species tries to survive, some make it, some don't, but LIFE continues. Seems like a perfect system.
Anyone pushing the argument for perfection has to immediately begin qualifying their definition of perfection, usually in theological and religious ways having nothing to do with science.
But scientifically organisms are perfect in the sense that they can adapt. Maybe the definition of 'perfection' needs to be redefined when we discuss natural phenomenons. Im NOT an ID supporter but if you made a design wouldn't you make the design adaptable to all kinds of different conditions? That to me would seem to be a perfect creation, one that can reconfigure its body structure(granted over a long period of time), to adapt to new conditions for the sole benefit of survival.
So I would say that individual species are NOT perfect when seen independently of the system, but when viewing the LIFE system as a whole, the fact that there is still life, and intelligent life, seems to indicate that it is perfect, if not we'd be dead.
The OP is in regards to the hands-on Diety that designed us to specifics, in that respect I agree that it is a poor design. But lets also note the fact that if such a Designer simply had the desire for LIFE to survive then He/She nailed it.
"All great truths begin as blasphemies"
"I smoke pot. If this bothers anyone, I suggest you look around at the world in which we live and shut your mouth."--Bill Hicks
"I never knew there was another option other than to question everything"--Noam Chomsky
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