Isaiah 1:18Anthropo - Greek origin from anthropos: man, meaning man, human, as anthropology
"Come now, and let us reason together,",,,
In 1610, the Italian scientist Galileo Galilee (1564-1642) verified Polish astronomer Nicolaus Copernicus's (1473-1543) heliocentric theory. The heliocentric theory was hotly debated at the time, for it proposed a revolutionary idea for the 1600's stating all the planets revolved around the sun. Many people of the era had simply presumed everything in the universe revolved around the earth (geocentric theory), since from their limited perspective everything did seem to be revolving around the earth. As well the geocentric theory seems to agree with the religious sensibilities of being made in God's image, though the Bible never actually directly states the earth is the 'center' of the universe.
Job 26:7Galileo had improved upon the recently invented telescope. With this improved telescope he observed many strange things about the solar system. This included the phases of Venus as she revolved around the sun and the fact Jupiter had her own satellites (moons) which revolved around her. Thus, Galileo wrote and spoke about what had become obvious to him; the planets do indeed revolve around the sun. It is now commonly believed that man was cast down from his special place in the grand scheme of things, for the Earth beneath his feet no longer appeared to be the 'center of the universe', and indeed the Earth is now commonly believed by many people to be reduced to nothing but an insignificant speck of dust in the vast ocean of space. Yet actually the earth became exalted in the eyes of many people of that era, with its supposed removal from the center of the universe, since centrality in the universe had a very different meaning in those days. A meaning that equated being at the center of the universe with being at the 'bottom' of the universe, or being in the 'cesspool' of the universe.
“He stretches the north over empty space; He hangs the earth on nothing”
The Copernican Revolution - March 2010Yet contrary to what is popularly believed by many people today, of the earth being nothing but a insignificant speck of dust lost in a vast ocean of space, there is actually a strong case to be made for the earth being central in the universe once again.
Excerpt: Danielson(2001) made a compelling case that this portrayal is the opposite of what really happened, i.e., that before the Copernican Revolution, Earth was seen not as being at the center, but rather at the bottom, the cesspool where all filth and corruption fell and accumulated.
http://www.creationsafaris.com/crev201003.htm#20100317a
In what I consider an absolutely fascinating discovery, 4-dimensional (4D) space-time was created in the Big Bang and continues to 'expand equally in all places':
Where is the centre of the universe?:Thus from a 3-dimensional (3D) perspective, any particular 3D spot in the universe is to be considered just as 'center of the universe' as any other particular spot in the universe is to be considered 'center of the universe'. This centrality found for any 3D place in the universe is because the universe is a 4D expanding hypersphere, analogous in 3D to the surface of an expanding balloon. All points on the surface are moving away from each other, and every point is central, if that’s where you live.
Excerpt: There is no centre of the universe! According to the standard theories of cosmology, the universe started with a "Big Bang" about 14 thousand million years ago and has been expanding ever since. Yet there is no centre to the expansion; it is the same everywhere. The Big Bang should not be visualized as an ordinary explosion. The universe is not expanding out from a centre into space; rather, the whole universe is expanding and it is doing so equally at all places, as far as we can tell.
http://math.ucr.edu/home/baez/physics/Relativity/GR/centre.html
4-Dimensional Space-Time Of General Relativity - video
http://www.metacafe.com/watch/3991873/
So in a holistic sense, as facts revealed later in this paper will bear out, it may now be possible for the earth to, once again, be considered 'central to the universe'. This intriguing possibility, for the earth to once again be considered central, is clearly illustrated by the fact the Cosmic Microwave Background Radiation (CMBR), remaining from the creation of the universe, forms a sphere around the earth.
Earth As The Center Of The Universe - illustrated image
http://docs.google.com/Doc?docid=0AYmaSrBPNEmGZGM4ejY3d3pfOXQydzV2OGhz
The Known Universe - Dec. 2009 - a very cool video (please note the centrality of the earth in the universe)
http://www.metacafe.com/watch/4240304/
This centrality that we observe for ourselves in the universe also happens to give weight to the verses of the Bible that indirectly imply centrality for the earth in the universe:
Psalm 102:19On top of this '4D expanding hypersphere geometry', and other considerations of Einstein's special theory of relativity that show that the speed of light stays the same, while all other movement in the universe, no matter how fast or slow, is relative to that 'unchanging' speed of light, the primary reason the CMBR forms a sphere around the earth is because the quantum wave collapse of photons to their "uncertain" 3D wave/particle state, is dependent on 'conscious observation' in quantum mechanics. Moreover, this wave collapse of photons, to their 'uncertain' 3D wave/particle state, is shown by experiment to be instantaneous, and is also shown to be without regard to distance. i.e. It is universal for each observer (A. Aspect). CMBR, coupled with quantum mechanics, ultimately indicates that 'quantum information' about all points in the universe is actually available to each 'central observer', in any part of the 4D expanding universe, simultaneously. The primary reason that 'observers' are now to be considered 'central' in the reality of the universe is because of the failure of materialism to explain reality. Here is a clip of a talk in which Alain Aspect talks about the failure of 'local realism', or the failure of materialism, to explain reality:
The LORD looked down from His sanctuary on high, from heaven He viewed the earth,
Quantum Entanglement – The Failure Of Local Realism - Materialism - Alain Aspect - video
http://www.metacafe.com/w/4744145
The falsification for local realism (materialism) was recently greatly strengthened:
Physicists close two loopholes while violating local realism - November 2010This following study adds to Alain Aspect's work in Quantum Mechanics and solidly refutes the 'hidden variable' argument that has been used by materialists to try to get around the Theistic implications of the instantaneous 'spooky action at a distance' found in quantum mechanics.
Excerpt: The latest test in quantum mechanics provides even stronger support than before for the view that nature violates local realism and is thus in contradiction with a classical worldview.
http://www.physorg.com/news/2010-11-physicists-loopholes-violating-local-realism.html
Quantum Measurements: Common Sense Is Not Enough, Physicists Show - July 2009(of note: hidden variables were postulated to remove the need for 'spooky' forces, as Einstein termed them — forces that act instantaneously at great distances, thereby breaking the most cherished rule of relativity theory, that nothing can travel faster than the speed of light.)
Excerpt: scientists have now proven comprehensively in an experiment for the first time that the experimentally observed phenomena cannot be described by non-contextual models with hidden variables.
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/07/090722142824.htm
Quantum Mechanics has now been extended by Anton Zeilinger, and team, to falsify local realism (reductive materialism) without even using quantum entanglement to do it:
‘Quantum Magic’ Without Any ‘Spooky Action at a Distance’ – June 2011Falsification of Local Realism without using Quantum Entanglement - Anton Zeilinger
Excerpt: A team of researchers led by Anton Zeilinger at the University of Vienna and the Institute for Quantum Optics and Quantum Information of the Austrian Academy of Sciences used a system which does not allow for entanglement, and still found results which cannot be interpreted classically.
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2011/06/110624111942.htm
http://vimeo.com/34168474
One of the first, and most enigmatic, questions that arises from people after seeing the Quantum actions that are 'observed' in the infamous double slit experiment is, "What does conscious observation have to do with anything in the experiments of quantum mechanics?" and thus by extrapolation of that question, "What does conscious observation have to do with anything in the universe?" Yet, the seemingly counter-intuitive conclusion that consciousness is to be treated as a separate entity when dealing with quantum mechanics, and thus with the universe, has some very strong clout behind it.
Quantum mind–body problemHere is the key experiment that led Wigner to his Nobel Prize winning work on quantum symmetries:
Parallels between quantum mechanics and mind/body dualism were first drawn by the founders of quantum mechanics including Erwin Schrödinger, Werner Heisenberg, Wolfgang Pauli, Niels Bohr, and Eugene Wigner
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quantum_mind%E2%80%93body_problem
"It was not possible to formulate the laws (of quantum theory) in a fully consistent way without reference to consciousness." Eugene Wigner (1902 -1995) from his collection of essays "Symmetries and Reflections – Scientific Essays"; Eugene Wigner laid the foundation for the theory of symmetries in quantum mechanics, for which he received the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1963.
http://eugene-wigner.co.tv/
Eugene Wigneri.e. In the experiment the 'world' (i.e. the universe) does not have a ‘privileged center’. Yet strangely, the conscious observer does exhibit a 'privileged center'. This is since the 'matrix', which determines which vector will be used to describe the particle in the experiment, is 'observer-centric' in its origination! Thus explaining Wigner’s dramatic statement, “It was not possible to formulate the laws (of quantum theory) in a fully consistent way without reference to consciousness.”
Excerpt: To express this basic experience in a more direct way: the world does not have a privileged center, there is no absolute rest, preferred direction, unique origin of calendar time, even left and right seem to be rather symmetric. The interference of electrons, photons, neutrons has indicated that the state of a particle can be described by a vector possessing a certain number of components. As the observer is replaced by another observer (working elsewhere, looking at a different direction, using another clock, perhaps being left-handed), the state of the very same particle is described by another vector, obtained from the previous vector by multiplying it with a matrix. This matrix transfers from one observer to another.
http://www.reak.bme.hu/Wigner_Course/WignerBio/wb1.htm
Further weight for consciousness to be treated as a separate entity in quantum mechanics, and thus the universe, is also found in the fact that it is impossible to 'geometrically' maintain 3-Dimensional spherical symmetry of the universe, within the sphere of the Cosmic Microwave Background Radiation, for each 3D point of the universe, unless all the 'higher dimensional quantum information waves' actually do collapse to their 'uncertain 3D wave/particle state', universally and instantaneously, for each point of conscious observation in the universe just as the experiments of quantum mechanics are telling us that they do. The 4-D expanding hypersphere of the space-time of general relativity is insufficient to maintain such 3D integrity/symmetry, all by itself, for each different 3D point of observation in the universe. The primary reason for why the 4D space-time, of the 3D universe, is insufficient to maintain 3D symmetry, by itself, is because the universe is shown to have only 10^79 atoms. In other words, it is geometrically impossible to maintain such 3D symmetry of centrality with finite 3D material resources to work with for each 3D point in the universe. Universal quantum wave collapse of photons, to each point of 'conscious observation' in the universe, is the only answer that has adequate sufficiency to explain the 3D centrality we witness for ourselves in this universe.
From a slightly different point of reasoning this following site, through a fairly exhaustive examination of the General Relativity equations themselves, acknowledges the insufficiency of General Relativity to account for the 'completeness' of 4D space-time within the sphere of the CMBR from different points of observation in the universe.
The Cauchy Problem In General Relativity - Igor RodnianskiThe following article speaks of a proof developed by legendary mathematician Kurt Gödel, from a thought experiment, in which Gödel showed General Relativity could not be a complete description of the universe:
Excerpt: 2.2 Large Data Problem In General Relativity - While the result of Choquet-Bruhat and its subsequent refinements guarantee the existence and uniqueness of a (maximal) Cauchy development, they provide no information about its geodesic completeness and thus, in the language of partial differential equations, constitutes a local existence. ,,, More generally, there are a number of conditions that will guarantee the space-time will be geodesically incomplete.,,, In the language of partial differential equations this means an impossibility of a large data global existence result for all initial data in General Relativity.
http://www.icm2006.org/proceedings/Vol_III/contents/ICM_Vol_3_22.pdf
THE GOD OF THE MATHEMATICIANS - DAVID P. GOLDMAN - August 2010The fact that photons are shown to travel as uncollapsed quantum information waves in the double slit experiment, and not as collapsed particles, is what gives us a solid reason for proposing this mechanism of the universal quantum wave collapse of photons to each conscious observer.
Excerpt: Gödel's personal God is under no obligation to behave in a predictable orderly fashion, and Gödel produced what may be the most damaging critique of general relativity. In a Festschrift, (a book honoring Einstein), for Einstein's seventieth birthday in 1949, Gödel demonstrated the possibility of a special case in which, as Palle Yourgrau described the result, "the large-scale geometry of the world is so warped that there exist space-time curves that bend back on themselves so far that they close; that is, they return to their starting point." This means that "a highly accelerated spaceship journey along such a closed path, or world line, could only be described as time travel." In fact, "Gödel worked out the length and time for the journey, as well as the exact speed and fuel requirements." Gödel, of course, did not actually believe in time travel, but he understood his paper to undermine the Einsteinian worldview from within.
http://www.firstthings.com/article/2010/07/the-god-of-the-mathematicians
Double-slit experimentDouble Slit Experiment – Explained By Prof Anton Zeilinger – video
Excerpt: In quantum mechanics, the double-slit experiment (often referred to as Young's experiment) demonstrates the inseparability of the wave and particle natures of light and other quantum particles. A coherent light source (e.g., a laser) illuminates a thin plate with two parallel slits cut in it, and the light passing through the slits strikes a screen behind them. The wave nature of light causes the light waves passing through both slits to interfere, creating an interference pattern of bright and dark bands on the screen. However, at the screen, the light is always found to be absorbed as though it were made of discrete particles, called photons.,,, Any modification of the apparatus that can determine (that can let us observe) which slit a photon passes through destroys the interference pattern, illustrating the complementarity principle; that the light can demonstrate both particle and wave characteristics, but not both at the same time.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Double-slit_experiment
http://www.metacafe.com/watch/6101627/
Also of note is exactly how well established quantum theory is as to being 'correct':
An experimental test of all theories with predictive power beyond quantum theory - May 2011It is also interesting to note that materialists, instead of dealing forthrightly with the Theistic implications of quantum wave collapse, postulated quasi-infinite parallel universes, i.e. Many-Worlds, in which any absurdity would not be out of bounds in the infinite parallel universes i.e. Elvis could be president, pink elephants, etc.. etc.. in the Many-Worlds model;
Excerpt: Hence, we can immediately refute any already considered or yet-to-be-proposed alternative model with more predictive power than this (quantum theory).
http://arxiv.org/abs/1105.0133
Quantum mechanicsThis following experiment extended the double slit experiment to show that the 'spooky actions', for instantaneous quantum wave collapse, happen regardless of any considerations for time or distance i.e. The following experiment shows that quantum actions are 'universal and instantaneous':
Excerpt: The Everett many-worlds interpretation, formulated in 1956, holds that all the possibilities described by quantum theory simultaneously occur in a multiverse composed of mostly independent parallel universes.[43] This is not accomplished by introducing some new axiom to quantum mechanics, but on the contrary by removing the axiom of the collapse of the wave packet:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quantum_mechanics#Philosophical_implications
Wheeler's Classic Delayed Choice Experiment:And of course all this leads us back to this question. "What does our conscious observation have to do with anything in collapsing the wave function of the photon in the double slit experiment and in the universe?",,
Excerpt: Now, for many billions of years the photon is in transit in region 3. Yet we can choose (many billions of years later) which experimental set up to employ – the single wide-focus, or the two narrowly focused instruments. We have chosen whether to know which side of the galaxy the photon passed by (by choosing whether to use the two-telescope set up or not, which are the instruments that would give us the information about which side of the galaxy the photon passed). We have delayed this choice until a time long after the particles "have passed by one side of the galaxy, or the other side of the galaxy, or both sides of the galaxy," so to speak. Yet, it seems paradoxically that our later choice of whether to obtain this information determines which side of the galaxy the light passed, so to speak, billions of years ago. So it seems that time has nothing to do with effects of quantum mechanics. And, indeed, the original thought experiment was not based on any analysis of how particles evolve and behave over time – it was based on the mathematics. This is what the mathematics predicted for a result, and this is exactly the result obtained in the laboratory.
http://www.bottomlayer.com/bottom/basic_delayed_choice.htm
Genesis, Quantum Physics and Reality
Excerpt: Simply put, an experiment on Earth can be made in such a way that it determines if one photon comes along either on the right or the left side or if it comes (as a wave) along both sides of the gravitational lens (of the galaxy) at the same time. However, how could the photons have known billions of years ago that someday there would be an earth with inhabitants on it, making just this experiment? ,,, This is big trouble for the multi-universe theory and for the "hidden-variables" approach.
http://www.asa3.org/ASA/PSCF/2000/PSCF3-00Zoeller-Greer.html.ori
What drives materialists crazy is that consciousness cannot be seen, tasted, smelled, touched, heard, or studied in a laboratory. But how could it be otherwise? Consciousness is the very thing that is DOING the seeing, the tasting, the smelling, etc… We define material objects by their effect upon our senses – how they feel in our hands, how they appear to our eyes. But we know consciousness simply by BEING it!Moreover, What is causing the quantum waves to collapse from their 'higher dimension' in the first place since we 'conscious' humans are definitely not the ones who are causing the photon waves to collapse to their 'uncertain 3D wave/particle' state? With the refutation of the materialistic 'hidden variable' argument and with the patent absurdity of the materialistic 'Many-Worlds' hypothesis, then I can only think of one sufficient explanation for quantum wave collapse to photon;
http://www.uncommondescent.com/neuroscience/another-atheist-checks-out-of-no-consciousnessno-free-will/comment-page-1/#comment-411601
Psalm 118:27In the following article, Physics Professor Richard Conn Henry is quite blunt as to what quantum mechanics reveals to us about the 'primary cause' of our 3D reality:
God is the LORD, who hath shown us light:,,,
Alain Aspect and Anton Zeilinger by Richard Conn Henry - Physics Professor - John Hopkins UniversityPersonally I feel the word "illusion" was a bit too strong from Dr. Henry to describe material reality and would myself have opted for his saying something a little more subtle like; "material reality is a "secondary reality" that is dependent on the primary reality of God's mind" to exist." The following comment from a blogger on UD reflects fairly closely how I, as a Christian, view reality;
Excerpt: Why do people cling with such ferocity to belief in a mind-independent reality? It is surely because if there is no such reality, then ultimately (as far as we can know) mind alone exists. And if mind is not a product of real matter, but rather is the creator of the "illusion" of material reality (which has, in fact, despite the materialists, been known to be the case, since the discovery of quantum mechanics in 1925), then a theistic view of our existence becomes the only rational alternative to solipsism (solipsism is the philosophical idea that only one's own mind is sure to exist). (Dr. Henry's referenced experiment and paper - “An experimental test of non-local realism” by S. Gröblacher et. al., Nature 446, 871, April 2007 - “To be or not to be local” by Alain Aspect, Nature 446, 866, April 2007
http://henry.pha.jhu.edu/aspect.html
"Descartes said 'I think, therefore I am.' My bet is that God replied, 'I am, therefore think.'"
Art Battson - Access Research Group
"I do believe in the physical, concrete universe as real. It isn’t just an illusion. However, being a Christian, I can say, also, that the spiritual realm is even more real than the physical. More real, in this sense, however, isn’t to be taken to mean that the physical is “less” real, but that it is less important. The physical, ultimately, really derives its significance from the spiritual, and not the other way around. I submit to you, though, that the spiritual reality, in some sense, needs the physical reality, just as a baseball game needs a place to be played. The game itself may be more important than the field, but the game still needs the field in order to be played. The players are the most important part of the game, but without bats, balls, and gloves, the players cannot play. Likewise, without a physical, concrete reality, the spiritual has “no place to play”. Love, without a concrete reality, has no place to act out its romance; joy has nothing to jump up and down on, and consciousness has nothing to wake up to." - Brent - UD BloggerProfessor Henry's bluntness on the implications of quantum mechanics continues here:
http://www.uncommondescent.com/intelligent-design/tozer-got-it/#comment-380294
Quantum Enigma:Physics Encounters Consciousness - Richard Conn Henry - Professor of Physics - John Hopkins UniversityAs Professor Henry pointed out, it has been known since the discovery of quantum mechanics itself, early last century, that the universe is indeed 'Mental', as is illustrated by this quote from Max Planck.
Excerpt: It is more than 80 years since the discovery of quantum mechanics gave us the most fundamental insight ever into our nature: the overturning of the Copernican Revolution, and the restoration of us human beings to centrality in the Universe.
And yet, have you ever before read a sentence having meaning similar to that of my preceding sentence? Likely you have not, and the reason you have not is, in my opinion, that physicists are in a state of denial…
http://www.uncommondescent.com/intelligent-design/the-quantum-enigma-of-consciousness-and-the-identity-of-the-designer/
"As a man who has devoted his whole life to the most clear headed science, to the study of matter, I can tell you as a result of my research about atoms this much: There is no matter as such. All matter originates and exists only by virtue of a force which brings the particle of an atom to vibration and holds this most minute solar system of the atom together. We must assume behind this force the existence of a conscious and intelligent mind. This mind is the matrix of all matter."I find it extremely interesting, and strange, that quantum mechanics tells us that instantaneous quantum wave collapse to its 'uncertain' 3-D state is centered on each individual observer in the universe, whereas, 4-D space-time cosmology (General Relativity) tells us each 3-D point in the universe is central to the expansion of the universe. These findings of modern science are pretty much exactly what we would expect to see if this universe were indeed created, and sustained, from a higher dimension by a omniscient, omnipotent, omnipresent, eternal Being who knows everything that is happening everywhere in the universe at the same time. These findings certainly seem to go to the very heart of the age old question asked of many parents by their children, “How can God hear everybody’s prayers at the same time?”,,, i.e. Why should the expansion of the universe, or the quantum wave collapse of the entire universe, even care that you or I, or anyone else, should exist? Only Theism offers a rational explanation as to why you or I, or anyone else, should have such undeserved significance in such a vast universe:
Max Planck - The Father Of Quantum Mechanics - Das Wesen der Materie [The Nature of Matter], speech at Florence, Italy (1944)(Of Note: Max Planck Planck was a devoted Christian from early life to death, was a churchwarden from 1920 until his death, and believed in an almighty, all-knowing, beneficent God (though, paradoxically, not necessarily a personal one) This deep 'Christian connection', of Planck, is not surprising when you realize practically every, if not every, founder of each major branch of modern science also ‘just so happened’ to have some kind of a deep Christian connection.)
http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Max_Planck
Colossians 1:17
"He is before all things, and in Him all things hold together."
http://www.earthcareonline.org/bibleverses.html
Psalm 33:13-15Moreover, the argument for God from consciousness can be framed like this:
The LORD looks from heaven; He sees all the sons of men. From the place of His dwelling He looks on all the inhabitants of the earth; He fashions their hearts individually; He considers all their works.
1. Consciousness either preceded all of material reality or is a 'epi-phenomena' of material reality.The expansion of every 3D point in the universe, and the quantum wave collapse of the entire universe to each point of conscious observation in the universe, is obviously a very interesting congruence in science between the very large (relativity) and the very small (quantum mechanics). A congruence that Physicists, and Mathematicians, seem to be having a extremely difficult time 'unifying' into a 'theory of everything'.(Einstein, Penrose).
2. If consciousness is a 'epi-phenomena' of material reality then consciousness will be found to have no special position within material reality. Whereas conversely, if consciousness precedes material reality then consciousness will be found to have a special position within material reality.
3. Consciousness is found to have a special, even central, position within material reality.
4. Therefore, consciousness is found to precede material reality.
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1kpDwWetu66fBRlPM7zjA5BpHzcu5wBY7AdB7gOz51OQ/edit
The Physics Of The Large And Small: What Is the Bridge Between Them?The conflict of reconciling General Relativity and Quantum Mechanics appears to arise from the inability of either theory to successfully deal with the Zero/Infinity problem that crops up in different places of each theory:
Roger Penrose
Excerpt: This, (the unification of General Relativity and Quantum Field theory), would also have practical advantages in the application of quantum ideas to subjects like biology - in which one does not have the clean distinction between a quantum system and its classical measuring apparatus that our present formalism requires. In my opinion, moreover, this revolution is needed if we are ever to make significant headway towards a genuine scientific understanding of the mysterious but very fundamental phenomena of conscious mentality.
http://www.pul.it/irafs/CD%20IRAFS%2702/texts/Penrose.pdf
Quantum Mechanics Not In Jeopardy: Physicists Confirm Decades-Old Key Principle Experimentally - July 2010
Excerpt: the research group led by Prof. Gregor Weihs from the University of Innsbruck and the University of Waterloo has confirmed the accuracy of Born’s law in a triple-slit experiment (as opposed to the double slit experiment). "The existence of third-order interference terms would have tremendous theoretical repercussions - it would shake quantum mechanics to the core," says Weihs. The impetus for this experiment was the suggestion made by physicists to generalize either quantum mechanics or gravitation - the two pillars of modern physics - to achieve unification, thereby arriving at a one all-encompassing theory. "Our experiment thwarts these efforts once again," explains Gregor Weihs. (of note: Born's Law is an axiom that dictates that quantum interference can only occur between pairs of probabilities, not triplet or higher order probabilities. If they would have detected higher order interference patterns this would have potentially allowed a reformulation of quantum mechanics that is compatible with, or even incorporates, gravitation.)
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/07/100722142640.htm
"There are serious problems with the traditional view that the world is a space-time continuum. Quantum field theory and general relativity contradict each other. The notion of space-time breaks down at very small distances, because extremely massive quantum fluctuations (virtual particle/antiparticle pairs) should provoke black holes and space-time should be torn apart, which doesn’t actually happen." - G J Chaitin
http://www.umcs.maine.edu/~chaitin/bookgoedel_6.pdf
THE MYSTERIOUS ZERO/INFINITYQuantum Mechanics and Relativity – The Collapse Of Physics? – video – with notes as to plausible reconciliation that is missed by materialists
Excerpt: The biggest challenge to today's physicists is how to reconcile general relativity and quantum mechanics. However, these two pillars of modern science were bound to be incompatible. "The universe of general relativity is a smooth rubber sheet. It is continuous and flowing, never sharp, never pointy. Quantum mechanics, on the other hand, describes a jerky and discontinuous universe. What the two theories have in common - and what they clash over - is zero.",, "The infinite zero of a black hole -- mass crammed into zero space, curving space infinitely -- punches a hole in the smooth rubber sheet. The equations of general relativity cannot deal with the sharpness of zero. In a black hole, space and time are meaningless.",, "Quantum mechanics has a similar problem, a problem related to the zero-point energy. The laws of quantum mechanics treat particles such as the electron as points; that is, they take up no space at all. The electron is a zero-dimensional object,,, According to the rules of quantum mechanics, the zero-dimensional electron has infinite mass and infinite charge.
http://www.fmbr.org/editoral/edit01_02/edit6_mar02.htm
http://www.metacafe.com/watch/6597379/
How Quantum Gravity Destroys Physicalism - video
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4NP4QmrbBww
Moreover, this extreme ‘mathematical difficulty', of reconciling General Relativity with Quantum Mechanics into the much sought after 'Theory of Everything', was actually somewhat foreseeable from previous work, earlier in the 20th century, in mathematics by Godel:
THE GOD OF THE MATHEMATICIANS – DAVID P. GOLDMAN – August 2010The following scientist offers a very interesting insight into this issue of 'reconciling' the mental universe of Quantum Mechanics with the space-time of General Relativity:
Excerpt: we cannot construct an ontology that makes God dispensable. Secularists can dismiss this as a mere exercise within predefined rules of the game of mathematical logic, but that is sour grapes, for it was the secular side that hoped to substitute logic for God in the first place. Gödel’s critique of the continuum hypothesis has the same implication as his incompleteness theorems: Mathematics never will create the sort of closed system that sorts reality into neat boxes.
http://www.firstthings.com/article/2010/07/the-god-of-the-mathematicians
How the Power of Intention Alters Matter - Dr. William A. TillerThis following experiment is really interesting as to establishing the plausibility of Tiller's preceding hypothesis:
Excerpt: "Most people think that the matter is empty, but for internal self consistency of quantum mechanics and relativity theory, there is required to be the equivalent of 10 to 94 grams of mass energy, each gram being E=MC2 kind of energy. Now, that's a huge number, but what does it mean practically? Practically, if I can assume that the universe is flat, and more and more astronomical data is showing that it's pretty darn flat, if I can assume that, then if I take the volume or take the vacuum within a single hydrogen atom, that's about 10 to the minus 23 cubic centimeters. If I take that amount of vacuum and I take the latent energy in that, there is a trillion times more energy there than in all of the mass of all of the stars and all of the planets out to 20 billion light-years. That's big, that's big. And if consciousness allows you to control even a small fraction of that, creating a big bang is no problem." - Dr. William Tiller - has been a professor at Stanford U. in the Department of materials science & Engineering
http://www.beyondtheordinary.net/williamtiller.shtml
Scientific Evidence That Mind Effects Matter - Random Number Generators - video
http://www.metacafe.com/watch/4198007
I once asked a evolutionist, after showing him the preceding experiment, "Since you ultimately believe that the 'god of random chance/chaos' produced everything we see around us, what in the world is my mind doing pushing your god around?"
Yet, to continue on, the unification, into a 'theory of everything', between what is in essence the 'infinite Theistic world of Quantum Mechanics' and the 'finite Materialistic world of the space-time of General Relativity' seems to be directly related to what Jesus apparently joined together with His resurrection, i.e. related to the unification of infinite God with finite man. Dr. William Dembski in this following comment, though not directly addressing the Zero/Infinity conflict in General Relativity and Quantum Mechanics, offers insight into this 'unification' of the infinite and the finite:
The End Of Christianity - Finding a Good God in an Evil World - Pg.31Also of related interest to this ‘Zero/Infinity conflict of reconciliation’, between General Relativity and Quantum Mechanics, is that a ‘uncollpased’ photon, in its quantum wave state, is mathematically defined as ‘infinite’ information:
William Dembski PhD. Mathematics
Excerpt: "In mathematics there are two ways to go to infinity. One is to grow large without measure. The other is to form a fraction in which the denominator goes to zero. The Cross is a path of humility in which the infinite God becomes finite and then contracts to zero, only to resurrect and thereby unite a finite humanity within a newfound infinity."
http://www.designinference.com/documents/2009.05.end_of_xty.pdf
Wave functionIt is important to note that the following experiment actually encoded information into a photon while it was in its quantum wave state, thus destroying the notion, held by many, that the wave function was not 'physically real' but was merely 'abstract'. i.e. How can information possibly be encoded into something that is not physically real but merely abstract?
Excerpt "wave functions form an abstract vector space",,, This vector space is infinite-dimensional, because there is no finite set of functions which can be added together in various combinations to create every possible function.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wave_function#Wave_functions_as_an_abstract_vector_space
Explaining Information Transfer in Quantum Teleportation: Armond Duwell †‡ University of Pittsburgh
Excerpt: In contrast to a classical bit, the description of a (photon) qubit requires an infinite amount of information. The amount of information is infinite because two real numbers are required in the expansion of the state vector of a two state quantum system (Jozsa 1997, 1)
http://www.cas.umt.edu/phil/faculty/duwell/DuwellPSA2K.pdf
Quantum Computing – Stanford Encyclopedia
Excerpt: Theoretically, a single qubit can store an infinite amount of information, yet when measured (and thus collapsing the Quantum Wave state) it yields only the classical result (0 or 1),,,
http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/qt-quantcomp/#2.1
Single photons to soak up data:
Excerpt: the orbital angular momentum of a photon can take on an infinite number of values. Since a photon can also exist in a superposition of these states, it could – in principle – be encoded with an infinite amount of information.
http://physicsworld.com/cws/article/news/7201
Ultra-Dense Optical Storage - on One PhotonThe following paper mathematically corroborated the preceding experiment and cleaned up some pretty nasty probabilistic incongruities that arose from a purely statistical interpretation, i.e. it seems that stacking a ‘random infinity', (parallel universes to explain quantum wave collapse), on top of another ‘random infinity', to explain quantum entanglement, leads to irreconcilable mathematical absurdities within quantum mechanics:
Excerpt: Researchers at the University of Rochester have made an optics breakthrough that allows them to encode an entire image's worth of data into a photon, slow the image down for storage, and then retrieve the image intact.
http://www.physorg.com/news88439430.html
Quantum Theory's 'Wavefunction' Found to Be Real Physical Entity: Scientific American - November 2011The quantum (wave) state cannot be interpreted statistically - November 2011
Excerpt: David Wallace, a philosopher of physics at the University of Oxford, UK, says that the theorem is the most important result in the foundations of quantum mechanics that he has seen in his 15-year professional career. "This strips away obscurity and shows you can't have an interpretation of a quantum state as probabilistic," he says.
http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=quantum-theorys-wavefunction
http://lanl.arxiv.org/abs/1111.3328
Moreover there is actual physical evidence that lends strong support to the position that the 'Zero/Infinity conflict', we find between General Relativity and Quantum Mechanics, was successfully dealt with by Christ:
The Center Of The Universe Is Life - General Relativity, Quantum Mechanics, Entropy and The Shroud Of Turin - video
http://www.metacafe.com/w/5070355
General Relativity, Quantum Mechanics, Entropy, and The Shroud Of Turin - updated video
http://vimeo.com/34084462
Turin Shroud Enters 3D Age - Pictures, Articles and Videos
https://docs.google.com/document/pub?id=1gDY4CJkoFedewMG94gdUk1Z1jexestdy5fh87RwWAfg
Turin Shroud 3-D Hologram - Face And Body - Dr. Petrus Soons - video
http://www.metacafe.com/w/5889891/
A Quantum Hologram of Christ's Resurrection? by Chuck MisslerPress release Video on preceding paper:
Excerpt: “You can read the science of the Shroud, such as total lack of gravity, lack of entropy (without gravitational collapse), no time, no space—it conforms to no known law of physics.” The phenomenon of the image brings us to a true event horizon, a moment when all of the laws of physics change drastically. Dame Piczek created a one-fourth size sculpture of the man in the Shroud. When viewed from the side, it appears as if the man is suspended in mid air (see graphic, below), indicating that the image defies previously accepted science. The phenomenon of the image brings us to a true event horizon, a moment when all of the laws of physics change drastically.
http://www.khouse.org/articles/2008/847
THE EVENT HORIZON (Space-Time Singularity) OF THE SHROUD OF TURIN. - Isabel Piczek - Particle Physicist
Excerpt: We have stated before that the images on the Shroud firmly indicate the total absence of Gravity. Yet they also firmly indicate the presence of the Event Horizon. These two seemingly contradict each other and they necessitate the past presence of something more powerful than Gravity that had the capacity to solve the above paradox.
http://shroud3d.com/findings/isabel-piczek-image-formation
Particle Radiation from the Body - M. Antonacci, A. C. Lind
Excerpt: The Shroud’s frontal and dorsal body images are encoded with the same amount of intensity, independent of any pressure or weight from the body. The bottom part of the cloth (containing the dorsal image) would have born all the weight of the man’s supine body, yet the dorsal image is not encoded with a greater amount of intensity than the frontal image. Radiation coming from the body would not only explain this feature, but also the left/right and light/dark reversals found on the cloth’s frontal and dorsal body images.
https://docs.google.com/document/d/19tGkwrdg6cu5mH-RmlKxHv5KPMOL49qEU8MLGL6ojHU/edit?hl=en_US
Shroud Of Turin Is Authentic, Italian Study Suggests - December 2011
Excerpt: Last year scientists were able to replicate marks on the cloth using highly advanced ultraviolet techniques that weren’t available 2,000 years ago — nor during the medieval times, for that matter.,,, Since the shroud and “all its facets” still cannot be replicated using today’s top-notch technology, researchers suggest it is impossible that the original image could have been created in either period.
http://www.thegopnet.com/shroud-of-turin-is-authentic-italian-study-suggests-87037
Scientific hypotheses on the origin of the body image of the Shroud - 2010
Excerpt: for example, if we consider the density of radiation that we used to color a single square centimeter of linen, to reproduce the entire image of the Shroud with a single flash of light would require fourteen thousand lasers firing simultaneously each on a different area of linen. In other words, it would take a laser light source the size of an entire building.
http://www.30giorni.it/articoli_id_22597_l3.htm
Scientists say Turin Shroud is supernatural - December 2011
Excerpt: After years of work trying to replicate the colouring on the shroud, a similar image has been created by the scientists.
However, they only managed the effect by scorching equivalent linen material with high-intensity ultra violet lasers, undermining the arguments of other research, they say, which claims the Turin Shroud is a medieval hoax.
