Have you ever thought about how “perfectly designed” the human body is? If you’re a theist, you probably have! And you’ve probably attributed the success of the human body to an intelligent creator. It’s an age-old argument, eyes for seeing, hands for grasping, it’s all so perfect it must have been created by a perfect being, right? Unfortunately, this perfect being must have preferred the Greenland Shark to the human being, because even in the supposed fallen world of animal death, this species has at least five times the natural human lifespan! If humans are the pinnacle of creation, then why are so many other animals BETTER designed than we are? In fact, if we presume an intelligent designer at all, then the human body in many ways isn’t just of lesser design quality – but it’s actually a poor design in general. Compare the so-called “designs” of some other species…
Eagles have the ability to fly (as do many other creatures in this world). Flight is a huge advantage in terms of survivability. The ability to traverse great distances in a relatively short amount of time is obvious considering our reliance on air travel these days. But just the ability to not fall to our death from a great height would seem to be a design component that you’d want to incorporate into your “greatest creation”.
How long does it take you to notice if there is a gas leak? What if you had the nose of your dog instead of your human nose? How much quicker would we be in detecting dangerous situations, or identifying helpful clues if we had a dog’s sense of smell? If you could detect chemicals (or cancer) or tell who has been in a room in the last 24 hours just my sniffing the air, that might be an ability that comes in quite handy.
What about your sense of hearing? What if we could hear frequencies high enough to warn us of seismic tremors much earlier than the earthquake hits? Or to use echolocation allowing us to navigate in complete darkness like bats? How about vision? The aforementioned eagle has eyes sharp enough to see fish swimming underwater from hundreds of feet above the air. Hummingbirds and bees can see ultraviolet light, while vipers can see in infrared. We can’t do any of that shit!
Have you ever choked while eating or drinking? Why is there a “wrong way” for food to do down? Maybe if our airway wasn’t shared at the terminus by our piehole we wouldn’t have that issue. Dolphins who have a blowhole on the back of their head don’t seem to have the choking problem that we do. That’s obviously a superior respiratory design compared to what we have. What about lizards can regenerate limbs? Why weren’t humans designed with that ability? Especially when accidental amputations, intentional amputations (cancer), and birth defects contribute to the loss of limbs which can never be replaced? How is that a good design? Oh, and why exactly are the “fun bits” collocated around the waste disposal area? What kind of idiot would intentionally design something that way other than for shits and giggles? (pun intended)
Some might argue that humans have compensated for most of these design flaws by utilizing our superior brain to take advantage of science and come up with inventions that allow us to match or surpass animals who have these abilities. After all, while we can’t run 60 miles per hour like a cheetah, we have cars that allow us to drive this speed to work every day. Airplanes allow us to fly, radar and sonar allows us to navigate in invisible conditions, and so-on. Some theists might be tempted to credit “God” for all of these things that we have today, but there’s a couple of major problems with this argument.
You see, necessity is the mother of invention! None of these things would have been needed but for our inability to do them naturally (due to our piss-poor design). Hey look, we have GPS so that we never get lost. Cool, but so does a fucking pigeon who can navigate by sensing magnetic fields! If God is to thank for all of the science and technology we are able to make use of today, then God is likewise to BLAME for the lack of all of these things in the majority of human civilizations throughout the history of mankind! God didn’t give us airplanes, cars, bionic limbs, or advanced technology. He certainly didn’t give any of that to the ancient Mayan or Egyptian civilizations. No - we gave that to ourselves! Humans discovered all of these things, after thousands of years of inquisitiveness, experimentation, and trial-and-error. And we had to figure all of that stuff out because “God” didn’t give us this shit in the first place!
If any god actually designed the human body (or any other animal’s body), then he designed it very poorly! And a poor design is an argument against “intelligent” design. If humans can come up with better designs than God, then why call him “God” or assert superior intelligence? God supposedly designed humans with wisdom teeth that they don’t need and foreskin that he wanted people to cut off. He also designed males to ejaculate regularly by the time they’re 13, and females to bleed regularly around the same time – yet simultaneously has rules against the natural biological act of coitus unless “married” – because…social/religious reasons? If any god designed these things this way on purpose, then he’s certainly not all “good”. So which one is it theists? Is he an evil trickster god having a laugh at our expense (like he does with the duckbilled platypus), or is he just an idiot who can’t properly design things?
