The Bombardier Beetle
(from Marvin L. Lubenow, From Fish to Gish, pp. 145-147)
There is no imaginable evolutionary scenario to explain the origin of the bombardier beetle. Dr. Duane Gish tells as follows:
"Although he looks like a regular beetle, he is really an unusual beetle. When some mean ol' beetle-eater comes and threatens to eat him, BOOM! - an explosion goes off right in his face of this mean ol' beetle-eater.
It turns out that this beetle mixes hydrogen peroxise and hydrogen quinone and puts it into a storage chamber. This is a very explosive mixture. it would blow up if I did it in the laboratory. But the beetle adds an inhibitor. When the mean ol' beetle-eater comes up, he squirts this solution into twin combustion tubes. At just the right moment, he adds an anti-inhibitor which neutralizes the inhibitor. BOOM! An explosion takes place. Noxious gases are expelled at 212 degrees Fahrenheit right in the face of a mean ol' beetle-eater. That's enough to discourage any mean ol' beetle eater.
Let us imagine how this might have happened by evolution. Millions of years ago, there was a little beetle. Let's call him "Beetle Bailey". How he got a storage chamber I don't know. One day he decided to throw in some hydrogen peroxide and hydrogen quinone. BOOM! - He blew himself up. You see, he didn't have the inhibitor. But why would he evolve the inhibitor until he had the two chemicals? He would have no use for it. It would have no evolutionary adaptive value. But if he had two chemicals first, it's too late! He's already blown himself up.
BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! For thousands of generations little beetles are blowing themselves up. They can't pass the information along down to their offspring because they didn't have any offspring. There is no way that evolution could work out
Let's just suppose that by some miracle some little beetle gets the inhibitor. You say "That's tremendous!" No, absolutely not. What good would it do? It would just soak and sour and corrode his innards. It would do no good. He still doesn't have the anti-inhibitor. Why would he invent the anti-inhibitor until he had the inhibitor to began with? But why would he invent the two chemicals and the inhibitor first. It does no good. There is no evolutionary rationale for it.
Let us soppose that finally, by some miracle, some little beetle invents the anti-inhibitor. You say, "We have arrived." No, he doesn't have the twin combustion tubes yet. He adds the anti-inhibitor and BOOM! He blows himself up again. There would be no evolutionary advantage to invent the anti-inhibitor without the other chemicals, but if he invents it with the other chemicals, he blows up.
BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! Again, for thousands of generations little beetles are blowing themselves up. They don't have those twin combustion tubes which are incredibly complex. An amazing genetic apparatus is needed to evolve those twin combustion tubes. Why would they need the twin combustion tubes until they had the two chemicals, the inhibitor, and the anti-inhibitor? But they would have no use for the other until the had the twin combustion tubes. You have to have it all together.
Let's assume that by a tremendous miracle of evolutionary mutations or mistakes that some little beetle evovled the twin combustion tubes. "Now," you say, "we finally are there!"
No, not quite. He doesn't have the communications network. He doesn't have the signals worked. Can you imagine how embarrassing it would be if his friend, Joe Beetle, comes up, pats him on the back and says, "Hi friend!" BOOM! He will lose a lot of friends that way.
But why would he need the communications network and the signal until he had everything else? But everything else without the network does him no good either. You see, you have to have everything complete. You must have the storage chamber, the two chemicals, the inhibitor, the anti-inhibitor, the twin combustion tubes, and the communication network, Then and only then will you have a bombardier beetle. Up until that time you have nothing but a disaster. You have no way of getting from one to the other. You must remain little old "Beetle Bailey."
Mean ol' beetle-eaters should be enthusiastic for evolution. It is because of creation that those mean ol' beetle-eaters are not able to eat more bombadier beetles.
