[Marxism] Poor Design Re. Clitoris, orgasm and Darwinism

[Brian James <bajames@xxxxxxx>]

Adam:
> Massimo Pugliucci, a biology professor at the University of Tennessee,
> is fond of asking "if we were designed, why did the Designer run the
> sewer system right through the entertainment center?"

Could this be a reference to how the optic nerve in vertebrates travels
over the surface of retina to a hole in it, thus creating a blind spot?
Dawkins refers to this as an example of sloppy design in The Blind Watchmaker:

"Any engineer would naturally assume that the photocells would point
towards the light, with their wires leading backwards towards the brain.
He would laugh at any suggestion that the photocells might point away
from the light, with their wires departing on the side *nearest* the
light. Yet this is exactly what happens in all vertebrate retinas. Each
photocell is, in effect, wired in backwards, with its wire sticking out
on the side nearest the light. The wire has to travel over the surface
of the retina, to a point where it dives through a hole in the retina
(the so-called 'blind spot') to join the optic nerve. This means that
the light, instead of being granted an unrestricted passage to the
photocells, has to pass through a forest of connecting wires, presumably
suffering at least some attenuation and distortion (actually probably
not very much but, still, it is the principle of the thing that would
offend any tidy-minded engineer!). " (p. 113-114)

This is the perfect eye that creationists say Darwin can't account for!

_______________________________________________
Marxism mailing list
Marxism@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
http://lists.econ.utah.edu/mailman/listinfo/marxism