Such technology, say researchers from the National Agency for New Technologies, Energy and Sustainable Economic Development (Enea), was far beyond the capability of medieval forgers, whom most experts have credited with making the famous relic.
"The results show that a short and intense burst of UV directional radiation can colour a linen cloth so as to reproduce many of the peculiar characteristics of the body image on the Shroud of Turin," they said.
And in case there was any doubt about the preternatural degree of energy needed to make such distinct marks, the Enea report spells it out: "This degree of power cannot be reproduced by any normal UV source built to date."
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/science/scientists-say-turin-shroud-is-supernatural-6279512.html
Scientists Claim 'Shroud of Turin' Could Not Have Been Faked - video
http://www.5min.com/Video/Scientists-Claim-Shroud-of-Turin-Could-Not-Have-Been-Faked-517232561
Also of note as to providing a viable 'mechanism' for the apparent 'burst of light' emanating from the body of Christ:
Cellular Communication through LightCoast to Coast - Vicki's Near Death Experience (Blind From Birth) part 1 of 3
Excerpt: Information transfer is a life principle. On a cellular level we generally assume that molecules are carriers of information, yet there is evidence for non-molecular information transfer due to endogenous coherent light. This light is ultra-weak, is emitted by many organisms, including humans and is conventionally described as biophoton emission.
http://www.plosone.org/article/info%3Adoi%2F10.1371%2Fjournal.pone.0005086
Biophotons - The Light In Our Cells - Marco Bischof - March 2005
Excerpt page 2: The Coherence of Biophotons: ,,, Biophotons consist of light with a high degree of order, in other words, biological laser light. Such light is very quiet and shows an extremely stable intensity, without the fluctuations normally observed in light. Because of their stable field strength, its waves can superimpose, and by virtue of this, interference effects become possible that do not occur in ordinary light. Because of the high degree of order, the biological laser light is able to generate and keep order and to transmit information in the organism.
http://www.international-light-association.eu/PDF/Biophotons.pdf
The Real Bioinformatics Revolution - Proteins and Nucleic Acids 'Singing' to One Another?
Excerpt: the molecules send out specific frequencies of electromagnetic waves which not only enable them to ‘see' and ‘hear' each other, as both photon and phonon modes exist for electromagnetic waves, but also to influence each other at a distance and become ineluctably drawn to each other if vibrating out of phase (in a complementary way).,,, More than 1 000 proteins from over 30 functional groups have been analysed. Remarkably, the results showed that proteins with the same biological function share a single frequency peak while there is no significant peak in common for proteins with different functions; furthermore the characteristic peak frequency differs for different biological functions. ,,, The same results were obtained when regulatory DNA sequences were analysed.
http://www.i-sis.org.uk/TheRealBioinformaticsRevolution.php
Are humans really beings of light?
Excerpt: "We now know, today, that man is essentially a being of light.",,, "There are about 100,000 chemical reactions happening in every cell each second. The chemical reaction can only happen if the molecule which is reacting is excited by a photon... Once the photon has excited a reaction it returns to the field and is available for more reactions... We are swimming in an ocean of light."
http://viewzone2.com/dna.html
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e65KhcCS5-Y
Quote from preceding video: 'I was in a body and the only way that I can describe it was a body of energy, or of light. And this body had a form. It had a head. It had arms and it had legs. And it was like it was made out of light. And 'it' was everything that was me. All of my memories, my consciousness, everything.' -Thus, when one allows God into math, as Godel indicated must ultimately be done to keep math from being 'incomplete', then there actually exists a very credible, empirically backed, reconciliation between Quantum Mechanics and General Relativity into a 'Theory of Everything'! Yet it certainly is one that many dogmatic Atheists will try to deny the relevance of.,,, As a footnote; Godel, who proved you cannot have a mathematical ‘Theory of Everything’, without allowing God to bring completeness to the 'Theory of Everything', also had this to say:
Vicky Noratuk
"Miracles do not happen in contradiction to nature, but only in contradiction to that which is known to us of nature."
St. Augustine
The God of the Mathematicians – GoldmanWhile I agree with a criticism, from a Christian, that was leveled against the preceding Shroud of Turin video, that God indeed needed no help from the universe in the resurrection event of Christ, I am, none-the-less, very happy to see that what is considered the number one problem of Physicists and Mathematicians in physics today, of a unification into a 'theory of everything' for what is in essence the finite materialistic world of General Relativity and the infinite Theistic world of Quantum Mechanics, does in fact seem to find a credible successful resolution for 'unification' within the resurrection event of Jesus Christ Himself. It seems almost overwhelmingly apparent to me from the 'scientific evidence' we now have that Christ literally ripped a hole in the finite entropic space-time of this universe to reunite infinite God with finite man. That modern science would even offer such a almost tangible glimpse into the mechanics of what happened in the tomb of Christ should be a source of great wonder and comfort for the Christian heart.
Excerpt: As Gödel told Hao Wang, “Einstein’s religion [was] more abstract, like Spinoza and Indian philosophy. Spinoza’s god is less than a person; mine is more than a person; because God can play the role of a person.” – Kurt Gödel – (Gödel is considered by many to be the greatest mathematician of the 20th century)
http://www.firstthings.com/article/2010/07/the-god-of-the-mathematicians
Philippians 2: 5-11
Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus: Who, being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God: But made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men: And being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross. Wherefore God also hath highly exalted him, and given him a name which is above every name: That at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things in heaven, and things in earth, and things under the earth; And that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.
Psalms 16:10A shortened form of the evidence is here:
because you will not abandon me to the grave, nor will you let your Holy One see decay.
Acts 2:31
He seeing this before spake of the resurrection of Christ, that his soul was not left in hell, neither his flesh did see corruption.
Centrality of Each Individual Observer In The Universe and Christ’s Very Credible Reconciliation Of General Relativity and Quantum Mechanics
https://docs.google.com/document/d/17SDgYPHPcrl1XX39EXhaQzk7M0zmANKdYIetpZ-WB5Y/edit?hl=en_US
It is also interesting to note that 'higher dimensional' mathematics had to be developed before Einstein could elucidate General Relativity, or even before Quantum Mechanics could be elucidated;
The Mathematics Of Higher Dimensionality – Gauss & Riemann – video
http://www.metacafe.com/watch/6199520/
3D to 4D shift - Carl Sagan - video with notesI think it should be fairly clear by now that, much contrary to the mediocrity of earth and of humans brought about by the heliocentric discoveries of Galileo and Copernicus, the findings of modern science are very comforting to Theistic postulations in general, and even lends strong support of plausibility to the main tenet of Christianity which holds Jesus Christ is the only begotten Son of God.
Excerpt from Notes: The state-space of quantum mechanics is an infinite-dimensional function space. Some physical theories are also by nature high-dimensional, such as the 4-dimensional general relativity.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9VS1mwEV9wA
Matthew 28:18Of related note; there is a mysterious 'higher dimensional' component to life:
And Jesus came up and spoke to them, saying, "All authority has been given to Me in heaven and upon earth."
The predominance of quarter-power (4-D) scaling in biology4-Dimensional Quarter Power Scaling In Biology - video
Excerpt: Many fundamental characteristics of organisms scale
with body size as power laws of the form:
Y = Yo M^b,
where Y is some characteristic such as metabolic rate, stride length or life span, Yo is a normalization constant, M is body mass and b is the allometric scaling exponent.
A longstanding puzzle in biology is why the exponent b is usually some simple multiple of 1/4 (4-Dimensional scaling) rather than a multiple of 1/3, as would be expected from Euclidean (3-Dimensional) scaling.
http://www.nceas.ucsb.edu/~drewa/pubs/savage_v_2004_f18_257.pdf
“Although living things occupy a three-dimensional space, their internal physiology and anatomy operate as if they were four-dimensional. Quarter-power scaling laws are perhaps as universal and as uniquely biological as the biochemical pathways of metabolism, the structure and function of the genetic code and the process of natural selection.,,, The conclusion here is inescapable, that the driving force for these invariant scaling laws cannot have been natural selection." Jerry Fodor and Massimo Piatelli-Palmarini, What Darwin Got Wrong (London: Profile Books, 2010), p. 78-79
http://www.uncommondescent.com/evolution/16037/
http://www.metacafe.com/w/5964041/
Of related note to 'invariant' patterns found in life that are inexplicable for natural selection to explain the origination of:
Chargaff’s “Grammar of Biology”: New Fractal-like Rules - 2011Though Jerry Fodor and Massimo Piatelli-Palmarini rightly find it inexplicable for 'random' Natural Selection to be the rational explanation for the invariant scaling of the physiology, and anatomy, of living things to four-dimensional parameters, they do not seem to fully realize the implications this 'four dimensional scaling' of living things presents. This 4-D scaling is something we should rightly expect from a Intelligent Design perspective. This is because Intelligent Design holds that ‘higher dimensional transcendent information’ is more foundational to life, and even to the universe itself, than either matter or energy are. This higher dimensional 'expectation' for life, from a Intelligent Design perspective, is directly opposed to the expectation of the Darwinian framework, which holds that information, and indeed even the essence of life itself, is merely an 'emergent' property of the 3-D material realm.
Excerpt from Conclusion: It was shown that these rules are valid for a large set of organisms: bacteria, plants, insects, fish and mammals. It is noteworthy that no matter the word length the same pattern is observed (self-similarity). To the best of our knowledge, this is the first invariant genomic properties publish(ed) so far, and in Science invariant properties are invaluable ones and usually they have practical implications.
http://arxiv.org/ftp/arxiv/papers/1112/1112.1528.pdf
Earth’s crammed with heaven,Quantum Information/Entanglement In DNA & Protein Folding - short video
And every common bush afire with God;
But only he who sees, takes off his shoes,
The rest sit round it and pluck blackberries.
- Elizabeth Barrett Browning
Information and entropy – top-down or bottom-up development in living systems? A.C. McINTOSH
Excerpt: This paper highlights the distinctive and non-material nature of information and its relationship with matter, energy and natural forces. It is proposed in conclusion that it is the non-material information (transcendent to the matter and energy) that is actually itself constraining the local thermodynamics to be in ordered disequilibrium and with specified raised free energy levels necessary for the molecular and cellular machinery to operate.
http://journals.witpress.com/paperinfo.asp?pid=420
Quantum entanglement holds together life’s blueprint - 2010
Excerpt: When the researchers analysed the DNA without its helical structure, they found that the electron clouds were not entangled. But when they incorporated DNA’s helical structure into the model, they saw that the electron clouds of each base pair became entangled with those of its neighbours. “If you didn’t have entanglement, then DNA would have a simple flat structure, and you would never get the twist that seems to be important to the functioning of DNA,” says team member Vlatko Vedral of the University of Oxford.
http://neshealthblog.wordpress.com/2010/09/15/quantum-entanglement-holds-together-lifes-blueprint/
The relevance of continuous variable entanglement in DNA - July 2010
Excerpt: We consider a chain of harmonic oscillators with dipole-dipole interaction between nearest neighbours resulting in a van der Waals type bonding. The binding energies between entangled and classically correlated states are compared. We apply our model to DNA. By comparing our model with numerical simulations we conclude that entanglement may play a crucial role in explaining the stability of the DNA double helix.
http://arxiv.org/abs/1006.4053v1
http://www.metacafe.com/watch/5936605/
Quantum Computing in DNA – Stuart HameroffQuantum Action confirmed in DNA by direct empirical research;
Excerpt: Hypothesis: DNA utilizes quantum information and quantum computation for various functions. Superpositions of dipole states of base pairs consisting of purine (A,G) and pyrimidine (C,T) ring structures play the role of qubits, and quantum communication (coherence, entanglement, non-locality) occur in the “pi stack” region of the DNA molecule.,,, We can then consider DNA as a chain of qubits (with helical twist).
Output of quantum computation would be manifest as the net electron interference pattern in the quantum state of the pi stack, regulating gene expression and other functions locally and nonlocally by radiation or entanglement.
http://www.quantumconsciousness.org/views/QuantumComputingInDNA.html
DNA Can Discern Between Two Quantum States, Research Shows - June 2011Can Quantum Mechanics Play a Role in DNA Damage Detection? (Short answer; YES!) – video - as well at about 27 Minute mark in the video - Fröhlich Condensation and Quantum Consciousness
Excerpt: -- DNA -- can discern between quantum states known as spin. - The researchers fabricated self-assembling, single layers of DNA attached to a gold substrate. They then exposed the DNA to mixed groups of electrons with both directions of spin. Indeed, the team's results surpassed expectations: The biological molecules reacted strongly with the electrons carrying one of those spins, and hardly at all with the others. The longer the molecule, the more efficient it was at choosing electrons with the desired spin, while single strands and damaged bits of DNA did not exhibit this property.
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2011/03/110331104014.htm
Does DNA Have Telepathic Properties?-A Galaxy Insight - 2009
Excerpt: The recognition of similar sequences in DNA’s chemical subunits, occurs in a way unrecognized by science. There is no known reason why the DNA is able to combine the way it does, and from a current theoretical standpoint this feat should be chemically impossible.
http://www.dailygalaxy.com/my_weblog/2009/04/does-dna-have-t.html
The Real Bioinformatics Revolution - Proteins and Nucleic Acids 'Singing' to One Another?
Excerpt: the molecules send out specific frequencies of electromagnetic waves which not only enable them to ‘see' and ‘hear' each other, as both photon and phonon modes exist for electromagnetic waves, but also to influence each other at a distance and become ineluctably drawn to each other if vibrating out of phase (in a complementary way).,,, More than 1,000 proteins from over 30 functional groups have been analysed. Remarkably, the results showed that proteins with the same biological function share a single frequency peak while there is no significant peak in common for proteins with different functions; furthermore the characteristic peak frequency differs for different biological functions.,,, The same results were obtained when regulatory DNA sequences were analysed.
http://www.i-sis.org.uk/TheRealBioinformaticsRevolution.php
http://www.scivee.tv/node/25476
It turns out that quantum information has been confirmed to be in protein structures as well;
Coherent Intrachain energy migration at room temperature - Elisabetta Collini & Gregory Scholes - University of Toronto - Science, 323, (2009), pp. 369-73Here's another measure for quantum information in protein structures:
Excerpt: The authors conducted an experiment to observe quantum coherence dynamics in relation to energy transfer. The experiment, conducted at room temperature, examined chain conformations, such as those found in the proteins of living cells. Neighbouring molecules along the backbone of a protein chain were seen to have coherent energy transfer. Where this happens quantum decoherence (the underlying tendency to loss of coherence due to interaction with the environment) is able to be resisted, and the evolution of the system remains entangled as a single quantum state.
http://www.scimednet.org/quantum-coherence-living-cells-and-protein/
Quantum states in proteins and protein assemblies:
The essence of life? - STUART HAMEROFF, JACK TUSZYNSKI
Excerpt: It is, in fact, the hydrophobic effect and attractions among non-polar hydrophobic groups by van der Waals forces which drive protein folding. Although the confluence of hydrophobic side groups are small, roughly 1/30 to 1/250 of protein volumes, they exert enormous influence in the regulation of protein dynamics and function. Several hydrophobic pockets may work cooperatively in a single protein (Figure 2, Left). Hydrophobic pockets may be considered the “brain” or nervous system of each protein.,,, Proteins, lipids and nucleic acids are composed of constituent molecules which have both non-polar and polar regions on opposite ends. In an aqueous medium the non-polar regions of any of these components will join together to form hydrophobic regions where quantum forces reign.
http://www.tony5m17h.net/SHJTQprotein.pdf
Myosin Coherence
Excerpt: Quantum physics and molecular biology are two disciplines that have evolved relatively independently. However, recently a wealth of evidence has demonstrated the importance of quantum mechanics for biological systems and thus a new field of quantum biology is emerging. Living systems have mastered the making and breaking of chemical bonds, which are quantum mechanical phenomena. Absorbance of frequency specific radiation (e.g. photosynthesis and vision), conversion of chemical energy into mechanical motion (e.g. ATP cleavage) and single electron transfers through biological polymers (e.g. DNA or proteins) are all quantum mechanical effects.
http://www.energetic-medicine.net/bioenergetic-articles/articles/63/1/Myosin-Coherence/Page1.html
Proteins with cruise control provide new perspective:The preceding is solid confirmation that far more complex information resides in proteins than meets the eye, for the calculus equations used for ‘cruise control’, that must somehow reside within the quantum information that is ‘constraining’ the entire protein structure to its ‘normal’ state, is anything but ‘simple classical information’. For a sample of the equations that must be dealt with, to ‘engineer’ even a simple process control loop like cruise control along a entire protein structure, please see this following site:
Excerpt: “A mathematical analysis of the experiments showed that the proteins themselves acted to correct any imbalance imposed on them through artificial mutations and restored the chain to working order.”
http://www.princeton.edu/main/news/archive/S22/60/95O56/
PID controllerIt is very interesting to note that quantum entanglement, which conclusively demonstrates that ‘information’ in its pure 'quantum form' is completely transcendent of any time and space constraints, should be found in molecular biology on such a massive scale, for how can the quantum entanglement 'effect' in biology possibly be explained by a material (matter/energy) 'cause' when the quantum entanglement 'effect' falsified material particles as its own 'causation' in the first place? (A. Aspect) Appealing to the probability of various configurations of material particles, as Darwinism does, simply will not help since a timeless/spaceless cause must be supplied which is beyond the capacity of the material particles themselves to supply! To give a coherent explanation for an effect that is shown to be completely independent of any time and space constraints one is forced to appeal to a cause that is itself not limited to time and space! i.e. Put more simply, you cannot explain a effect by a cause that has been falsified by the very same effect you are seeking to explain! Improbability arguments of various 'special' configurations of material particles, which have been a staple of the arguments against neo-Darwinism, simply do not apply since the cause is not within the material particles in the first place! Yet it is also very interesting to note, in Darwinism's inability to explain this 'transcendent quantum effect' adequately, that Theism has always postulated a transcendent component to man that is not constrained by time and space. i.e. Theism has always postulated a 'living soul' for man that lives past the death of the body.
Excerpt: A proportional–integral–derivative controller (PID controller) is a generic control loop feedback mechanism (controller) widely used in industrial control systems. A PID controller attempts to correct the error between a measured process variable and a desired setpoint by calculating and then outputting a corrective action that can adjust the process accordingly and rapidly, to keep the error minimal.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PID_controller
Genesis 2:7
"And the LORD God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul."
Falsification Of Neo-Darwinism by Quantum Entanglement/Information
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1p8AQgqFqiRQwyaF8t1_CKTPQ9duN8FHU9-pV4oBDOVs/edit?hl=en_US
Does Quantum Biology Support A Quantum Soul? – Stuart Hameroff - video (notes in description)
http://vimeo.com/29895068
A few comments on ‘non-local’ epigenetic information implicated in 3-D spatial organization of Body Plans:
https://docs.google.com/document/pub?id=1iNy78O6ZpU8wpFIgkILi85TvhC9mSqzUSE_jzbksoHY
Here are several more scriptures on man's 'eternal soul' at this following site:
Bible Reference Notes: “Hell and the Eternal Soul.”
http://defendingcontending.com/2008/04/04/bible-reference-notes-hell-and-the-eternal-soul/
Further notes:
The Unbearable Wholeness of Beings - Steve TalbottThe ‘Fourth Dimension’ Of Living Systems
Excerpt: Virtually the same collection of molecules exists in the canine cells during the moments immediately before and after death. But after the fateful transition no one will any longer think of genes as being regulated, nor will anyone refer to normal or proper chromosome functioning. No molecules will be said to guide other molecules to specific targets, and no molecules will be carrying signals, which is just as well because there will be no structures recognizing signals. Code, information, and communication, in their biological sense, will have disappeared from the scientist’s vocabulary.
http://www.thenewatlantis.com/publications/the-unbearable-wholeness-of-beings
https://docs.google.com/document/pub?id=1Gs_qvlM8-7bFwl9rZUB9vS6SZgLH17eOZdT4UbPoy0Y
Quantum no-hiding theorem experimentally confirmed for first time - March 2011Does the fact that quantum information, which cannot be created nor destroyed, is found in molecular biology, at such a foundational level and such a massive scale, provide conclusive proof for the 'living soul' of man??? Well, all by itself, maybe not 'conclusive proof' in the strictest sense of the notion, but it certainly makes the question 'Does man have a living soul?' a whole lot more integrated to how the foundation of reality itself is found to be structured! i.e. Makes it far more credible scientifically!
Excerpt: In the classical world, information can be copied and deleted at will. In the quantum world, however, the conservation of quantum information means that information cannot be created nor destroyed.
http://www.physorg.com/news/2011-03-quantum-no-hiding-theorem-experimentally.html
Quantum no-deleting theorem
Excerpt: A stronger version of the no-cloning theorem and the no-deleting theorem provide permanence to quantum information. To create a copy one must import the information from some part of the universe and to delete a state one needs to export it to another part of the universe where it will continue to exist.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quantum_no-deleting_theorem#Consequence
Of related interest, this following article is interesting for it draws attention to the fact that humans 'just so happen' to be near the logarithmic center of the universe, between Planck's length and the cosmic horizon of the cosmic background radiation (10^-33 cm and 10^28 cm respectively) .
The View from the Centre of the Universe by Nancy Ellen Abrams and Joel R. PrimackScale of the Universe (From Planck length to the Cosmic Background Radiation) - interactive scale
Excerpt: The size of a human being is near the centre of all possible sizes.
http://www.popularscience.co.uk/features/feat24.htm
http://primaxstudio.com/stuff/scale_of_universe/
As to the fact that, as far as the solar system itself is concerned, the earth is not 'central', I find the fact that this seemingly insignificant earth is found to revolve around the much more massive sun to be a 'poetic reflection' of our true spiritual condition. In regards to God's 'kingdom of light', are we not to keep in mind our lives are to be guided by the much higher purpose which is tied to our future in God's kingdom of light? Are we not to avoid placing too much emphasis on what this world has to offer, since it is so much more insignificant than what heaven has to offer?
Louie Giglio - How Great Is Our God - Part 2 - video
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bfNiZrt5FjU
You could fit 262 trillion earths inside (the star of) Betelgeuse. If the Earth were a golfball that would be enough to fill up the Superdome (football stadium) with golfballs,,, 3000 times!!! When I heard that as a teenager that stumped me right there because most of my praying had been advising God, correcting God, suggesting things to God, drawing diagrams for God, reviewing things with God, counseling God. - Louie GiglioSara Groves - You Are The Sun - Music video
"I believe in Christianity as I believe that the sun has risen. Not only because I see it, but because by it I see everything else." -
C.S. Lewis
http://www.metacafe.com/watch/3993951/
Psalm 8: 3-4Journey Through the Universe - George Smoot- Frank Turek - video
When I consider Your heavens, the work of Your fingers, The moon and the stars, which You have ordained; What is man that You take thought of him, And the son of man that You care for him?
http://www.metacafe.com/watch/3993965/
The Catholic church put Galileo on trial for teaching planets revolve around the sun. They found him guilty of heresy; forced him to recant publicly what he had written; then placed him under house arrest. The religious leaders are said to have done this to Galileo because this supposed 'heresy' of Galileo is thought to have upset the basic biblical belief of man being made in God's image. Though the actual story of how science and religion became separated is a lot subtler than what is currently believed from the Galileo affair, (Why Galileo was Wrong, Even Though He was Right), this particular episode between the church and Galileo is now generally looked at as the start of what most people presume is a great divide between science and religion which has lasted for several centuries. Yet despite this common perception of a great divide, within the last century there has been a veritable avalanche of discovery, from many diverse fields of science, which has greatly narrowed this perception of a 'great divide' between science and religion.
The Return of the God Hypothesis - Stephen Meyer
http://www.arn.org/docs/meyer/sm_returnofgod.pdf
video lecture:
http://www.watermarkradio.com/index.php?id=153&channel=237&series=140&message=0
Multiple Competing Worldviews - Stephen Meyer on John Ankerberg - video - November 4, 2011
http://www.lightsource.com/ministry/ankerberg-show/player/discovery-four-the-complexity-and-design-of-the-human-cell-222384.html
Richard Dawkins Lies About William Lane Craig AND Logic! - video and article defending each argument
https://docs.google.com/document/pub?id=1P6L_QtpZ1pSyOjWvuEOXBWqLFZPdSAWor-MTzKbpVC0
Evidence For the Existence of God - William Lane Craig - video lecture defending each argument
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8hW3ceQYxic
The narrowing of this great divide started with astronomer Edwin Hubble's (1889-1953) discovery, in 1929, of galaxies speeding away from each other. This, as well as many other discoveries confirming the Big Bang, has firmly established the universe actually had a beginning just as theologians have always claimed that it does.
Beyond The Big Bang: William Lane Craig Templeton Foundation Lecture (HQ) 1/6 - video
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=esqGaLSWgNc
William Lane Craig vs Peter Millican: "Does God Exist?", Birmingham University, October 2011 - video
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fEw8VzzXcjE
The Scientific Evidence For The Big Bang - Michael Strauss PhD. - video
http://www.metacafe.com/watch/4323668
Evidence Supporting the Big Bang
http://www.astronomynotes.com/cosmolgy/s7.htm
Quantum Evidence for a Theistic Big Bang
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1agaJIWjPWHs5vtMx5SkpaMPbantoP471k0lNBUXg0Xo/edit
The best data we have [concerning the Big Bang] are exactly what I would have predicted, had I nothing to go on but the five books of Moses, the Psalms, the bible as a whole.Prof. Henry F. Schaefer cites several interesting quotes, from leading scientists in the field of Big Bang cosmology, about the Theological implications of the Big Bang in the following video:
Dr. Arno Penzias, Nobel Laureate in Physics - co-discoverer of the Cosmic Background Radiation - as stated to the New York Times on March 12, 1978
“Certainly there was something that set it all off,,, I can’t think of a better theory of the origin of the universe to match Genesis”
Robert Wilson – Nobel laureate – co-discover Cosmic Background Radiation
http://www.evidenceforchristianity.org/index.php?option=com_custom_content&task=view&id=3594
“There is no doubt that a parallel exists between the big bang as an event and the Christian notion of creation from nothing.”
George Smoot – Nobel laureate in 2006 for his work on COBE
“,,,the astronomical evidence leads to a biblical view of the origin of the world,,, the essential element in the astronomical and biblical accounts of Genesis is the same.”
Robert Jastrow – Founder of NASA’s Goddard Institute – Pg.15 ‘God and the Astronomers’
,,, 'And if your curious about how Genesis 1, in particular, fairs. Hey, we look at the Days in Genesis as being long time periods, which is what they must be if you read the Bible consistently, and the Bible scores 4 for 4 in Initial Conditions and 10 for 10 on the Creation Events'
Hugh Ross - Evidence For Intelligent Design Is Everywhere; video
The Big Bang and the God of the Bible - Henry Schaefer PhD. - video
http://www.metacafe.com/w/5222493
Entire video:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fSThtmA1J_U
"The Big Bang represents an immensely powerful, yet carefully planned and controlled release of matter, energy, space and time. All this is accomplished within the strict confines of very carefully fine-tuned physical constants and laws. The power and care this explosion reveals exceeds human mental capacity by multiple orders of magnitude."The Creation Of The Universe (Kalam Cosmological Argument)- Lee Strobel - William Lane Craig - video
Prof. Henry F. Schaefer - closing statement of part 5 of preceding video
http://www.metacafe.com/watch/3993987/
Dr. William Lane Craig defends the Kalam Cosmological argument for the existence of God against various attempted refutations - video playlist
http://www.youtube.com/view_play_list?p=916E17EE70E98A68
Hugh Ross PhD. - Evidence For The Transcendent Origin Of The Universe - video
http://www.metacafe.com/watch/4347185
What Atheists Just Don't Get (About God) - Video
http://www.metacafe.com/watch/3192755/
What Contemporary Physics and Philosophy Tell Us About Nature and God - Fr. Spitzer & Dr. Bruce Gordon (Dr. Gordon speaks for the last 25 minutes) - video
http://www.mefeedia.com/watch/32512834
Formal Proof For The Transcendent Origin Of the Universe - William Lane Craig - video
http://www.metacafe.com/watch/4170233
Are Many Worlds and the Multiverse the Same Idea? - Sean CarrollHow Atheists Take Alexander Vilenkin (& the BVG Theorem) Out Of Context - William Lane Craig - video
Excerpt: When cosmologists talk about “the multiverse,” it’s a slightly poetic term. We really just mean different regions of spacetime, far away so that we can’t observe them, but nevertheless still part of what one might reasonably want to call “the universe.” In inflationary cosmology, however, these different regions can be relatively self-contained — “pocket universes,” as Alan Guth calls them.
http://unitedgeorgians.blogspot.com/2011/08/are-many-worlds-and-multiverse-same.html
"The prediction of the standard model that the universe began to exist remains today as secure as ever—indeed, more secure, in light of the Borde-Guth-Vilenkin theorem and that prediction’s corroboration by the repeated and often imaginative attempts to falsify it. The person who believes that the universe began to exist remains solidly and comfortably within mainstream science." - William Lane Craig
http://www.reasonablefaith.org/site/News2?page=NewsArticle&id=6115
Inflationary spacetimes are not past-complete - Borde-Guth-Vilenkin - 2003
Excerpt: inflationary models require physics other than inflation to describe the past boundary of the inflating region of spacetime.
http://arxiv.org/abs/gr-qc/0110012
“In this context, a proposal that the universe was created from empty space is no more fundamental than a proposal that the universe was spawned by a piece of rubber. It might be true, but one would still want to ask where the piece of rubber came from.” – Alan Guth
http://www.uncommondescent.com/intelligent-design/cosmology-hawking-replaces-god-with-hocus-pocus/
Here is a video of Alan Guth,,,
Did Our Universe have a Beginning? (Alan Guth) - video
http://www.closertotruth.com/video-profile/Did-Our-Universe-have-a-Beginning-Alan-Guth-/856
,,,Where towards the very end of the video, after considering some fairly exotic materialistic scenarios of 'eternal inflation' of 'pocket universes', Alan Guth concedes that "The ultimate theory for the origin of the universe is still very much up for grabs".
Alexander Vilenkin is far more direct than Alan Guth:
"It is said that an argument is what convinces reasonable men and a proof is what it takes to convince even an unreasonable man. With the proof now in place, cosmologists can long longer hide behind the possibility of a past eternal universe. There is no escape, they have to face the problem of a cosmic beginning." Alexander Vilenkin - Many Worlds In One - Pg. 176
"The conclusion is that past-eternal inflation is impossible without a beginning."
Alexander Vilenkin - from pg. 35 'New Proofs for the Existence of God' by Robert J. Spitzer (of note: A elegant thought experiment of a space traveler traveling to another galaxy, that Borde, Guth, and Vilenkin, used to illustrate the validity of the proof, is on pg. 35 of the book as well.)
“All the evidence we have says that the universe had a beginning.” -
Cosmologist Alexander Vilenkin of Tufts University in Boston
http://www.uncommondescent.com/intelligent-design/vilenkins-verdict-all-the-evidence-we-have-says-that-the-universe-had-a-beginning/
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z79FGmh50Xo
Genesis 1:1-3This following video gives a very small glimpse at the power involved when God said 'Let there be light':
In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. The earth was without form, and void; and darkness was on the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters. Then God said, "Let there be light"; and there was light.
God's Creative and Sustaining Word - Dr. Don Johnson - video
http://vimeo.com/12995464
The following video and article are very suggestive as to providing almost tangible proof for God 'speaking' reality into existence:
The Deep Connection Between Sound & Reality - Evan Grant - Allosphere - video
http://www.metacafe.com/watch/4672092
Music of the sun recorded by scientists - June 2010The following video is cool:
Excerpt: The sun has been the inspiration for hundreds of songs, but now scientists have discovered that the star at the centre of our solar system produces its own music.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/science/space/7840201/Music-of-the-sun-recorded-by-scientists.html
What pi sounds like (when put to music) - cool video
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YOQb_mtkEEE
It is also very interesting to note that among all the 'holy' books, of all the major religions in the world, only the Holy Bible was correct in its claim for a transcendent origin of the universe. Some later 'holy' books, such as the Mormon text "Pearl of Great Price" and the Qur'an, copy the concept of a transcendent origin from the Bible but also include teachings that are inconsistent with that now established fact. (Ross; Why The Universe Is The Way It Is; Pg. 228; Chpt.9; note 5)
The Most Important Verse in the Bible - Prager University - video
http://www.prageruniversity.com/Religion-Philosophy/The-Most-Important-Verse-in-the-Bible.html
The Uniqueness of Genesis 1:1 - William Lane Craig - video
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tBXdQCkISo0
This discovery, of a beginning for the universe, has crushed the materialistic belief that postulated the universe has always existed and had no beginning.
Little known by most people is the fact that almost every, if not every, major branch of modern science has been founded by a scientist who believed in Christ:
Christianity and The Birth of Science - Michael Bumbulis, Ph.DChristianity Gave Birth To Each Scientific Discipline - Dr. Henry Fritz Schaefer - video
Excerpt: Furthermore, many of these founders of science lived at a time when others publicly expressed views quite contrary to Christianity - Hume, Hobbes, Darwin, etc. When Boyle argues against Hobbe's materialism or Kelvin argues against Darwin's assumptions, you don't have a case of "closet atheists."
http://ldolphin.org/bumbulis/
http://www.tektonics.org
http://vimeo.com/16523153
In this short video, Dr. Stephen Meyer notes that the early scientists were Christians whose faith motivated them to learn more about their Creator…
Dr. Meyer on the Christian History of Science - video
http://www.thetruthproject.org/about/culturefocus/A000000287.cfm
A Short List Of The Christian Founders Of Modern Science
http://www.creationsafaris.com/wgcs_toc.htm
Founders of Modern Science Who Believe in GOD - Tihomir Dimitrov
http://www.scigod.com/index.php/sgj/article/viewFile/18/18
The following is a good essay, by Robert C. Koons, in which the popular misconception of a war between science and religion, that neo-Darwinists often use in public to defend their, ironically, pseudo-scientific position, is in fact a gross misrepresentation of the facts. For not only does Robert Koons find Theism, particularly Chistian Theism, absolutely vital to the founding of modern science, but also argues that the Theistic worldview is necessary for the long term continued success of science into the future:
Science and Theism: Concord, not Conflict* – Robert C. KoonsChristianity Is a Science-Starter, Not a Science-Stopper By Nancy Pearcey
IV. The Dependency of Science Upon Theism (Page 21)
Excerpt: Far from undermining the credibility of theism, the remarkable success of science in modern times is a remarkable confirmation of the truth of theism. It was from the perspective of Judeo-Christian theism—and from the perspective alone—that it was predictable that science would have succeeded as it has. Without the faith in the rational intelligibility of the world and the divine vocation of human beings to master it, modern science would never have been possible, and, even today, the continued rationality of the enterprise of science depends on convictions that can be reasonably grounded only in theistic metaphysics.
http://www.robkoons.net/media/69b0dd04a9d2fc6dffff80b3ffffd524.pdf
The Origin of Science
Excerpt: Modern science is not only compatible with Christianity, it in fact finds its origins in Christianity.
http://www.columbia.edu/cu/augustine/a/science_origin.html
Jerry Coyne on the Scientific Method and Religion - Michael Egnor - June 2011
Excerpt: The scientific method -- the empirical systematic theory-based study of nature -- has nothing to so with some religious inspirations -- Animism, Paganism, Buddhism, Hinduism, Shintoism, Islam, and, well, atheism. The scientific method has everything to do with Christian (and Jewish) inspiration. Judeo-Christian culture is the only culture that has given rise to organized theoretical science. Many cultures (e.g. China) have produced excellent technology and engineering, but only Christian culture has given rise to a conceptual understanding of nature.
http://www.evolutionnews.org/2011/06/jerry_coyne_on_the_scientific_047431.html
http://www.pearceyreport.com/archives/2005/09/post_4.php
The 'Person Of Christ' was, and is, necessary for science to start and persist!
http://www.uncommondescent.com/intelligent-design/she-said-it-nancey-pearceys-thoughtful-article-on-how-%E2%80%9Cchristianity-is-a-science-starter-not-a-science-stopper%E2%80%9D/#comment-385265
Bruce Charlton's Miscellany - October 2011In spite of the fact that modern science can be forcefully argued to owe its very existence to Christianity, many scientists before Hubble's discovery had been swayed by the materialistic philosophy and had thus falsely presumed the universe itself was infinite in size as well as falsely presumed it was eternal in duration. This 'simplistic' conclusion of theirs seems to stem from the fact that it is self evident that something cannot come from nothing, and they simply could not envision the logical necessity of a eternal transcendent Being who created this material realm. The materialistic philosophy was slightly supported by the first law of thermodynamics which states energy can neither be created nor destroyed by any material means. This belief of the universe having no beginning had held the upper hand in scientific circles even though the very next law, the second law of thermodynamics, 'entropy', or the law of universal decay into equilibrium, had raised some serious doubts about the validity of believing the universe had no beginning. As well in mathematics, in overlapping congruence with entropy, the mathematical impossibility of a temporal infinite regression of causes demanded a beginning for the universe; i.e. the existence of a material reality within time called for an 'Alpha', an 'Uncaused Cause', for the material universe that transcends the material universe.
