The Atheist Blogger

With the recent investigation by DisComforting Ignorance finding out that the pineapple is the theists worst nightmare, it seems the theist blogosphere has been shaken ever so slightly. A comment posted on one of my articles reads:

To prove what a perfect a design the coconut was and to be tongue and cheek I wrote. Pacific islanders recognize different stages of growth, assigning to them different names. When the nut is young, it is without the white endosperm (”meat”), but filled with “water” and is used for drinking. When older the endosperm is soft and rubbery, a stage preferred by some. When still older, the husk is still green, but the shell is now brown. At this stage the water tastes like sparkling water, though I don’t know if this is from dissolved gases. Finally when mature and the husk brown, the endosperm is usually ground off on a serrated blade and added to other dishes or rendered for oil.

The comment was left by a man named Dan who runs a blog called “Debunking Atheists” which I suggest as many of you go over and read because his posts are the standard compilation of nonsense and bad science, as well as the traditional references to atheists being immoral, evil, and baby-eaters. In short, I laughed my ass off.

So let’s have a go at debunking “Debunking Atheists” shall we? In fact, let’s do it line by line.

Pacific islanders recognize different stages of growth, assigning to them different names.

So? Everyone can tell how ripe most fruits are by looking. Usually size is a good clue, but colour is often more accurate. Colour change in fruit is due to the degradation of chlorophyll and the synthesis of carotenoids, a result of temperature and light increases throughout Spring and Summer. Colour change is not some kind of warning system for humans. Any fruit left to bacteria will turn black and go mouldy, and fruit was doing this way before humans were even around.

When the nut is young, it is without the white endosperm (”meat”), but filled with “water” and is used for drinking.

It is a fallacy to say that there is no endosperm in young coconuts, since the endosperm is produced by the coconut plant when it is fertilized, and inside the nut itself it is used to store fat. In fact, the so called “water” of young coconuts is liquid endosperm. It is useful to point out that even thought the water is used for drinking by humans, this is not the purpose of it. It is used in storage to keep the coconut moist and alive when disconnected from the plant.

When older the endosperm is soft and rubbery, a stage preferred by some.

True, and it is called “coconut jelly”. However being a stage preferred by some doesn’t mean it is designed. The hardening of the endosperm is essential so the coconut can store fat when ripe.

When still older, the husk is still green, but the shell is now brown. At this stage the water tastes like sparkling water, though I don’t know if this is from dissolved gases.

This to me suggests an error in design. The husk is green which means it is indistinguishable from the previous stages of development, but the nut (inside) is brown. So the only way to tell if the coconut is at this stage is to risk it and open it up, at which point you cannot reconnect the fruit to the tree and ripen it more if necessary. Of course the real reason the nut goes brown before the husk is because it is the more important part of the fruit. It needs protecting if the fruit were to fall early.

For a argument trying to prove design, the author really nails it with “I don’t know…” concerning the taste of coconut water. It apparently has a bitter taste, which I would guess was because of the fruit starting to go bad. I have no idea about dissolved gases, so if any of you know the answer I would be most appreciative!

Finally when mature and the husk brown, the endosperm is usually ground off on a serrated blade and added to other dishes or rendered for oil.

No idea how this relates to design. It only proves that humans design things like serrated blades capable for doing this kind of thing. In the wild, the hard endosperm is full of saturated fat which stores energy for the fruit.

So Dan wins no points with that argument, and my advice would be to actually do some research, read up on coconuts and their processes before writing something like that. It’s very easy. I know because I just spent the best part of the last hour reading several pages on coconuts and now I really want a topical holiday…

Finally, I’d like to debunk a single quote from an article on his website which covers the coconut “proof” using the exact same language (talk about a copy and paste job!). The quote is against pineapples:

My wife also taught me, to tell if a pineapple is ripe, you pluck one of the pointed leaves and if it comes out easily then it is ready to eat. What a great design!

Yup, that’s a great design. Of course in the process you tear a leaf out of the plant, exposing the flesh where it was attached. If the plant is ripe, you get lucky. If it isn’t, the flesh will start to go bad ahead of the rest of the fruit. Luckily though, “God” put 30 or so leaves on so you can spend all day pulling leaves out to see if the fruit is ripe yet.

Better luck next time.

Possibly Related Posts:

• It’s Official! Pineapple Is Theists Worst Nightmare
• An Agnostic Project
• Evolution Poll Results
• A Real Fundamentalist Christian Answers The Atheist Thirteen!
• Atheists And Death