Peanut butter argument
From RationalWiki
According to the Peanut Butter Argument for Intelligent Design, life does not evolve spontaneously in sealed jars of peanut butter, therefore it is absurd to assume it evolved spontaneously in the primordial earth.
The following video should give you an idea of the general line of thought of this argument.
Peanut Butter: The Atheist Nightmare
Contents |
[edit] "Matter + Energy = ?"
The general premise comes from the very incorrect assumption that evolution says that "matter + energy = life". Therefore, a jar of peanut butter (or any foodstuff), which is subjected to light through the glass jar, should spontaneously generate life. To get around any statistical problems, proponents of the argument will cite that "millions of Americans will open a jar every day, performing the experiment millions of times" each with the same result; no life is formed. Proponents of the idea thus conclude that evolution must be incorrect and that their worldview is correct.
[edit] What a load of #&£%*$%...
Critics of the argument have pointed out that sealed jars of peanut butter are not, generally speaking, billion year-old volcanic environments rich in ammonia and methane, being bombarded by high energy cosmic rays. It also ignores the fact that the probability of life forming on Earth through abiogenesis was, most likely, incredibly low, and early earth conditions were conducive to the formation of life. Even assuming that peanut butter was conducive to spontaneous abiogenesis, the "millions of experiments performed every day" pale in comparason to the trillions performed over billions of years of the Earth's history. In addition, any life that would be created, however unlikely, would be microscopic in size and die almost instantly from the peanut butter's preservatives. And aside from all that, the fact that abiogenesis does not occur in jars of peanut butter is immaterial to the theory of evolution, which specifically describes what happens after life formed and developed the ability to evolve.
Also, to be honest, it's just plain silly.
[edit] How do we know?
This argument ignores the possibility that life has evolved in a sealed jar of peanut butter (perhaps even more than once!), but was promptly eaten before it could evolve to sentience. Remember this next time you have a peanut butter sandwich.
[edit] Pasta sauce argument
A reductio absurdum style argument against the peanut butter argument is that we ask God - it is possible through Creationist theory - for a jar of pasta sauce to be turned into a goat. This experiment has been tried in the following video:
Pasta Sauce: The Creationist Nightmare