Excerpt: I had discovered that over the same period of the twentieth century that the US had risen to scientific eminence it had undergone a significant Christian revival. ,,,The point I put to (Richard) Dawkins was that the USA was simultaneously by-far the most dominant scientific nation in the world (I knew this from various scientometic studies I was doing at the time) and by-far the most religious (Christian) nation in the world. How, I asked, could this be - if Christianity was culturally inimical to science?
http://charltonteaching.blogspot.com/2011/10/meeting-richard-dawkins-and-his-wife.html
William Lane Craig - Hilbert's Hotel - The Absurdity Of An Infinite Regress Of 'Things' - video
http://www.metacafe.com/watch/3994011/
Time Cannot Be Infinite Into The Past - video
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xg0pdUvQdi4
If there's a beginning, must there be a cause for that beginning? - Stephen Meyer - video
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k7z6l8AUet4
Does God Exist? - Argument From The Origin Of Nature - Kirk Durston - video
http://www.metacafe.com/watch/4171846/
entire video:
http://vimeo.com/1786558
The First Cause Must Be Different From All Other Causes - T.G. Peeler
http://www.uncommondescent.com/intelligent-design/genomic-junk-and-evolution/#comment-358648
Einstein's general relativity equation has now been extended to confirm not only did matter and energy have a beginning in the Big Bang, but space-time also had a beginning. i.e. The Big Bang was an absolute origin of space-time, matter-energy, and as such demands a cause which transcends space-time, matter-energy.
"Every solution to the equations of general relativity guarantees the existence of a singular boundary for space and time in the past."In conjunction with the mathematical, and logical, necessity of an 'Uncaused Cause' to explain the beginning of the universe, in philosophy it has been shown that,,,
(Hawking, Penrose, Ellis) - 1970
http://www.leaderu.com/real/ri9404/bigbang.html
"The 'First Mover' is necessary for change occurring at each moment."I find this centuries old philosophical argument, for the necessity of a 'First Mover' accounting for change occurring at each moment, to be validated by quantum mechanics. One line of evidence arises from the smallest indivisible unit of time; Planck time:
Michael Egnor - Aquinas’ First Way
http://www.evolutionnews.org/2009/09/jerry_coyne_and_aquinas_first.html
Planck timeThe 'first mover' is further warranted to be necessary from quantum mechanics since the possibility for the universe to be considered a self-sustaining 'closed loop' of cause and effect is removed with the refutation of the 'hidden variable' argument, as first postulated by Einstein, in quantum entanglement experiments. As well, there also must be a sufficient transcendent cause (God/First Mover) to explain quantum wave collapse for 'each moment' of the universe.
Excerpt: One Planck time is the time it would take a photon travelling at the speed of light to cross a distance equal to one Planck length. Theoretically, this is the smallest time measurement that will ever be possible,[3] roughly 10^−43 seconds. Within the framework of the laws of physics as we understand them today, for times less than one Planck time apart, we can neither measure nor detect any change. As of May 2010, the smallest time interval that was directly measured was on the order of 12 attoseconds (12 × 10^−18 seconds),[4] about 10^24 times larger than the Planck time.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Planck_time
God is the ultimate existence which grounds all of reality
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1yHEwK2ZOlyiobVOJ9i-_FiFz37pVj0sQ-viPZu9V_dA/edit
It is also interesting to note that materialists, instead of honestly dealing with the obvious theistic implications of quantum mechanics, will many times invoke something called Everett's Many Worlds interpretation, also referred to as decoherence, when dealing with quantum mechanics. Yet this 'solution' ends up creating profound absurdities of logic rather than providing any rational solution:
Quantum mechanicsPerhaps some may say that Everett’s Many Worlds interpretation of infinite parallel universes is not so absurd after all, if so,, then in some other parallel universe in which you also live, Elvis just so happens to be president of the United states, and you just so happen to come to the opposite conclusion, in that parallel universe, that Many Worlds is in fact absurd! For me, I find that type of 'flexible thinking', stemming from Many Worlds, to be completely absurd!!! Moreover, that one example from Many Worlds, of Elvis being President, is just small potatoes to the levels of absurdity that we would actually be witnessing if Many Worlds were the truth for how reality was constructed.
Excerpt: The Everett many-worlds interpretation, formulated in 1956, holds that all the possibilities described by quantum theory simultaneously occur in a multiverse composed of mostly independent parallel universes.[39] This is not accomplished by introducing some new axiom to quantum mechanics, but on the contrary by removing the axiom of the collapse of the wave packet:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quantum_mechanics
As a interesting sidelight to this, Einstein hated the loss of determinism that quantum mechanics brought forth to physics, as illustrated by his infamous 'God does not play dice' quote. yet on a deeper philosophical level, I’ve heard one physics professor say something to the effect that the lack of strict determinism in quantum wave collapse actually restored the free will of man to its rightful place, or probably more correctly he said something more like this,,, ‘The proof of free will is found in the indeterminacy of the quantum wave collapse'. I find this statement to be especially true now that conscious observation is shown to be primary to quantum wave collapse to a quasi-3D particle state, for how could our thoughts truly be free if they were merely the result of particle fluctuations in our brain, whether random or deterministic fluctuations of particles? Moreover as is quite obvious to most people, free will is taken as seriously true by all societies, or else why should we spank our children or punish anybody in jails if they truly had no free will to control their actions? Indeed what right would God have to judge anyone if they truly had no free will?
Though I feel very, very, comfortable with how the evidence fits the Theistic model of Quantum Mechanics, in which God is the cause of wave function/packet collapse to each unique observer in the universe, The following article deconstructs many, if not all, of the 'alternative' Quantum Mechanic Models.
The Metaphysics of Quantum Mechanics - James Daniel Sinclair - October 2010This following video is very good, and easy to understand, for pointing out some of the unanswerable dilemmas that quantum mechanics presents to the atheistic philosophy of materialism as materialism is popularly understood:
Abstract: Is the science of Quantum Mechanics the greatest threat to Christianity? Some years ago the journal Christianity Today suggested precisely that. It is true that QM is a daunting subject. This barrier is largely responsible for the fear. But when the veil is torn away, the study of QM builds a remarkably robust Christian apologetic. When pragmatic & logically invalid interpretations are removed, there remain four possibilities for the nature of reality (based on the work of philosopher Henry Stapp). Additional analysis shows two are exclusive to theism. The third can be formulated with or without God. The last is consistent only with atheism. By considering additional criteria, options that deny God can be shown to be false.
http://www.reasons.org/resources/non-staff-papers/the-metaphysics-of-quantum-mechanics
Dr. Quantum - Double Slit Experiment & Entanglement - video
http://www.metacafe.com/watch/4096579/
This following experiment extended Wheeler's delayed choice double slit experiment, which I referenced earlier, to highlight the centrality of 'information' in the Double Slit Experiment and refutes any 'detector centered' arguments for why the wave collapses:
The Experiment That Debunked Materialism - video - (delayed choice quantum eraser)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6xKUass7G8w
(Double Slit) A Delayed Choice Quantum Eraser - updated 2007i.e. This experiment clearly shows that the ‘material’ detector is secondary in the experiment and that a conscious observer, being able to know the information of which path a photon takes with local certainty, is primary to the wave collapsing to a particle in the experiment.
Excerpt: Upon accessing the information gathered by the Coincidence Circuit, we the observer are shocked to learn that the pattern shown by the positions registered at D0 (Detector Zero) at Time 2 depends entirely on the information gathered later at Time 4 and available to us at the conclusion of the experiment.
http://www.bottomlayer.com/bottom/kim-scully/kim-scully-web.htm
It is also very interesting to note that some materialists seem to have a very hard time grasping the simple point of these extended double slit experiments, but to try to put it more clearly; To explain an event which defies time and space, as the quantum erasure experiment clearly does, you cannot appeal to any material entity in the experiment like the detector, or any other 3D physical part of the experiment, which is itself constrained by the limits of time and space. To give an adequate explanation for defying time and space one is forced to appeal to a transcendent entity which is itself not confined by time or space. But then again I guess I can see why forcing someone, who claims to be a atheistic materialist, to appeal to a non-material transcendent entity, to give an adequate explanation for such a ‘spooky’ event, would invoke such utter confusion on their part. Yet to try to put it in even more ‘shocking’ terms for the atheists, the ‘shocking’ conclusion of the experiment is that a transcendent Mind, with a capital M, must precede the collapse of quantum waves to 3-Dimensional particles. Moreover, it is impossible for a human mind to ever ‘emerge’ from any 3-D material basis which is dependent on a preceding conscious cause for its own collapse to a 3D state in the first place. This is more than a slight problem for the atheistic-evolutionary materialist who insists that our minds simply ‘emerged’, or evolved, from a conglomeration of 3D matter. In the following article Professor Henry puts it more clearly than I can:
The Mental Universe - Richard Conn Henry - Professor of Physics John Hopkins UniversityAstrophysicist John Gribbin comments on the Renninger experiment here:
Excerpt: The only reality is mind and observations, but observations are not of things. To see the Universe as it really is, we must abandon our tendency to conceptualize observations as things.,,, Physicists shy away from the truth because the truth is so alien to everyday physics. A common way to evade the mental universe is to invoke "decoherence" - the notion that "the physical environment" is sufficient to create reality, independent of the human mind. Yet the idea that any irreversible act of amplification is necessary to collapse the wave function is known to be wrong: in "Renninger-type" experiments, the wave function is collapsed simply by your human mind seeing nothing. The universe is entirely mental,,,, The Universe is immaterial — mental and spiritual. Live, and enjoy.
http://henry.pha.jhu.edu/The.mental.universe.pdf
Solving the quantum mysteries - John Gribbini.e. The detector is completely removed as to being the primary cause of quantum wave collapse in the experiment. As Richard Conn Henry clearly implied previously, in the experiment it is found that 'The physical environment' IS NOT sufficient within itself to 'create reality', i.e. 'The physical environment' IS NOT sufficient to explain quantum wave collapse to a 'uncertain' 3D particle.
Excerpt: From a 50:50 probability of the flash occurring either on the hemisphere or on the outer sphere, the quantum wave function has collapsed into a 100 per cent certainty that the flash will occur on the outer sphere. But this has happened without the observer actually "observing" anything at all! It is purely a result of a change in the observer's knowledge about what is going on in the experiment.
http://www.lifesci.sussex.ac.uk/home/John_Gribbin/quantum.htm#Solving
Why, who makes much of a miracle? As to me, I know of nothing else but miracles, Whether I walk the streets of Manhattan, Or dart my sight over the roofs of houses toward the sky,,,That the mind of a individual observer would play such an integral, yet not complete ‘closed loop’ role, in instantaneous quantum wave collapse to uncertain 3-D particles, gives us clear evidence that our mind is a unique entity. A unique entity with a superior quality of existence when compared to the uncertain 3D particles of the material universe. This is clear evidence for the existence of the ‘higher dimensional mind’ of man that supersedes any material basis that the mind has been purported to emerge from by materialists. I would also like to point out that the ‘effect’, of universal quantum wave collapse to each ‘central 3D observer’ in the universe (Wheeler; Delayed Choice, Wigner; Quantum Symmetries), gives us clear evidence of the extremely special importance that the ’cause’ of the ‘Infinite Mind of God’ places on each of our own individual souls/minds.
Walt Whitman - Miracles
Psalm 139:17-18These following studies and videos confirm this 'superior quality' of existence for our souls/minds:
How precious concerning me are your thoughts, O God! How vast is the sum of them! Were I to count them, they would outnumber the grains of sand. When I awake, I am still with you.
Darwinian Evolution Vs. Consciousness (Soul) - video (notes in description of video)
http://www.metacafe.com/watch/7913605/
Alvin Plantinga and the Modal Argument (for the existence of the soul) - video
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WOTn_wRwDE0
Miracle Of Mind-Brain Recovery Following Hemispherectomies - Dr. Ben Carson - video
http://www.metacafe.com/watch/3994585/
Removing Half of Brain Improves Young Epileptics' Lives:‘Surprisingly’, at the molecular level, the cells of the brain are found to be extremely ‘plastic’ to changes in ‘activity in the brain’ which is, or course, completely contrary to the reductive materialistic view of the mind ‘emerging’ from the material brain;
Excerpt: "We are awed by the apparent retention of memory and by the retention of the child's personality and sense of humor,'' Dr. Eileen P. G. Vining; In further comment from the neuro-surgeons in the John Hopkins study: "Despite removal of one hemisphere, the intellect of all but one of the children seems either unchanged or improved. Intellect was only affected in the one child who had remained in a coma, vigil-like state, attributable to peri-operative complications."
http://www.nytimes.com/1997/08/19/science/removing-half-of-brain-improves-young-epileptics-lives.html
DNA Dynamism - PaV - October 2011Further notes on the transcendence of 'mind':
Excerpt: “It was mind-boggling to see that so many methylation sites — thousands of sites — had changed in status as a result of brain activity,” Song says. “We used to think that the brain’s epigenetic DNA methylation landscape was as stable as mountains and more recently realized that maybe it was a bit more subject to change, perhaps like trees occasionally bent in a storm. But now we show it is most of all like a river that reacts to storms of activity by moving and changing fast.”
http://www.uncommondescent.com/intelligent-design/dna-dynamism/
The Day I Died - Part 4 of 6 - The Extremely 'Monitored' Near Death Experience of Pam Reynolds - video
http://www.metacafe.com/watch/4045560
The following is on par with Pam Reynolds Near Death Experience. In the following video, Dr. Lloyd Rudy, a pioneer of cardiac surgery, tells stories of two patients who came back to life after being declared dead, and what they told him.
Famous Cardiac Surgeon’s Stories of Near Death Experiences in Surgery
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JL1oDuvQR08
The Scientific Evidence for Near Death Experiences - Dr Jeffery Long - Melvin Morse M.D. - video
http://www.metacafe.com/watch/4454627
Blind Woman Can See During Near Death Experience (NDE) - Pim von Lommel - video
http://www.metacafe.com/watch/3994599/
Kenneth Ring and Sharon Cooper (1997) conducted a study of 31 blind people, many of who reported vision during their Near Death Experiences (NDEs). 21 of these people had had an NDE while the remaining 10 had had an out-of-body experience (OBE), but no NDE. It was found that in the NDE sample, about half had been blind from birth. (of note: This 'anomaly' is also found for deaf people who can hear sound during their Near Death Experiences(NDEs).)
http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m2320/is_1_64/ai_65076875/
A neurosurgeon confronts the non-material nature of consciousness - December 2011Neurosurgeon Dr. Eben Alexander’s Near-Death Experience Defies Medical Model of Consciousness - audio interview
Excerpted quote: To me one thing that has emerged from my experience and from very rigorous analysis of that experience over several years, talking it over with others that I respect in neuroscience, and really trying to come up with an answer, is that consciousness outside of the brain is a fact. It’s an established fact. And of course, that was a hard place for me to get, coming from being a card-toting reductive materialist over decades. It was very difficult to get to knowing that consciousness, that there’s a soul of us that is not dependent on the brain.
http://www.uncommondescent.com/intelligent-design/he-said-it-a-neurosurgeon-confronts-the-non-material-nature-of-consciousness/
http://www.skeptiko.com/upload/skeptiko-154-eben-alexander.mp3
Of interest to Near Death Experiences is the fact that many Experiencers say that when they look at their body, while having a Near Death Experience, they find that their body is made of light. Well interestingly, it is found that humans emit 'ultra-weak' light;
Cellular Communication through LightCoast to Coast - Vicki's Near Death Experience (Blind From Birth) part 1 of 3
Excerpt: Information transfer is a life principle. On a cellular level we generally assume that molecules are carriers of information, yet there is evidence for non-molecular information transfer due to endogenous coherent light. This light is ultra-weak, is emitted by many organisms, including humans and is conventionally described as biophoton emission.
http://www.plosone.org/article/info%3Adoi%2F10.1371%2Fjournal.pone.0005086
Are humans really beings of light?
Excerpt: "We now know, today, that man is essentially a being of light.",,, "There are about 100,000 chemical reactions happening in every cell each second. The chemical reaction can only happen if the molecule which is reacting is excited by a photon... Once the photon has excited a reaction it returns to the field and is available for more reactions... We are swimming in an ocean of light."
http://viewzone2.com/dna.html
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e65KhcCS5-Y
Quote from preceding video: 'I was in a body and the only way that I can describe it was a body of energy, or of light. And this body had a form. It had a head. It had arms and it had legs. And it was like it was made out of light. And 'it' was everything that was me. All of my memories, my consciousness, everything.' -Also of 'spiritual interest' is the fact that many responses of the mind are found to defy time and space:
Vicky Noratuk
Quantum Consciousness - Time Flies Backwards? - Stuart Hameroff MDQuantum Coherence and Consciousness – Scientific Proof of ‘Mind’ – video
Excerpt: Dean Radin and Dick Bierman have performed a number of experiments of emotional response in human subjects. The subjects view a computer screen on which appear (at randomly varying intervals) a series of images, some of which are emotionally neutral, and some of which are highly emotional (violent, sexual....). In Radin and Bierman's early studies, skin conductance of a finger was used to measure physiological response They found that subjects responded strongly to emotional images compared to neutral images, and that the emotional response occurred between a fraction of a second to several seconds BEFORE the image appeared! Recently Professor Bierman (University of Amsterdam) repeated these experiments with subjects in an fMRI brain imager and found emotional responses in brain activity up to 4 seconds before the stimuli. Moreover he looked at raw data from other laboratories and found similar emotional responses before stimuli appeared.
http://www.quantumconsciousness.org/views/TimeFlies.html
http://www.metacafe.com/watch/6266865/
Particular quote of note from preceding video;
“Wolf Singer Director of the Max Planck Institute for Brain Research (Frankfurt) has found evidence of simultaneous oscillations in separate areas of the cortex, accurately synchronized in phase as well as frequency. He suggests that the oscillations are synchronized from some common source, but the actual source has never been located.”In part three of this following video is a very interesting finding that indicates that 'transcendent' quantum coherence within the brain is far less active upon a person entering a sleeping state:
James J. Hurtak, Ph.D.
Brain ‘entanglement’ could explain memories - January 2010
Excerpt: In both cases, the researchers noticed that the voltage of the electrical signal in groups of neurons separated by up to 10 millimetres sometimes rose and fell with exactly the same rhythm. These patterns of activity, dubbed “coherence potentials”, often started in one set of neurons, only to be mimicked or “cloned” by others milliseconds later. They were also much more complicated than the simple phase-locked oscillations and always matched each other in amplitude as well as in frequency. (Perfect clones) “The precision with which these new sites pick up on the activity of the initiating group is quite astounding – they are perfect clones,” says Plen
http://www.uncommondescent.com/mind/mind-quantum-mechanics-provides-clues-to-human-thinking/comment-page-1/#comment-399098
Through The Wormhole S2 E1 (1/6)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hgIhvavqIeY
The preceding 'quantum evidence' provides a foundation for a plausible 'transcendent mechanism' for the following study:
Bridging the Gap - October 2011This following study adds weight to the 'transcendence of mind';
Excerpt: Like a bridge that spans a river to connect two major metropolises, the corpus callosum is the main conduit for information flowing between the left and right hemispheres of our brains. Now, neuroscientists at the California Institute of Technology (Caltech) have found that people who are born without that link—a condition called agenesis of the corpus callosum, or AgCC—still show remarkably normal communication across the gap between the two halves of their brains.
http://media.caltech.edu/press_releases/13465
Study suggests precognition may be possible - November 2010Mind-Brain Interaction and Science Fiction (Quantum connection) - Jeffrey Schwartz & Michael Egnor - audio
Excerpt: A Cornell University scientist has demonstrated that psi anomalies, more commonly known as precognition, premonitions or extra-sensory perception (ESP), really do exist at a statistically significant level.
http://www.physorg.com/news/2010-11-precognition.html
http://intelligentdesign.podomatic.com/player/web/2008-12-01T17_28_39-08_00
In The Wonder Of Being Human: Our Brain and Our Mind, Eccles and Robinson discussed the research of three groups of scientists (Robert Porter and Cobie Brinkman, Nils Lassen and Per Roland, and Hans Kornhuber and Luder Deeke), all of whom produced startling and undeniable evidence that a "mental intention" preceded an actual neuronal firing - thereby establishing that the mind is not the same thing as the brain, but is a separate entity altogether.And though it is not possible to localize memories (information) inside the brain, it is interesting to note how extremely complex the brain is in its ability to manipulate rudimentary information:
http://books.google.com/books?id=J9pON9yB8HkC&pg=PT28&lpg=PT28
“As I remarked earlier, this may present an “insuperable” difficulty for some scientists of materialists bent, but the fact remains, and is demonstrated by research, that non-material mind acts on material brain.” Eccles
Do Conscious Thoughts Cause Behavior? -Roy F. Baumeister, E. J. Masicampo, and Kathleen D. Vohs - 2010
Excerpt: The evidence for conscious causation of behavior is profound, extensive, adaptive, multifaceted, and empirically strong.
http://carlsonschool.umn.edu/assets/165663.pdf
"Thought precedes action as lightning precedes thunder."
Heinrich Heine - in the year 1834
A Reply to Shermer Medical Evidence for NDEs (Near Death Experiences) – Pim van Lommel
Excerpt: For decades, extensive research has been done to localize memories (information) inside the brain, so far without success.,,,,So we need a functioning brain to receive our consciousness into our waking consciousness. And as soon as the function of brain has been lost, like in clinical death or in brain death, with iso-electricity on the EEG, memories and consciousness do still exist, but the reception ability is lost. People can experience their consciousness outside their body, with the possibility of perception out and above their body, with identity, and with heightened awareness, attention, well-structured thought processes, memories and emotions. And they also can experience their consciousness in a dimension where past, present and future exist at the same moment, without time and space, and can be experienced as soon as attention has been directed to it (life review and preview), and even sometimes they come in contact with the “fields of consciousness” of deceased relatives. And later they can experience their conscious return into their body.
http://www.nderf.org/vonlommel_skeptic_response.htm
Boggle Your Brain - November 2010This following experiment is really interesting:
Excerpt: One synapse, by itself, is more like a microprocessor--with both memory-storage and information-processing elements--than a mere on/off switch. In fact, one synapse may contain on the order of 1,000 molecular-scale switches. A single human brain has more switches than all the computers and routers and Internet connections on Earth.
http://www.creationsafaris.com/crev201011.htm#20101119a
Scientific Evidence That Mind Effects Matter - Random Number Generators - video
http://www.metacafe.com/watch/4198007
I once asked a evolutionist, after showing him the preceding experiment, "Since you ultimately believe that the 'god of random chance' produced everything we see around us, what in the world is my mind doing pushing your god around?"
The Mind Is Not The Brain - Scientific Evidence - Rupert Sheldrake - (Referenced Notes)
http://vimeo.com/33479544
Here a Darwinian Psychologist has a moment of honesty facing the 'hard problem' that consciousness presents to materialism;
Darwinian Psychologist David Barash Admits the Seeming Insolubility of Science's "Hardest Problem"Here is another article that is far more nuanced in the discerning of 'transcendent mind' from material brain, than the 'brute' empirical evidence I've listed:
Excerpt: 'But the hard problem of consciousness is so hard that I can't even imagine what kind of empirical findings would satisfactorily solve it. In fact, I don't even know what kind of discovery would get us to first base, not to mention a home run.'
David Barash - Materialist/Atheist Darwinian Psychologist
http://www.evolutionnews.org/2011/11/post_33052491.html
The Mind and Materialist Superstition - Six "conditions of mind" that are irreconcilable with materialism:
http://www.evolutionnews.org/2008/11/the_mind_and_materialist_super.html
Angus Menuge Interviewed by Apologetics 315 - audio interviewMaterialism and Human Dignity - Casey Luskin interviews Michael Egnor, professor of neurosurgery at SUNY, Stony Brook, on the relationship between the mind and the brain. - podcast
Description: Today's interview is with Dr. Angus Menuge, Professor of Philosophy at Concordia University, and author of Agents Under Fire: Materialism and the Rationality of Science. He talks about his background and work, the philosophy of mind, what reason (or reasoning) is, what materialism is as a worldview, things excluded from a materialistic worldview, methodological naturalism and materialism, accounting for free will, materialistic accounts of reason, the epistemological argument from reason, the ontological argument from reason, finding the best explanation for reason, problems with methodological naturalism, implications of materialism, practical application of the argument from reason, advice for apologists, the International Academy of Apologetics, and more.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DkbMy7AjwOE
http://intelligentdesign.podomatic.com/entry/2011-10-14T15_14_37-07_00
Is the Brain Just an Illusion? - Anika Smith interviews Denyse O'Leary - podcast
http://intelligentdesign.podomatic.com/entry/2011-10-21T15_48_33-07_00
Genesis 2:7I find it very interesting that the materialistic belief of the universe being stable, and infinite in duration, was so deeply rooted in scientific thought that Albert Einstein (1879-1955), when he was shown his general relativity equation indicated a universe that was unstable and would 'draw together' under its own gravity, added a cosmological constant to his equation to reflect a stable universe rather than entertain the thought that the universe had a beginning.
And the LORD God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul.
Einstein and The Belgian Priest, George Lemaitre - The "Father" Of The Big Bang Theory - video
http://www.metacafe.com/watch/4279662
The Universe Had a Definite Beginning - Einstein and Edwin Hubble - Stephen Meyer on the John Ankerberg show - video
http://www.lightsource.com/ministry/ankerberg-show/discovery-onethe-universe-had-a-definite-beginning-222144.html
of note: This was not the last time Einstein's base materialistic philosophy had severely misled him. He was also severely misled in the Bohr–Einstein debates in which he was repeatedly proven wrong in challenging the 'spooky action at a distance' postulations of the emerging field of quantum mechanics. This following video, which I listed earlier, bears worth repeating since it highlights the Bohr/Einstein debate and the decades long struggle to 'scientifically' resolve the disagreement between them:
The Failure Of Local Realism or Reductive Materialism - Alain Aspect - video
http://www.metacafe.com/w/4744145
The following is an interesting exchange between Bohr and Einstein:
God does not play dice with the cosmos.Though many words could be written on the deep underlying philosophical issues of that exchange between Bohr and Einstein, my take on the whole matter is summed up nicely, and simply, in the following verse and video:
Albert Einstein
In response Niels Bohr said,
Do not presume to tell God what to do.
Proverbs 16:33Chance vs. God: The Battle of First Causes – John MacArthur - 10 minute audio
The lot is cast into the lap, But its every decision is from the LORD.
http://www.vimeo.com/11812625
When astronomer Edwin Hubble published empirical evidence indicating a beginning for the universe, Einstein ended up calling the cosmological constant, he had added to his equation, the biggest blunder of his life. But then again mathematically speaking, Einstein's 'fudge factor' was not so much of a blunder after all. In the 1990's a highly modified cosmological constant, representing the elusive 'Dark Energy' to account for the accelerated expansion of the universe, was reintroduced into general relativity equations to explain the discrepancy between the ages of the oldest stars in the Milky Way galaxy and the age of the universe. Far from providing a materialistic solution, which would have enabled the universe to be stable and infinite as Einstein had originally envisioned, the finely-tuned cosmological constant, finely-tuned to 1 part in 10^120, has turned into one of the most powerful evidences of design from many finely-tuned universal constants of the universe. Universal, and transcendent, constants that seem to have no other apparent reason for being at precise values than to enable carbon-based life to be possible in this universe. These transcendent universal constants dramatically demonstrate the need for a infinitely powerful transcendent Creator, to account for the fact the universe is apparently the stunning work of a master craftsman who had carbon-based life in mind as His final goal. If the avalanche of incoming scientific evidence keeps going in the same direction as it has been going for the last century, and there is no hint the evidence will change directions, human beings, warts and all, could once again be popularly viewed as God's ultimate purpose for creating this universe. Man and the earth beneath his feet could very well be looked at as the 'center of the universe' by both scientists and theologians.
Genesis 1:26-27God Of Wonders - City On A Hill - music video
Then God said, "Let us make man in Our image, according to Our image, according to Our likeness; let them have dominion ..."
So God created man in His own image; in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them.
http://www.metacafe.com/watch/3994616
A straight-forward interpretation of the anthropic hypothesis is simple in its proposition. It proposes the entire universe, in all its grandeur, was purposely created by an infinitely powerful transcendent Creator specifically with human beings in mind as the end result. Therefore a strict interpretation of the anthropic hypothesis would propose that each level of the universe's development towards man may reflect the handiwork of such a Creator. Here are some resources reflecting that approach:
"Creation as Science" - Hugh Ross - A Testable Creation Model - video
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LuEYjYDrKH4
Is There Scientific Evidence for the Existence of God? - Walter Bradley
http://www.leaderu.com/real/ri9403/evidence.html
Creation of the Cosmos - Walter Bradley - video
http://www.vimeo.com/9238831
God Is Not Dead Yet - William Lane Craig - The Revival of Theism In Philosophy since the 1960's
http://www.christianitytoday.com/ct/2008/july/13.22.html?start=1
William Lane Craig lecture on Richard Dawkins book 'The God Delusion' - video
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l3HCthi2i_o
The investigative tool for the hypothesis is this: all the universe's 'links of chain' to the appearance of man may be deduced as 'intelligently designed' with what is termed 'irreducible complexity'. The term 'irreducible complexity' was coined in molecular biology by biochemist Michael Behe PhD. (1952-present) in his book 'Darwin's Black Box'. Irreducible complexity is best understood by comparison. It is similar to saying each major part of a finely made Swiss watch is necessary for the watch to operate. Take away any part and the watch will fail to operate. Though individual parts of the watch, or even a watch itself, may have some other purpose in some other system, the principle of integration for a specific singular purpose is a very anti-Darwinian concept that steadfastly resists materialistic explanation. In molecular biology the best known example for irreducible complexity, and thus for Intelligent Design, has become the bacterial flagellum.
Bacterial Flagellum - A Sheer Wonder Of Intelligent Design - video
http://www.metacafe.com/watch/3994630
Bacterial Flagellum: Visualizing the Complete Machine In SituElectron Microscope Photograph of Flagellum Hook-Basal Body
Excerpt: Electron tomography of frozen-hydrated bacteria, combined with single particle averaging, has produced stunning images of the intact bacterial flagellum, revealing features of the rotor, stator and export apparatus.
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S096098220602286X
http://www.skeptic.com/eskeptic/08-08-20images/figure03.jpg
Engineering at Its Finest: Bacterial Chemotaxis and Signal Transduction - JonathanM - September 2011Biologist Howard Berg at Harvard calls the Bacterial Flagellum
Excerpt: The bacterial flagellum represents not just a problem of irreducible complexity. Rather, the problem extends far deeper than that. What we are now observing is the existence of irreducibly complex systems within irreducibly complex systems. How random mutations, coupled with natural selection, could have assembled such a finely set-up system is a question to which I defy any Darwinist to give a sensible answer.
http://www.evolutionnews.org/2011/09/engineering_at_its_finest_bact050911.html
“the most efficient machine in the universe."The flagellum has steadfastly resisted all attempts to elucidate its plausible origination by Darwinian processes, much less has anyone ever actually evolved a flagellum from scratch in the laboratory;
Genetic Entropy Refutation of Nick Matzke's TTSS (type III secretion system) to Flagellum Evolutionary Narrative:Stephen Meyer - T3SS Derived From Bacterial Flagellum (Successful ID Prediction) - video
Excerpt: Comparative genomic analysis show that flagellar genes have been differentially lost in endosymbiotic bacteria of insects. Only proteins involved in protein export within the flagella assembly pathway (type III secretion system and the basal-body) have been kept...
http://mbe.oxfordjournals.org/cgi/content/abstract/msn153v1
Excerpt: I am convinced that the T3SS is almost certainly younger than the flagellum. If one aligns the amino acid sequences of the flagellar proteins (that have homologous counterparts in the T3SS), and if one also aligns the amino acid sequences of the T3SS proteins, one finds that the T3SS protein amino acid sequences are much more conserved than the amino acid sequences of the flagellar proteins.,,, - LivingstoneMorford - experimental scientist - UD blogger
https://docs.google.com/document/d/19zuJr2ssTYvnH-zlbnlz23sOokPw4WGPHpvbdm7KFv8/edit
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3c-EAzJ8_4U
Phylogenetic Analyses of the Constituents of Type III Protein Secretion SystemsMichael Behe on Falsifying Intelligent Design - video
Excerpt: We suggest that the flagellar apparatus was the evolutionary precursor of Type III protein secretion systems.
http://www.horizonpress.com/jmmb/v2/v2n2/02.pdf
Peer-Reviewed Paper Investigating Origin of Information Endorses Irreducible Complexity and Intelligent Design - A.C. McIntosh per Casey Luskin - July 2010
Excerpt: many think that that debate has been settled by the work of Pallen and Matzke where an attempt to explain the origin of the bacterial flagellum rotary motor as a development of the Type 3 secretory system has been made. However, this argument is not robust simply because it is evident that there are features of both mechanisms which are clearly not within the genetic framework of the other.
Presenting the Positive Case for Design - Casey Luskin - February 14, 2012
Excerpt: If you think of the flagellum like an outboard motor, and the T3SS like a squirt gun, the parts they share are the ones that allow them to be mounted on the bracket of a boat. But the parts that give them their distinct functions -- propulsion or injection -- are not shared. I said that thinking you can explain the flagellum simply by referring me to the T3SS is like saying if you can account for the origin of the mounting-bracket on the back of you boat, then you've explained the origin of the motor too -- which obviously makes no sense.
http://www.evolutionnews.org/2012/02/at_north_dakota056351.html
"One fact in favour of the flagellum-first view is that bacteria would have needed propulsion before they needed T3SSs, which are used to attack cells that evolved later than bacteria. Also, flagella are found in a more diverse range of bacterial species than T3SSs. ‘The most parsimonious explanation is that the T3SS arose later," Howard Ochman - Biochemist - New Scientist (Feb 16, 2008)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N8jXXJN4o_A
Genetic analysis of coordinate flagellar and type III - Scott Minnich and Stephen MeyerMichael Behe Hasn't Been Refuted on the Flagellum - March 2011
Molecular machines display a key signature or hallmark of design, namely, irreducible complexity. In all irreducibly complex systems in which the cause of the system is known by experience or observation, intelligent design or engineering played a role the origin of the system.
http://www.discovery.org/scripts/viewDB/filesDB-download.php?id=389
http://www.evolutionnews.org/2011/03/michael_behe_hasnt_been_refute044801.html
Bacterial Flagella: A Paradigm for Design – Scott Minnich – Video
http://www.vimeo.com/9032112
Ken Miller's Inaccurate and Biased Evolution Curriculum - Casey Luskin - 2011Flagellum - Sean D. Pitman, M.D.
