Simulations in the witness box
A horrific transcript of an interview between a simulator and counsel.
During the Kitzmiller vs Dover School Area District case in 2004, one of the endless arguments in the USA about evolution vs creation, Micheal Behe of the the Center for Science and Culture at the Discovery Institute, a nonprofit think tank that apparently aims to "replace materialistic explanations with the theistic understanding that nature and human beings are created by God".
Poor Mr Behe is grilled in depth about his simulation.
(eg
" Q. And let me just ask you a few questions, and you tell me if I'm fairly summarizing the results of your computer simulation. What you're asking is, how long will it take to get -- and please follow with me, I'm trying to do this slowly and methodically -- two or more specific mutations, in specific locations, in a specific gene, in a specific population, if the function is not able to be acted on by natural selection until all the mutations are in place, if the only form of mutation is point mutation, and the population of organisms is asexual?
A. I would have to look at that statement closely because there are so many different aspects to it that I don't trust myself to sit here and listen to you say
that and form a correct judgment.
Q. Anything I said about that sound incorrect?
A. If you repeat it again, I'll try.
Q. I'd be happy to. Two or more specific mutations?
A. Actually, this dealt with one or more.
Q. One or more mutations?
A. Yes. If you notice, in figure -- if you notice in figure 3, you look at the x axis, you notice that there are data points there that start at one. So we considered models where there were one, two, and more mutations.
Q. Fair enough. In specific locations?
A. No, that's not correct. We assumed that there were several locations in the gene that could undergo these selectable mutations, but we did not designate where they were.
Q. In the specific gene?
A. We were considering one gene, yes.
Q. In a specific population?
A. Yes.
Q. Okay. If the function is not able to be acted on by natural selection until all mutations are in place?
A. Yes, that's what's meant by multiple amino acid residue, multi-residue feature, yes."
and so on, and so on....)
Mind you, I wish it could happen with some more of the simulations one sees these days.
Simulations aren't proof. They aren't even evidence, except possibly of the simulation writer's motives.