None of the features exhibited in the animal kingdom are indicative of any “designer” (intelligent or otherwise). They are indicative of evolutionary adaptations that provided different survival advantages to different species living in a universe that is constantly trying to kill us! If the universe was actually “designed” intelligently, then astronauts wouldn’t need spacesuits to survive in space.
Srchng4Truth: I really like your post in some ways. It is very thorough, well thought out, and packed with examples. Thank you for it. My personal answer to your post as a believer in God is that we can not know God's Will. While we may not be able to fly on our own or re-grow limbs, etc, perhaps we are designed perfectly for God's purpose for us. While I can not prove this is the case, I certainly feel it is possible. One thing I have noticed about you over the years is that you are very determined to prove that God does not exist. You also seem quite angry to me. I feel strongly you will deny this. I guess you remind me of myself in the past. I too fought against God. All I can say is that I hope you find your way through to the other side. It is much more peaceful over here. Whether or not you do, I am grateful for you. I think you are an interesting guy with a good heart. I stand with you on your journey
Crash: //One thing I have noticed about you over the years is that you are very determined to prove that God does not exist.//
Incorrect. I am asking theists to demonstrate that a "god" DOES exist. As this is their claim. Hence, the assume the burden of proof. I do not need to attempt to demonstrate something to be "not true" which has yet to be proven "true" in the first place.
//You also seem quite angry to me. I feel strongly you will deny this.//
LOL ....of course I'll deny I'm "angry." That is simply a common cop-out nonsensical assertion theists use to deflect from the argument. "Oh you're sooo angry....what happened that you hate god. blah blah blah."
That is nothing but a red herring / begging the question fallacy.
Ya'll cannot defend your assertions that a "god" exists....so you dishonestly attempt to switch the narrative to something completely irrelevant and fallacious.
BelgianStrider: That input is very interesting and quite correct. Concerning the human eye, no engineer would conceive a (digital) camera as it is conceived for the human. The "software" needed to make all the necessary corrections will be too huge. That is also a clear indication that I.D. can not be validated.
Have you ever thought about how “perfectly designed” the human body is? If you’re a theist, you probably have! And you’ve probably attributed the success of the human body to an intelligent creator. It’s an age-old argument, eyes for seeing, hands for grasping, it’s all so perfect it must have been created by a perfect being, right? Unfortunately, this perfect being must have preferred the Greenland Shark to the human being, because even in the supposed fallen world of animal death, this species has at least five times the natural human lifespan! If humans are the pinnacle of creation, then why are so many other animals BETTER designed than we are? In fact, if we presume an intelligent designer at all, then the human body in many ways isn’t just of lesser design quality – but it’s actually a poor design in general. Compare the so-called “designs” of some other species…
Eagles have the ability to fly (as do many other creatures in this world). Flight is a huge advantage in terms of survivability. The ability to traverse great distances in a relatively short amount of time is obvious considering our reliance on air travel these days. But just the ability to not fall to our death from a great height would seem to be a design component that you’d want to incorporate into your “greatest creation”.
How long does it take you to notice if there is a gas leak? What if you had the nose of your dog instead of your human nose? How much quicker would we be in detecting dangerous situations, or identifying helpful clues if we had a dog’s sense of smell? If you could detect chemicals (or cancer) or tell who has been in a room in the last 24 hours just my sniffing the air, that might be an ability that comes in quite handy.
What about your sense of hearing? What if we could hear frequencies high enough to warn us of seismic tremors much earlier than the earthquake hits? Or to use echolocation allowing us to navigate in complete darkness like bats? How about vision? The aforementioned eagle has eyes sharp enough to see fish swimming underwater from hundreds of feet above the air. Hummingbirds and bees can see ultraviolet light, while vipers can see in infrared. We can’t do any of that shit!