Excerpt: One mutation, one part knock out, it can't swim. Put that single gene back in we restore motility. ... knock out one part, put a good copy of the gene back in, and they can swim. By definition the system is irreducibly complex. We've done that with all 35 components of the flagellum, and we get the same effect. - Scott Minnich
http://www.evolutionnews.org/2011/07/ken_millers_inaccurate_and_bia048321.html
http://www.detectingdesign.com/flagellum.html
The Bacterial Flagellum – Truly An Engineering Marvel! - December 2010
http://www.uncommondescent.com/intelligent-design/the-bacterial-flagellum-truly-an-engineering-marvel/
INFORMATION AND ENERGETICS OF QUANTUM FLAGELLA MOTORThe manner in which bacteria with flagella move is also very interesting;
Hiroyuki Matsuura, Nobuo Noda, Kazuharu Koide Tetsuya Nemoto and Yasumi Ito
Excerpt from bottom page 7: Note that the physical principle of flagella motor does not belong to classical mechanics, but to quantum mechanics. When we can consider applying quantum physics to flagella motor, we can find out the shift of energetic state and coherent state.
http://www2.ktokai-u.ac.jp/~shi/el08-046.pdf
Structures and Mechanisms of Bacterial Motility - Marty PlayerTowards the end of the following video is a excellent animation of the 'running and tumbling' motion of bacteria with flagella;
Excerpt: motile bacteria move in a random running and tumbling pattern when in an isotonic solution. While this type of movement may be totally random in some situations, in others motile bacteria bias this random walk.
http://zebra.sc.edu/smell/marty/marty_doc.html
Animations from E O Wilson’s Lord of the Ants – video
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hX2e0il1qpg
"A Bit Unprepossessing": Plantinga on the Logic of Dawkins's Blind Watchmaker - Jay W. Richards February 9, 2012As well, it has now been demonstrated that the specific sequence complexity, of a functional protein, can be mathematically quantified as functional information bits(Fits).
Excerpt: what Dawkins has in mind is something like this: If it's unlikely that a bacterial flagellum could have arisen by chance or the Darwinian mechanism, then any agent that designed the flagellum would be even less likely.
Plantinga finds a fatal problem here. Dawkins defines complexity as the property of something that has parts "arranged in a way that is unlikely to have arisen by chance alone." But God is immaterial and so doesn't have parts in this sense. According to Dawkins's own definition of complexity, therefore, God is not complex. One can make a similar point without invoking God. It doesn't follow that because an agent can produce organized complexity, that the agent is complex. (Frankly, I don't think it makes sense to refer to any agent as "complex.") Organized complexity might very well be a reliable sign of an intelligent agent. So Dawkins's argument against the improbability of God's existence, and, a fortiori, the improbability of intelligent design, fails.
http://www.evolutionnews.org/2012/02/a_bit_unpreposs056161.html
Functional information and the emergence of bio-complexity:Mathematically Defining Functional Information In Molecular Biology - Kirk Durston - short video
Robert M. Hazen, Patrick L. Griffin, James M. Carothers, and Jack W. Szostak:
Abstract: Complex emergent systems of many interacting components, including complex biological systems, have the potential to perform quantifiable functions. Accordingly, we define 'functional information,' I(Ex), as a measure of system complexity. For a given system and function, x (e.g., a folded RNA sequence that binds to GTP), and degree of function, Ex (e.g., the RNA-GTP binding energy), I(Ex)= -log2 [F(Ex)], where F(Ex) is the fraction of all possible configurations of the system that possess a degree of function > Ex. Functional information, which we illustrate with letter sequences, artificial life, and biopolymers, thus represents the probability that an arbitrary configuration of a system will achieve a specific function to a specified degree. In each case we observe evidence for several distinct solutions with different maximum degrees of function, features that lead to steps in plots of information versus degree of functions.
http://genetics.mgh.harvard.edu/szostakweb/publications/Szostak_pdfs/Hazen_etal_PNAS_2007.pdf
http://www.metacafe.com/watch/3995236
Entire video:
http://vimeo.com/1775160
and this paper:
Measuring the functional sequence complexity of proteins - Kirk K Durston, David KY Chiu, David L Abel and Jack T Trevors - 2007Here is a brief discussion on a plausible way to more precisely measure the complete information content of a cell as well as measuring Landauer's principle in a cell:
Excerpt: We have extended Shannon uncertainty by incorporating the data variable with a functionality variable. The resulting measured unit, which we call Functional bit (Fit), is calculated from the sequence data jointly with the defined functionality variable. To demonstrate the relevance to functional bioinformatics, a method to measure functional sequence complexity was developed and applied to 35 protein families.,,,
http://www.tbiomed.com/content/4/1/47
http://www.uncommondescent.com/intelligent-design/uh-oh-is-he-going-to-get-gould-ed/#comment-367651
It is interesting to note that many evolutionists are very evasive if questioned by someone to precisely define functional information. In fact I've seen some die-hard evolutionists deny that information even exists in a cell. Many times evolutionists will try to say information is generated using Claude Shannon's broad definition of information, since 'non-functional' information bits may be considered information in his broad definition of information, yet, when looked at carefully, Shannon information completely fails to explain the generation of functional information.
The Evolution-Lobby’s Useless Definition of Biological Information - Feb. 2010The following site has a fairly concise definition for functional information (dFSCI; digital functionally specified complex information) by a blogger called gpuccio:
Excerpt: By wrongly implying that Shannon information is the only “sense used by information theorists,” the NCSE avoids answering more difficult questions like how the information in biological systems becomes functional, or in its own words, “useful.”,,,Since biology is based upon functional information, Darwin-skeptics are interested in the far more important question of, Does neo-Darwinism explain how new functional biological information arises?
http://www.evolutionnews.org/2010/02/the_evolutionlobbys_useless_de.html
Mutations, epigenetics and the question of information
Excerpt: By definition, a mutation in a gene results in a new allele. There is no question that mutation (defined as any change in the DNA sequence) can increase variety in a population. However, it is not obvious that this necessarily means there is an increase in genomic information.,, If one attempts to apply Shannon’s theory of information, then this can be viewed as an increase. However, Shannon’s theory was not developed to address biological information. It is entirely unsuitable for this since an increase of information by Shannon’s definition can easily be lethal (and an increase in randomness increases Shannon ‘information’).
http://creation.com/mutations-epigenetics-information
Three subsets of sequence complexity and their relevance to biopolymeric information - Abel, Trevors
Excerpt: Shannon information theory measures the relative degrees of RSC and OSC. Shannon information theory cannot measure FSC. FSC is invariably associated with all forms of complex biofunction, including biochemical pathways, cycles, positive and negative feedback regulation, and homeostatic metabolism. The algorithmic programming of FSC, not merely its aperiodicity, accounts for biological organization. No empirical evidence exists of either RSC of OSC ever having produced a single instance of sophisticated biological organization. Organization invariably manifests FSC rather than successive random events (RSC) or low-informational self-ordering phenomena (OSC).,,,
Testable hypotheses about FSC
What testable empirical hypotheses can we make about FSC that might allow us to identify when FSC exists? In any of the following null hypotheses [137], demonstrating a single exception would allow falsification. We invite assistance in the falsification of any of the following null hypotheses:
Null hypothesis #1
Stochastic ensembles of physical units cannot program algorithmic/cybernetic function.
Null hypothesis #2
Dynamically-ordered sequences of individual physical units (physicality patterned by natural law causation) cannot program algorithmic/cybernetic function.
Null hypothesis #3
Statistically weighted means (e.g., increased availability of certain units in the polymerization environment) giving rise to patterned (compressible) sequences of units cannot program algorithmic/cybernetic function.
Null hypothesis #4
Computationally successful configurable switches cannot be set by chance, necessity, or any combination of the two, even over large periods of time.
We repeat that a single incident of nontrivial algorithmic programming success achieved without selection for fitness at the decision-node programming level would falsify any of these null hypotheses. This renders each of these hypotheses scientifically testable. We offer the prediction that none of these four hypotheses will be falsified.
http://www.tbiomed.com/content/2/1/29
http://www.uncommondescent.com/intelligent-design/why-secular-and-theistic-darwinists-fear-id/comment-page-2/#comment-363528
As well it is found that Claude Shannon's work on 'communication of information' actually fully supports Intelligent Design as is illustrated in the following video and article:
Shannon Information - Channel Capacity - Perry Marshall - video
http://www.metacafe.com/watch/5457552/
Skeptic's Objection to Information Theory #1:
"DNA is Not a Code"
http://cosmicfingerprints.com/dnanotcode.htm
As well, William Dembski and Robert Marks have shown that the information found in life can be measured. And since the information can be measured it can be used to falsify Darwinian evolution:
"LIFE’S CONSERVATION LAW: Why Darwinian Evolution Cannot Create Biological Information":William Dembski Is Interviewed By Casey Luskin About Conservation Of Information - Audio
Excerpt: Though not denying Darwinian evolution or even limiting its role in the history of life, the Law of Conservation of Information shows that Darwinian evolution is inherently teleological. Moreover, it shows that this teleology can be measured in precise information-theoretic terms. http://evoinfo.org/publications/lifes-conservation-law/
http://intelligentdesign.podomatic.com/player/web/2009-10-15T13_14_01-07_00
Dr. Dembski has emphasized that the Law of Conservation of Information (LCI) is clearly differentiated from the common definition of Theistic Evolution since mainstream Theistic evolutionists, such as Ken Miller and Francis Collins, hold that the Design/Information found in life is not separable from the purely material processes of the universe, whereas Dembski and Marks are clearly saying the Design/Information found in life is detectable, can be separated from the material processes we see in the universe, and "can be measured in precise information-theoretic terms". In other words, the Dembski-Marks paper shows in order for gradual evolution to actually be true it cannot be random Darwinian evolution and that a 'Intelligent Designer' will have to somehow provide the additional functional information needed to make gradual evolution of increased functional complexity possible. Thus now the theoretical underpinnings, of random functional information generation by material processes, are completely removed from Darwinian ideology.
Yet even though God could very well have created life gradually, did God use gradual processes to create life on Earth? I don't think so. There are many solid lines of evidence pointing to the fact that the principle of Genetic Entropy (loss of functional information) is the true principle for all biological adaptations and that no gradual 'material processes' are involved in the "evolution" a lifeform, to greater heights of functional complexity, once God has created a Parent Kind/Species. This following site has a general outline of the evidence that argues forcefully against the gradual model of Theistic evolutionists:
Why Secular and Theistic Darwinists Fear ID - September 2010
http://www.uncommondescent.com/intelligent-design/why-secular-and-theistic-darwinists-fear-id/#comment-363425
The main problem, for the secular model of neo-Darwinian evolution to overcome, is that no one has ever seen purely material processes generate functional 'prescriptive' information.
The Capabilities of Chaos and Complexity: David L. Abel - Null Hypothesis For Information Generation - 2009Dr. Don Johnson explains the difference between Shannon Information and Prescriptive Information, as well as explaining 'the cybernetic cut', in this following Podcast:
To focus the scientific community’s attention on its own tendencies toward overzealous metaphysical imagination bordering on “wish-fulfillment,” we propose the following readily falsifiable null hypothesis, and invite rigorous experimental attempts to falsify it: "Physicodynamics cannot spontaneously traverse The Cybernetic Cut: physicodynamics alone cannot organize itself into formally functional systems requiring algorithmic optimization, computational halting, and circuit integration." A single exception of non trivial, unaided spontaneous optimization of formal function by truly natural process would falsify this null hypothesis.
http://www.mdpi.com/1422-0067/10/1/247/pdf
Can We Falsify Any Of The Following Null Hypothesis (For Information Generation)
1) Mathematical Logic
2) Algorithmic Optimization
3) Cybernetic Programming
4) Computational Halting
5) Integrated Circuits
6) Organization (e.g. homeostatic optimization far from equilibrium)
7) Material Symbol Systems (e.g. genetics)
8) Any Goal Oriented bona fide system
9) Language
10) Formal function of any kind
11) Utilitarian work
http://mdpi.com/1422-0067/10/1/247/ag
Is Life Unique? David L. Abel - January 2012
Concluding Statement: The scientific method itself cannot be reduced to mass and energy. Neither can language, translation, coding and decoding, mathematics, logic theory, programming, symbol systems, the integration of circuits, computation, categorizations, results tabulation, the drawing and discussion of conclusions. The prevailing Kuhnian paradigm rut of philosophic physicalism is obstructing scientific progress, biology in particular. There is more to life than chemistry. All known life is cybernetic. Control is choice-contingent and formal, not physicodynamic.
http://www.mdpi.com/2075-1729/2/1/106/
"Nonphysical formalism not only describes, but preceded physicality and the Big Bang
Formalism prescribed, organized and continues to govern physicodynamics."
http://www.mdpi.com/2075-1729/2/1/106/ag
The Law of Physicodynamic Insufficiency - Dr David L. Abel - November 2010
Excerpt: “If decision-node programming selections are made randomly or by law rather than with purposeful intent, no non-trivial (sophisticated) function will spontaneously arise.”,,, After ten years of continual republication of the null hypothesis with appeals for falsification, no falsification has been provided. The time has come to extend this null hypothesis into a formal scientific prediction: “No non trivial algorithmic/computational utility will ever arise from chance and/or necessity alone.”
http://www-qa.scitopics.com/The_Law_of_Physicodynamic_Insufficiency.html
The Law of Physicodynamic Incompleteness - David L. Abel - August 2011
Summary: “The Law of Physicodynamic Incompleteness” states that inanimate physicodynamics is completely inadequate to generate, or even explain, the mathematical nature of physical interactions (the purely formal laws of physics and chemistry). The Law further states that physicodynamic factors cannot cause formal processes and procedures leading to sophisticated function. Chance and necessity alone cannot steer, program or optimize algorithmic/computational success to provide desired non-trivial utility.
http://www.scitopics.com/The_Law_of_Physicodynamic_Incompleteness.html
The GS (genetic selection) Principle – David L. Abel – 2009
Excerpt: Stunningly, information has been shown not to increase in the coding regions of DNA with evolution. Mutations do not produce increased information. Mira et al (65) showed that the amount of coding in DNA actually decreases with evolution of bacterial genomes, not increases. This paper parallels Petrov’s papers starting with (66) showing a net DNA loss with Drosophila evolution (67). Konopka (68) found strong evidence against the contention of Subba Rao et al (69, 70) that information increases with mutations. The information content of the coding regions in DNA does not tend to increase with evolution as hypothesized. Konopka also found Shannon complexity not to be a suitable indicator of evolutionary progress over a wide range of evolving genes. Konopka’s work applies Shannon theory to known functional text. Kok et al. (71) also found that information does not increase in DNA with evolution. As with Konopka, this finding is in the context of the change in mere Shannon uncertainty. The latter is a far more forgiving definition of information than that required for prescriptive information (PI) (21, 22, 33, 72). It is all the more significant that mutations do not program increased PI. Prescriptive information either instructs or directly produces formal function. No increase in Shannon or Prescriptive information occurs in duplication. What the above papers show is that not even variation of the duplication produces new information, not even Shannon “information.”
http://www.bioscience.org/2009/v14/af/3426/3426.pdf
http://www.us.net/life/index.htm
Programming of Life - Dr. Donald Johnson interviewed by Casey Luskin - audio podcast
http://www.idthefuture.com/2010/11/programming_of_life.html
Programming of Life - Information - Shannon, Functional & Prescriptive - video
http://www.youtube.com/user/Programmingoflife#p/c/AFDF33F11E2FB840/1/h3s1BXfZ-3w
While neo-Darwinian evolution has no evidence that material processes can generate functional prescriptive information, Intelligent Design does have 'proof of principle' that information can 'locally' violate the second law and generate potential energy:
Maxwell's demon demonstration turns information into energy - November 2010How Could God Interact with the World? (William Dembski)
Excerpt: Until now, demonstrating the conversion of information to energy has been elusive, but University of Tokyo physicist Masaki Sano and colleagues have succeeded in demonstrating it in a nano-scale experiment. In a paper published in Nature Physics they describe how they coaxed a Brownian particle to travel upwards on a "spiral-staircase-like" potential energy created by an electric field solely on the basis of information on its location. As the particle traveled up the staircase it gained energy from moving to an area of higher potential, and the team was able to measure precisely how much energy had been converted from information.
http://www.physorg.com/news/2010-11-maxwell-demon-energy.html
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W5Cn8NQL0rM
After much reading, research, and debate with evolutionists, I find the principle of Genetic Entropy (loss of functional information) to be the true principle for all 'beneficial' biological adaptations which directly contradicts unguided neo-Darwinian evolution. As well, unlike Darwinian evolution which can claim no primary principles in science to rest its claim on for the generation of functional information, Genetic Entropy can rest its foundation in science directly on the twin pillars of the Second Law of Thermodynamics and on the Law of Conservation Of Information(LCI; Dembski,Marks)(Null Hypothesis;Abel). The first phase of Genetic Entropy, any life-form will go through, holds all sub-speciation adaptations away from a parent species, which increase fitness/survivability to a new environment for the sub-species, will always come at a cost of the functional information that is already present in the parent species genome. This is, for the vast majority of times, measurable as loss of genetic diversity in genomes. This phase of Genetic Entropy is verified, in one line of evidence, by the fact all population genetics' studies show a consistent loss of genetic diversity from a parent species for all sub-species that have adapted away (Maciej Giertych). This fact is also well testified to by plant and animal breeders who know there are strict limits to the amount of variability you can expect when breeding for any particular genetic trait. The second line of evidence, this primary phase of the principle of Genetic Entropy is being rigorously obeyed, is found in the fact the 'Fitness Test' against a parent species of bacteria has never been violated by any sub-species of a parent bacteria.
Testing Evolution in the Lab With Biologic Institute's Ann Gauger - podcast with link to peer-reviewed paperFor a broad outline of the 'Fitness test', required to be passed to show a violation of the principle of Genetic Entropy, please see the following video and articles:
Excerpt: Dr. Gauger experimentally tested two-step adaptive paths that should have been within easy reach for bacterial populations. Listen in and learn what Dr. Gauger was surprised to find as she discusses the implications of these experiments for Darwinian evolution. Dr. Gauger's paper, "Reductive Evolution Can Prevent Populations from Taking Simple Adaptive Paths to High Fitness,".
http://intelligentdesign.podomatic.com/entry/2010-05-10T15_24_13-07_00
Is Antibiotic Resistance evidence for evolution? - 'The Fitness Test' - video
http://www.metacafe.com/watch/3995248
This following study demonstrated that bacteria which had gained antibiotic resistance by mutation are less fit than wild type bacteria::
Testing the Biological Fitness of Antibiotic Resistant Bacteria - 2008Also of note; there appears to be a in-built (designed) mechanism, which kicks in during starvation, which allows wild type bacteria to more robustly resist antibiotics than 'well fed' bacteria;
Excerpt: Therefore, in order to simulate competition in the wild, bacteria must be grown on minimal media. Minimal media mimics better what bacteria experience in a natural environment over a period of time. This is the place where fitness can be accurately assessed. Given a rich media, they grow about the same.
http://www.answersingenesis.org/articles/aid/v2/n1/darwin-at-drugstore
Starving bacteria fight antibiotics harder? - November 2011
http://www.uncommondescent.com/news/starving-bacteria-fight-antibiotics-harder/
Thank Goodness the NCSE Is Wrong: Fitness Costs Are Important to Evolutionary MicrobiologyAntibiotic resistance is ancient - September 2011
Excerpt: it (an antibiotic resistant bacterium) reproduces slower than it did before it was changed. This effect is widely recognized, and is called the fitness cost of antibiotic resistance. It is the existence of these costs and other examples of the limits of evolution that call into question the neo-Darwinian story of macroevolution.
http://www.evolutionnews.org/2010/03/thank_goodness_the_ncse_is_wro.html
A Tale of Two Falsifications of Evolution - September 2011
Excerpt: “Scientists were surprised at how fast bacteria developed resistance to the miracle antibiotic drugs when they were developed less than a century ago. Now scientists at McMaster University have found that resistance has been around for at least 30,000 years.”
http://crev.info/content/110904-a_tale_of_two_falsifications_of_evolution
http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v477/n7365/full/nature10388.html?WT.ec_id=NATURE-20110922
Evolution - Tested And Falsified - Don Patton - video
http://www.metacafe.com/watch/4036803
List Of Degraded Molecular Abilities Of Antibiotic Resistant Bacteria:
http://www.trueorigin.org/bacteria01.asp
The following study surveys four decades of experimental work, and solidly backs up the preceding conclusion that there has never been an observed violation of genetic entropy:
“The First Rule of Adaptive Evolution”: Break or blunt any functional coded element whose loss would yield a net fitness gain - Michael Behe - December 2010Michael Behe talks about the preceding paper on this podcast:
Excerpt: In its most recent issue The Quarterly Review of Biology has published a review by myself of laboratory evolution experiments of microbes going back four decades.,,, The gist of the paper is that so far the overwhelming number of adaptive (that is, helpful) mutations seen in laboratory evolution experiments are either loss or modification of function. Of course we had already known that the great majority of mutations that have a visible effect on an organism are deleterious. Now, surprisingly, it seems that even the great majority of helpful mutations degrade the genome to a greater or lesser extent.,,, I dub it “The First Rule of Adaptive Evolution”: Break or blunt any functional coded element whose loss would yield a net fitness gain.(that is a net 'fitness gain' within a 'stressed' environment i.e. remove the stress from the environment and the parent strain is always more 'fit')
http://behe.uncommondescent.com/2010/12/the-first-rule-of-adaptive-evolution/
Michael Behe: Challenging Darwin, One Peer-Reviewed Paper at a Time - December 2010
http://intelligentdesign.podomatic.com/player/web/2010-12-23T11_53_46-08_00
Where's the substantiating evidence for neo-Darwinism?
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1q-PBeQELzT4pkgxB2ZOxGxwv6ynOixfzqzsFlCJ9jrw/edit
The previously listed 'fitness test', and paper by Dr. Behe, fairly conclusively demonstrates 'optimal information' was originally encoded within a parent bacteria/bacterium by God, and has not been added to by any 'teleological' methods in the beneficial adaptations of the sub-species of bacteria. Thus the inference to Genetic Entropy, i.e. that God has not specifically moved within nature in a teleological manner, to gradually increase the functional information of a genome, still holds as true for the principle of Genetic Entropy.
It seems readily apparent to me that to conclusively demonstrate God has moved within nature, in a teleological manner, to provide the sub-species bacteria with additional functional information over the 'optimal' genome of its parent species, then the fitness test must be passed by the sub-species against the parent species. If the fitness test is shown to be passed then the new molecular function, which provides the more robust survivability for the sub-species, must be calculated to its additional Functional Information Bits (Fits) it has gained in the beneficial adaptation, and then be found to be greater than 140 Fits. 140 Fits is what has now been generously set by Kirk Durston as the maximum limit of Functional Information which can reasonably be expected to be generated by the natural processes of the universe over the entire age of the universe (The actual limit is most likely to be around 40 Fits)(Of note: I have not seen any evidence to suggest that purely material processes can exceed the much more constrained '2 protein-protein binding site limit', for functional information/complexity generation, found by Michael Behe in his book "The Edge Of Evolution"). This fitness test, and calculation, must be done to rigorously establish materialistic processes did not generate the functional information (Fits), and to rigorously establish that teleological processes were indeed involved in the increase of Functional Complexity of the beneficially adapted sub-species. The second and final phase of Genetic Entropy, outlined by John Sanford in his book Genetic Entropy & the Mystery of the Genome, is when 'slightly detrimental' mutations, which are far below the power of natural selection to remove from a genome, slowly build up in a species/kind over long periods of time and lead to Genetic Meltdown.
Evolution Vs Genetic Entropy - Andy McIntosh - video
http://www.metacafe.com/watch/4028086
The first effect to be obviously noticed in the evidence, for the Genetic Entropy principle, is the loss of potential for morphological variability of individual sub-species of a kind. This loss of potential for morphological variability first takes place for the extended lineages of sub-species within a kind, and increases with time, and then gradually works in to the more ancient lineages of the kind, as the 'mutational load' of slightly detrimental mutations slowly builds up over time. This following paper, though of evolutionary bent, offers a classic example of the effects of Genetic Entropy over deep time of millions of years:
A Cambrian Peak in Morphological Variation Within Trilobite Species; WebsterThe final effect of Genetic Entropy is when the entire spectrum of the species of a kind slowly start to succumb to 'Genetic Meltdown', and to go extinct in the fossil record. The occurs because the mutational load, of the slowly accumulating 'slightly detrimental mutations' in the genomes, becomes too great for each individual species of the kind to bear. From repeated radiations from ancient lineages in the fossil record, and from current adaptive radiation studies which show strong favor for ancient lineages radiating, the ancient lineages of a kind appear to have the most 'robust genomes' and are thus most resistant to Genetic Meltdown. All this consistent evidence makes perfect sense from the Genetic Entropy standpoint, in that Genetic Entropy holds God created each parent kind with a optimal genome for all future sub-speciation events. My overwhelming intuition, from all the evidence I've seen so far, and from Theology, is this; Once God creates a parent kind, the parent kind is encoded with optimal information for the specific purpose to which God has created the kind to exist, and God has chosen, in His infinite wisdom, to strictly limit the extent to which He will act within nature to 'evolve' the sub-species of the parent kind to greater heights of functional complexity. Thus the Biblically compatible principle of Genetic Entropy is found to be in harmony with the second law of thermodynamics and with the strict limit found for material processes ever generating any meaningful amount of functional information on their own (LCI: Dembski - Marks)(Abel; Null Hypothesis).
Excerpt: The distribution of polymorphic traits in cladistic character-taxon matrices reveals that the frequency and extent of morphological variation in 982 trilobite species are greatest early in the evolution of the group: Stratigraphically old and/or phylogenetically basal taxa are significantly more variable than younger and/or more derived taxa.
http://www.sciencemag.org/cgi/content/abstract/317/5837/499
As a side light to this, it should be clearly pointed out that we know, for 100% certainty, that Intelligence can generate functional information i.e. irreducible complexity. We generate a large amount of functional information, which is well beyond the reach of the random processes of the universe, every time we write a single paragraph of a letter (+700 Fits average). The true question we should be asking is this, "Can totally natural processes ever generate functional information?", especially since totally natural processes have never been observed generating any functional information whatsoever from scratch (Kirk Durston). This following short video lays out the completely legitimate scientific basis for inferring Intelligent Design from what we presently observe:
Stephen Meyer: What is the origin of the digital information found in DNA? - short video
http://www.evolutionnews.org/2010/08/stephen_meyer_on_intelligent_d037271.html
As well, 'pure transcendent information' is now shown to be 'conserved'. (i.e. it is shown that all transcendent information which can possibly exist, for all possible physical/material events, past, present, and future, already must exist.) This is since transcendent information exercises direct dominion of the foundational 'material' entity of this universe, energy, which cannot be created or destroyed by any known 'material' means. i.e. First Law of Thermodynamics.
Conservation Of Transcendent/Quantum Information - 2007 - video
http://www.metacafe.com/watch/3995275
This following experiment verified the 'conservation of transcendent/quantum information' using a far more rigorous approach;
Quantum no-hiding theorem experimentally confirmed for first timeThese following studies verified the violation of the first law of thermodynamics that I had suspected in the preceding 2007 video:
Excerpt: In the classical world, information can be copied and deleted at will. In the quantum world, however, the conservation of quantum information means that information cannot be created nor destroyed. This concept stems from two fundamental theorems of quantum mechanics: the no-cloning theorem and the no-deleting theorem. A third and related theorem, called the no-hiding theorem, addresses information loss in the quantum world. According to the no-hiding theorem, if information is missing from one system (which may happen when the system interacts with the environment), then the information is simply residing somewhere else in the Universe; in other words, the missing information cannot be hidden in the correlations between a system and its environment. (This experiment provides experimental proof that the teleportation of quantum information in this universe must be complete and instantaneous.)
http://www.physorg.com/news/2011-03-quantum-no-hiding-theorem-experimentally.html
How Teleportation Will Work -Of note: conclusive evidence for the violation of the First Law of Thermodynamics is firmly found in the preceding experiment when coupled with the complete displacement of the infinite transcendent information of "Photon c":
Excerpt: In 1993, the idea of teleportation moved out of the realm of science fiction and into the world of theoretical possibility. It was then that physicist Charles Bennett and a team of researchers at IBM confirmed that quantum teleportation was possible, but only if the original object being teleported was destroyed. --- As predicted, the original photon no longer existed once the replica was made.
http://science.howstuffworks.com/teleportation1.htm
Quantum Teleportation - IBM Research Page
Excerpt: "it would destroy the original (photon) in the process,,"
http://researcher.ibm.com/view_project.php?id=2862
Researchers Succeed in Quantum Teleportation of Light Waves - April 2011
Excerpt: In this experiment, researchers in Australia and Japan were able to transfer quantum information from one place to another without having to physically move it. It was destroyed in one place and instantly resurrected in another, “alive” again and unchanged. This is a major advance, as previous teleportation experiments were either very slow or caused some information to be lost.
http://www.popsci.com/technology/article/2011-04/quantum-teleportation-breakthrough-could-lead-instantanous-computing
Unconditional Quantum Teleportation - abstract
Excerpt: This is the first realization of unconditional quantum teleportation where every state entering the device is actually teleported,,
http://www.sciencemag.org/cgi/content/abstract/282/5389/706
http://docs.google.com/Doc?docid=0AYmaSrBPNEmGZGM4ejY3d3pfMzBmcjR0eG1neg
In extension to the 2007 video, the following video and article shows quantum teleportation breakthroughs have actually shed a little light on exactly what, or more precisely on exactly Whom, has created this universe:
Scientific Evidence For God (Logos) Creating The Universe - 2008 - video
http://www.metacafe.com/watch/3995300
It is also very interesting to note that the quantum state of a photon is actually defined as 'infinite information' in its uncollapsed quantum wave state:
Quantum Computing - Stanford EncyclopediaIt should be noted in the preceding paper that Duwell, though he never challenges the mathematical definition of a photon qubit as infinite information, tries to refute Bennett's interpretation of infinite information transfer in teleportation because of what he believes are 'time constraints' which would prohibit teleporting 'backwards in time'. Yet Duwell fails to realize that information is its own completely unique transcendent entity, completely separate from any energy-matter, space-time, constraints in the first place.
Excerpt: Theoretically, a single qubit can store an infinite amount of information, yet when measured (and thus collapsing the Quantum Wave state) it yields only the classical result (0 or 1),,,
http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/qt-quantcomp/#2.1
Explaining Information Transfer in Quantum Teleportation: Armond Duwell †‡ University of Pittsburgh
Excerpt: In contrast to a classical bit, the description of a (photon) qubit requires an infinite amount of information. The amount of information is infinite because two real numbers are required in the expansion of the state vector of a two state quantum system (Jozsa 1997, 1) --- Concept 2. is used by Bennett, et al. Recall that they infer that since an infinite amount of information is required to specify a (photon) qubit, an infinite amount of information must be transferred to teleport.
http://www.cas.umt.edu/phil/faculty/duwell/DuwellPSA2K.pdf
This following recent paper and experiments, on top of the previously listed 'conservation of quantum information' papers, pretty much blew a hole in Duwell's objection to Bennett, of teleporting infinite information 'backwards in time', simply because he believed there was no such path, or mechanism, to do so:
Time travel theory avoids grandfather paradox - July 2010It should also be noted that the preceding experiments pretty much dots all the i's and crosses all the t's as far as concretely establishing 'transcendent information' as its own unique entity. Its own unique entity that is completely separate from, and dominate of, space-time, matter and energy.
Excerpt: “In the new paper, the scientists explore a particular version of CTCs based on combining quantum teleportation with post-selection, resulting in a theory of post-selected CTCs (P-CTCs). ,,,The formalism of P-CTCs shows that such quantum time travel can be thought of as a kind of quantum tunneling backwards in time, which can take place even in the absence of a classical path from future to past,,, “P-CTCs might also allow time travel in spacetimes without general-relativistic closed timelike curves,” they conclude. “If nature somehow provides the nonlinear dynamics afforded by final-state projection, then it is possible for particles (and, in principle, people) to tunnel from the future to the past.”
http://www.physorg.com/news198948917.html
Physicists describe method to observe timelike entanglement - January 2011
Excerpt: In "ordinary" quantum entanglement, two particles possess properties that are inherently linked with each other, even though the particles may be spatially separated by a large distance. Now, physicists S. Jay Olson and Timothy C. Ralph from the University of Queensland have shown that it's possible to create entanglement between regions of spacetime that are separated in time but not in space, and then to convert the timelike entanglement into normal spacelike entanglement. They also discuss the possibility of using this timelike entanglement from the quantum vacuum for a process they call "teleportation in time." "To me, the exciting aspect of this result (that entanglement exists between the future and past) is that it is quite a general property of nature and opens the door to new creativity, since we know that entanglement can be viewed as a resource for quantum technology," Olson told PhysOrg.com.
http://www.physorg.com/news/2011-01-physicists-method-timelike-entanglement.html
The following excerpt is also of interest to this issue of time constraints in quantum mechanics:
Solving the quantum mysteries - John GribbinAs well, I also have another reason to object to Duwell's complaint of 'no mechanism' for information travel to the past, in that I firmly believe Biblical prophecy has actually been precisely fulfilled by Israel's 'miraculous' rebirth as a nation in 1948, as this following video makes clear:
Excerpt: As all physicists learn at university (and most promptly forget) the full version of the wave equation has two sets of solutions -- one corresponding to the familiar simple Schrödinger equation, and the other to a kind of mirror image Schrödinger equation describing the flow of negative energy into the past.
http://www.lifesci.sussex.ac.uk/home/John_Gribbin/quantum.htm#Solving
The Precisely Fulfilled Prophecy Of Israel Becoming A Nation In 1948 - video
http://www.metacafe.com/watch/4041241
This following video shows one reason why I personally know there is much more going on in the world than what the materialistic philosophy would lead us to believe:
Miracle Testimony - One Easter Sunday Sunrise Service - video
http://www.metacafe.com/watch/3995314
More supporting evidence for the transcendent nature of information, and how it interacts with energy, is found in these following studies:
Single photons to soak up data:
Excerpt: the orbital angular momentum of a photon can take on an infinite number of values. Since a photon can also exist in a superposition of these states, it could – in principle – be encoded with an infinite amount of information.
http://physicsworld.com/cws/article/news/7201
Ultra-Dense Optical Storage - on One PhotonThis following experiment clearly shows information is not an 'emergent property' of any solid material basis as is dogmatically asserted by some materialists:
Excerpt: Researchers at the University of Rochester have made an optics breakthrough that allows them to encode an entire image’s worth of data into a photon, slow the image down for storage, and then retrieve the image intact.,,, Quantum mechanics dictates some strange things at that scale, so that bit of light could be thought of as both a particle and a wave. As a wave, it passed through all parts of the stencil at once, carrying the "shadow" of the UR with it.
http://www.physorg.com/news88439430.html
Converting Quantum Bits: Physicists Transfer Information Between Matter and LightThe following articles show that even atoms (Ions) are subject to teleportation:
Excerpt: A team of physicists at the Georgia Institute of Technology has taken a significant step toward the development of quantum communications systems by successfully transferring quantum information from two different groups of atoms onto a single photon.
http://gtresearchnews.gatech.edu/newsrelease/quantumtrans.htm
Of note: An ion is an atom or molecule in which the total number of electrons is not equal to the total number of protons, giving it a net positive or negative electrical charge.
Ions have been teleported successfully for the first time by two independent research groups
Excerpt: In fact, copying isn't quite the right word for it. In order to reproduce the quantum state of one atom in a second atom, the original has to be destroyed. This is unavoidable - it is enforced by the laws of quantum mechanics, which stipulate that you can't 'clone' a quantum state. In principle, however, the 'copy' can be indistinguishable from the original (that was destroyed),,,
http://www.rsc.org/chemistryworld/Issues/2004/October/beammeup.asp
Atom takes a quantum leap - 2009This following paper is fairly good for establishing the primacy of transcendent information in the 'reality' of this universe:
Excerpt: Ytterbium ions have been 'teleported' over a distance of a metre.,,,
"What you're moving is information, not the actual atoms," says Chris Monroe, from the Joint Quantum Institute at the University of Maryland in College Park and an author of the paper. But as two particles of the same type differ only in their quantum states, the transfer of quantum information is equivalent to moving the first particle to the location of the second.
