what are some aspects of the human body that defy intelligent design?

[LiberallyInclined]

If they're going to try to push intelligent design on our schools- shouldn't it be balanced with discussion of the ways in which the human machine is poorly designed?

limitations of the senses in comparison to other animals, for instance- and the location, design and fragility of the spine- as someone who lives with an arthritic one, i would think that a supreme being(s) with limitless time and resources could have come up with better equipment in what is presumably their top-of-the-line model. If I had been the one doing the cad work, you can bet that we'd be able to fly and breathe underwater.

I know some people consider nipples on men to be superfluous, but when my wife's nibbling on them, i sure am glad that they're there.

and if the shortcomings in our makeup is explained away as being part of being designed "in God's image", it begs the question- who or what designed god?

[MadHound]

1. Knees, knees are just a surgery waiting to happen

Even if you do nothing outside of the normal in your life, sooner or later your knees will give out on you. A quadropeds' joint that simply wasn't meant to work on bipeds.

[Radio_Lady]

48. In females, the Creator put the vaginal opening ...

too damned close to the anus.

(You get the picture...)

[kick-ass-bob]

2. is it really intelligent to base the entire frame on

3 points on each foot? (toes, ball, heel)

[liontamer]

flat footed folks are then superior

:)

[liontamer]

33. flat footed folks are then superior

:)

[Abelman]

3. Wangs

They're just out there, unprotected, floating in the mist.

Also, sperm. So fragile. We should have our sexual organs inside, and also sperm that can survive anything.

[kick-ass-bob]

4. I don't think we are hurting for re-population purposes.

:P

[Bunny]

5. But that's why you produce 400 gazillion each time.

So at least ONE of the little buggers survives! :D

Women, on the other hand, are born with all the eggs they're ever going to produce (around 400, I believe). And where are those babies located? That's right - inside, where they are safe and sound!

[tridim]

10. The wang is ok, it's the balls that don't make sense

Never thought I'd utter that phrase. :)

[Patiod]

18. Like dolphins - enclosed until needed

I've often said that about bad design with them out there unprotected, Abelman, usually when SO is bent over from some injury to them.

He doesn't usually appreciate the thoughts at that time, for some reason.

[mondo joe]

30. To the contrary: genitals should be right on the face, to save on

all the small talk.

[asthmaticeog]

31. I disagree.

They should be located on the chin.

*ducks thrown objects*

[rawtribe]

6. The eye

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/evolution/library/01/1/l_011_01.html


God knows what he’s doin’
He wrote this book here
An’ the book says:
He made us all to be just like him,
So...
If we’re dumb...
Then God is dumb...
(an’ maybe even a little ugly on the side)

Frank Zappa

[Hugin]

7. Putting the pie hole so close to the air hole.

Just asking for problems.

[kick-ass-bob]

9. and combining the two intake systems.

:wtf:

[Hugin]

23. I actually got in a lengthy discussion...

about this with a creationist once.

I got them to concede a better system would consist of
completely separate systems. The air intake would be a
constant feed pump (similar to a squirrel cage) on top
of the head with filters which would fall out and grow
back once a month or so.

This reminds me... There's going to be a show on alien
life concepts on the sci-fi channel this weekend. I think
I'll watch.

[-..__...]

49. Only matters if it's double penetration.

There's a pressure relief valve somewhere up there that bleeds off excess air.

It's only when you block off both passages simultaneously and/or hit an air pocket or turbulence that problems develope... not good.

[-..__...]

51. More like putting the air intake system next to the exhaust.

Or the sewerage drain next to the water supply.

[tridim]

12. I've read that evolution will eventually move the mouth close to

the stomach. Like where the belly button is.

[luvLLB]

20. Eeeeeeeeeeewwwwwwwwww...

[curse10]

8. arm and leg hair!

we definitely don't need it, and it's DAMN ugly!

[phaseolus]

13. not to mention ... back hair.

Which BTW is one of the few things that sucks about being male...

(shudder...)

[curse10]

17. yep! add ass hair to that too! and armpit hair!

blech!

[jandrok]

11. The coccyx

It's your vestigal tailbone, probably a remnant of a time when when our ancestors really did have tails.

