Creative Evolution
Creative Evolution
It is a common misconception that the Wright Brothers were the
first in flight. They were not. Birds (and humans in hot air
balloons) beat them to it by who knows how many years. There are
also insects, bats, and extinct reptiles which have also
accomplished the same feat. Perhaps the idea of flight would
never have been fathomed if it had not been observed in nature.
The question is, how did the birds, bats, insects, and extinct
reptiles figure out how to fly in the first place?
The truth of the matter is that birds, insects, bats, and
extinct reptiles didn't need to figure it out, because the
assumption is that nature figured it out for them. If this is
the case, how did nature figure it out? There is often a very
contradictory answer to this question, because the answer
supports two forms of reasoning, and these two forms of
reasoning don't exactly get along, so to speak. Before getting
into what this contradiction is, it is first necessary to ask
another question, did nature intend to figure this out?
Technically speaking, it would not be scientifically correct to
say that nature intended birds, insects, and bats to fly. If the
theory of evolution is true, random mutations are a big reason
why birds can fly. These mutations are not called intentional
mutations for a reason, because they are believed to have
happened randomly. While it could be argued that there are
reasons these random non intentional mutations occurred, the
important thing to realize is this: if scientific reasoning is
correct, flight was not a planned thing. It was unintentional.
It just happened. If flight did indeed just happen, the question
of why it happened can almost completely be thrown out of the
equation because it is irrelevant. The more important question
is, how did it happen?
Getting back to the Wright Brothers, both the how and why
questions can be answered very easily, although the why question
might be a little more difficult to answer because the answer
depends on what was going on inside the minds of the Wright
Brothers to compel them to build a flying machine in the first
place. However, the why question goes deeper than that, because
it goes beyond the reasons why the Wright Brothers built their
"flying machine" and explains why they designed it the way they
did.
The Wright Brother's plane could not fly if it was not made with
light weight materials. Nor could it maintain speed or altitude,
let alone get off the ground without an engine to pull it
through the air. The engine would be useless without its
propeller, and both the engine and propeller could not work
without gasoline. The plane could not stay level without the
front rudder, nor could it turn without cables to flex the
wings. All of these factors explain how the plane functioned in
the earth's atmosphere, yet they also explain why the Wright
Brothers built the plane the way they did.
The Wright Brothers studied birds in flight and paid very close
attention to how the birds flexed their wings when turning in
the air, but had a very difficult time figuring out how they
could make their plane turn in the air. One of the brothers was
holding a rectangular cardboard inner tube box when he looked at
it and began flexing it back and forth, twisting each end in the
opposite direction the other end was moving. It occurred to him
that he could make the plane turn by designing the plane's wing
structure according to what he observed by twisting the box.
This discovery of his was accidental, but it is important to
note that he was able to take what he learned by accident and
apply it to something practical. In other words, he was able to
intentionally do something with this idea.
Physics can explain why birds can fly, but what physics cannot
explain is how nature could figure out how to make birds fly.
Physics can explain why birds can get off the ground, maintain
level flight, make turns in the air, but it cannot explain why
nature chose specific aerodynamic details to make it possible
for birds to accomplish the amazing things they do in the air.
This is where the contradiction described earlier becomes
apparent, because it is often difficult for scientists to
describe why birds are designed the way they are without
explaining why nature made them this way (if you watch nature
shows on TV about plants, animals, or dinosaurs, listen very
closely to what the narrator says, and you'll see what I mean).
For example, the statement, "birds are able to fly because they
have wings" is a huge contradiction to the idea that random
mutations could produce flight because of the, BECAUSE
statement, which implies that nature intended to give birds
wings so they could fly. This would make random mutations
intentional, which would imply that nature has a mind.
When the Wright Brothers started to build their plane, they had
an end goal in mind. They didn't wear blindfolds and just fumble
around with wood, wire, metal, and gasoline with the hopes of
flying one day, and even if they did try to design a plane
wearing blindfolds and failed miserably at it, this would have
been an intentional act with a specific end goal in mind. One
more important factor that weighed heavily on how the Wright
Brothers built their plane is that in order for it to fly, they
had operate within certain laws of physics, and they had to
understand how these laws would prevent or allow them to get off
the ground.
Having said all of this, it is very ironic to think that a
series of random unintentional mutations could produce flight in
birds, bats, or even terradactyls. One is faced to admit that
birds could not fly if they did not have wings, because without
them, they would never be able to get off the ground, and if
they could get off the ground without them, it wouldn't be
pretty or graceful. Of course, their is much more to flight than
a set of wings, but one could argue that in short, birds can fly
because they have wings, and they have wings because they were
meant to fly. The only alternative is that nature did not intend
birds to fly and that this phenomena of flight just happened. Of
course, this means that nature was able to accomplish something
that the Wright Brothers would not have been able to accomplish
without an understanding of physics, engineering, aerodynamics,
and last but not least...birds.
Some will say that it is foolish to believe in God, and that
Christians are even more foolish to believe that Jesus Christ
died for the sins of the world, was more than just a man, and
rose from the grave. I think I'll take my chances on being a
fool, rather than rolling the dice to see if nature can
unknowingly design birds to fly, without any concept of
engineering, the laws of physics, aerodynamics, or a brain.