Behe incorporated a series of illustrations and graphics to demonstrate his argument for Irreducible Complexity. Below are summaries and context of those examples using graphics from the ARN lecture video. Figure 1a illustrates a simple structure of light-sensitive cells surrounded by pigment cells. In Figure 1b, the simple light-sensitive spot is put into a cup.
Light coming from one direction casts a shadow on the cup, giving a sense of direction.
In Figure 1c, the cup is further deepened and filled with a gelatinous material to form the beginnings of a lens. Using this progression, Darwin argued an evolutionary pathway might exist from the light-sensitive structure in Figure 1 to the complicated eye of vertebrates. Darwin declined to address the question, and correctly so, according to Behe, since 19th century science lacked the tools to investigate such a question. As Behe points out in the next example, this assumption of simplicity was quite wrong. Figure 2a is an animation showing the first event in the pathway to vision.