[Bob3]

14. the appendix and ear hair

The appendix does absolutely nothing nada zip - it is the classic example of a vestigial organ (like the hip bones in some whales)

Ear hair - well while I can see no evolutionary reason for it other than it is a side effect of our delayed maturity compared to other primates (neoneoty is the term I think) I also can't imagine god having to shave the outside of his ears every week.

[CornField]

15. Appendix

Have they ever found a reason for it being there?

[bobthedrummer]

16. Pentadactyl development in so many species does suggest design to me.

Of course I'm biased because I don't think this universe is random.

[Hugin]

24. The part of development which regulates the number of digits...

is a timed hormone released during gestation.

But, there are mistakes. Did you ever know anyone
with six fingers?

Also, there are numerous animal species which have
only one or two toes.

It is an interesting question though.

[bobthedrummer]

28. I was thinking more about a head and four limbs.

There are errors in mitotic division that account for most kinds of additional or missing "parts".

[Hugin]

34. I was reading about some fossil discoveries...

In Australia and Canada of some very early body plans...

There were several variations on the bi-symmetrical plans which
are so common in most higher species.

There were also body plans which had 3, 4, and 5 sided symmetry.

Why 2 is better than some of the others is a mystery to me.
It may have to do with having a spine.

I guess the only modern representatives of the many sided plans
are the jellyfish, urchins, and starfish type animals.

[catmandu57]

19. Skin tags, bowed legs and don't even get me started on flatulence

I mean what the hell is that about emitting odors so toxic and offensive that they actually can make one puke.

[kick-ass-bob]

22. don't forget they can be lit.

I wish I could find that website....

[sallydallas124]

21. nipples on men...

what the hell?


Edit - whoops didn't see that in original post, but again what the hell?

[catmandu57]

26. Warts and moles

what intelligent function do they serve?

[tridim]

38. If I saw someone with no nipples, I'd freak out

I like my man-nipples. :) They're erogenous even on a man. Same deal with body hair. Each follicle is attached to a nerve ending and provides lots of sensory input.

[MrScorpio]

42. I like my man-nipples too

And slightly accented nipples on women are very intelligently designed

[patcox2]

25. The lack of wheels.

Don't argue that crap, its pointless and just angries up the blood and disrupts your wa.

Be aware that there are levels of intelligent design and some are irrefutable. The nutjobs who go around saying that the eyeball is a miracle and that there is no such thing as a half an eyeball so there is no way it could have developed incrementally are just stupid, and know nothing about the available information about the development of eyeballs which shows that they did in fact evolve.

However, theoretical physicists and cosmologists have noted that given the initial conditions present at the big bang, the world of possible outcomes was enormous. There was potential that the physical laws that we know could have been different. Yet against infinite odds, the universe came to develop the laws it did and to exist the form it has, when even one tiny change in any of the variables in either direction would have mede the development of life (in the form we know it) impossible. One tiny change, and stable stars could never have existed long enough for evolution to produce intelligence, for example. These phycisists believe that it is as if the universe were custom built to produce life (through the "natural" means of evolution.) There is speculation that the universe "needs" intelligent observers of itself in order to "exist." This is not crackpot stuff, and not some form of christian or religious propaganda. Ya can't refute it, either.

[Hugin]

32. Thoughtful post...

I like it when there's questions about the way things are.

One possible solution to the quandary you pose is the "Many
Worlds" or "Multiple Universes" theory.

[enki23]

36. the universe needs "intelligent" observers to exist?

what sort of silliness is that? sounds like more psuedo QM, "tao of physics" quackery from here. the state of the universe, or bits of it, are not determined by "intelligent" observers, just as the damned cat isn't killed or saved by opening the damned box. the cat knew what happened. the box knew what happened. the particle that did or did not decay "knew" what happened. the detector knew what happened. the molecules of poison gas knew what happened. the container knew what happened. there's nothing more "intelligent" about our neurons "knowing" what happened.

but if you're going the bishop berkely route with it... i can't help you. that's an even bigger load of silliness.

further, the idea that the universe is "fine tuned" to carbon based life is another load of silliness, not at all unlike a flea basing its belief in god on the assumption that a dog was perfectly designed to suit its habits.