Have you ever choked while eating or drinking? Why is there a “wrong way” for food to do down? Maybe if our airway wasn’t shared at the terminus by our piehole we wouldn’t have that issue. Dolphins who have a blowhole on the back of their head don’t seem to have the choking problem that we do. That’s obviously a superior respiratory design compared to what we have. What about lizards can regenerate limbs? Why weren’t humans designed with that ability? Especially when accidental amputations, intentional amputations (cancer), and birth defects contribute to the loss of limbs which can never be replaced? How is that a good design? Oh, and why exactly are the “fun bits” collocated around the waste disposal area? What kind of idiot would intentionally design something that way other than for shits and giggles? (pun intended)
Some might argue that humans have compensated for most of these design flaws by utilizing our superior brain to take advantage of science and come up with inventions that allow us to match or surpass animals who have these abilities. After all, while we can’t run 60 miles per hour like a cheetah, we have cars that allow us to drive this speed to work every day. Airplanes allow us to fly, radar and sonar allows us to navigate in invisible conditions, and so-on. Some theists might be tempted to credit “God” for all of these things that we have today, but there’s a couple of major problems with this argument.
You see, necessity is the mother of invention! None of these things would have been needed but for our inability to do them naturally (due to our piss-poor design). Hey look, we have GPS so that we never get lost. Cool, but so does a fucking pigeon who can navigate by sensing magnetic fields! If God is to thank for all of the science and technology we are able to make use of today, then God is likewise to BLAME for the lack of all of these things in the majority of human civilizations throughout the history of mankind! God didn’t give us airplanes, cars, bionic limbs, or advanced technology. He certainly didn’t give any of that to the ancient Mayan or Egyptian civilizations. No - we gave that to ourselves! Humans discovered all of these things, after thousands of years of inquisitiveness, experimentation, and trial-and-error. And we had to figure all of that stuff out because “God” didn’t give us this shit in the first place!
If any god actually designed the human body (or any other animal’s body), then he designed it very poorly! And a poor design is an argument against “intelligent” design. If humans can come up with better designs than God, then why call him “God” or assert superior intelligence? God supposedly designed humans with wisdom teeth that they don’t need and foreskin that he wanted people to cut off. He also designed males to ejaculate regularly by the time they’re 13, and females to bleed regularly around the same time – yet simultaneously has rules against the natural biological act of coitus unless “married” – because…social/religious reasons? If any god designed these things this way on purpose, then he’s certainly not all “good”. So which one is it theists? Is he an evil trickster god having a laugh at our expense (like he does with the duckbilled platypus), or is he just an idiot who can’t properly design things?
None of the features exhibited in the animal kingdom are indicative of any “designer” (intelligent or otherwise). They are indicative of evolutionary adaptations that provided different survival advantages to different species living in a universe that is constantly trying to kill us! If the universe was actually “designed” intelligently, then astronauts wouldn’t need spacesuits to survive in space.
My personal answer to your post as a believer in God is that we can not know God's Will. While we may not be able to fly on our own or re-grow limbs, etc, perhaps we are designed perfectly for God's purpose for us.
While I can not prove this is the case, I certainly feel it is possible.
One thing I have noticed about you over the years is that you are very determined to prove that God does not exist. You also seem quite angry to me. I feel strongly you will deny this.
I guess you remind me of myself in the past. I too fought against God. All I can say is that I hope you find your way through to the other side. It is much more peaceful over here.
Whether or not you do, I am grateful for you. I think you are an interesting guy with a good heart. I stand with you on your journey
Incorrect. I am asking theists to demonstrate that a "god" DOES exist. As this is their claim. Hence, the assume the burden of proof. I do not need to attempt to demonstrate something to be "not true" which has yet to be proven "true" in the first place.
//You also seem quite angry to me. I feel strongly you will deny this.//
LOL ....of course I'll deny I'm "angry." That is simply a common cop-out nonsensical assertion theists use to deflect from the argument. "Oh you're sooo angry....what happened that you hate god. blah blah blah."
That is nothing but a red herring / begging the question fallacy.
Ya'll cannot defend your assertions that a "god" exists....so you dishonestly attempt to switch the narrative to something completely irrelevant and fallacious.
It's transparent and sad.
Concerning the human eye, no engineer would conceive a (digital) camera as it is conceived for the human. The "software" needed to make all the necessary corrections will be too huge.
That is also a clear indication that I.D. can not be validated.