A Mathematician Explains the Irreducible Complexity of Metamorphosis

The new documentary Metamorphosis presents, as ENV readers will know, the case for intelligent design in a powerful way. The metamorphosis from caterpillar to butterfly is a spectacular example of "irreducible complexity," and here is one way of explaining why that's so.

In my 2000 Mathematical Intelligencer article "A Mathematician's View of Evolution," I compared the development of the genetic code of life with the development of a computer program, such as my finite element code PDE2D. I...