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WorldviewsDesignCellsInvestigate Further
Impact of WorldviewsDesignCell BiologyInvestigate Further

Impact of Worldviews

Convergence

When we compare organisms with different body plans or other dramatic differences, we nevertheless often see common features which could not be attributed to both groups having descended from a common ancestor. For example, echolocation is characteristic of certain very different groups, such as bats and dolphins. Other organisms, exhibiting more closely similar features to bats (or dolphins), do not exhibit the same abilities nor the appropriate body parts to produce this capacity.

The camera eye is perhaps the most famous example of this. All vertebrates (animals with backbones) exhibit a camera eye, however, so do octopus (an animal which does not even have a backbone) and box jelly fish (an animal which lacks most organ systems that other animals have.)

The vast range of insects is interesting in that they have similarly shaped receptors for sensing odours, but the proteins that produce these receptors show huge variety, not at all similar to each other.  This again argues against common descent in that we would expect a similar capacity to be controlled by similar sequences of DNA, but it is not.

Even on the level of DNA sequences (genetic information), there are some organisms which exhibit the same (or closely similar) biochemical products but which have very different genetic information coding for the production of that product. For example, the jojoba shrub and the sperm whale both produce unique liquid waxes not exhibited by other organisms, but of course nobody could say that they share a common ancestor.  Where did the idea for providing these creatures with a liquid wax come from?

The bottom line is that some organisms exhibit features in common which cannot be explained by their having developed from a common ancestor and thus share a characteristic which the common ancestor presumably also had. To keep from admitting that evolution cannot explain this phenomenon, evolutionists claim that the creatures “converged” on the same solution to a common problem. What problems of their lifestyles do jojoba shrubs and sperm whales share in common?

The term convergence boils down to the claim that some creatures converged on the same obscure choice for unknown reasons by unknown processes. None of this makes any sense. Obviously, it is much more logical to recognize that God made choices to confer these characteristics on these creatures.

The widespread phenomenon of “convergence” demonstrates how a benevolent creator, and not evolution, provided these traits to various living creatures.

Related Resources

Related Terms

  • Convergence (Specific Example)
  • Body Plans
  • DNA Code
  • Circadian Rhythms
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