Indy Telecom & Industrial Media

The other day, I was debating the “question of god” (eh) and listening to an anti-evolution rhetoric. Of course, as it often happens, the person brought up the classic strawman on evolution and watches.

For those unfamiliar with the strawman, here is how it goes — if you took an existing watch and smashed it to pieces, can the parts come together and tell time? Of course, the people posing this question never really provide an answer, and instead assume that they have stumped you.

Well, as it turns out, the answer is yes, the parts can indeed come together to form clocks given a few preconditions. For instance, providing a natural affinity between components and having the ability to tell time as a criteria for natural selection will result in functional, efficient clocks over time. Through evolution, no less.

And for those who are interested, the author has also made available the source code for the watchmaker program for those that are interested. Fascinating stuff.