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Irreducible Complexity:
Take away one part and it doesn’t work
Notes:
Michael Behe in his book “Darwin’s Black Box” (New York: The Free Press, 1996) introduced the idea of “irreducible complexity”, which is that many processes and functions in living things only work if all of their component parts are in place and working together. Take away just one component and the system will stop functioning. Since Darwinian evolution is said to function via the gradual accumulation of small changes, it would seem impossible that an irreducibly complex system could be created in this manner.
A non-living example from his book is a mouse trap. Take away any one part and it will no longer function as a mouse trap. For example, a mouse trap with the spring missing will not catch 80% of the mice that a fully working trap would catch (as it has 4 of the 5 necessary components), missing both the spring and the holding bar will not catch 60%, etc. But this is what evolution needs to have happen. The truth is that systems do not work reliably or at all unless all of the pieces are in place, functioning together.