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/2171769/posts
What is Truth?
http://docs.google.com/Doc?id=dc8z67wz_3g3vnsmcn
It is also interesting to note that a Compact Disc crammed with information on it weighs exactly the same as a CD with no information on it whatsoever.,, Here are a few videos reflecting on some of the characteristics of transcendent information:
Information – Elusive but Tangible – video
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WytNkw1xOIc
Information? What Is It Really? Professor Andy McIntosh - video
http://www.metacafe.com/w/4739025
Information? - What is it really? Brief Discussion on the Quantum view of information:
https://docs.google.com/document/pub?id=1l1Qo10-oC-x6uEVQWWP9smT7xYduByADxLmuoOTvE-0
But to reflect just a bit more on the teleportation experiment itself, is interesting to note that scientists can only 'destroy' a photon in these quantum teleportation experiments. No one has 'created' a photon as of yet. I firmly believe man shall never do as such, since I hold only God is infinite, and perfect, in information/knowledge.
Job 38:19-20Further reflection on the quantum teleportation experiment:
“What is the way to the abode of light? And where does darkness reside? Can you take them to their places? Do you know the paths to their dwellings?"
That a photon would actually be destroyed upon the teleportation (separation) of its 'infinite' information to another photon is a direct controlled violation of the first law of thermodynamics. (i.e. a photon 'disappeared' from the 'material' universe when the entire information content of a photon was 'transcendently displaced' from the material universe by the experiment, when photon “c” transcendently became transmitted photon “a”). Thus, Quantum teleportation is direct empirical validation for the primary tenet of the Law of Conservation of Information (i.e. 'transcendent' information cannot be created or destroyed). This conclusion is warranted because information exercises direct dominion of energy, telling energy exactly what to be and do in the experiment. Thus, this experiment provides a direct line of logic that transcendent information cannot be created or destroyed and, in information demonstrating transcendence, and dominion, of space-time and matter-energy, becomes the only known entity that can satisfactorily explain where all energy came from as far as the origination of the universe is concerned. That is transcendent information is the only known entity which can explain where all the energy came from in the Big Bang without leaving the bounds of empirical science as the postulated multiverse does. Clearly anything that exercises dominion of the fundamental entity of this physical universe, a photon of energy, as transcendent information does in teleportation, must of necessity possess the same, as well as greater, qualities as energy does possess in the first law of thermodynamics (i.e. Energy cannot be created or destroyed by any known material means according to the first law). To reiterate, since information exercises dominion of energy in quantum teleportation then all information that can exist, for all past, present and future events of energy, already must exist.
As well, the fact that quantum teleportation shows an exact 'location dominion', of a photon of energy by 'specified infinite information', satisfies a major requirement for the entity needed to explain the missing Dark Matter. The needed transcendent explanation would have to dominate energy in a very similar 'specified location' fashion, as is demonstrated by the infinite information of quantum teleportation, to satisfy what is needed to explain the missing dark matter.
Colossians 1:17Moreover, the fact that simple quantum entanglement shows 'coordinated universal control' of entangled photons of energy, by transcendent information, regardless of distance, satisfies a major requirement for the entity which must explain the missing Dark Energy. i.e. The transcendent entity, needed to explain Dark Energy, must explain why the entire space of the universe is expanding in such a finely-tuned, coordinated, degree, and would have to employ a mechanism of control very similar to what we witness in the quantum entanglement experiment.
He is before all things, and in Him all things hold together.
Job 9:8Thus 'infinite transcendent information' provides a coherent picture of overarching universal control, and specificity, that could possibly unify gravity with the other forces. It very well may be possible to elucidate, mathematically, the overall pattern God has chosen to implement infinite information in this universe. The following article backs up this assertion:
He stretches out the heavens by Himself and walks on the waves of the sea.
Is Unknown Force In Universe Acting On Dark Matter?Reflections on the 'infinite transcendent information' framework, as well as on the 'eternal' and 'temporal' frameworks:
Excerpt: Is Unknown Force In Universe Acting On Dark Matter?
Excerpt: It is possible that a non-gravitational fifth force is ruling the dark matter with an invisible hand, leaving the same fingerprints on all galaxies, irrespective of their ages, shapes and sizes.” ,,Dr Famaey added, “If we account for our observations with a modified law of gravity, it makes perfect sense to replace the effective action of hypothetical dark matter with a force closely related to the distribution of visible matter.”
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/10/091022154644.htm
Dark Matter Halos of Disk Galaxies
Excerpt: Dark matter’s properties can only be inferred indirectly by observing the motions of the stars and gas (of a galaxy).
http://chandra.as.utexas.edu/~kormendy/dm-halo-pic.html
"I discovered that nature was constructed in a wonderful way, and our task is to find out its mathematical structure"
Albert Einstein - The Einstein Factor - Reader's Digest
The weight of mass becomes infinite at the speed of light, thus mass will never go the speed of light. Yet, mass would disappear from our sight if it could go the speed of light, because, from our non-speed of light perspective, distance in direction of travel will shrink to zero for the mass going the speed of light. Whereas conversely, if mass could travel at the speed of light, its size will stay the same while all other frames of reference not traveling the speed of light will disappear from its sight.
Special Relativity - Time Dilation and Length Contraction - video
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VSRIyDfo_mY
Moreover time, as we understand it, would come to a complete stop at the speed of light. To grasp the whole 'time coming to a complete stop at the speed of light' concept a little more easily, imagine moving away from the face of a clock at the speed of light. Would not the hands on the clock stay stationary as you moved away from the face of the clock at the speed of light? Moving away from the face of a clock at the speed of light happens to be the same 'thought experiment' that gave Einstein his breakthrough insight into e=mc2.
Albert Einstein - Special Relativity - Insight Into Eternity - 'thought experiment' video
http://www.metacafe.com/w/6545941/
,,,Yet, even though light has this 'eternal' attribute in regards to our temporal framework of time, for us to hypothetically travel at the speed of light, in this universe, will still only get us to first base as far as quantum entanglement, or teleportation, is concerned.
Light and Quantum Entanglement Reflect Some Characteristics Of God - video
http://www.metacafe.com/watch/4102182
That is to say, traveling at the speed of light will only get us to the place where time, as we understand it, comes to complete stop for light, i.e. gets us to the eternal, 'past and future folding into now', framework of time. This higher dimension, 'eternal', inference for the time framework of light is warranted because light is not 'frozen within time' yet it is shown that time, as we understand it, does not pass for light.
"I've just developed a new theory of eternity."Experimental confirmation of Time Dilation
Albert Einstein - The Einstein Factor - Reader's Digest
http://www.readersdigest.co.za/article/10170%26pageno=3
"The laws of relativity have changed timeless existence from a theological claim to a physical reality. Light, you see, is outside of time, a fact of nature proven in thousands of experiments at hundreds of universities. I don’t pretend to know how tomorrow can exist simultaneously with today and yesterday. But at the speed of light they actually and rigorously do. Time does not pass."
Richard Swenson - More Than Meets The Eye, Chpt. 12
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Time_dilation#Experimental_confirmation
It is also very interesting to note that we have two very different qualities of ‘eternality of time’ revealed by our time dilation experiments;
Time Dilation - General and Special Relativity - Chuck Missler - video
http://www.metacafe.com/w/7013215/
Time dilationi.e. As with any observer accelerating to the speed of light, it is found that for any observer falling into the event horizon of a black hole, that time, as we understand it, will come to a complete stop for them. — But of particular interest to the ‘eternal framework’ found for General Relativity at black holes;… It is interesting to note that entropic decay (Randomness), which is the primary reason why things grow old and eventually die in this universe, is found to be greatest at black holes. Thus the ‘eternality of time’ at black holes can rightly be called ‘eternalities of decay and/or eternalities of destruction’.
Excerpt: Time dilation: special vs. general theories of relativity:
In Albert Einstein's theories of relativity, time dilation in these two circumstances can be summarized:
1. --In special relativity (or, hypothetically far from all gravitational mass), clocks that are moving with respect to an inertial system of observation are measured to be running slower. (i.e. For any observer accelerating, hypothetically, to the speed of light, time, as we understand it, will come to a complete stop).
2.--In general relativity, clocks at lower potentials in a gravitational field—such as in closer proximity to a planet—are found to be running slower.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Time_dilation
Entropy of the Universe - Hugh Ross - May 2010i.e. Black Holes are found to be ‘timeless’ singularities of destruction and disorder rather than singularities of creation and order such as the extreme order we see at the creation event of the Big Bang. Needless to say, the implications of this ‘eternality of destruction’ should be fairly disturbing for those of us who are of the ‘spiritually minded' persuasion!
Excerpt: Egan and Lineweaver found that supermassive black holes are the largest contributor to the observable universe’s entropy. They showed that these supermassive black holes contribute about 30 times more entropy than what the previous research teams estimated.
http://www.reasons.org/entropy-universe
Roger Penrose – How Special Was The Big Bang?
“But why was the big bang so precisely organized, whereas the big crunch (or the singularities in black holes) would be expected to be totally chaotic? It would appear that this question can be phrased in terms of the behaviour of the WEYL part of the space-time curvature at space-time singularities. What we appear to find is that there is a constraint WEYL = 0 (or something very like this) at initial space-time singularities-but not at final singularities-and this seems to be what confines the Creator’s choice to this very tiny region of phase space."
Matthew 10:28On the Mystery, and Plasticity, Of Space-Time
“Do not fear those who kill the body but are unable to kill the soul; but rather fear Him who is able to destroy both soul and body in hell.
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1FFKL3FeyebpNNyal1DQ64y20zlplVrjkaLXrM0P5ES4/edit?hl=en_US
Space-Time and Our Place In It
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1e8UQhmnX1Y7SbXB06VP0pF_IBCkM0fZwGcOfBihy7zI/edit
It is very interesting to note that this strange higher dimensional, eternal, framework for time, found in special relativity, and general relativity, finds corroboration in Near Death Experience testimonies:
'In the 'spirit world,,, instantly, there was no sense of time. See, everything on earth is related to time. You got up this morning, you are going to go to bed tonight. Something is new, it will get old. Something is born, it's going to die. Everything on the physical plane is relative to time, but everything in the spiritual plane is relative to eternity. Instantly I was in total consciousness and awareness of eternity, and you and I as we live in this earth cannot even comprehend it, because everything that we have here is filled within the veil of the temporal life. In the spirit life that is more real than anything else and it is awesome. Eternity as a concept is awesome. There is no such thing as time. I knew that whatever happened was going to go on and on.'It is also very interesting to point out that the 'light at the end of the tunnel', reported in many Near Death Experiences(NDEs), is also corroborated by Special Relativity when considering the optical effects for traveling at the speed of light. Please compare the similarity of the optical effect, noted at the 3:22 minute mark of the following video, when the 3-Dimensional world ‘folds and collapses’ into a tunnel shape around the direction of travel as a 'hypothetical' observer moves towards the ‘higher dimension’ of the speed of light, with the ‘light at the end of the tunnel’ reported in very many Near Death Experiences: (Of note: This following video was made by two Australian University Physics Professors with a supercomputer.)
Mickey Robinson - Near Death Experience testimony
'When you die, you enter eternity. It feels like you were always there, and you will always be there. You realize that existence on Earth is only just a brief instant.'
Dr. Ken Ring - has extensively studied Near Death Experiences
'Earthly time has no meaning in the spirit realm. There is no concept of before or after. Everything - past, present, future - exists simultaneously.' - Kimberly Clark Sharp - NDE Experiencer
'There is no way to tell whether minutes, hours or years go by. Existence is the only reality and it is inseparable from the eternal now.' - John Star - NDE Experiencer
http://www.near-death.com/experiences/research13.html
What Will Heaven be Like? by Rich Deem
Excerpt: Since heaven is where God lives, it must contain more physical and temporal dimensions than those found in this physical universe that God created. We cannot imagine, nor can we experience in our current bodies, what these extra dimensions might be like.
http://www.godandscience.org/doctrine/heaven.html
Traveling At The Speed Of Light - Optical Effects - video
http://www.metacafe.com/watch/5733303/
Here is the interactive website, with link to the relativistic math at the bottom of the page, related to the preceding video;
Seeing Relativity
http://www.anu.edu.au/Physics/Searle/
The NDE and the Tunnel - Kevin Williams' research conclusionsNear Death Experience - The Tunnel - video
Excerpt: I started to move toward the light. The way I moved, the physics, was completely different than it is here on Earth. It was something I had never felt before and never felt since. It was a whole different sensation of motion. I obviously wasn't walking or skipping or crawling. I was not floating. I was flowing. I was flowing toward the light. I was accelerating and I knew I was accelerating, but then again, I didn't really feel the acceleration. I just knew I was accelerating toward the light. Again, the physics was different - the physics of motion of time, space, travel. It was completely different in that tunnel, than it is here on Earth. I came out into the light and when I came out into the light, I realized that I was in heaven.(Barbara Springer)
http://www.vimeo.com/29021432
Near Death Experience – The Tunnel, The Light, The Life Review – video
http://www.metacafe.com/watch/4200200/
Speed Of Light - Near Death Experience Tunnel - Turin Shroud - video
http://www.vimeo.com/18371644
As well, as with the tunnel being present in heavenly NDE's, we also have mention of tunnels in hellish NDE testimonies;
A man, near the beginning of this video, gives testimony of falling down a 'tunnel' in the transition stage from this world to hell:
Hell - A Warning! - video
http://www.metacafe.com/watch/4131476/
The man, in this following video, also speaks of 'tumbling down' a tunnel in his transition stage to hell:
Bill Wiese on Sid Roth – video
http://vimeo.com/21230371
As well, as with the scientifically verified tunnel for special relativity, we also have scientific confirmation of extreme ‘tunnel curvature’, within space-time, to a eternal ‘event horizon’ at black holes;
Space-Time of a Black hole
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f0VOn9r4dq8
These consistent findings, that corroborate NDE testimonies, should be fairly disturbing for those of us of a 'spiritual' leaning,,,, but to continue on with the topic,,, hypothetically traveling at the speed of light in this universe would be instantaneous travel for the person going at the speed of light. This is because time does not pass for them, yet, and this is a very big ‘yet’ to take note of; this ‘timeless’ travel is still not instantaneous and transcendent to our temporal framework of time, i.e. Speed of light travel, to our temporal frame of reference, is still not completely transcendent of our framework since light appears to take time to travel from our perspective. Yet, in quantum teleportation of information, the ‘time not passing’, i.e. ‘eternal’, framework is not only achieved in the speed of light framework/dimension, but is also ‘instantaneously’ achieved in our temporal framework. That is to say, the instantaneous teleportation/travel of information is instantaneous to both the temporal and speed of light frameworks, not just the speed of light framework. Information teleportation/travel is not limited by time, nor space, in any way, shape or form, in any frame of reference, as light is seemingly limited to us. Thus ‘pure transcendent information’ is shown to be timeless (eternal) and completely transcendent of all material frameworks. Moreover, concluding from all lines of evidence we have now examined; transcendent, eternal, infinite information is indeed real and the framework in which ‘It’ resides is the primary reality (highest dimension) that can exist, (in so far as our limited perception of a primary reality, highest dimension, can be discerned).
"An illusion can never go faster than the speed limit of reality"Logic also dictates 'a decision' must have been made, by the 'transcendent, eternal, infinite information' from the primary timeless (eternal) reality 'It' inhabits, in order to purposely create a temporal reality with highly specified, irreducible complex, parameters from a infinite set of possibilities in the proper sequential order. Thus this infinite transcendent information, which is the primary reality of our reality, is shown to be alive by yet another line of evidence besides the necessity for a ‘first mover’ to explain quantum wave collapse.
Akiane Kramarik - Child Prodigy -
Artwork homepage - http://www.artakiane.com/ -
Music video - http://www.metacafe.com/watch/4204586
The First Cause Must Be A Personal Being - William Lane Craig - video
http://www.metacafe.com/w/4813914
As a side light to this, leading quantum physicist Anton Zeilinger has followed in John Archibald Wheeler's footsteps (1911-2008) by insisting reality, at its most foundational level, is 'information'.
"It from bit symbolizes the idea that every item of the physical world has at bottom - at a very deep bottom, in most instances - an immaterial source and explanation; that which we call reality arises in the last analysis from the posing of yes-no questions and the registering of equipment-evoked responses; in short, that things physical are information-theoretic in origin."Prof Anton Zeilinger speaks on quantum physics. at UCT - video
John Archibald Wheeler
Why the Quantum? It from Bit? A Participatory Universe?
Excerpt: In conclusion, it may very well be said that information is the irreducible kernel from which everything else flows. Thence the question why nature appears quantized is simply a consequence of the fact that information itself is quantized by necessity. It might even be fair to observe that the concept that information is fundamental is very old knowledge of humanity, witness for example the beginning of gospel according to John: "In the beginning was the Word." Anton Zeilinger - a leading expert in quantum teleportation:
http://www.metanexus.net/archive/ultimate_reality/zeilinger.pdf
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s3ZPWW5NOrw
Zeilinger's principleQuantum Entanglement and Teleportation - Anton Zeilinger - video
The principle that any elementary system carries just one bit of information. This principle was put forward by the Austrian physicist Anton Zeilinger in 1999 and subsequently developed by him to derive several aspects of quantum mechanics.
http://science.jrank.org/pages/20784/Zeilinger%27s-principle.html#ixzz17a7f88PM
In the beginning was the bit - New Scientist
Excerpt: Zeilinger's principle leads to the intrinsic randomness found in the quantum world. Consider the spin of an electron. Say it is measured along a vertical axis (call it the z axis) and found to be pointing up. Because one bit of information has been used to make that statement, no more information can be carried by the electron's spin. Consequently, no information is available to predict the amounts of spin in the two horizontal directions (x and y axes), so they are of necessity entirely random. If you then measure the spin in one of these directions, there is an equal chance of its pointing right or left, forward or back. This fundamental randomness is what we call Heisenberg's uncertainty principle.
http://www.quantum.at/fileadmin/links/newscientist/bit.html
'Quantum Magic' Without Any 'Spooky Action at a Distance' - June 2011
Excerpt: A team of researchers led by Anton Zeilinger at the University of Vienna and the Institute for Quantum Optics and Quantum Information of the Austrian Academy of Sciences used a system which does not allow for entanglement, and still found results which cannot be interpreted classically.
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2011/06/110624111942.htm
http://www.metacafe.com/watch/5705317/
It should be noted that the popular science fiction conception of the universe being 'merely' a computer simulation (as in 'Matrix' movies), a conception drawn from the fact that 'material' reality is now shown to be reducible to information, is far too simplistic in its conception:
Quantum Computing Promises New Insights, Not Just Supermachines - Scott Aaronson - December 2011Here are some more interesting videos that also arrive at a 'information basis' for reality from a slightly different perspective:
Excerpt: And yet, even though useful quantum computers might still be decades away, many of their payoffs are already arriving. For example, the mere possibility of quantum computers has all but overthrown a conception of the universe that scientists like Stephen Wolfram have championed. That conception holds that, as in the “Matrix” movies, the universe itself is basically a giant computer, twiddling an array of 1’s and 0’s in essentially the same way any desktop PC does.
Quantum computing has challenged that vision by showing that if “the universe is a computer,” then even at a hard-nosed theoretical level, it’s a vastly more powerful kind of computer than any yet constructed by humankind. Indeed, the only ways to evade that conclusion seem even crazier than quantum computing itself: One would have to overturn quantum mechanics, or else find a fast way to simulate quantum mechanics using today’s computers.
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/12/06/science/scott-aaronson-quantum-computing-promises-new-insights.html?pagewanted=2&_r=1&ref=science
A Very Unusual Proof for the Existence of God - video - (Collapse of wave function)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kj8UdHuP5l8
You Are Made Of Information - video - (Don't believe me? Any ontology other than information monism leads to self-contradiction)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-ciWYGvpGII
Continued comments:
The restriction imposed by our physical limitations of us ever accessing complete infinite information to our temporal space-time framework/dimension (Wheeler; Zeilinger) does not detract, in any way, from the primacy and dominion of the infinite transcendent information framework that is now established by the quantum teleportation experiment as the primary reality of our reality. Of note: All of this evidence meshes extremely well with the theistic postulation of God possessing infinite and perfect knowledge. This seems like a fitting place for this following quote and verse:
"To see the world in a grain of sand, and to see heaven in a wild flower, hold infinity in the palm of your hands, and eternity in an hour."As well it should be noted that, counter-intuitive to materialistic thought (and to every kid who has ever taken a math exam), a computer does not consume energy during computation but will only consume energy when information is erased from it. This counter-intuitive fact is formally known as Landauer's Principle. i.e. Erasing information is a thermodynamically irreversible process that increases the entropy of a system. i.e Only irreversible operations consume energy. Reversible computation does not use up energy. Unfortunately the computer will eventually run out of information storage space and must begin to 'irreversibly' erase the information it has previously gathered (Bennett: 1982) and thus a computer must eventually use energy. i.e. A 'material' computer must eventually obey the second law of thermodynamics for its computation.
William Blake
Psalm 19:1-2
The heavens declare the glory of God; the skies proclaim the work of his hands. Day after day they pour forth speech; night after night they display knowledge.
Landauer's principleIt should be noted that Rolf Landauer himself maintained that information in a computer was 'physical'. He held that information in a computer was merely an 'emergent' property of the material basis of a computer, and thus he held that the information programmed into a computer was not really 'real'. Landauer held this 'materialistic' position in spite of a objection from Roger Penrose that information is indeed real and has its own independent existence separate from a computer. Landauer held this 'materialistic' position since he held that 'it takes energy to erase information from a computer therefore information is 'merely physical'. Yet now the validity of that fairly narrowly focused objection from Landauer, to the reality of 'transcendent information' encoded within the computer, has been brought into question. i.e. Landauer's Principle may not be nearly as 'ironclade' as Landauer had originally believed.
Of Note: "any logically irreversible manipulation of information, such as the erasure of a bit or the merging of two computation paths, must be accompanied by a corresponding entropy increase ,,, Specifically, each bit of lost information will lead to the release of an (specific) amount (at least kT ln 2) of heat.,,, Landauer’s Principle has also been used as the foundation for a new theory of dark energy, proposed by Gough (2008).
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Landauer%27s_principle
Scientists show how to erase information without using energy - January 2011This following research provides far more solid falsification for Rolf Landauer's contention that information encoded in a computer is merely physical (merely 'emergent' from a material basis) since he believed it always required energy to erase it;
Excerpt: Until now, scientists have thought that the process of erasing information requires energy. But a new study shows that, theoretically, information can be erased without using any energy at all. Instead, the cost of erasure can be paid in terms of another conserved quantity, such as spin angular momentum.,,, "Landauer said that information is physical because it takes energy to erase it. We are saying that the reason it is physical has a broader context than that.", Vaccaro explained.
http://www.physorg.com/news/2011-01-scientists-erase-energy.html
Quantum knowledge cools computers: New understanding of entropy - June 2011Further comments:
Excerpt: No heat, even a cooling effect;
In the case of perfect classical knowledge of a computer memory (zero entropy), deletion of the data requires in theory no energy at all. The researchers prove that "more than complete knowledge" from quantum entanglement with the memory (negative entropy) leads to deletion of the data being accompanied by removal of heat from the computer and its release as usable energy. This is the physical meaning of negative entropy.
Renner emphasizes, however, "This doesn't mean that we can develop a perpetual motion machine." The data can only be deleted once, so there is no possibility to continue to generate energy. The process also destroys the entanglement, and it would take an input of energy to reset the system to its starting state. The equations are consistent with what's known as the second law of thermodynamics: the idea that the entropy of the universe can never decrease. Vedral says "We're working on the edge of the second law. If you go any further, you will break it."
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2011/06/110601134300.htm
"Those devices (computers) can yield only approximations to a structure (of information) that has a deep and "computer independent" existence of its own." - Roger Penrose - The Emperor's New Mind - Pg 147Yet even without the falsification of Rolf Landauer's contention, that information was merely 'physical', this ability of a computer to 'compute answers', without ever hypothetically consuming energy, is very suggestive that the answers/truth already exist in reality, and in fact, when taken to its logical conclusion, is very suggestive to the postulation of John 1:1 that 'Logos' is ultimately the foundation of our 'material' reality in the first place.
"Information is information, not matter or energy. No materialism which does not admit this can survive at the present day."
Norbert Weiner - MIT Mathematician - Father of Cybernetics
John 1:1-3(of note: 'Word' in Greek is 'Logos', and is the root word from which we get our word 'Logic')
In the beginning, the Word existed. The Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was with God in the beginning. Through Him all things were made; without Him nothing was made that has been made.
This strange anomaly between lack of energy consumption and the computation of information appears to hold for the human mind as well.
Appraising the brain's energy budget:The preceding experiments are very unexpected to materialists since materialists hold that 'mind' is merely a 'emergent property' of the physical processes of the material brain.
Excerpt: In the average adult human, the brain represents about 2% of the body weight. Remarkably, despite its relatively small size, the brain accounts for about 20% of the oxygen and, hence, calories consumed by the body. This high rate of metabolism is remarkably constant despite widely varying mental and motoric activity. The metabolic activity of the brain is remarkably constant over time.
http://www.pnas.org/content/99/16/10237.full
THE EFFECT OF MENTAL ARITHMETIC ON CEREBRAL CIRCULATION AND METABOLISM
Excerpt: Although Lennox considered the performance of mental arithmetic as "mental work", it is not immediately apparent what the nature of that work in the physical sense might be if, indeed, there be any. If no work or energy transformation is involved in the process of thought, then it is not surprising that cerebral oxygen consumption is unaltered during mental arithmetic.
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC438861/pdf/jcinvest00624-0127.pdf
In further note: Considering computers can't pass this following test for creating new information,,,
"... no operation performed by a computer can create new information."Information. What is it? - Robert Marks - video
-- Douglas G. Robertson, "Algorithmic Information Theory, Free Will and the Turing Test," Complexity, Vol.3, #3 Jan/Feb 1999, pp. 25-34.
http://cires.colorado.edu/~doug/philosophy/info7.pdf
Evolutionary Informatics - William Dembski & Robert Marks
Excerpt: The principal theme of the lab’s research is teasing apart the respective roles of internally generated and externally applied information in the performance of evolutionary systems.,,, Evolutionary informatics demonstrates a regress of information sources. At no place along the way need there be a violation of ordinary physical causality. And yet, the regress implies a fundamental incompleteness in physical causality's ability to produce the required information. Evolutionary informatics, while falling squarely within the information sciences, thus points to the need for an ultimate information source qua intelligent designer.
http://evoinfo.org/
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d7seCcS_gPk
Estimating Active Information in Adaptive Mutagenesis
http://www.blythinstitute.org/images/data/attachments/0000/0005/EstimatingActiveInformationPoster_final.pdf
“Computers are no more able to create information than iPods are capable of creating music.”,,Whereas humans can fairly easily pass the test for creating new information,,
Robert Marks
"So, to sum up: computers can reshuffle specifications and perform any kind of computation implemented in them. They are mechanical, totally bound by the laws of necessity (algorithms), and non conscious. Humans can continuously create new specification, and also perform complex computations like a computer, although usually less efficiently. They can create semantic output, make new unexpected inferences, recognize and define meanings, purposes, feelings, and functions, and certainly conscious representations are associated with all those kinds of processes.",,,thus these findings strongly imply that we humans have a 'higher informational component' to our being,, i.e. these findings offer another line of corroborating evidence which is very suggestive to the idea that humans have a mind which is transcendent of the physical brain and which is part of a 'unique soul from God'. Moreover this unique mind that each human has seems to be capable of a special and intimate communion with God that is unavailable to other animals, i.e. we are capable of communicating information with "The Word" as described in John 1:1.
Uncommon Descent blogger - gpuccio
http://www.uncommondescent.com/intelligent-design/atheisms-not-so-hidden-assumptions/#comment-357770
I also liked this insight, from a computer programmer with a PhD in Physics, about a fundamental difference between human consciousness and computer programs:
The simple fact is this, despite years of experience writing many complex codes, I can not write a computer program that disobeys me. I don’t even know how to do it. I can write computer programs that have bugs and don’t perform what I thought they were going to do; I can write computer programs that make pseudo-random choices. I do not know how to write a program that disobeys. I would contend it can’t be done. But the ability to disobey the Creator is the essence of consciousness. Otherwise it’s just complicated programming with random choices.Also of related interest is Dr. Werner Gitt's lecture on information:
http://www.uncommondescent.com/intelligent-design/human-consciousness/#comment-363067
In The Beginning Was Information - Werner Gitt - video
http://vimeo.com/22652852
You may download Dr. Gitt's book, In The Beginning Was Information, at this website:
http://www.sedin.org/propeng/informat.htm
Thus now, with the mathematical definition of functional information in place for molecular biology, and with 'infinite transcendent information' shown to be 'conserved' and 'consciousness' found to be foundational to our reality, and with Genetic Entropy outlined as the primary principle for biological adaptations, Intelligent Design can now be scientifically tested against any materialistic theory of blind chance proposing a certain system arose by random material processes and was not the handiwork of God.
I would like to point out that when a molecular sub-system of a biological organism passes the probability threshold of one in 10^150 orders of magnitude (that’s a one with 150 zeros to the right) then it is considered, by very stringent guidelines which allow for far more 'quantum events' than will ever happen in the universe, to be overwhelmingly impossible for the universe to ever account for the system arising by chance alone. (Dembski, Abel)
Here is how the base line for the universe's probabilistic resources are calculated:
Signature in the Cell - Book Review - Ken PetersonProgramming of Life - Probability - Defining Probable, Possible, Feasible etc.. - video
Excerpt: "there are about 10 to the 80th elementary particles in our observable universe. Assuming a Big Bang about 13 billion years ago, there have been about 10 to the 16th seconds of time. Finally, if we take the time required for light to travel one Plank length we will have found “the shortest time in which any physical effect can occur.” This turns out to be 10 to the minus 43rd seconds. Or turning it around we can say that the most interactions possible in a second is 10 to the 43rd. Thus, the “probabilistic resources” of the universe would be to multiply the total number of seconds by the total number of interactions per second by the total number of particles theoretically interacting. The math turns out to be 10 to the 139th."
http://www.spectrummagazine.org/reviews/book_reviews/2009/10/06/signature_cell
The Universal Plausibility Metric (UPM) & Principle (UPP) - Abel - Dec. 2009
Excerpt: Mere possibility is not an adequate basis for asserting scientific plausibility. A precisely defined universal bound is needed beyond which the assertion of plausibility, particularly in life-origin models, can be considered operationally falsified. But can something so seemingly relative and subjective as plausibility ever be quantified? Amazingly, the answer is, "Yes.",,,
cΩu = Universe = 10^13 reactions/sec X 10^17 secs X 10^78 atoms = 10^108
cΩg = Galaxy = 10^13 X 10^17 X 10^66 atoms = 10^96
cΩs = Solar System = 10^13 X 10^17 X 10^55 atoms = 10^85
cΩe = Earth = 10^13 X 10^17 X 10^40 atoms = 10^70
http://www.tbiomed.com/content/6/1/27
http://www.youtube.com/user/Programmingoflife#p/c/AFDF33F11E2FB840/8/kckv0wVBYpA
New Peer-Reviewed Paper Demolishes Fallacious Objection: “Aren’t There Vast Eons of Time for Evolution?” - Dec. 2009
http://www.evolutionnews.org/2009/12/new_peerreviewed_paper_demolis.html
This 'universal limit' for functional information generation is generously set at 140 Functional Information Bits (Fits) by Kirk Durston. The molecular sub-system is considered to be irreducibly complex in its functional information content, and thus it is considered to be intelligently designed. Though irreducible complexity is primarily used by Intelligent Design proponents for deducing design in molecular biology, the concept of irreducible complexity can also be applied, in an overarching form, to the entire universe to find if man is indeed God's primary purpose for creating this universe. Thus irreducible complexity can also be used to verify the anthropic hypothesis.
Irreducible Complexity and the Anthropic Principle - John Clayton - video
http://vimeo.com/22648466
The following are some basic questions that need to be answered, to find if either the anthropic hypothesis or some materialistic hypothesis is correct.
I. What evidence is found for the universe's ability to support life?
II. What evidence is found for the earths ability to support life?
III. What evidence is found for the first life on earth?
IV. What evidence is found for the appearance of all species of life on earth, and is man the last species to appear on earth?
V. What evidence is found for God's personal involvement with man?
Before we start answering these five basic questions, I would like to reiterate, as clearly as possible, that any 'solid material atomic' foundation for this universe, which was the primary postulation of materialism in the first place, has now been completely crushed by our present understanding of quantum mechanics. Little do most people realize there is actually no solid indestructible particle, at all, at the basis of our reality in the atom somewhere. Each and every sub-atomic particle in the atom, (proton, neutron, electron etc..) is subject to the laws of quantum mechanics. Quantum mechanics is about as far away from the solid material particle/atom, that materialism had predicted as the basis of reality, as can be had. These following videos and articles make this point clear:
Uncertainty Principle - The 'Uncertain Non-Particle' Basis Of Material Reality - video and article
http://www.metacafe.com/watch/4109172
http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/qt-uncertainty/
Electron diffractionAs well, many of the actions of the electron blatantly defy out concepts of time and space:
Excerpt: The de Broglie hypothesis, formulated in 1926, predicts that particles should also behave as waves. De Broglie's formula was confirmed three years later for electrons (which have a rest-mass) with the observation of electron diffraction in two independent experiments. At the University of Aberdeen George Paget Thomson passed a beam of electrons through a thin metal film and observed the predicted interference patterns. At Bell Labs Clinton Joseph Davisson and Lester Halbert Germer guided their beam through a crystalline grid. Thomson and Davisson shared the Nobel Prize for Physics in 1937 for their work.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electron_diffraction
The Electron - The Supernatural Basis of Reality - video
http://www.metacafe.com/watch/5312315/
Electron entanglement near a superconductor and bell inequalitiesThis following article is interesting for it shows that very small quantum events can have dramatic effects on large objects:
Excerpt: The two electrons of these pairs have entangled spin and orbital degrees of freedom.,,, We formulate Bell-type inequalities in terms of current-current cross-correlations associated with contacts with varying magnetization orientations. We find maximal violation (as in photons) when a superconductor is the particle source. (i.e. electrons have a 'non-local', beyond space and time, cause sustaining them.)
http://www.springerlink.com/content/e2830ur84h856618/
Double-slit experiment
Excerpt: (Though normally done with photons) The double slit experiment can also be performed (using different apparatus) with particles of matter such as electrons with the same results, demonstrating that they also show particle-wave duality.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Double-slit_experiment
Quantum Mechanics – Quantum Results, Theoretical Implications Of Quantum Mechanics
Excerpt: Bohr proposed that electrons existed only in certain orbits and that, instead of traveling between orbits, electrons made instantaneous quantum leaps or jumps between allowed orbits.,,, The electron quantum leaps between orbits proposed by the Bohr model accounted for Plank’s observations that atoms emit or absorb electromagnetic radiation in quanta. Bohr’s model also explained many important properties of the photoelectric effect described by Albert Einstein (1879–1955).
http://science.jrank.org/pages/5607/Quantum-Mechanics.html
"Atoms are not things"
Werner Heisenberg
"Anyone who is not shocked by quantum theory has not understood it."
