Discrediting the Faulty Use of Randomness and Selection

Michael Egnor's 'Pseudo-Darwinism: A Theory for All Seasons' is worth reading. The following quotes are taken from it. Color code: red=Reed Cartwright and blue=Michael Egnor.

"Now the biotech industry is founded on the application of Darwin’s theory of natural selection. Selection is an essential part of the process that creates transgenic organisms, like bacteria that produce human insulin. Humans are unable to create transgenic organisms directly, instead they use recombination DNA technology, which randomly creates transgenic organisms from building blocks provided by the researcher. The result is a population of organisms, in which a small minority contains the desired transgenic trait. The researcher then uses Darwin’s mechanism, selection, to evolve a population that is enriched for the desired trait. And voila [sic], with what to someone like Dr. Egnor must seem like wizardry, a population of bacteria can now produce human insulin, enriching and saving the lives of millions, all thanks to Charles Darwin."

"Dr. Cartwright is mistaken. Darwin asserted that all natural biological complexity arose by random undesigned variation and natural selection. The intentional alteration and intentional selection of microorganisms is a nice example of designed variation and artificial selection. Dr. Cartwright's application of Darwin's theory to intentional design and breeding of bacteria is pseudo-Darwinism."

Excellent response Michael Egnor. You identified the faulty logic behind the exhaltation of Darwinian theory. Kudos.

"Pseudo-Darwinism—in this case, the attribution of Darwin's theory to design and artificial selection—is the antithesis of Darwin's theory. Crick and colleagues chose variants to study and artificially selected them. Their work was carefully planned. It wasn’t random and it wasn’t natural. The biotech industry breeds bacteria, combining molecular biology with ancient principles of breeding. Darwin learned from breeding; he didn't invent it or any of its principles. Darwin's theory is not a theory of design by artificial selection. It's a theory about biological change without design and without intentional selection. It has nothing to do with Crick's experiments or with the biotech industry."

No wonder Darwinists are upset by Egnor. This guy has a knack for concisely knocking down faulty arguments. The other side presents examples of intelligent design and tries to sell them as evidence for selection and randomness. Michael Egnor deftly delivers the knock out blow.