Sooo… Dennis is being asked to prove that 3D structure and folding is necessary for function? Isn’t that a pretty standard observation that applies to enzymes in general? The key interactions within an active site may involve relatively few amino acids, but the relative positions and distances of these amino acids, the accessibility and dimensions of the active site, etc are all related to overall protein folding and 3D structure, and are important for enzymatic activity. Not sure you’ve put your finger on any meaningful problem here. If you aren’t sure how enzymes work in general, it would have looked better if you asked for some clarification instead of jumping to conclusions that might just showcase how unfamiliar you are with the topic, though I realize it’s a bit late for this suggestion.
What a truly bizarre conclusion to come to.
The simplest blood clotting system in existence today, however many steps are involved, may be a good clue in looking for possible earlier stages in the development of more complex systems, but we would be left without knowledge about how these earlier systems evolved. It seems extremely odd for anyone to look for the simplest system they can find, and them somehow jump to the conclusion that it must be the simplest possible system and that there is no way to get to it. You seem to be working your way to discussing the weirdly narrow-minded, unreflective and uninformed logic of irreducible complexity, based on the unrealistic premise that every system develops in the direct manner that you happen to be picturing and that there were never other components involved at earlier stages. Not only would this be unrealistic and impossible to establish, but this kind of thinking is totally in opposition to what we have discovered for known evolutionary pathways, which depend on exaptation, redundancy (like simultaneous dual systems) and the scaffolding of earlier systems (any of this sound familiar?). irreducible complexity is a really cool term underwritten by a very bad idea, and I would advise against going down that road.