Niels Bohr
How 'spooky' quantum mechanical laws may affect everyday objects (Update) - July 2010What blows most people away, when they first encounter quantum mechanics, is the quantum foundation of our material reality blatantly defies our concepts of time and space. Most people consider defying time and space to be a 'miraculous & supernatural' event. I know I certainly do! There is certainly nothing within quantum mechanics that precludes miracles from being possible:
Excerpt: "The difference in size between the two parts of the system is really extreme," Blencowe explained. "To give a sense of perspective, imagine that the 10,000 electrons correspond to something small but macroscopic, like a flea. To complete the analogy, the crystal would have to be the size of Mt. Everest. If we imagine the flea jumping on Mt. Everest to make it move, then the resulting vibrations would be on the order of meters!"
http://www.physorg.com/news197120339.html
How can an Immaterial God Interact with the Physical Universe? (Alvin Plantinga) - video
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WJBjI1UYwpQ
This 'miraculous & supernatural' foundation for our physical reality can easily be illuminated by the famous 'double slit' experiment. (It should be noted the double slit experiment was originally devised, in 1801, by a Christian polymath named Thomas Young). Though I've listed this preceding video before, it is well worth revisiting it here:
Dr. Quantum - Double Slit Experiment & Entanglement - video
http://www.metacafe.com/watch/4096579
Double-slit experimentThis following site offers a more formal refutation of materialism:
Excerpt: In 1999 objects large enough to see under a microscope, buckyball (interlocking carbon atom) molecules (diameter about 0.7 nm, nearly half a million times that of a proton), were found to exhibit wave-like interference.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Double-slit_experiment
Why Quantum Theory Does Not Support Materialism - By Bruce L Gordon:It should also be noted that the 'uncertainty principle' for 3-D material particles is extended even to the point of not even being able to determine the exact radius for an electron that is at complete rest:
Excerpt: Because quantum theory is thought to provide the bedrock for our scientific understanding of physical reality, it is to this theory that the materialist inevitably appeals in support of his worldview. But having fled to science in search of a safe haven for his doctrines, the materialist instead finds that quantum theory in fact dissolves and defeats his materialist understanding of the world.
http://www.4truth.net/site/c.hiKXLbPNLrF/b.2904125/k.E94E/Why_Quantum_Theory_Does_Not_Support_Materialism.htm
PhysForum ScienceIt would also like to point out that the hardest, most solid, indestructible 'thing' in a material object, such as a rock, are not any of the wave/particles in any of the atoms of a rock, but are the unchanging, transcendent, universal, constants which exercise overriding 'non-chaotic' dominion of all the wave/particle quantum events in the atoms of the rock. i.e. It is the unchanging stability of the universal 'transcendent information' constants, which have not varied one iota from the universe's creation as far as scientists can tell, that allows a rock to be 'rock solid' in the first place.
Excerpt: We have an upper limit on the radius of the electron, set by experiment, but that’s about it. By our current knowledge, it is an elementary particle with no internal structure, and thus no ’size’.”
http://www.uncommondescent.com/intelligent-design/intelligent-design-uncensored-hot-off-the-press/comment-page-3/#comment-354575
What is Truth?
http://docs.google.com/Doc?id=dc8z67wz_3g3vnsmcn
Stability of Coulomb Systems in a Magnetic Field - Charles FeffermanAs well, it seems fairly obvious the actions observed in the double slit experiment, as well as other experiments, are only possible if our reality has its actual basis in a 'higher transcendent dimension':
Excerpt of Abstract: I study N electrons and M protons in a magnetic field. It is shown that the total energy per particle is bounded below by a constant independent of M and N, provided the fine structure constant is small. Here, the total energy includes the energy of the magnetic field.
http://www.jstor.org/pss/2367659?cookieSet=1
Testing Creation Using the Proton to Electron Mass Ratio
Excerpt: The bottom line is that the electron to proton mass ratio unquestionably joins the growing list of fundamental constants in physics demonstrated to be constant over the history of the universe.,,,
http://www.reasons.org/TestingCreationUsingtheProtontoElectronMassRatio
Explaining The Unseen Higher Dimension - Dr. Quantum - Flatland - video
http://www.metacafe.com/watch/4119478
These following videos and articles on Dark Energy and Matter put the another nail in the coffin for the materialistic philosophy (as if it was not already completely falsified):
REPORT OF THE DARK ENERGY TASK FORCEThe Mathematical Anomaly Of Dark Matter - video
The abstract of the September 2006 Report of the Dark Energy Task Force says: “Dark energy appears to be the dominant component of the physical Universe, yet there is no persuasive theoretical explanation for its existence or magnitude. The acceleration of the Universe is, along with dark matter, the observed phenomenon that most directly demonstrates that our (materialistic) theories of fundamental particles and gravity are either incorrect or incomplete. Most experts believe that nothing short of a revolution in our understanding of fundamental physics will be required to achieve a full understanding of the cosmic acceleration. For these reasons, the nature of dark energy ranks among the very most compelling of all outstanding problems in physical science. These circumstances demand an ambitious observational program to determine the dark energy properties as well as possible.”
http://jdem.gsfc.nasa.gov/docs/Decadal_Survey-Dark_Energy_Task_Force_report.pdf
http://www.metacafe.com/watch/4133609
Dark matter haloHubble Finds Ring of Dark Matter - video
Excerpt: The dark matter halo is the single largest part of the Milky Way Galaxy as it covers the space between 100,000 light-years to 300,000 light-years from the galactic center. It is also the most mysterious part of the Galaxy. It is now believed that about 95% of the Galaxy is composed of dark matter, a type of matter that does not seem to interact with the rest of the Galaxy's matter and energy in any way except through gravity. The dark matter halo is the location of nearly all of the Milky Way Galaxy's dark matter, which is more than ten times as much mass as all of the visible stars, gas, and dust in the rest of the Galaxy.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dark_matter_halo
Gas rich galaxies confirm prediction of modified gravity theory (MOND) - February 2011
Excerpt: Almost everyone agrees that on scales of large galaxy clusters and up, the Universe is well described by dark matter - dark energy theory. However, according to McGaugh this cosmology does not account well for what happens at the scales of galaxies and smaller. "MOND is just the opposite," he said. "It accounts well for the 'small' scale of individual galaxies, but MOND doesn't tell you much about the larger universe.
http://www.physorg.com/news/2011-02-gas-rich-galaxies-gravity-theory.html
http://www.metacafe.com/watch/4133618
The Elusive "non-Material" Foundation For Gravity:
http://docs.google.com/View?id=dc8z67wz_38d7zmrn9v
Study Sheds Light On Dark Energy - video
http://dsc.discovery.com/videos/space-study-sheds-light-on-dark-energy.html
Hugh Ross PhD. - Scientific Evidence For Dark Energy - video
http://www.metacafe.com/watch/4347218
What The Universe Is Made Of?: - Pie Chart GraphTable 2.1
96% Invisible "Stuff" vs. 4% Visible Material (Of Note: as of 2008 visible matter only accounts for less than .27% of everything that exists in the universe)
http://hetdex.org/images/dark_energy/universe_made_of.jpg
Dark Matter:
Despite comprehensive maps of the nearby universe that cover the spectrum from radio to gamma rays, we are only able to account for 10% of the mass that must be out there.(actually it is now known to be only .27%) "It's a fairly embarrassing situation to admit that we can't find 90 percent of the universe." Astronomer Bruce H. Margon
http://docs.kde.org/stable/en/kdeedu/kstars/ai-darkmatter.html
Inventory of All the Stuff That Makes Up the Universe (Visible vs. Invisible)
Dark Energy 72.1%
Exotic Dark Matter 23.3%
Ordinary Dark Matter 4.35%
Ordinary Bright Matter (Stars) 0.27%
Planets 0.0001%
Invisible portion - Universe 99.73%
Visible portion - Universe .27%
of note: The preceding 'inventory' of the universe is updated to the second and third releases of the Wilkinson Microwave Anisotropy Probe's (WMAP) results in 2006 & 2008; (Why The Universe Is The Way It Is; Hugh Ross; pg. 37)
Now that the materialistic philosophy is thoroughly deprived of any empirical validation, for its primary tenet of a solid particle/atom at the basis of our temporal reality, let's look at the five questions I listed earlier, starting with the first question and working our way to the last.
Romans 1:20To answer our first question (What evidence is found for the universe's ability to support life?) we will look at the universe and see how its 'parts' are put together. Let's start with carbon. Carbon is shown to be the only element, from the periodic table of elements, by which the complex molecules of life in this universe may be built. The carbon atom is a marvel in and of itself. Carbon is the sixth element on the periodic table and makes up two tenths of one percent of the earths crust. It is the backbone of which all life is built or can be built. It makes up 18% of the mass of our body. In its pure form it is recognized as soot, pencil lead or diamonds. Diamonds are the hardest substance known. Carbon fiber is the strongest fiber known. Carbon fiber is used in the construction of high performance airplanes, tennis rackets and bicycles, just to name a few. Man-made carbon-based molecules have allowed breakthroughs in low temperature super-conductors. Carbon-60 is a recent discovery, from the 1980's, called the buckyball. It is a molecule of sixty interlocking carbon atoms and is the roundest substance known in all molecular science. Graphene, which is a more recent 'revolutionary' discovery within the last decade, is a remarkably flat molecule made of carbon atoms arranged in hexagonal rings, and is the thinnest material possible. Graphene is made of ordinary carbon atoms arranged in a "chicken-wire" lattice. These layers, sometimes just a single atom thick, conduct electricity with virtually no resistance, very little heat generation -- and less power consumption than silicon. Graphene conducts electricity better than any other known material at room temperature and is ten times stronger than steel. Graphene promises to greatly outperform silicon in computer chips in the near future. Carbon has the unique ability to form long chains of complex molecules that have a high degree of stability. Stable complex molecules are required to build sugars, to build DNA, to build RNA, to build amino acids, to build proteins, to build cells, and finally, to build all living organisms on earth. Substances formed around carbon far out-number all other substances combined. No other element comes close to forming the wide variety of stable compounds as does carbon. Yet if it were not for this unique ability to form complex molecules, life could not exist. Organic chemistry, the study of carbon compounds, and their profuse and intricate behavior, is a dedicated science in its own right.
For since the creation of the world God's invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature—have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that men are without excuse.
The only element similar to carbon, which has the necessary atomic structure to form the macro (large) molecules needed for life, is silicon. Yet silicon, though having the correct atomic structure, is severely limited in its ability to make complex macro-molecules. Silicon-based molecules are comparatively unstable and sometimes highly reactive. Thus from this, and many other evidences against silicon, carbon is found to be the only element from which life in this universe may be built. Carbon and other 'heavy' elements also provides one, of several, reasons why the universe must be as old and as large as it is. 'Heavy' elements did not form in the Big Bang. Thus, they had to be synthesized in stars and exploded into space before they were available to form a planet on which carbon-based life could exist. Carbon is the first of the 'heavy' elements that is exclusively formed in the interiors of stars. All the elements below carbon were exclusively, or semi-exclusively, formed within the Big Bang of the universe. The delicate balance at which carbon is synthesized in stars is truly a work of art. Fred Hoyle (1915-2001), a famed astrophysicist, is the scientist who established the nucleo-synthesis of heavier elements within stars as mathematically valid in 1946. Years after Sir Fred discovered the stunning precision with which carbon is synthesized in stars he stated:
From 1953 onward, Willy Fowler and I have always been intrigued by the remarkable relation of the 7.65 MeV energy level in the nucleus of 12 C to the 7.12 MeV level in 16 O. If you wanted to produce carbon and oxygen in roughly equal quantities by stellar nucleosynthesis, these are the two levels you would have to fix, and your fixing would have to be just where these levels are actually found to be. Another put-up job? ... I am inclined to think so. A common sense interpretation of the facts suggests that a super intellect has “monkeyed” with the physics as well as the chemistry and biology, and there are no blind forces worth speaking about in nature. -Sir Fred also stated:
Sir Fred Hoyle, Annual Review of Astronomy and Astrophysics, 20 (1982): 16.
I do not believe that any physicist who examined the evidence could fail to draw the inference that the laws of nuclear physics have been deliberately designed with regard to the consequences they produce within stars.Michael Denton - We Are Stardust - Uncanny Balance Of The Elements - Atheist Fred Hoyle's conversion to a Deist/Theist - video
Sir Fred Hoyle - "The Universe: Past and Present Reflections." Engineering and Science, November, 1981. pp. 8–12
http://www.metacafe.com/watch/4003877
Peer-Reviewed Paper Argues for an Engineered Universe - January 2012 - podcast
http://intelligentdesign.podomatic.com/entry/2012-01-23T14_26_19-08_00
God's Creation - The Miracle Of Carbon & Water - video
http://www.metacafe.com/watch/4193487
What could make a scientist who was such a staunch atheist, as Hoyle was before his discoveries, make such a statement? The reason he made such a statement is because Hoyle was expertly trained in the exacting standards of mathematics. He knew numbers cannot lie when correctly used and interpreted. What he found was a staggering numerical balance to the many independent universal constants needed to synthesize carbon in stars. These independent constants were of such a high degree of precision as to leave no room for blind chance whatsoever. Thus, with no wiggle room for the blind chance of materialism, Fred Hoyle had to admit the evidence he found was compelling to the proposition of intelligent design by a infinitely powerful, and transcendent, Creator. Let's look at some of these exacting mathematical standards, and finely tuned universal constants, to see the precision of 'intelligent design' he saw for the math, and for the foundational building blocks of the transcendent universal 'information' constants, for this universe.
Sometimes atheists will appeal to chaos theory to explain how complexity can arise from simplicity. A vivid example of what they are proposing is here:
Mandelbrot Set Zoom - video
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gEw8xpb1aRA
Yet in criticism to complexity arising from simplicity, as is naturally assumed in chaos theory, it should be noted that, at the very least, two very different equations are in play here. One equation governs micro actions of the universe, and the other equation governs the macro shape of the universe: The following is the equation that governs 'micro' actions:
Finely Tuned Big Bang, Elvis In The Multiverse, and the Schroedinger Equation - Granville Sewell - audio
http://www.metacafe.com/watch/4233012
At the 4:00 minute mark of the preceding audio, Dr. Sewell comments on the ‘transcendent’ and ‘constant’ Schroedinger’s Equation;
‘In chapter 2, I talk at some length on the Schroedinger Equation which is called the fundamental equation of chemistry. It’s the equation that governs the behavior of the basic atomic particles subject to the basic forces of physics. This equation is a partial differential equation with a complex valued solution. By complex valued I don’t mean complicated, I mean involving solutions that are complex numbers, a+bi, which is extraordinary that the governing equation, basic equation, of physics, of chemistry, is a partial differential equation with complex valued solutions. There is absolutely no reason why the basic particles should obey such a equation that I can think of except that it results in elements and chemical compounds with extremely rich and useful chemical properties. In fact I don’t think anyone familiar with quantum mechanics would believe that we’re ever going to find a reason why it should obey such an equation, they just do! So we have this basic, really elegant mathematical equation, partial differential equation, which is my field of expertise, that governs the most basic particles of nature and there is absolutely no reason why, anyone knows of, why it does, it just does. British physicist Sir James Jeans said “From the intrinsic evidence of His creation, the great architect of the universe begins to appear as a pure mathematician”, so God is a mathematician to’.i.e. the Materialist is at a complete loss to explain why this should be so, whereas the Christian Theist presupposes such ‘transcendent’ control of our temporal, material, reality,,,
John 1:1
In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.
of note; 'the Word' is translated from the Greek word ‘Logos’. Logos happens to be the word from which we derive our modern word ‘Logic’.
The following is the very 'different' equation that is found to govern the 'macro' structure of the universe:
0 = 1 + e ^(i*pi) — Euler
Believe it or not, the five most important numbers in mathematics are tied together, through the complex domain in Euler's number, And that points, ever so subtly but strongly, to a world of reality beyond the immediately physical. Many people resist the implications, but there the compass needle points to a transcendent reality that governs our 3D 'physical' reality.
God by the Numbers - Connecting the constants(of note; Euler's Number (equation) is more properly called Euler's Identity in math circles.)
Excerpt: The final number comes from theoretical mathematics. It is Euler's (pronounced "Oiler's") number: e*pi*i. This number is equal to -1, so when the formula is written e*pi*i+1 = 0, it connects the five most important constants in mathematics (e, pi, i, 0, and 1) along with three of the most important mathematical operations (addition, multiplication, and exponentiation). These five constants symbolize the four major branches of classical mathematics: arithmetic, represented by 1 and 0; algebra, by i; geometry, by pi; and analysis, by e, the base of the natural log. e*pi*i+1 = 0 has been called "the most famous of all formulas," because, as one textbook says, "It appeals equally to the mystic, the scientist, the philosopher, and the mathematician."
http://www.christianitytoday.com/ct/2006/march/26.44.html?start=3
Moreover Euler’s Identity, rather than just being the most enigmatic equation in math, finds striking correlation to how our 3D reality is actually structured,,,
The following picture, Bible verse, and video are very interesting since, with the discovery of the Cosmic Microwave Background Radiation (CMBR), the universe is found to actually be a circular sphere which 'coincidentally' corresponds to the circle of pi within Euler's identity:
Picture of CMBR
https://webspace.utexas.edu/reyesr/SolarSystem/cmbr.jpg
Proverbs 8:26-27The Known Universe by AMNH – video - (please note the 'centrality' of the Earth in the universe in the video)
While as yet He had not made the earth or the fields, or the primeval dust of the world. When He prepared the heavens, I was there, when He drew a circle on the face of the deep,
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=17jymDn0W6U
The flatness of the ‘entire’ universe, which 'coincidentally' corresponds to the diameter of pi in Euler’s identity, is found on this following site; (of note this flatness of the universe is an extremely finely tuned condition for the universe that could have, in reality, been a multitude of different values than 'flat'):
Did the Universe Hyperinflate? – Hugh Ross – April 2010This following video, which I've listed previously, shows that the universe also has a primary characteristic of expanding/growing equally in all places,, which 'coincidentally' strongly corresponds to the 'e' in Euler's identity. 'e' is the constant that is used in all sorts of equations of math for finding what the true rates of growth and decay are for any given mathematical problem trying to find as such in this universe:
Excerpt: Perfect geometric flatness is where the space-time surface of the universe exhibits zero curvature (see figure 3). Two meaningful measurements of the universe’s curvature parameter, ½k, exist. Analysis of the 5-year database from WMAP establishes that -0.0170 < ½k < 0.0068.4 Weak gravitational lensing of distant quasars by intervening galaxies places -0.031 < ½k < 0.009.5 Both measurements confirm the universe indeed manifests zero or very close to zero geometric curvature,,,
http://www.reasons.org/did-universe-hyperinflate
Every 3D Place Is Center In This Universe – 4D space/time – video
http://www.metacafe.com/watch/3991873/
This following video shows how finely tuned the '4-Dimensional' expansion of the universe is (1 in 10^120);
Fine Tuning Of Dark Energy and Mass of the Universe - Hugh Ross - video
http://www.metacafe.com/watch/4007682
Towards the end of the following video, Michael Denton speaks of the square root of negative 1 being necessary to understand the foundational quantum behavior of this universe. The square root of -1 is also 'coincidentally' found in Euler's identity:
Michael Denton – Mathematical Truths Are Transcendent And Beautiful – Square root of -1 is built into the fabric of reality – video
http://www.metacafe.com/watch/4003918"
I find it extremely strange that the enigmatic Euler's identity, which was deduced centuries ago, would find such striking correlation to how reality is actually found to be structured by modern science. In pi we have correlation to the 'sphere of the universe' as revealed by the Cosmic Background radiation, as well pi correlates to the finely-tuned 'geometric flatness' within the 'sphere of the universe' that has now been found. In 'e' we have the fundamental constant that is used for ascertaining exponential growth in math that strongly correlates to the fact that space-time is 'expanding/growing equally' in all places of the universe. In the square root of -1 we have what is termed a 'imaginary number', which was first proposed to help solve equations like x2+ 1 = 0 back in the 17th century, yet now, as Michael Denton pointed out in the preceding video, it is found that the square root of -1 is required to explain the behavior of quantum mechanics in this universe. The correlation of Euler's identity, to the foundational characteristics of how this universe is constructed and operates, points overwhelmingly to a transcendent Intelligence, with a capital I, which created this universe! It should also be noted that these universal constants, pi,e, and square root -1, were at first thought by many to be completely transcendent of any material basis, to find that these transcendent constants of Euler's identity in fact 'govern' material reality, in such a foundational way, should be enough to send shivers down any mathematicians spine.
Further discussion relating Euler's identity to General Relativity and Quantum Mechanics:
further notes:Here is a very well done video, showing the stringent 'mathematical proofs' of Euler's Identity:
in the equation e^pi*i + 1 = 0
,,,we find that pi is required in;
General Relativity (Einstein’s Equation)
https://docs.google.com/File?id=dc8z67wz_52c9nxpz2h_b
,,,and we also find that the square root of negative 1 is required in;
Quantum Mechanics (Schrödinger’s Equations)
https://docs.google.com/File?id=dc8z67wz_51ck47zff3_b
,,and we also find that e is required for;
e is required here in wave equations, in finding the distribution of prime numbers, in electrical theory, and is also found to be foundational to trigonometry.,,,
The various uses and equations of 'e' are listed at the bottom of the following page:
http://www.biblemaths.com/pag03_pie/img0.gif
http://www.uncommondescent.com/intelligent-design/fibonacci-life/comment-page-2/#comment-364379
"Like a Shakespearean sonnet that captures the very essence of love, or a painting that brings out the beauty of the human form that is far more than just skin deep, Euler's Equation reaches down into the very depths of existence."
Stanford University mathematics professor - Dr. Keith Devlin
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Euler%27s_identity#Mathematical_beauty
Euler's identity - video
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zApx1UlkpNs
The mystery doesn't stop there, this following video shows how pi and e are found in Genesis 1:1 and John 1:1
Euler's Identity - God Created Mathematics - video
http://www.metacafe.com/watch/4003905
This following website, and video, has the complete working out of the math of Pi and e in the Bible, in the Hebrew and Greek languages respectively, for Genesis 1:1 and John 1:1:
http://www.biblemaths.com/pag03_pie/
Fascinating Bible code – Pi and natural log – Amazing – video (of note: correct exponent for base of Nat Log found in John 1:1 is 10^40, not 10^65 as stated in the video)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wg9LiiSVae
Another transcendent mathematical structure that is found imbedded throughout our reality is Fibonacci's Number;
The golden ratio (tau) is seen in some surprising areas of mathematics. The ratio of consecutive Fibonacci numbers (1, 1, 2, 3, 5, 8, 13 . . ., each number being the sum of the previous two numbers) approaches the golden ratio, as the sequence gets infinitely long. The sequence is sometimes defined as starting at 0, 1, 1, 2, 3Fibonacci Numbers – The Fingerprint of God - video - (See video description for a look at Euler’s Identity)
http://www.jimloy.com/geometry/golden.htm
http://www.metacafe.com/watch/5988843/
Golden Ratio in Human Body - video
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=085KSyQVb-U
Of note natural log e (which is found in Euler's identity and John 1:1) is also found to be necessary for calculating 'growth' of the 'golden spiral' of the Fibonacci number;
The Logarithmic SpiralWhat Tau (The Golden Ratio; Fibonacci Number) Sounds Like - golden ratio set to music
1. r increases proportionally and remains in proportion with the golden ratio as theta increases if we define the equation as above, multiplied by e^(a*phi). The reasons for this are more thoroughly discussed by Mukhopadhyay.
http://goldenratiomyth.weebly.com/the-logarithmic-spiral.html
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3174T-3-59Q
The following, somewhat related, article is very interesting;
The Man Who Draws Pi - A Case of Acquired Savant Syndrome and Synesthesia Following a Brutal Assault:The following is just a cool video that makes you wonder:
Excerpt: “Everything that exists has geometry”, says JP, who acquired amazing mathematical abilities after a mugging incident in 2002. He was hit hard on the head, and he now experiences reality as mathematical fractals describable by equations. Light bouncing off a shiny car explodes into a fractal overlaying reality, the outer boundaries of objects are tangents, tiny pieces that change angles relative to one another and turn into picture frames of fractals during motion, and the boundaries of clouds and liquids are spiraling lines.,,, Mathematicians and physicists were taken aback: Some of JP’s drawings depict equations in math that hitherto were only presentable in graph form. Others depict actual electron interference patterns.,,, Despite his lack of prior training, JP is the only person in the world to have ever handdrawn meticulously accurate approximations of mathematical fractals using only straight lines. He can predict the vectors for prime numbers in his drawings, and his drawing of hf = mc^2, which contains all the style elements of his earliest drawings, is remarkably similar to an actual picture of electron interference patterns, which he found years after first drawing the pattern (see Fig 7, 8).
http://docs.google.com/viewer?a=v&pid=explorer&chrome=true&srcid=0B0GEjtSycjTKNDU4ZmVhNjktNDk2OC00MjBhLTk5ZmQtYzBhYTRkM2ZlNmU4&hl=en
Romans 11:33
Oh, the depth of the riches of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable his judgments, and his paths beyond tracing out!
What pi sounds like when put to music – cool video
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YOQb_mtkEEE
This following video is very interesting for revealing how difficult it was for mathematicians to actually 'prove' that mathematics was even true in the first place:
Georg Cantor - The Mathematics Of Infinity - video
http://www.metacafe.com/watch/4572335
entire video: BBC-Dangerous Knowledge (Part 1-10)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cw-zNRNcF90
Godel's story on the incompleteness theorem can be picked up here in part 7 of the preceding video:
BBC-Dangerous Knowledge (Part 7-10)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oldUAw2Aux0
As you can see, somewhat from the preceding video, mathematics cannot be held to be 'true' unless an assumption for a highest transcendent infinity is held to be true. A highest infinity which Cantor, and even Godel, held to be God. Thus this following formal proof, which was referred to at the end of the preceding video, shows that math cannot be held to be consistently true unless the highest infinity of God is held to be consistently true as a starting assumption:
Gödel’s Incompleteness: The #1 Mathematical Breakthrough of the 20th Century
Excerpt: Gödel’s Incompleteness Theorem says:
“Anything you can draw a circle around cannot explain itself without referring to something outside the circle - something you have to assume to be true but cannot prove "mathematically" to be true.”
http://www.cosmicfingerprints.com/blog/incompleteness/
THE GOD OF THE MATHEMATICIANS - DAVID P. GOLDMAN - August 2010This following site is a easy to use, and understand, interactive website that takes the user through what is termed 'Presuppositional apologetics'. The website clearly shows that our use of the laws of logic, mathematics, science and morality cannot be accounted for unless we believe in a God who guarantees our perceptions and reasoning are trustworthy in the first place.
Excerpt: we cannot construct an ontology that makes God dispensable. Secularists can dismiss this as a mere exercise within predefined rules of the game of mathematical logic, but that is sour grapes, for it was the secular side that hoped to substitute logic for God in the first place. Gödel's critique of the continuum hypothesis has the same implication as his incompleteness theorems: Mathematics never will create the sort of closed system that sorts reality into neat boxes.
http://www.firstthings.com/article/2010/07/the-god-of-the-mathematicians
A Biblical View of Mathematics - Vern Poythress - doctorate in theology, PhD in Mathematics (Harvard)
Excerpt: only on a thoroughgoing Biblical basis can one genuinely understand and affirm the real agreement about mathematical truths.
http://www.theologynetwork.org/theology-of-everything/going-on/a-biblical-view-of-mathematics.htm
Taking God Out of the Equation - Biblical Worldview - by Ron Tagliapietra - January 1, 2012
Excerpt: Kurt Gödel (1906–1978) proved that no logical systems (if they include the counting numbers) can have all three of the following properties.
1. Validity . . . all conclusions are reached by valid reasoning.
2. Consistency . . . no conclusions contradict any other conclusions.
3. Completeness . . . all statements made in the system are either true or false.
The details filled a book, but the basic concept was simple and elegant. He summed it up this way: “Anything you can draw a circle around cannot explain itself without referring to something outside the circle—something you have to assume but cannot prove.” For this reason, his proof is also called the Incompleteness Theorem.
Kurt Gödel had dropped a bomb on the foundations of mathematics. Math could not play the role of God as infinite and autonomous. It was shocking, though, that logic could prove that mathematics could not be its own ultimate foundation.
Christians should not have been surprised. The first two conditions are true about math: it is valid and consistent. But only God fulfills the third condition. Only He is complete and therefore self-dependent (autonomous). God alone is “all in all” (1 Corinthians 15:28), “the beginning and the end” (Revelation 22:13). God is the ultimate authority (Hebrews 6:13), and in Christ are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge (Colossians 2:3).
http://www.answersingenesis.org/articles/am/v7/n1/equation#
The God of the Mathematicians - Goldman
Excerpt: As Gödel told Hao Wang, “Einstein’s religion [was] more abstract, like Spinoza and Indian philosophy. Spinoza’s god is less than a person; mine is more than a person; because God can play the role of a person.” - Kurt Gödel - (Gödel is considered by many to be the greatest mathematician of the 20th century)
http://www.firstthings.com/article/2010/07/the-god-of-the-mathematicians
Presuppositional Apologetics - easy to use interactive website
http://www.proofthatgodexists.org/index.php
Random Chaos vs. Uniformity Of Nature - Presuppositional Apologetics - video
http://www.metacafe.com/w/6853139
Presuppositional Apologetics (1 of 5) - video - Atheist vs. Christian debate on the street (Law of Non-Contradiction featured prominently in the debate)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=056zh7VPxDc
Epistemology – Why Should The Human Mind Even Be Able To Comprehend Reality? – Stephen Meyer - video – (Notes in description)
http://vimeo.com/32145998
Why should the human mind be able to comprehend reality so deeply? - referenced article
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1qGvbg_212biTtvMschSGZ_9kYSqhooRN4OUW_Pw-w0E/edit
No nontrivial formal utility has ever been observed to arise as a result of either chance or necessity. - David L. Abel:Materialism simply dissolves into absurdity when pushed to extremes and certainly offers no guarantee to us for believing our perceptions and reasoning within science are trustworthy in the first place:
Excerpt: Decision nodes, logic gates and configurable switch settings can theoretically be set randomly or by invariant law, but no nontrivial formal utility has ever been observed to arise as a result of either. Language, logic theory, mathematics, programming, computation, algorithmic optimization, and the scientific method itself all require purposeful choices at bona fide decision nodes.
http://www.uncommondescent.com/intelligent-design/david-l-abel-%E2%80%9Cno-nontrivial-formal-utility-has-ever-been-observed-to-arise-as-a-result-of-either-chance-or-necessity-%E2%80%9D/
BRUCE GORDON: Hawking's irrational arguments - October 2010Dr. Bruce Gordon - The Absurdity Of The Multiverse & Materialism in General - video
Excerpt: What is worse, multiplying without limit the opportunities for any event to happen in the context of a multiverse - where it is alleged that anything can spontaneously jump into existence without cause - produces a situation in which no absurdity is beyond the pale. For instance, we find multiverse cosmologists debating the "Boltzmann Brain" problem: In the most "reasonable" models for a multiverse, it is immeasurably more likely that our consciousness is associated with a brain that has spontaneously fluctuated into existence in the quantum vacuum than it is that we have parents and exist in an orderly universe with a 13.7 billion-year history. This is absurd. The multiverse hypothesis is therefore falsified because it renders false what we know to be true about ourselves. Clearly, embracing the multiverse idea entails a nihilistic irrationality that destroys the very possibility of science.
http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2010/oct/1/hawking-irrational-arguments/
http://www.metacafe.com/watch/5318486/
This 'lack of a guarantee', for trusting our perceptions and reasoning in science to be trustworthy in the first place, even extends into evolutionary naturalism itself;
Should You Trust the Monkey Mind? - Joe CarterWhat is the Evolutionary Argument Against Naturalism? ('inconsistent identity' of cause leads to failure of absolute truth claims for materialists) (Alvin Plantinga) - video
Excerpt: Evolutionary naturalism assumes that our noetic equipment developed as it did because it had some survival value or reproductive advantage. Unguided evolution does not select for belief except insofar as the belief improves the chances of survival. The truth of a belief is irrelevant, as long as it produces an evolutionary advantage. This equipment could have developed at least four different kinds of belief that are compatible with evolutionary naturalism, none of which necessarily produce true and trustworthy cognitive faculties.
http://www.firstthings.com/onthesquare/2010/09/should-you-trust-the-monkey-mind
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5yNg4MJgTFw
Alvin Plantinga - Science and Faith Conference - video
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mVlMK9Ejhb0
Philosopher Sticks Up for GodCan atheists trust their own minds? - William Lane Craig On Alvin Plantinga's Evolutionary Argument Against Naturalism - video
Excerpt: Theism, with its vision of an orderly universe superintended by a God who created rational-minded creatures in his own image, “is vastly more hospitable to science than naturalism,” with its random process of natural selection, he (Plantinga) writes. “Indeed, it is theism, not naturalism, that deserves to be called ‘the scientific worldview.’”
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/12/14/books/alvin-plantingas-new-book-on-god-and-science.html?_r=1&pagewanted=all
Modern science was conceived, and born, and flourished in the matrix of Christian theism. Only liberal doses of self-deception and double-think, I believe, will permit it to flourish in the context of Darwinian naturalism.
~ Alvin Plantinga
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=byN38dyZb-k
The following interview is sadly comical as a evolutionary psychologist realizes that neo-Darwinism can offer no guarantee that our faculties of reasoning will correspond to the truth, not even for the truth that he is purporting to give in the interview, (which begs the question of how was he able to come to that particular truthful realization, in the first place, if neo-Darwinian evolution were actually true?);
Evolutionary guru: Don't believe everything you think - October 2011Related article;
Interviewer: You could be deceiving yourself about that.(?)
Evolutionary Psychologist: Absolutely.
http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg21128335.300-evolutionary-guru-dont-believe-everything-you-think.html
Evolutionary Guru Deceives Himself - October 12, 2011
http://crev.info/content/111012-evolutionary_guru_deceives_himself
Of related note:
"nobody to date has yet found a demarcation criterion according to which Darwin(ism) can be described as scientific" - Imre Lakatos (November 9, 1922 – February 2, 1974) a philosopher of mathematics and science, quote was as stated in 1973 LSE Scientific Method LectureScience and Pseudoscience - Imre Lakatos - exposing Darwinism as a ‘degenerate science program’, as a pseudoscience, using Lakatos's rigid criteria
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Imre_Lakatos#Darwin.27s_theory
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1LpGd3smTV1RwmEXC25IAEKMjiypBl5VJq9ssfv4JgeM/edit
“Atheism turns out to be too simple. If the whole universe has no meaning, we should never have found out that it has no meaning...”Is Randomness really the rational alternative to the ‘First Mover’ of Theists?
CS Lewis – Mere Christianity
http://www.allaboutphilosophy.org/cs-lewis-quotes.htm
"But then with me the horrid doubt always arises whether the convictions of man’s mind, which has been developed from the mind of the lower animals, are of any value or at all trustworthy. Would any one trust in the convictions of a monkey’s mind, if there are any convictions in such a mind?" - Charles Darwin - Letter To William Graham - July 3, 1881
“It seems to me immensely unlikely that mind is a mere by-product of matter. For if my mental processes are determined wholly by the motions of atoms in my brain I have no reason to suppose that my beliefs are true. They may be sound chemically, but that does not make them sound logically. And hence I have no reason for supposing my brain to be composed of atoms.” J. B. S. Haldane ["When I am dead," in Possible Worlds: And Other Essays [1927], Chatto and Windus: London, 1932, reprint, p.209.
The ultimate irony is that this philosophy implies that Darwinism itself is just another meme, competing in the infectivity sweepstakes by attaching itself to that seductive word “science.” Dawkins ceaselessly urges us to be rational, but he does so in the name of a philosophy that implies that no such thing as rationality exists because our thoughts are at the mercy of our genes and memes. The proper conclusion is that the Dawkins poor brain has been infected by the Darwin meme, a virus of the mind if ever there was one, and we wonder if he will ever be able to find the cure.
