Viruses and torture
I was hit hard by the flu this week. I spent Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday stuck at home, hanging on for dear life as my body took radical steps to rid itself of these wonderful little guests. Many of my extended family members have had the flu recently, and as one of them aptly put it, “you want to DIE but can’t!”. 
I was able to return to work today and confront the mountain of tasks that had piled up, but if past illnesses are any guide, I won’t be at 100% for another week or so.
I thought it would be fitting to use part of my illness-induced downtime to start reading a new book: The Blind Watchmaker: Why the Evidence of Evolution Reveals a Universe Without Design by Richard Dawkins (yes, that Dawkins).
Can any cdesign proponentsists explain to me why any intelligent engineer would create bodies that are vulnerable to viruses, or that defend against them in such grotesque ways as vomiting, diarrhea, fever and malaise (preferably without any cop-outs that involve talking snakes and naked ladies)?
Also, today being “Good” Friday, I would like to bring to your attention this post at The Learned Pig. Excerpt:
What’s so “good” about a Friday that commemorates someone being nailed to a piece of wood and left to die?
With regard to the latter question, in the words of John Donne, “We shall see the death of Death itself in the death of Christ. All Heaven, purchased by death.”
Christian
22 Mar 08 at 12:46 pm
I don’t have an answer to your question but I just got over the flu myself yesterday and I was thinking how amazing it is that our bodies are able to heal themselves. I’ve been a software engineer now for 26 years and I am impressed.
I get scratched. I bleed. A scab forms. Under the scab tissue is rebuilt. The scab falls off and I am just like new. I wish my Prius could do that.
Randy Stimpson aka Intelligent Designer
18 Jul 08 at 2:41 am
Interesting argument. I’ve never heard an argument from design before. I duly renounce 150+ years of reason-based evolutionary science. God did it!
Kevin
19 Jul 08 at 11:31 am