(for one... if there are multiple universes, the probability of one identical to ours existing approaches 1 as the number approaches infinity. hell, the probability approaches 1 that an infinite number identical to this one exist, as the number of universes approaches infinity. but that's just one angle, and i'm not really big on the MWI thing.)

so back to the flea and dog thing: that the laws and constants of the universe in which we find ourselves seem uniquely suited to development of the universe in which we find ourselves really doesn't constitute much of an argument for ANYTHING, much less an argument for a "designer."

[Hugin]

39. LOL...

I love this line!

"not at all unlike a flea basing its belief in god on the assumption that a dog was perfectly designed to suit its habits"

Hahahaha!

[patcox2]

45. Don't argue with me, its not my theory.

But it is a serious cosmological theory and not one propounded by fundie nutcases, I assure you. You may have the personal self-confidence to label serious speculation by respected physicists "silly," but as for myself, not being a phd level working and publishing cosmologist, I don't judge it, not being qualified to, I just laid it out there, if you want to know more, so that you can actually know what you are talking about before you arrogantly dismiss it, you can look into it.

You do seem to be defensively assuming that its an argument for the existence of an anthropomorphic "creator," I only know enough about the specifics to say emphatically that it is not, the idea that an observer is necessary for existence to, well, exist, is an offshoot of some of the principles involved in the heisenberg uncertainty principle. The old saw "if a tree falls in the forest, and noone hears it, does it make a sound," is not a joke to philosophers and even physicists.

[Joe Chi Minh]

40. You can't refute conjecture, dumbo....

because that's what it is. Pure, simple and very very dopey. And nothing more.

As regards design "errors": the position of the opening to the trachea, and the vagina's not being large enough for the easy expulsion of something the size of a soccer ball.

[Hugin]

27. Having only *one* heart...

Or only one of any vital organ. But, the heart in particular.

Just one little glitch and it's lights out.

This isn't only a question for the IDers... But, also for
the evolutionists. Why isn't there a secondary of something
so vital to survival?

Maybe historically problems didn't arise until after the
reproductive age had passed?

Anyhow, I'm expecting a plausible answer to that question
from the evolutionary scientists before the other guys.

Maybe a little bias.

[mondo joe]

29. Absence of the Zipper concept which would be handy in childbirth.

Don't you think?

[Hugin]

35. Yup...

LOL

[enki23]

37. narrow pelvic girdle

.

[Deja Q]

41. One gets fat as they age. Sounds stupid to me.

Never mind all 500 gripes about sex and why it's the reason most people turn to acquiring power, big SUVs, or big handguns...

[MrScorpio]

43. Those space aliens did a great job designing us

You have to admit

[Lady Effingbroke]

44. I had a friend who swore we were a cross between space aliens and monkeys.

Looking at *, it seems eminently believable!

[aePrime]

46. Wisdom teeth

Don't need them, and our jaws generally aren't big enough to accommodate them. Some people don't have them.

Some nerves are routed in inefficient ways, or so I remember reading. They gave an example about vocal chords, but I can't remember the specifics, and I don't know where to find it again.

Why do people go bald? Is it beneficial to sunburn our heads?

Why are people's bodies so good at storing fat? Surely God would have realized that we'd eventually put corn syrup in everything.

Why do people only grow two set of teeth in their lifetime? Sharks grow a bunch. If the people in the Bible lived for those hundreds of years, they must have had great dental care.

[ChoralScholar]

47. I seem to remember

something about "God must be a civil engineer, because who else would run a waste pipeline through a recreational area?"

[Wapsie B]

53. LOL!

Good one. :)

[hyphenate]

50. I think that a lot of

orifices into the body are designed in a really ridiculous location. "Waste" portals are too close to the reproductive organs, for example.

Humans would never have survived without the brain function, but I think they were/we were designed primarily as a food. As Earth is largely a water planet, it makes more sense that the top species on this planet would be an animal which makes its life in that water. I'm beginning to see the wisdom in conferring that title on the dolphins. Gee....maybe Doug Adams was right all along.

[Ellen Forradalom]

52. The brain

Doesn't work at all in Republicans.