~ Phillip Johnson
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1pSSfbR2QFZ5JAJTOsrEXQDqkJ_6zPTvYNGwcI4YDvRY/edit
John Lennox - Science Is Impossible Without God - Quotes - video remix
http://www.metacafe.com/watch/6287271/
Absolute Truth - Frank Turek - video
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VaGNRP6Q-6Q
This following video humorously reveals the bankruptcy that atheists have in trying to ground beliefs within a materialistic, genetic reductionism, worldview;
John Cleese – The Scientists – humorous video
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-M-vnmejwXo
The following study is not surprising after realizing atheists have no solid basis within their worldview for grounding their claims about absolute truth;
Look Who's Irrational NowIt is also interesting to point out that this ‘inconsistent identity’, that was pointed out by Alvin Plantinga, which leads to the failure of neo-Darwinists to be able to make absolute truth claims for their beliefs, is what also leads to the failure of neo-Darwinists to be able to account for objective morality, in that neo-Darwinists cannot maintain a consistent identity towards a stable, unchanging, cause for objective morality within their lives;
Excerpt: "What Americans Really Believe," a comprehensive new study released by Baylor University yesterday, shows that traditional Christian religion greatly decreases belief in everything from the efficacy of palm readers to the usefulness of astrology. It also shows that the irreligious and the members of more liberal Protestant denominations, far from being resistant to superstition, tend to be much more likely to believe in the paranormal and in pseudoscience than evangelical Christians.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB122178219865054585.html
The Knock-Down Argument Against Atheist Sam Harris' moral argument – William Lane Craig – video
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tvDyLs_cReE
Stephen Meyer - Morality Presupposes Theism (1 of 4) - video
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uSpdh1b0X_M
Hitler & Darwin, pt. 2: Richard Weikart on Evolutionary Ethics - podcast
http://intelligentdesign.podomatic.com/entry/2011-11-30T15_33_04-08_00
Top Ten Reasons We Know the New Testament is True – Frank Turek – video – November 2011
(41:00 minute mark – Despite what is commonly believed (of being 'good enough' to go to heaven, in reality both Mother Teresa and Hitler fall short of the moral perfection required to meet the perfection of God’s objective moral code)
http://saddleback.com/mc/m/5e22f/
Objective Morality – The Objections – Frank Turek – video
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N5MWBsPf5pg
This following short video clearly shows, in a rather graphic fashion, the ‘moral dilemma' that atheists face when trying to ground objective morality;
Cruel Logic – video
Description; A brilliant serial killer videotapes his debates with college faculty victims. The topic of his debate with his victim: His moral right to kill them.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4qd1LPRJLnI
"Atheists may do science, but they cannot justify what they do. When they assume the world is rational, approachable, and understandable, they plagiarize Judeo-Christian presuppositions about the nature of reality and the moral need to seek the truth. As an exercise, try generating a philosophy of science from hydrogen coming out of the big bang. It cannot be done. It’s impossible even in principle, because philosophy and science presuppose concepts that are not composed of particles and forces. They refer to ideas that must be true, universal, necessary and certain." Creation-Evolution HeadlinesAtheism cannot ground Morality or Science
http://creationsafaris.com/crev201102.htm#20110227a
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1Ov3GNroapS12eg3rH0RxvlOdAXiFGaf436IPg5W2ids/edit
As well, as should be blatantly obvious, mathematics cannot be grounded in a materialistic worldview;
Mathematics is the language with which God has written the universe.The Underlying Mathematical Foundation Of The Universe -Walter Bradley - video
Galileo Galilei
The Unreasonable Effectiveness of Mathematics in the Natural Sciences - Eugene Wigner
Excerpt: The miracle of the appropriateness of the language of mathematics for the formulation of the laws of physics is a wonderful gift which we neither understand nor deserve. We should be grateful for it and hope that it will remain valid in future research and that it will extend, for better or for worse, to our pleasure, even though perhaps also to our bafflement, to wide branches of learning.
http://www.dartmouth.edu/~matc/MathDrama/reading/Wigner.html
http://www.metacafe.com/watch/4491491
How the Recent Discoveries Support a Designed Universe - Dr. Walter L. Bradley - paper
http://www.leaderu.com/real/ri9403/evidence.html
The Five Foundational Equations of the Universe and Brief Descriptions of Each:
http://docs.google.com/Doc?docid=0AYmaSrBPNEmGZGM4ejY3d3pfNDdnc3E4bmhkZg&hl=en
How can it be that mathematics, being after all a product of human thought which is independent of experience, is so admirably appropriate to the objects of reality? Is human reason, then, without experience, merely by taking thought, able to fathom the properties of real things?This following site has a brief discussion on the fact that 'transcendent math' is not an invention of man but that transcendent math actually dictates how 'reality' is constructed and operates:
— Albert Einstein
“… if nature is really structured with a mathematical language and mathematics invented by man can manage to understand it, this demonstrates something extraordinary. The objective structure of the universe and the intellectual structure of the human being coincide.” – Pope Benedict XVI
http://www.uncommondescent.com/intelligent-design/human-consciousness/#comment-363381
"The reason that mathematics is so effective in capturing, expressing, and modeling what we call empirical reality is that there is a ontological correspondence between the two - I would go so far as to say that they are the same thing."The following site lists the unchanging constants of the universe:
Richard Sternberg - Pg. 8 How My Views On Evolution Evolved
Systematic Search for Expressions of Dimensionless Constants using the NIST database of Physical ConstantsThe numerical values of the transcendent universal constants in physics, which are found for gravity which holds planets, stars and galaxies together; for the weak nuclear force which holds neutrons together; for electromagnetism which allows chemical bonds to form; for the strong nuclear force which holds protons together; for the cosmological constant of space/energy density which accounts for the universe’s expansion; and for many other constants which are universal in their scope, 'just so happen' to be the exact numerical values they need to be in order for life, as we know it, to be possible in this universe. A more than slight variance in the value of any individual universal constant, over the entire age of the universe, would have undermined the ability of the entire universe to have life as we know it. To put it mildly, this is a irreducibly complex condition.
Excerpt: The National Institute of Standards and Technology lists 325 constants on their website as ‘Fundamental Physical Constants’. Among the 325 physical constants listed, 79 are unitless in nature (usually by defining a ratio). This produces a list of 246 physical constants with some unit dependence. These 246 physical constants can be further grouped into a smaller set when expressed in standard SI base units.,,,
http://www.mit.edu/~mi22295/constants/constants.html
Finely Tuned Gravity (1 in 10^40 tolerance; which is just one inch of tolerance allowed on a imaginary ruler stretching across the diameter of the entire universe) - video
http://www.metacafe.com/w/7659795/
Anthropic Principle - God Created The Universe - Michael Strauss PhD. - video
http://www.metacafe.com/watch/4323661
Can Life Be Merely an Accident? (Dr. Robert Piccioni - Fine Tuning) - video
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Htfl2rXFezo
“If we modify the value of one of the fundamental constants, something invariably goes wrong, leading to a universe that is inhospitable to life as we know it. When we adjust a second constant in an attempt to fix the problem(s), the result, generally, is to create three new problems for every one that we “solve.” The conditions in our universe really do seem to be uniquely suitable for life forms like ourselves, and perhaps even for any form of organic complexity." Gribbin and Rees, “Cosmic Coincidences”, p. 269Finely Tuned Universe - video
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=guHodt-7Q7A
The Case For The Creator - Lee Strobel - video
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=688111496234161611
This following site has a rigorously argued defense of the fine-tuning(teleological) argument:
The Teleological Argument: An Exploration of the Fine-Tuning of the Universe - ROBIN COLLINS
http://commonsenseatheism.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/09/Collins-The-Teleological-Argument.pdf
Here are a few sites that list the finely tuned universal constants:
Fine-Tuning For Life In The Universe
http://www.reasons.org/fine-tuning-life-universe
Evidence for the Fine Tuning of the Universe
http://www.godandscience.org/apologetics/designun.html
Here is a defense against Victor Stenger's “no fine-tuning” claims:
Many of Victor Stenger’s “no fine-tuning” claims dubbed “highly problematic” (in new peer reviewed paper) - January 2012Here is a layman friendly review of the preceding paper:
Excerpt: We will touch on such issues as the logical necessity of the laws of nature; objectivity, invariance and symmetry; theoretical physics and possible universes; entropy in cosmology; cosmic inflation and initial conditions; galaxy formation; the cosmological constant; stars and their formation; the properties of elementary particles and their effect on chemistry and the macroscopic world; the origin of mass; grand unified theories; and the dimensionality of space and time. I also provide an assessment of the multiverse, noting the significant challenges that it must face.
http://www.uncommondescent.com/fine-tuning/many-of-victor-stengers-no-fine-tuning-claims-dubbed-highly-problematic/
Is fine-tuning a fallacy? - January 2012On and on through each universal constant scientists analyze, they find such unchanging precision from the universe's creation.
Excerpt: Well, it seems that the great Stenger has finally met his match. Dr. Luke A. Barnes, a post-doctoral researcher at the Institute for Astronomy, ETH Zurich, Switzerland, has written a scathing critique of Stenger’s book. I’ve read refutations in my time, but I have to say, this one is devastating.
http://www.uncommondescent.com/intelligent-design/is-fine-tuning-a-fallacy/
Psalm 119:89-90
Forever, O LORD, your word is firmly fixed in the heavens. Your faithfulness endures to all generations;,,
As a side note to this, it seems even the 'exotic' virtual photons, which fleetingly pop into and out of existence, are tied directly to the anthropic principle through the 1 in 10^120 cosmological constant for dark energy:
ELECTROMAGNETIC DARK ENERGYFurther note:
Abstract: We introduce a new model for dark energy in the Universe in which a small cosmological constant is generated by ordinary electromagnetic vacuum energy. The corresponding virtual photons exist at all frequencies but switch from a gravitationally active phase at low frequencies to a gravitationally inactive phase at higher frequencies via a Ginzburg–Landau type of phase transition. Only virtual photons in the gravitationally active state contribute to the cosmological constant. A small vacuum energy density, consistent with astronomical observations, is naturally generated in this model. We propose possible laboratory tests for such a scenario based on phase synchronization in superconductors.
http://www.worldscinet.com/ijmpd/17/1701/S0218271808011870.html
Shining new light on dark energy with galaxy clusters - December 2010
Excerpt: "Each model for dark energy makes a prediction that you should see this many clusters, with this particular mass, this particular distance away from us," Sehgal said. Sehgal tested these predictions by using data from the most massive galaxy clusters. The results support the standard, vacuum-energy model for dark energy.
http://www.physorg.com/news/2010-12-dark-energy-galaxy-clusters.html
Virtual Particles, Anthropic Principle & Special Relativity - Michael Strauss PhD. Particle Physics - video
http://www.metacafe.com/watch/4554674
Here is an interesting experiment accomplished with 'virtual' particles:
Researchers create light from 'almost nothing' - June 2011
http://www.physorg.com/news/2011-06-researchers-create-light-from-almost.html
Of interest to the unchanging nature of the transcendent universal 'information' constants which govern this universe, it should be noted that the four primary forces/constants of the universe (gravity, electromagnetism, strong and weak nuclear forces) are said to be 'mediated at the speed of light' by mass-less 'mediator bosons', yet the speed of light constant is shown to be transcendent of any underlying material basis in the first place.
GRBs Expand Astronomers' Toolbox - Nov. 2009I would also like to point out that since time, as we understand it, comes to a complete stop at the speed of light this gives these four fundamental universal constants the characteristic of being timeless, and thus unchanging, as far as the temporal mass of this universe is concerned. In other words, we should not a-prori expect that which is timeless in nature to ever change in value. Yet contrary to what would seem to be so obvious about the a-piori stability of constants that we should expect, when scientists actually measure for variance in the fundamental constants they always end up being 'surprised' by the stability they find even though it is not to be a-priori expected:
Excerpt: a detailed analysis of the GRB (Gamma Ray Burst) in question demonstrated that photons of all energies arrived at essentially the same time. Consequently, these results falsify any quantum gravity models requiring the simplest form of a frothy space.
http://www.reasons.org/GRBsExpandAstronomersToolbox
Latest Test of Physical Constants Affirms Biblical Claim - Hugh Ross - September 2010According to the materialistic philosophy, there are no apparent reasons why the value of each transcendent universal constant could not have varied dramatically from what they actually are. In fact, the presumption of materialism expects a fairly large amount of flexibility, indeed chaos, in the underlying constants for the universe, since the constants themselves are postulated to randomly 'emerge' from some, as far as I can tell, completely undefined material basis at the Big Bang.
Excerpt: The team’s measurements on two quasars (Q0458- 020 and Q2337-011, at redshifts = 1.561 and 1.361, respectively) indicated that all three fundamental physical constants have varied by no more than two parts per quadrillion per year over the last ten billion years—a measurement fifteen times more precise, and thus more restrictive, than any previous determination. The team’s findings add to the list of fundamental forces in physics demonstrated to be exceptionally constant over the universe’s history. This confirmation testifies of the Bible’s capacity to predict accurately a future scientific discovery far in advance. Among the holy books that undergird the religions of the world, the Bible stands alone in proclaiming that the laws governing the universe are fixed, or constant.
http://www.reasons.org/files/ezine/ezine-2010-03.pdf
This following site discusses the many technical problems they had with the paper that recently (2010) tried to postulate variance within the fine structure constant:
http://www.uncommondescent.com/intelligent-design/why-a-multiverse-proponent-should-be-open-to-young-earth-creationism-and-skeptical-of-man-made-global-warming/#comment-367471
Psalm 119:89-91
Your eternal word, O Lord, stands firm in heaven. Your faithfulness extends to every generation, as enduring as the earth you created. Your regulations remain true to this day, for everything serves your plans.
All individual constants are of such a high degree of precision as to defy human comprehension, much less comparison to the most precise man-made machine (1 in 10^22 - gravity wave detector). For example, the cosmological constant (dark energy) is balanced to 1 part in 10^120 and the mass density constant is balanced to 1 part in 10^60.
Fine Tuning Of Dark Energy and Mass of the Universe - Hugh Ross - video
http://www.metacafe.com/watch/4007682
To clearly illustrate the stunning, incomprehensible, degree of fine-tuning we are dealing with in the universe, Dr. Ross has used the illustration of adding or subtracting a single dime's worth of mass in the observable universe, during the Big Bang, would have been enough of a change in the mass density of the universe to make life impossible in this universe. This word picture he uses, with the dime, helps to demonstrate a number used to quantify that fine-tuning of mass for the universe, namely 1 part in 10^60 for mass density. Compared to the total mass of the observable universe, 1 part in 10^60 works out to about a tenth part of a dime, if not smaller.
Where Is the Cosmic Density Fine-Tuning? - Hugh Ross
http://www.reasons.org/where-cosmic-density-fine-tuning
Actually, 1 in 10 to the 60th for the fine-tuning of the mass density for the universe may be equal to just 1 grain of sand instead of a tenth of a dime!
http://www.uncommondescent.com/intelligent-design/this-might-make-you-feel-rather-small/#comment-394591
As well it turns out even the immense size of the universe is necessary for life:
Evidence for Belief in God - Rich DeemHere is a video of Astrophysicist Hugh Ross explaining the anthropic cosmological principle behind the immense size of the universe as well as behind the ancient age of the universe:
Excerpt: Isn't the immense size of the universe evidence that humans are really insignificant, contradicting the idea that a God concerned with humanity created the universe? It turns out that the universe could not have been much smaller than it is in order for nuclear fusion to have occurred during the first 3 minutes after the Big Bang. Without this brief period of nucleosynthesis, the early universe would have consisted entirely of hydrogen. Likewise, the universe could not have been much larger than it is, or life would not have been possible. If the universe were just one part in 10^59 larger, the universe would have collapsed before life was possible. Since there are only 10^80 baryons in the universe, this means that an addition of just 10^21 baryons (about the mass of a grain of sand) would have made life impossible. The universe is exactly the size it must be for life to exist at all.
http://www.godandscience.org/apologetics/atheismintro2.html
We Live At The Right Time In Cosmic History - Hugh Ross - video
http://vimeo.com/31940671
Here is a lesser quality video on the same subject:
We Exist At The Right Time In Cosmic History – Hugh Ross – video
http://www.metacafe.com/watch/5708578/
I think this following music video and Bible verse sum up nicely what these transcendent universal constants are telling us about reality:
My Beloved One - Inspirational Christian Song - video
http://www.metacafe.com/watch/4200171
Hebrews 11:3Although 1 part in 10^120 and 1 part in 10^60 far exceeds, by many orders of magnitude, the highest tolerance ever achieved in any man-made machine, which is 1 part in 10^22 for a gravity wave detector, according to esteemed British mathematical physicist Roger Penrose (1931-present), the odds of one particular individual constant, the 'original phase-space volume' of the universe, required such precision that the "Creator’s aim must have been to an accuracy of 1 part in 10^10^123”. This number is gargantuan. If this number were written out in its entirety, 1 with 10^123 zeros to the right, it could not be written on a piece of paper the size of the entire visible universe, even if a number were written down on each sub-atomic particle in the entire universe, since the universe only has 10^80 sub-atomic particles in it.
"By faith we understand that the worlds were framed by the word of God, so that the things which are seen were not made of things which are visible."
Roger Penrose discusses initial entropy of the universe. - video
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WhGdVMBk6Zo
The Physics of the Small and Large: What is the Bridge Between Them? Roger PenroseAs well, contrary to speculation of 'budding universes' arising from Black Holes, Black Hole singularities are completely opposite the singularity of the Big Bang in terms of the ordered physics of entropic thermodynamics. In other words, Black Holes are singularities of destruction, and disorder, rather than singularities of creation and order.
Excerpt: "The time-asymmetry is fundamentally connected to with the Second Law of Thermodynamics: indeed, the extraordinarily special nature (to a greater precision than about 1 in 10^10^123, in terms of phase-space volume) can be identified as the "source" of the Second Law (Entropy)."
http://www.pul.it/irafs/CD%20IRAFS%2702/texts/Penrose.pdf
How special was the big bang? - Roger Penrose
Excerpt: This now tells us how precise the Creator's aim must have been: namely to an accuracy of one part in 10^10^123.
(from the Emperor’s New Mind, Penrose, pp 339-345 - 1989)
http://www.ws5.com/Penrose/
Roger Penrose - How Special Was The Big Bang?This 1 in 10^10^123 number, for the time-asymmetry of the initial state of the 'ordered entropy' for the universe, also lends strong support for 'highly specified infinite information' creating the universe since;
“But why was the big bang so precisely organized, whereas the big crunch (or the singularities in black holes) would be expected to be totally chaotic? It would appear that this question can be phrased in terms of the behaviour of the WEYL part of the space-time curvature at space-time singularities. What we appear to find is that there is a constraint WEYL = 0 (or something very like this) at initial space-time singularities-but not at final singularities-and this seems to be what confines the Creator’s choice to this very tiny region of phase space.”
Entropy of the Universe - Hugh Ross - May 2010
Excerpt: Egan and Lineweaver found that supermassive black holes are the largest contributor to the observable universe’s entropy. They showed that these supermassive black holes contribute about 30 times more entropy than what the previous research teams estimated.
http://www.reasons.org/entropy-universe
Evolution is a Fact, Just Like Gravity is a Fact! UhOh!
Excerpt: The results of this paper suggest gravity arises as an entropic force, once space and time themselves have emerged.
http://www.uncommondescent.com/intelligent-design/evolution-is-a-fact-just-like-gravity-is-a-fact-uhoh/
"Gain in entropy always means loss of information, and nothing more."This staggering level of precision, for each individual universal constant scientists can measure, is exactly why many theoretical physicists have suggested the existence of a 'super-calculating intellect' to account for this fine-tuning. This is precisely why the anthropic hypothesis has gained such a strong foothold in many scientific circles. American geneticist Robert Griffiths jokingly remarked about these recent developments;
Gilbert Newton Lewis - Eminent Chemist
"Is there a real connection between entropy in physics and the entropy of information? ....The equations of information theory and the second law are the same, suggesting that the idea of entropy is something fundamental..."
Tom Siegfried, Dallas Morning News, 5/14/90 - Quotes attributed to Robert W. Lucky, Ex. Director of Research, AT&T, Bell Laboratories & John A. Wheeler, of Princeton & Univ. of TX, Austin in the article
http://www.bible.ca/tracks/dp-lawsScience.htm
"If we need an atheist for a debate, I go to the philosophy department. The physics department isn't much use anymore."Further comments by leading scientists in astrophysics:
"Intelligent design, as one sees it from a scientific point of view, seems to be quite real. This is a very special universe: it's remarkable that it came out just this way. If the laws of physics weren't just the way they are, we couldn't be here at all. The sun couldn't be there, the laws of gravity and nuclear laws and magnetic theory, quantum mechanics, and so on have to be just the way they are for us to be here. Some scientists argue that "well, there's an enormous number of universes and each one is a little different. This one just happened to turn out right." Well, that's a postulate, and it's a pretty fantastic postulate — it assumes there really are an enormous number of universes and that the laws could be different for each of them. The other possibility is that ours was planned, and that's why it has come out so specially."Here is a somewhat related foot note refuting the materialistic inspired conjecture of rapid inflation at the initial phase of the Big Bang (turns out rapid inflation was initially postulated to 'smooth away' the 'problems' of fine tuning):
Nobel Prize winning Physicist Charles Townes
"Astronomy leads us to a unique event, a universe that was created out of nothing and delicately balanced to provide exactly the conditions required to support life. In the absence of an absurdly improbable accident, the observations of modern science seem to suggest an underlying, one might say, supernatural plan."
Physicist and Nobel laureate Arno Penzias
"The precision is as if one could throw a dart across the entire universe and hit a bulls eye one millimeter in diameter on the other side."
Michael Turner - (Astrophysicist at Fermilab)
"If the Universe had not been made with the most exacting precision we could never have come into existence. It is my view that these circumstances indicate the universe was created for man to live in."
John O'Keefe (astronomer at NASA)
"I find it quite improbable that such order came out of chaos. There has to be some organizing principle. God to me is a mystery but is the explanation for the miracle of existence, why there is something instead of nothing."
Alan Sandage (preeminent Astronomer)
"For the scientist who has lived by his faith in the power of reason, the story ends like a bad dream. He has scaled the mountains of ignorance; he is about to conquer the highest peak; as he pulls himself over the final rock, he is greeted by a band of theologians who have been sitting there for centuries."
(NASA Astronomer Robert Jastrow, God and the Astronomers, p. 116.)
"Is he worthy to be called a man who attributes to chance, not to an intelligent cause, the constant motion of the heavens, the regular courses of the stars, the agreeable proportion and connection of all things, conducted with so much reason that our intellect itself is unable to estimate it rightly? When we see machines move artificially, as a sphere, a clock, or the like, do we doubt whether they are the productions of reason? -
Cicero (45 BC)
Proverbs 8:29-30
"When He marked out the foundations of the earth, then I was beside Him as a master craftsman;"
One of cosmic (Rapid) inflation theory’s creators now questions own theory - April 2011The only other theory possible for the universe’s creation, other than a God-centered hypothesis, is some purposeless materialistic theory based on blind chance. Materialistic blind chance tries to escape being completely crushed, by the overwhelming weight of evidence for design in the fine-tuning of the universe, by appealing to an infinity of other un-testable universes in which all other possibilities have been played out. Yet there is absolutely no hard physical evidence to support this blind chance conjecture. In fact, the 'infinite multiverse' conjecture suffers from some very serious, and deep, flaws of logic.
Excerpt: (Rapid) Inflation adds a whole bunch of really unlikely metaphysical assumptions — a new force field that has a never-before-observed particle called the “inflaton”, an expansion faster than the speed of light, an interaction with gravity waves which are themselves only inferred– just so that it can explain the unlikely contingency of a finely-tuned big bang.
But instead of these extra assumptions becoming more-and-more supported, the trend went the opposite direction, with more-and-more fine-tuning of the inflation assumptions until they look as fine-tuned as Big Bang theories. At some point, we have “begged the question”. Frankly, the moment we add an additional free variable, I think we have already begged the question. In a Bayesean comparison of theories, extra variables reduce the information content of the theory, (by the so-called Ockham factor), so these inflation theories are less, not more, explanatory than the theory they are supposed to replace.,,, after 20 years of work, if we haven’t made progress, but have instead retreated, it is time to cut bait.
http://www.uncommondescent.com/cosmology/cosmology-one-of-cosmic-inflation-theory%E2%80%99s-creators-now-questions-own-theory/
The Absurdity of Inflation, String Theory & The Multiverse - Dr. Bruce Gordon - video
http://vimeo.com/34468027
The End Of Materialism? - Dr. Bruce GordonAs well, this hypothetical infinite multiverse obviously begs the question of exactly which laws of physics, arising from which material basis, are telling all the other natural laws in physics what, how and when, to do the many precise unchanging things they do in these other universes? Exactly where is this universe creating machine to be located? Moreover, if an infinite number of other possible universes must exist in order to explain the fine tuning of this one, then why is it not also infinitely possible for a infinitely powerful and transcendent Creator to exist? Using the materialist same line of reasoning for an infinity of multiverses to 'explain away' the extreme fine-tuning of this one we can thusly surmise; If it is infinitely possible for God to exist then He, of 100% certainty, must exist no matter how small the probability is of His existence in one of these other infinity of universes, and since He certainly must exist in some possible world then he must exist in all possible worlds since all possibilities in all universes automatically become subject to Him since He is, by definition, transcendent and infinitely Powerful.,,, To clearly illustrate the level of absurdity of what materialists now consider their cutting edge science: The materialistic conjecture of an infinity of universes to 'explain away' the fine tuning of this one also insures the 100% probability of the existence of Pink Unicorns no matter how small the probability is of them existing (Though since a pink unicorn is a 'contingent being', instead of a 'necessary being' like God, this means that pink unicorns will only exist in 'some' possible worlds in the multiverse scenario). Thus it is self-evident that the atheistic materialists have painted themselves into a inescapable corner of logical absurdities in trying to find an escape from the Theistic implications we are finding for the fine-tuning of this universe.
* In the multiverse, anything can happen for no reason at all.
* In other words, the materialist is forced to believe in random miracles as a explanatory principle.
* In a Theistic universe, nothing happens without a reason. Miracles are therefore intelligently directed deviations from divinely maintained regularities, and are thus expressions of rational purpose.
* Scientific materialism is (therefore) epistemically self defeating: it makes scientific rationality impossible.
The preceding argument has actually been made into a formal philosophical proof:
The Ontological Argument (The Introduction) - video
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UJRQmsuEksc
Ontological Argument For God From The Many Worlds Hypothesis - William Lane Craig - video
http://www.metacafe.com/watch/4784641
God Is Not Dead Yet – William Lane Craig – Page 4I like the concluding comment about the ontological argument from the following Dr. Plantinga video:
The ontological argument. Anselm’s famous argument has been reformulated and defended by Alvin Plantinga, Robert Maydole, Brian Leftow, and others. God, Anselm observes, is by definition the greatest being conceivable. If you could conceive of anything greater than God, then that would be God. Thus, God is the greatest conceivable being, a maximally great being. So what would such a being be like? He would be all-powerful, all-knowing, and all-good, and he would exist in every logically possible world. But then we can argue:
1. It is possible that a maximally great being (God) exists.
2. If it is possible that a maximally great being exists, then a maximally great being exists in some possible world.
3. If a maximally great being exists in some possible world, then it exists in every possible world.
4. If a maximally great being exists in every possible world, then it exists in the actual world.
5. Therefore, a maximally great being exists in the actual world.
6. Therefore, a maximally great being exists.
7. Therefore, God exists.
Now it might be a surprise to learn that steps 2–7 of this argument are relatively uncontroversial. Most philosophers would agree that if God’s existence is even possible, then he must exist. So the whole question is: Is God’s existence possible? The atheist has to maintain that it’s impossible that God exists. He has to say that the concept of God is incoherent, like the concept of a married bachelor or a round square. But the problem is that the concept of God just doesn’t appear to be incoherent in that way. The idea of a being which is all-powerful, all knowing, and all-good in every possible world seems perfectly coherent. And so long as God’s existence is even possible, it follows that God must exist.
http://www.christianitytoday.com/ct/2008/july/13.22.html?start=4
"God then is the Being that couldn't possibly not exit."Ontological Argument – Dr. Plantinga (3:50 minute mark)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iCXvVcWFrGQ
As weird as it may sound, this following video refines the Ontological argument into a proof that, because of the characteristic of ‘maximally great love’, God must exist in more than one person:
The Ontological Argument for the Triune God - video
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vGVYXog8NUg
Here are some more resources outlining the absurdity of the multiverse conjecture:
The Multiverse Gods, final part - Robert Sheldon - June 2011Atheism In Crisis - The Absurdity Of The Multiverse - video
Excerpt: And so in our long journey through the purgatory of multiverse-theory, we discover as we previously discovered for materialism, there are two solutions, and only two. Either William Lane Craig is correct and multiverse-theory is just another ontological proof a personal Creator, or we follow Nietzsche into the dark nihilism of the loss of reason. Heaven or hell, there are no other solutions.
http://procrustes.blogtownhall.com/2011/06/30/the_multiverse_gods,_final_part.thtml
http://www.metacafe.com/watch/4227733
Multiverse and the Design Argument - William Lane CraigHere is a more formal refutation of the multiverse conjecture;
Excerpt: Roger Penrose of Oxford University has calculated that the odds of our universe’s low entropy condition obtaining by chance alone are on the order of 1 in 10^10(123), an inconceivable number. If our universe were but one member of a multiverse of randomly ordered worlds, then it is vastly more probable that we should be observing a much smaller universe. For example, the odds of our solar system’s being formed instantly by the random collision of particles is about 1 in 10^10(60), a vast number, but inconceivably smaller than 1 in 10^10(123). (Penrose calls it “utter chicken feed” by comparison [The Road to Reality (Knopf, 2005), pp. 762-5]). Or again, if our universe is but one member of a multiverse, then we ought to be observing highly extraordinary events, like horses’ popping into and out of existence by random collisions, or perpetual motion machines, since these are vastly more probable than all of nature’s constants and quantities’ falling by chance into the virtually infinitesimal life-permitting range. Observable universes like those strange worlds are simply much more plenteous in the ensemble of universes than worlds like ours and, therefore, ought to be observed by us if the universe were but a random member of a multiverse of worlds. Since we do not have such observations, that fact strongly disconfirms the multiverse hypothesis. On naturalism, at least, it is therefore highly probable that there is no multiverse. — Penrose puts it bluntly “these world ensemble hypothesis are worse than useless in explaining the anthropic fine-tuning of the universe”.
http://www.reasonablefaith.org/site/News2?page=NewsArticle&id=5741&printer_friendly=1
Michael Behe has a profound answer to the infinite multiverse argument in “Edge of Evolution”. If there are infinite universes, then we couldn’t trust our senses, because it would be just as likely that our universe might only consist of a human brain that pops into existence which has the neurons configured just right to only give the appearance of past memories. It would also be just as likely that we are floating brains in a lab, with some scientist feeding us fake experiences. Those scenarios would be just as likely as the one we appear to be in now (one universe with all of our experiences being “real”). Bottom line is, if there really are an infinite number of universes out there, then we can’t trust anything we perceive to be true, which means there is no point in seeking any truth whatsoever.
http://www.uncommondescent.com/intelligent-design/on-the-vastness-of-the-universe/#comment-362912
“The multiverse idea rests on assumptions that would be laughed out of town if they came from a religious text.” Gregg Easterbrook
Bayesian considerations on the multiverse explanation of cosmic fine-tuning - V. PalonenAnother escape that materialists have postulated was a slightly constrained 'string-theoretic' multiverse. The following expert shows why the materialistic postulation of 'string theory' is, for all intents and purposes of empirical science, a complete waste of time and energy:
Conclusions: ,,, The self-sampling assumption approach by Bostrom was shown to be inconsistent with probability theory. Several reasons were then given for favoring the ‘this universe’ (TU) approach and main criticisms against TU were answered. A formal argument for TU was given based on our present knowledge. The main result is that even under a multiverse we should use the proposition “this universe is fine-tuned” as data, even if we do not know the ‘true index’ 14 of our universe. It follows that because multiverse hypotheses do not predict fine-tuning for this particular universe any better than a single universe hypothesis, multiverse hypotheses are not adequate explanations for fine-tuning. Conversely, our data on cosmic fine-tuning does not lend support to the multiverse hypotheses. For physics in general, irrespective of whether there really is a multiverse or not, the common-sense result of the above discussion is that we should prefer those theories which best predict (for this or any universe) the phenomena we observe in our universe.
http://arxiv.org/ftp/arxiv/papers/0802/0802.4013.pdf
Not Even Wrong: The Failure of String Theory and the Search for Unity in Physical Law:Here is another entry from Professor Peter Woit's blog where he has been fairly busy showing the failure of string theory to pass any of the experimental tests that have been proposed and put to any of its predictions:
Peter Woit, a PhD. in theoretical physics and a lecturer in mathematics at Columbia, points out—again and again—that string theory, despite its two decades of dominance, is just a hunch aspiring to be a theory. It hasn't predicted anything, as theories are required to do, and its practitioners have become so desperate, says Woit, that they're willing to redefine what doing science means in order to justify their labors.
http://www.amazon.com/Not-Even-Wrong-Failure-Physical/dp/0465092756
This Week’s Hype - August 2011
Excerpt: ‘It’s well-known that one can find Stephen Hawking’s initials, and just about any other pattern one can think of somewhere in the CMB data.,, So, the bottom line is that they see nothing, but a press release has been issued about how wonderful it is that they have looked for evidence of a Multiverse, without mentioning that they found nothing.’ – Peter Woit PhD.
http://www.math.columbia.edu/~woit/wordpress/?p=3879
String Theory Fails Another Test, the “Supertest” - December 2010Though to be fair, a subset of the math of the string hypothesis did get lucky with a interesting 'after the fact' prediction (post-diction) of a already known phenomena. (But this is very similar to finding an arrow on a wall, drawing a circle around it, and then declaring that you hit a bulls-eye!):
Excerpt: It looks like string theory has failed the “supertest”. If you believe that string theory “predicts” low-energy supersymmetry, this is a serious failure.
http://www.math.columbia.edu/~woit/wordpress/?p=3338
This Week’s Hype – November 3, 2011 by Peter Woit (Ph.D. in theoretical physics and a lecturer in mathematics at Columbia)
Excerpt: the LHC has turned out to be dud, producing no black holes or extra dimensions,
http://www.math.columbia.edu/~woit/wordpress/?p=4118
SUSY Still in Hiding - Prof. Peter Woit - Columbia University - February 2012
Excerpt: The LHC (Large Haldron Collider) has done an impressive job of investigating and leaving in tatters the SUSY/extra-dimensional speculative universe that has dominated particle theory for much of the last thirty years, and this is likely to be one of its main legacies. These fields will undoubtedly continue to play a large role in particle theory, no matter how bad the experimental situation gets, as their advocates argue “Never, never, never give up!”, but fewer and fewer people will take them seriously.
http://www.math.columbia.edu/~woit/wordpress/?p=4437
The Ultimate Guide to the Multiverse - Peter Woit - November 2011
Excerpt: The multiverse propaganda machine has now been going full-blast for more than eight years, since at least 2003 or so, and I’m beginning to wonder “what’s next?”. Once your ideas about theoretical physics reach the point of having a theory that says nothing at all, there’s no way to take this any farther. You can debate the “measure problem” endlessly in academic journals, but the cover stories about how you have revolutionized physics can only go on so long before they reach their natural end of shelf-life. This has gone on longer than I’d ever have guessed, but surely it has to end sooner or later, - Peter Woit - Senior Lecturer at Columbia University
http://www.math.columbia.edu/~woit/wordpress/?p=4194
Integral challenges physics beyond Einstein - June 30, 2011
Excerpt: However, Integral’s observations are about 10,000 times more accurate than any previous and show that any quantum graininess must be at a level of 10-48 m or smaller.,,, “This is a very important result in fundamental physics and will rule out some string theories and quantum loop gravity theories,” says Dr Laurent.
http://www.physorg.com/news/2011-06-physics-einstein.html
“string theory, while dazzling, has outrun any conceivable experiment that could verify it”
Excerpt: string theory, while dazzling, has outrun any conceivable experiment that could verify it—there’s zero proof that it describes how nature works.
http://www.uncommondescent.com/physics/string-theory-while-dazzling-has-outrun-any-conceivable-experiment-that-could-verify-it/
A first: String theory predicts an experimental result:Despite this contrived 'after the fact' postdiction of a physical phenomena, string theory is constantly suffering severe setbacks in other areas, thus string theory has yet to even establish itself as a legitimate line of inquiry within science.
