ID, the Human Appendix & Human Spine

[Kizzi]

I know you can die from Appendicitus (I've been lead to believe that a seed swallowed can get lodged in the appendix and cause Appendicitus).

Also I know many people suffer with back pain (I've been lead to believe that the human spine wasn't designed for walking up right - hence all the back problems).

So, what does Intelligent Design have to say about this?

[InfiniteNow]

Originally Posted by Kizzi

So, what does Intelligent Design have to say about this?

Well, I'd guess something like, "Because God said so," but I'm no theologian.

[Racoon]

The bigger Question [??] is Why we still have our Appendix,
when evolution is to determine survival charecteristics.......

What could it possibly have been for? and are we in the evolutionary process of genetically making obsolete from the genetic neo-structure..??

It is around the digestion and metabolism area of the body..
It probably served a function along those lines..?

Still, another unsolved mystery... so far......

[Cap'n Refsmmat]

Some scientists believe it was originally for helping the digestion of raw meat.

It's probably still there because appendicitis only affects a tiny percentage of people, so there's no evolutionary reason for it to go away.

[InfiniteNow]

It generally takes a while for biological evolution to catch up with technosociological evolution (that is, if it ever does...)

[TheBigDog]

I remember reading where AIDS research had found that the appendix plays a role in the immune system. I will try and find a link. As for the spine, it is perfectly engineered for being upright. When you are not properly upright you give it the problems.

And most cronic back pain is stress related and can be eliminated by properly dealing with root issues. "Healing Back Pain" by Dr John Sarno. Credit Howard Stern for putting him on the map.

Here is the link to the role of the appendix in the immune system.
http://www.healthgoods.com/Education...une_system.htm

Bill

[Racoon]

Originally Posted by Cap'n Refsmmat

Some scientists believe it was originally for helping the digestion of raw meat.

It's probably still there because appendicitis only affects a tiny percentage of people, so there's no evolutionary reason for it to go away.

Yes, BUT, there is extremely VERY LITTLE space to spare within the Human Body! Everything is ----Not for Rent...
Get what I'm saying.?.

The only useless space on the Human body is in the Ear Lobes.
And perhaps those evolutionized for cultural significance associated with pierceings..?

If it's there now, doesn't do anything, can cause serious infection in some,;then it's a safe bet We are still in Evolutionary Process!

[Cap'n Refsmmat]

Originally Posted by Racoon

Yes, BUT, there is extremely VERY LITTLE space to spare within the Human Body! Everything is ----Not for Rent...
Get what I'm saying.?.

The only useless space on the Human body is in the Ear Lobes.
And perhaps those evolutionized for cultural significance associated with pierceings..?

If it's there now, doesn't do anything, can cause serious infection in some,;then it's a safe bet We are still in Evolutionary Process!

That's all true, but the advantages of not having an appendix are very small. Very few people even have appendicitis, and most live through medical treatment, so there is practically no advantage. An extra few cubic inches of space won't make much of a difference in terms of reproduction and survival (the point of evolution being to make organisms that can reproduce the most), so I don't see why the appendix will go away. It's quite possible for it to happen, but not likely.

[Boerseun]

Suppose the appendix really serves no purpose, then it's equally likely that the appendix is actually just a mutation on its way to better (or worse) things, or an organ in the process of disappearing, atrophying to a shrivelled little husk because its not used anymore.

But being consistent in the evolutionary debate, it might just as well be an ex-organ or a recent mutation. Who knows?

The fact that it kills very few people would mean that the mutation (if that's what it is) would get passed on, and would serve as the wellspring of a new! improved! organ of some sort.

Who knows - with our bad diets, if someone got born with an appendix that could somehow, for the sake of the argument, extract and neutralize harmful fats from the bloodstream and then pass it back to the gut for removal, that individual would very quickly (in the order of a few hundred generations) influence the global gene pool, and voila! A new organ to cope with our bad lifestyles!

[Biochemist]

Originally Posted by Kizzi

So, what does Intelligent Design have to say about this?

ID is a philsophical position, not a scientific one. ID proponents suggest that some features of evolutionary biology are difficult to establish via serial mutation because of their intrinsic "irreducible complexity". ID proponents thus suggest that these features are indirect evidence for pre-existing design.

ID does not offer any proposition about vestigial items, nor is ID incompatible with any other evolutionary component. ID is an attempt to characterize some elements in the data set that appear to be outliers. The same could be said for Punctuated Equilibrium.