Current research in complexity and network theory seem to indicate that the opposite may be true. Mark Buchanan (2002) discusses how many computer models which are constructed of simple rules can have complex emergent behaviors when they are far from equilibrium. Thus as long as there is a flow of energy into a system (as the sun ensures for the Earth), there is no reason not to think that many natural systems exhibit this kind of behaviour, such as plate-techtonics and earthquakes.

Of course, actual cases of cell biochemistry which appear to be irreducibly complex but are not would be more convincing. Once again, we turn to Rennie (2002) for an example. Behe uses the example of the bacterial flagellum, which is shaped like a whip, and is used by the cell for locomotion. Its protein components are carefully arranged to produce its whip-like motions. Rennie replies:

. . . there exist flagellae with forms simpler than the one Behe cites, so it is not necessary for all those components to be present for a flagellum to work. The sophisticated components of this flagellum all have precedents elsewhere in nature, as described by Kenneth R. Miller of Brown University and others. In fact, the entire flagellum assembly is extremely similar to an organelle that Yersinia pestis, the bubonic plague bacterium, uses to inject toxins into cells.