the schizochroal eye (of trilobites): evidence of design

So here is some information on Trilobite eyes. As you can see, it is not that big a deal. In addition, there are explanations, it was only found in one of the Trilobite species and it also disappeared in future generations. More hereand hereIt was obviously not a successful design.This message has been edited by jar, 02-20-2006 09:53 PM

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Aslan is not a Tame Lion

That does not follow. It may be true but the disappearance of it as a solution does not mean it was not a successful eye designoid.

On the topic of eyes; the Pax-6 gene is the same in all animals from vertebrates all the way down to insects. It is responsible for the formation of the eye. This goes to show once more that Evolution reigns supreme. For since one compound creates the same result in all living things that have eyes and the eyes differ dramatically between species then we can conclude that evolution is not only possible but mathematically sure. Intelligent design? What is so intelligent about the human spine? Mechanically speaking it is the worst possible shape (S) for bearing vertical loads. Since we are upright walkers then what buffoon designed such a stupid load bearing spinal column? Unless of course we did not walk on 2 legs but were up the trees and did not need to have a straight spine which only proves that we evolved from the apes. Personally, given the ability, I would have done a much better job of designing the human body. The intelligent designer responsible for designing us should be sacked for incompetence!

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Mighty is the sword that draws blood!
Mightier is the Pen that draws ink!
Mightiest is the tongue that draws ears! (Yiannis Mantheakis)

randman, Your failure to answer these questions reduces your argument to another argument from personal incredulity. No facts presented, no evidence presented, demonstrates that you aren't even sure what you are being incredulous about.MarkThis message has been edited by mark24, 02-24-2006 02:31 PM

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There are 10 kinds of people in this world; those that understand binary, & those that don't

Would you agree that the designer certainly considered it unsuccessful since She dropped it from the list of potential solutions to use in the future?

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Aslan is not a Tame Lion

Mark, read the OP. You obviously disagree with the Harvard trained guy.Why? What knowledge, basis, etc,...do you have for your beliefs on this?I readily admitted in the OP that I don't know much about trilobites. Apparently, you don't either, but choose to throw stones at me.

randman, Firstly, there is a book on my bookshelf devoted to trilobites & deals with schizochroal eyes in depth, secondly, I haven't stated my "beliefs", so don't need to support anything. Why do you say "apparently" I don't know about trilobites either when I haven't attempted to educate you?You, however, have stated that you are "inclined to agree" with the author. Why? You can't tell me why schizochroal eyes are harder than mammalian eyes to explain, you can't even tell me what is surplus to requirements. You are agreeing because you want to massage your preconceptions, sans evidence. You will believe what you want, regardless of lack of support. That's the point.Mark

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There are 10 kinds of people in this world; those that understand binary, & those that don't

No.Successful design of some feature doesn't mean your invulnerable from extinction.Who says it has been dropped from the list of potential solutions? It could appear in the future somewhere, though I am certainly very skeptical about that happening.

You are certainly right.The trilobites though seem to have so many different types and arrangements of eyes. It is interesting to speculate if that is not an example of the various ecological niches each occupied. That then leads to the question of whether the variations happened and that drove expansion into a new or different niche, or whether expansion into a new niche favored certain of the eye types.There is so litle that we know so far about the different niches. We do know that blind eyeless trilobites were contemporary with several eyed ones and lived in the same geographic area. There is a big vertical separation between the area where there is enough light for sight to be useful and the area of perpertual darkness. Likely there were some that were free swimmers near the top of the water column and others that were bottom feeders.The funny thing IMHO is that most trilobites cannot see down. What does that tell us?

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Aslan is not a Tame Lion

Wrong. There is no theology absent a theos. I was pointing out one of the biggest pitfalls in "design" arguments, is all. And sorry for the delay - I lost this thread somehow.