Excerpt: Not to say that string theory has been proved. Clifford Johnson of the University of Southern California, the string theorist on the panel, was very clear about that.
http://www.symmetrymagazine.org/breaking/2009/02/16/a-first-string-theory-predicts-an-experimental-result/
Testing Creation Using the Proton to Electron Mass RatioAs well, even if the whole of string theory were to have been found to be true, it would have done nothing to help the materialist, and in reality, would have only added another level of 'finely tuned complexity' for us to deal with without ever truly explaining the origination of that logically coherent complexity (Logos) of the string theory in the first place.,,, Bruce Gordon, after a thorough analysis of the entire string theory framework, states the following conclusion on page 72 of Robert J. Spitzer's book 'New Proofs For The Existence Of God':
Excerpt: The bottom line is that the electron to proton mass ratio unquestionably joins the growing list of fundamental constants in physics demonstrated to be constant over the history of the universe.,,, For the first time, limits on the possible variability of the electron to proton mass ratio are low enough to constrain dark energy models that “invoke rolling scalar fields,” that is, some kind of cosmic quintessence. They also are low enough to eliminate a set of string theory models in physics. That is these limits are already helping astronomers to develop a more detailed picture of both the cosmic creation event and of the history of the universe. Such achievements have yielded, and will continue to yield, more evidence for the biblical model for the universe’s origin and development.
http://www.reasons.org/TestingCreationUsingtheProtontoElectronMassRatio
'it is clear that the string landscape hypothesis is a highly speculative construction built on shaky assumptions and,,, requires meta-level fine-tuning itself." - Bruce GordonThis following article illustrates just how far string theory would miss the mark of explaining the fine-tuning we see even if it were found to be true:
Sean Carroll channels Giordano Bruno - Robert Sheldon - November 2011
Excerpt: 'In fact, on Lakatos' analysis, both String Theory and Inflation are clearly "degenerate science programs".'
http://procrustes.blogtownhall.com/2011/11/08/sean_carroll_channels_giordano_bruno.thtml
Baron Münchhausen and the Self-Creating Universe:Stephen Hawking created quite a stir with his book 'The Grand Design', in Sept. 2010, by claiming that M-theory, the dubious, and completely unsubstantiated, step child of string theory, eliminated the need for God to explain the origin of the universe. Many physicists objected to Hawking's claim, but perhaps the best argument against Hawking's claim is Hawking's very own words:
Roger Penrose has calculated that the entropy of the big bang itself, in order to give rise to the life-permitting universe we observe, must be fine-tuned to one part in e10exp(123)≈10^10exp(123). Such complex specified conditions do not arise by chance, even in a string-theoretic multiverse with 10^500 different configurations of laws and constants, so an intelligent cause may be inferred. What is more, since it is the big bang itself that is fine-tuned to this degree, the intelligence that explains it as an effect must be logically prior to it and independent of it – in short, an immaterial intelligence that transcends matter, energy and space-time. (of note: 10^10^123 minus 10^500 is still, for all practical purposes, 10^10^123)
http://www.evolutionnews.org/2007/06/baron_munchausen_and_the_selfc.html
Infinitely wrong - Sheldon - November 2010
Excerpt: So you see, they gleefully cry, even [1 / 10^(10^123)] x ∞ = 1! Even the most improbable events can be certain if you have an infinite number of tries.,,,Ahh, but does it? I mean, zero divided by zero is not one, nor is 1/∞ x ∞ = 1. Why? Well for starters, it assumes that the two infinities have the same cardinality.
http://procrustes.blogtownhall.com/page1
On Signature in the Cell, Robert Saunders Still Doesn't Get It - Jonathan M. - December 2011
Excerpt: On the issue of fine tuning, Saunders appeals to the famous anthropic argument, noting, 'The fine-tuning argument has always seemed to me to be somewhat tautologous. Had the constants been different, we would not be here to look at the Universe and its physical constants. We have a sample size of 1. Exactly 1.'
William Lane Craig has effectively countered this argument:
'[S]uppose you are dragged before a firing squad of 100 trained marksmen, all of them with rifles aimed at your heart, to be executed. The command is given; you hear the deafening sound of the guns. And you observe that you are still alive, that all of the 100 marksmen missed! Now while it is true that, "You should not be surprised that you do not observe that you are dead," nonetheless it is equally true that, "You should be surprised that you do observe that you are alive."
Since the firing squad's missing you altogether is extremely improbable, the surprise expressed is wholly appropriate, though you are not surprised that you do not observe that you are dead, since if you were dead you could not observe it.
http://www.evolutionnews.org/2011/12/robert_saunders053711.html
Hawking gave the game away for his 'omnipotent' claims for M-theory with this quote that he gave in response to a question from Larry King at the beginning of a interview King had with Hawking about his book:
Larry King: “If you could time travel would you go forward or backward?”So here we have Hawking making sweeping claims with a theory that, by his own admission, is not even shown to be a complete 'theory of everything' in the first place. Further critiques of Hawking's 'omnipotent' M-theory, by leading experts in the field, can be found on the following site, as well the video of the interview between King and Hawking:
Stephen Hawking: “I would go forward and find if M-theory is indeed the theory of everything.”
Larry King and others; “Quietly laugh”
Barr on Hawking - Barry Arrington - September 2010
http://www.uncommondescent.com/intelligent-design/barr-on-hawking/#comment-363544
of related note:
Cosmologists Forced to “In the Beginning” - January 2011William Lane Craig: The Origins of the Universe - Has Hawking Eliminated God? Cambridge October 2011 - video lecture
Excerpt: In New Scientist today, Lisa Grossman reported on ideas presented at a conference entitled “State of the Universe” convened last week in honor of Stephen Hawking’s 70th birthday. Some birthday; he got “the worst presents ever,” she said: “two bold proposals posed serious threats to our existing understanding of the cosmos.” Of the two, the latter is most serious: a presentation showing reasons why “the universe is not eternal, resurrecting the thorny question of how to kick-start the cosmos without the hand of a supernatural creator.” It is well-known that Hawking has preferred a self-existing universe. Grossman quotes him saying, “‘A point of creation would be a place where science broke down. One would have to appeal to religion and the hand of God,’ Hawking told the meeting, at the University of Cambridge, in a pre-recorded speech.”
http://crev.info/2012/01/cosmologists-forced-to-in-the-beginning/
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Tup-dA88aw
This following quote, in critique of Hawking's book, is from Roger Penrose who worked closely with Stephen Hawking in the 1970's and 80's:
'What is referred to as M-theory isn’t even a theory. It’s a collection of ideas, hopes, aspirations. It’s not even a theory and I think the book is a bit misleading in that respect. It gives you the impression that here is this new theory which is going to explain everything. It is nothing of the sort. It is not even a theory and certainly has no observational (evidence),,, I think the book suffers rather more strongly than many (other books). It’s not a uncommon thing in popular descriptions of science to latch onto some idea, particularly things to do with string theory, which have absolutely no support from observations.,,, They are very far from any kind of observational (testability). Yes, they (the ideas of M-theory) are hardly science." – Roger Penrose – former close colleague of Stephen Hawking – in critique of Hawking’s new book ‘The Grand Design’ the exact quote in the following video clip:Roger Penrose Debunks Stephen Hawking's New Book 'The Grand Design' - video
http://www.metacafe.com/watch/5278793/
As a interesting sidelight to Penrose debunking Hawking's theory for how the universe began, it seems that Roger Penrose's own pet 'non-theistic' theory, for how the universe began without the need for God, also humorously fails under scrutiny:
Mr Hoyle, call your office - Robert Sheldon - November 2010The Absurdity of Inflation, String Theory & The Multiverse - Dr. Bruce Gordon - video
Excerpt: I think I understand what Penrose is saying, and the truly weird thing about it is that I was introduced to this theory from a DC comic book circa 1967, whereas Sir Roger only just discovered it in 2007.
http://procrustes.blogtownhall.com/page1
BRUCE GORDON: Hawking's irrational arguments - October 2010
Excerpt: The physical universe is causally incomplete and therefore neither self-originating nor self-sustaining. The world of space, time, matter and energy is dependent on a reality that transcends space, time, matter and energy. This transcendent reality cannot merely be a Platonic realm of mathematical descriptions, for such things are causally inert abstract entities that do not affect the material world. Neither is it the case that "nothing" is unstable, as Mr. Hawking and others maintain. Absolute nothing cannot have mathematical relationships predicated on it, not even quantum gravitational ones. Rather, the transcendent reality on which our universe depends must be something that can exhibit agency - a mind that can choose among the infinite variety of mathematical descriptions and bring into existence a reality that corresponds to a consistent subset of them. This is what "breathes fire into the equations and makes a universe for them to describe.,,, the evidence for string theory and its extension, M-theory, is nonexistent; and the idea that conjoining them demonstrates that we live in a multiverse of bubble universes with different laws and constants is a mathematical fantasy. What is worse, multiplying without limit the opportunities for any event to happen in the context of a multiverse - where it is alleged that anything can spontaneously jump into existence without cause - produces a situation in which no absurdity is beyond the pale.
For instance, we find multiverse cosmologists debating the "Boltzmann Brain" problem: In the most "reasonable" models for a multiverse, it is immeasurably more likely that our consciousness is associated with a brain that has spontaneously fluctuated into existence in the quantum vacuum than it is that we have parents and exist in an orderly universe with a 13.7 billion-year history. This is absurd. The multiverse hypothesis is therefore falsified because it renders false what we know to be true about ourselves. Clearly, embracing the multiverse idea entails a nihilistic irrationality that destroys the very possibility of science.
http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2010/oct/1/hawking-irrational-arguments/
http://vimeo.com/34468027
Here is the last power-point slide of the preceding video:
The End Of Materialism?Many times a atheist will object to Theism by saying something along the lines of this following quote by a prominent atheist:
* In the multiverse, anything can happen for no reason at all.
* In other words, the materialist is forced to believe in random miracles as a explanatory principle.
* In a Theistic universe, nothing happens without a reason. Miracles are therefore intelligently directed deviations from divinely maintained regularities, and are thus expressions of rational purpose.
* Scientific materialism is (therefore) epistemically self defeating: it makes scientific rationality impossible.
The eminent Kant scholar Lewis Beck used to say that anyone who could believe in God could believe in anything. To appeal to an omnipotent deity is to allow that at any moment the regularities of nature may be ruptured, that miracles may happen. - Richard LewontinYet for a atheist/materialist to say that science can ONLY study law-like events that can faithfully be predicted, time after time, is sheer hypocrisy on the part of the atheist, for indeed the atheist himself holds that strictly random, non-regular, non-law-like, indeed 'CHAOTIC' events are responsible for why the universe, and all life in it, originated, and ‘evolves’, in the first place. The atheist’s own worldview, far from demanding regularity in nature, demands that random, and thus by definition ‘non-predictable’, events be at the base of all reality and of all life. Needless to say, being ‘non-predictably random’ is the exact polar opposite of the predictability of science that atheists accuse Theists of violating when Theists posit the rational Mind of God for the origin of the universe and/or all life in it. In truth, the atheist is just extremely prejudiced as to exactly what, or more precisely WHOM, he, or she, will allow to be the source for the random, irregular, non-predicatable, non-law-like, events that they themselves require to be at the very basis of the creation events of the universe and all life in it.,,, Moreover, unlike atheistic neo-Darwinian evolution, which continually requires these non-predictable, non-law like, random events, to continually be present within the base of reality (which is the antithesis of ‘science’ according to the atheist's own criteria for excluding any Theistic answer to ever be plausible), Intelligent Design finds itself only requiring that this seemingly ‘random’, top down, implementation of novel genetic, and body plan, information at the inception of each new parent species, with all sub-speciation events thereafter, from the parent species, following a law-like adherence to the principle of genetic entropy. A principle that happens to be in accordance with perhaps the most rigorously established law in science, the second law of thermodynamics, as well as in accordance with the law of Conservation of Information as laid out by Dr. Dembski and Marks.
http://www.drjbloom.com/Public%20files/Lewontin_Review.htm
The following is a humorous account of the preceding:
Blackholes- The neo-Darwinists ultimate ‘god of randomness’ which can create all life in the universe (according to them)
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1fxhJEGNeEQ_sn4ngQWmeBt1YuyOs8AQcUrzBRo7wISw/edit?hl=en_US
Further notes:
The Effect of Infinite Probabilistic Resources on ID and Science (Part 2) - Eric Holloway - July 2011What Would The World Look Like If Atheism Were Actually True? – video
Excerpt:,, since orderly configurations drop off so quickly as our space of configurations approach infinity, then this shows that infinite resources actually make it extremely easy to discriminate in favor of ID (Intelligent Design) when faced with an orderly configuration. Thus, intelligent design detection becomes more effective as the probabilistic resources increase.
http://www.uncommondescent.com/philosophy/the-effect-of-infinite-probabilistic-resources-on-id-and-science-part-2/
http://www.metacafe.com/w/5486757/
When Nothing Created Everything? A humorous account of the atheist's creation myth
http://www.firstthings.com/onthesquare/2010/12/when-nothing-created-everything
Materialists also 'use to' try to find a place for random blind chance to hide by proposing a universe which expands and contracts (recycles) infinitely. Even at first glance, the 'recycling universe' conjecture suffers so many questions from the second law of thermodynamics (entropy) as to render it effectively implausible as a serious theory, but now the recycling universe conjecture has been totally crushed by the hard evidence for a 'flat' universe found by the 'BOOMERANG' experiment.
Refutation Of Oscillating Universe - Michael Strauss PhD. - video:
http://www.metacafe.com/watch/4323673
Evidence For Flat Universe - Boomerang Project
http://www.lbl.gov/Science-Articles/Archive/boomerang-flat.html
http://www.lbl.gov/Science-Articles/Archive/images1/omegamomegal3.gif
Did the Universe Hyperinflate? - Hugh Ross - April 2010A 'flat universe', which is actually another very surprising finely-tuned 'coincidence' of the universe, means this universe, left to its own present course of accelerating expansion due to Dark Energy, will continue to expand forever, thus fulfilling the thermodynamic equilibrium of the second law to its fullest extent (entropic 'Heat Death' of the universe).
Excerpt: Perfect geometric flatness is where the space-time surface of the universe exhibits zero curvature (see figure 3). Two meaningful measurements of the universe's curvature parameter, ½k, exist. Analysis of the 5-year database from WMAP establishes that -0.0170 < ½k < 0.0068.4 Weak gravitational lensing of distant quasars by intervening galaxies places -0.031 < ½k < 0.009.5 Both measurements confirm the universe indeed manifests zero or very close to zero geometric curvature,,,
http://www.reasons.org/did-universe-hyperinflate
Einstein's 'Biggest Blunder' Turns Out to Be Right - November 2010
Excerpt: By providing more evidence that the universe is flat, the findings bolster the cosmological constant model for dark energy over competing theories such as the idea that the general relativity equations for gravity are flawed. "We have at this moment the most precise measurements of lambda that a single technique can give," Marinoni said.
http://www.space.com/scienceastronomy/dark-energy-cosmological-constant-101124.html
The Future of the UniverseThermodynamic Argument Against Evolution - Thomas Kindell - video
Excerpt: After all the black holes have evaporated, (and after all the ordinary matter made of protons has disintegrated, if protons are unstable), the universe will be nearly empty. Photons, neutrinos, electrons and positrons will fly from place to place, hardly ever encountering each other. It will be cold, and dark, and there is no known process which will ever change things. --- Not a happy ending.
http://spiff.rit.edu/classes/phys240/lectures/future/future.html
The End Of Cosmology? - Lawrence M. Krauss and Robert J. Scherrer
Excerpt: We are led inexorably to a very strange conclusion. The window during which intelligent observers can deduce the true nature of our expanding universe might be very short indeed.
http://genesis1.asu.edu/0308046.pdf
Psalm 102:25-27
Of old You laid the foundation of the earth, And the heavens are the work of Your hands. They will perish, but You will endure; Yes, they will all grow old like a garment; Like a cloak You will change them, And they will be changed. But You are the same, And Your years will have no end.
Big Rip
Excerpt: The Big Rip is a cosmological hypothesis first published in 2003, about the ultimate fate of the universe, in which the matter of universe, from stars and galaxies to atoms and subatomic particles, are progressively torn apart by the expansion of the universe at a certain time in the future. Theoretically, the scale factor of the universe becomes infinite at a finite time in the future.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Big_Rip
http://www.metacafe.com/watch/4168488
entire video:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MV3WWDfGsX4
Does God Exist? The End Of Christianity - Finding a Good God in an Evil World - video
http://www.metacafe.com/watch/4007708
Romans 8:18-21The only hard evidence there is, the stunning precision found in the transcendent universal constants, points overwhelmingly to intelligent design by a transcendent Creator who originally established what the transcendent universal constants of physics could and would do during the creation of the universe. The hard evidence left no room for the blind chance of natural laws in this universe. Thus, materialism was forced into appealing to an infinity of un-testable universes for it was left with no footing in this universe. These developments in science make it seem like materialism was cast into the abyss of nothingness in so far as rationally explaining the fine-tuning of the universe.
I consider that our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us. The creation waits in eager expectation for the sons of God to be revealed. For the creation was subjected to frustration, not by its own choice, but by the will of the one who subjected it, in hope that the creation itself will be liberated from its bondage to decay and brought into the glorious freedom of the children of God.
As well as the universe having a transcendent beginning, thus confirming the Theistic postulation in Genesis 1:1, the following recent discovery of a 'Dark Age' for the early universe uncannily matches up with the Bible passage in Job 38:4-11.
For the first 400,000 years of our universe’s expansion, the universe was a seething maelstrom of energy and sub-atomic particles. This maelstrom was so hot, that sub-atomic particles trying to form into atoms would have been blasted apart instantly, and so dense, light could not travel more than a short distance before being absorbed. If you could somehow live long enough to look around in such conditions, you would see nothing but brilliant white light in all directions. When the cosmos was about 400,000 years old, it had cooled to about the temperature of the surface of the sun. The last light from the "Big Bang" shone forth at that time. This "light" is still detectable today as the Cosmic Background Radiation.
This 400,000 year old “baby” universe entered into a period of darkness. When the dark age of the universe began, the cosmos was a formless sea of particles. By the time the dark age ended, a couple of hundred million years later, the universe lit up again by the light of some of the galaxies and stars that had been formed during this dark era. It was during the dark age of the universe that the heavier chemical elements necessary for life, carbon, oxygen, nitrogen and most of the rest, were first forged, by nuclear fusion inside the stars, out of the universe’s primordial hydrogen and helium.
It was also during this dark period of the universe the great structures of the modern universe were first forged. Super-clusters, of thousands of galaxies stretching across millions of light years, had their foundations laid in the dark age of the universe. During this time the infamous “missing dark matter”, was exerting more gravity in some areas than in other areas; drawing in hydrogen and helium gas, causing the formation of mega-stars. These mega-stars were massive, weighing in at 20 to more than 100 times the mass of the sun. The crushing pressure at their cores made them burn through their fuel in only a million years. It was here, in these short lived mega-stars under these crushing pressures, the chemical elements necessary for life were first forged out of the hydrogen and helium. The reason astronomers can’t see the light from these first mega-stars, during this dark era of the universe’s early history, is because the mega-stars were shrouded in thick clouds of hydrogen and helium gas. These thick clouds prevented the mega-stars from spreading their light through the cosmos as they forged the elements necessary for future life to exist on earth. After about 200 million years, the end of the dark age came to the cosmos. The universe was finally expansive enough to allow the dispersion of the thick hydrogen and helium “clouds”. With the continued expansion of the universe, the light, of normal stars and dwarf galaxies, was finally able to shine through the thick clouds of hydrogen and helium gas, bringing the dark age to a close. (How The Stars Were Born - Michael D. Lemonick)
http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1376229-2,00.html
Job 26:10Hidden Treasures in the Book of Job - video
He marks out the horizon on the face of the waters for a boundary between light and darkness.
Job 38:4-11
“Where were you when I laid the foundations of the earth? Tell me if you have understanding. Who determined its measurements? Surely you know! Or who stretched a line upon it? To what were its foundations fastened? Or who laid its cornerstone, When the morning stars sang together, and all the sons of God shouted for joy? Or who shut in the sea with doors, when it burst forth and issued from the womb; When I made the clouds its garment, and thick darkness its swaddling band; When I fixed my limit for it, and set bars and doors; When I said, ‘This far you may come but no farther, and here your proud waves must stop!"
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7sl0Ln3Ptb8
History of The Universe Timeline- Graph Image
http://www.astronomynotes.com/cosmolgy/CMB_Timeline.jpg
As a sidelight to this, every class of elements that exists on the periodic table of elements is necessary for complex carbon-based life to exist on earth. The three most abundant elements in the human body, Oxygen, Carbon, Hydrogen, 'just so happen' to be the most abundant elements in the universe, save for helium which is inert. A truly amazing coincidence that strongly implies 'the universe had us in mind all along'. Even uranium the last naturally occurring 'stable' element on the period table of elements is necessary for life. The heat generated by the decay of uranium is necessary to keep a molten core in the earth for an extended period of time, which is necessary for the magnetic field surrounding the earth, which in turn protects organic life from the harmful charged particles of the sun. As well, uranium decay provides the heat for tectonic activity and the turnover of the earth's crustal rocks, which is necessary to keep a proper mixture of minerals and nutrients available on the surface of the earth, which is necessary for long term life on earth. (Denton; Nature's Destiny). These following articles and videos give a bit deeper insight into the crucial role that individual elements play in allowing life:
The Elements: Forged in Stars - video
http://www.metacafe.com/watch/4003861
Michael Denton - We Are Stardust - Uncanny Balance Of The Elements - Fred Hoyle Atheist to Deist/Theist - video
http://www.metacafe.com/watch/4003877
The Role of Elements in Life Processes
http://www.mii.org/periodic/LifeElement.php
Periodic Table - Interactive web page for each element
http://www.mii.org/periodic/MiiPeriodicChart.htm
Periodic Table - with stability, and native state, of elements listed
http://www.cbc.ca/news/pdf//Periodic_Table_Armtuk3-703.jpg
To answer our second question (What evidence is found for the earth's ability to support life?) we will consider many 'life-enabling characteristics', for the galaxy, sun, moon and earth, which establish that the earth is extremely unique in its ability to host advanced life in this universe. Again, the presumption of materialistic blind chance being the only reasonable cause must be dealt with. As opposed to the anthropic hypothesis which starts off by presuming the earth is extremely unique in this universe, materialism begins by presuming planets that are able to support life are fairly common in this universe. In fact astronomer Frank Drake (1930-present) proposed, in 1961, advanced life should be fairly common in the universe. He developed a rather crude equation called the 'Drake equation'. He plugged in some rather optimistic numbers and reasoned that ten worlds with advanced life should be in our Milky Way galaxy alone. One estimate of his worked out to roughly one trillion worlds with advanced life throughout the entire universe. Much to the disappointment of Star Trek fans, the avalanche of recent scientific evidence has found the probability of finding another planet with the ability to host advanced life in this universe is not nearly as likely as astronomer Frank Drake had originally predicted.
First, our solar system is not nearly as haphazard as some materialists would have us believe:
Weird Orbits of Neighbors Can Make 'Habitable' Planets Not So Habitable - May 2010
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/05/100524143419.htm
Thank God for Jupiter - July 2010In fact when trying to take into consideration all the different factors necessary to make life possible on any earth-like planet, we learn some very surprising things:
Excerpt: The July 16, 1994 and July 19, 2009 collision events on Jupiter demonstrate just how crucial a role the planet plays in protecting life on Earth. Without Jupiter’s gravitational shield our planet would be pummeled by frequent life-exterminating events. Yet Jupiter by itself is not an adequate shield. The best protection is achieved via a specific arrangement of several gas giant planets. The most massive gas giant must be nearest to the life support planet and the second most massive gas giant the next nearest, followed by smaller, more distant gas giants. Together Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune provide Earth with this ideal shield.
http://www.reasons.org/thank-god-jupiter
Of Gaps, Fine-Tuning and Newton’s Solar System - Cornelius Hunter - July 2011
Excerpt: The new results indicate that the solar system could become unstable if diminutive Mercury, the inner most planet, enters into a dance with Jupiter, the fifth planet from the Sun and the largest of all. The resulting upheaval could leave several planets in rubble, including our own. Using Newton’s model of gravity, the chances of such a catastrophe were estimated to be greater than 50/50 over the next 5 billion years. But interestingly, accounting for Albert Einstein’s minor adjustments (according to his theory of relativity), reduces the chances to just 1%.
http://darwins-god.blogspot.com/2011/07/of-gaps-fine-tuning-and-newtons-solar.html
Milankovitch Cycle Design - Hugh Ross - August 2011
Excerpt: In all three cases, Waltham proved that the actual Earth/Moon/solar system manifests unusually low Milankovitch levels and frequencies compared to similar alternative systems. ,,, Waltham concluded, “It therefore appears that there has been anthropic selection for slow Milankovitch cycles.” That is, it appears Earth was purposely designed with slow, low-level Milankovitch cycles so as to allow humans to exist and thrive.
http://www.reasons.org/milankovitch-cycle-design
Astrobiology research is revealing the high specificity and interdependence of the local parameters required for a habitable environment. These two features of the universe make it unlikely that environments significantly different from ours will be as habitable. At the same time, physicists and cosmologists have discovered that a change in a global parameter can have multiple local effects. Therefore, the high specificity and interdependence of local tuning and the multiple effects of global tuning together make it unlikely that our tiny island of habitability is part of an archipelago. Our universe is a small target indeed.
Astronomer Guillermo Gonzalez - P. 625, The Nature of Nature
Among Darwin Advocates, Premature Celebration over Abundance of Habitable Planets - September 2011
Excerpt: Today, such processes as planet formation details, tidal forces, plate tectonics, magnetic field evolution, and planet-planet, planet-comet, and planet-asteroid gravitational interactions are found to be relevant to habitability.,,, What's more, not only are more requirements for habitability being discovered, but they are often found to be interdependent, forming a (irreducibly) complex "web." This means that if a planetary system is found not to satisfy one of the habitability requirements, it may not be possible to compensate for this deficit by adjusting a different parameter in the system. - Guillermo Gonzalez
http://www.evolutionnews.org/2011/09/among_darwin_advocates_prematu050871.html
Privileged Planet Principle - Michael Strauss - video
http://www.metacafe.com/watch/4318884/
Privileged Planet Principle - Scot Pollock (Notes In Description) - video
http://vimeo.com/31904755
There are many independent characteristics required to be fulfilled for any planet to host advanced carbon-based life. Two popular books have recently been written, 'The Privileged Planet' by Guillermo Gonzalez and 'Rare Earth' by Donald Brownlee, indicating the earth is extremely unique in its ability to host advanced life in this universe. Privileged Planet, which holds that any life supporting planet in the universe will also be 'privileged' for observation of the universe, has now been made into a excellent video.
The Privileged Planet - video
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JnWyPIzTOTw
Privileged Planet - Observability Correlation - Gonzalez and Richards - video
http://www.metacafe.com/watch/5424431
The very conditions that make Earth hospitable to intelligent life also make it well suited to viewing and analyzing the universe as a whole.A few videos of related 'observability correlation' interest;
- Jay Richards
We Live At The Right Time In Cosmic History - Hugh Ross - video
http://vimeo.com/31940671
Epistemology – Why Should The Human Mind Even Be Able To Comprehend Reality? – Stephen Meyer - video – (Notes in description)
http://vimeo.com/32145998
Continued notes:
Our Privileged Planet (1 of 5) - Guillermo Gonzalez - video lecture
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=inUlX0oWHbw&list=PLDE3C7537204166EF&feature=plpp
Guillermo Gonzalez & Stephen Meyer on Coral Ridge - video (Part 1)
http://www.truthinaction.org/index.php/truth-that-transforms?p=CRH1118_F
Guillermo Gonzalez & Stephen Meyer on Coral Ridge - video (Part 2)
http://www.truthinaction.org/index.php/truth-that-transforms?p=CRH1119_F
Fine Tuning Of The Universe - Privileged Planet (Notes In Description) - video
http://vimeo.com/31664112
There is also a well researched statistical analysis of the many independent 'life-enabling characteristics' that gives strong mathematical indication that the earth is extremely unique in its ability to support complex life in this universe and shows, from a naturalistic perspective, that a life permitting planet is extremely unlikely to 'accidentally emerge' in the universe. The statistical analysis, which is actually a extreme refinement of the Drake's probability equation, is dealt with by astro-physicist Dr. Hugh Ross (1945-present) in his paper 'Probability for Life on Earth'.
Probability For Life On Earth - List of Parameters, References, and Math - Hugh Ross
http://www.reasons.org/probability-life-earth-apr-2004
http://www.meaningfulscience.com/FineTuningForLifeOnEarthHughRoss.pdf
A few of the items in Dr. Ross's "life-enabling characteristics" list are; Planet location in a proper galaxy's 'habitable zone'; Parent star size; Surface gravity of planet; Rotation period of planet; Correct chemical composition of planet; Correct size for moon; Thickness of planets’ crust; Presence of magnetic field; Correct and stable axis tilt; Oxygen to nitrogen ratio in atmosphere; Proper water content of planet; Atmospheric electric discharge rate; Proper seismic activity of planet; Many complex cycles necessary for a stable temperature history of planet; Translucent atmosphere; Various complex, and inter-related, cycles for various elements etc.. etc.. I could go a lot further in details for there are a total of 322 known parameters on his list, (816 in his updated list), which have to be met for complex life to be possible on Earth, or on a planet like Earth. Individually, these limits are not that impressive but when we realize ALL these limits have to be met at the same time and not one of them can be out of limits for any extended period of time, then the condition becomes 'irreducibly complex' and the probability for a world which can host advanced life in this universe becomes very extraordinary. Here is the final summary of Dr. Hugh Ross's 'conservative' estimate for the probability of another life-hosting world in this universe.
Probability for occurrence of all 322 parameters =10^-388Dr. Hugh Ross, and his team, have now drastically refined this probability of 1 in 10^304 to a staggering probability of 1 in 10^1054:
Dependency factors estimate =10^96
Longevity requirements estimate =10^14
Probability for occurrence of all 322 parameters = 10^-304
Maximum possible number of life support bodies in universe =10^22
Thus, less than 1 chance in 10^282 (million trillion trillion trillion trillion trillion trillion trillion trillion trillion trillion trillion trillion trillion trillion trillion trillion trillion trillion trillion trillion trillion trillion trillion) exists that even one such life-support body would occur anywhere in the universe without invoking divine miracles.
Does the Probability for ETI = 1?Hugh Ross - Evidence For Intelligent Design Is Everywhere (10^-1054) - video
Excerpt; On the Reasons To Believe website we document that the probability a randomly selected planet would possess all the characteristics intelligent life requires is less than 10^-304. A recent update that will be published with my next book, Hidden Purposes: Why the Universe Is the Way It Is, puts that probability at 10^-1054.
http://www.reasons.org/does-probability-eti-1
Linked from Appendix C from Dr. Ross's book, 'Why the Universe Is the Way It Is';
Probability for occurrence of all 816 parameters ≈ 10^-1333
dependency factors estimate ≈ 10^324
longevity requirements estimate ≈ 10^45
Probability for occurrence of all 816 parameters ≈ 10^-1054
Maximum possible number of life support bodies in observable universe ≈ 10^22
Thus, less than 1 chance in 10^1032 exists that even one such life-support body would occur anywhere in the universe without invoking divine miracles.
http://www.reasons.org/files/compendium/compendium_part3.pdf
http://www.metacafe.com/watch/4347236
Isaiah 40:28Hugh Ross - Four Main Research Papers
Do you not know? Have you not heard? The LORD is the everlasting God, the Creator of the ends of the earth. He will not grow tired or weary, and his understanding no one can fathom.
https://docs.google.com/document/pub?id=1Sl5SCBtcO6xMjwgrkKysBYIOJzjZEcXX68qZ9rwh85s
"This most beautiful system of the sun, planets, and comets, could only proceed from the counsel and dominion of an intelligent Being. … This Being governs all things, not as the soul of the world, but as Lord over all; and on account of his dominion he is wont to be called “Lord God” παντοκρατωρ [pantokratòr], or “Universal Ruler”… The Supreme God is a Being eternal, infinite, absolutely perfect."Related note:
Sir Isaac Newton - Quoted from what many consider the greatest science masterpiece of all time, his book "Principia"
The Loneliest Planet - ALAN HIRSHFELD - December 2011The following is another surprising Privileged Planet parameter which fairly recently came to light:
Excerpt: While he cannot prove a galaxy-wide absence of other civilizations, he presents an array of modern, research-based evidence that renders that conclusion eminently reasonable.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052970204552304577116570107579152.html
Cosmic Rays Hit Space Age HighThe Protective Boundaries of our Solar System - NASA IBEX - video
Excerpt: "The entire solar system from Mercury to Pluto and beyond is surrounded by a bubble of solar magnetism called "the heliosphere."
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/09/090929133244.htm
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2O0qcQZXpII
Many people simply presume that solar system formation is fairly well understood by science but that simply is not the case:
Are Saturn’s Rings Evolving? July - 2010The solar systems that scientists are currently finding, in our corner of the universe, simply do not match the 'predictions':
Excerpt: Not all is well in theories of planet formation, though. Astrobiology Magazine complained this week that many of the exoplanets discovered around other stars do not fit theories of the origin of the solar system.
http://www.creationsafaris.com/crev201007.htm#20100710a
Planet-Making Theories Don’t Fit Extrasolar Planets;
Excerpt: “The more new planets we find, the less we seem to know about how planetary systems are born, according to a leading planet hunter.” We cannot apply theories that fit our solar system to other systems:
http://www.creationsafaris.com/crev201102.htm#20110223b
Medium size worlds upset “Earth is not unique” planet modelling - January 2012
Excerpt: But what has puzzled observers and theorists so far is the high proportion of planets — roughly one-third to one-half — that are bigger than Earth but smaller than Neptune. These ‘super-Earths’ are emerging as a new category of planet — and they could be the most numerous of all (see ‘Super-Earths rising’). Their very existence upsets conventional models of planetary formation and, furthermore, most of them are in tight orbits around their host star, precisely where the modellers say they shouldn’t be.
http://www.uncommondescent.com/cosmology/medium-size-worlds-upset-earth-is-not-unique-planet-modelling/
Exoplanet Hunters Fail Predictions – August 2010As well, tectonic activity, which is itself finely tuned for life on earth, is not nearly as well understood by science as many people think:
Excerpt: There are so many surprises in this field—almost nothing is turning out as we expected. There are Jupiter-mass planets in three-day orbits. There are planets with masses that are between those of the terrestrial planets in our solar system and the gas giants in the outer part of our solar system. There are Jupiter-mass planets with hugely inflated radii—at densities far lower than what we thought were possible for a gas-giant planet. There are giant planets with gigantic solid cores that defy models of planet formation, which say there shouldn’t be enough solids available in a protoplanetary disk to form a planet that dense. There are planets with tilted orbits. There are planets that orbit the poles of their stars, in so-called circumpolar orbits. There are planets that orbit retrograde—that is, they orbit in the opposite direction of their star’s rotation. There are systems of planets that are in configurations that are hard to describe given our understanding of planet formation. For instance, some planets are much too close to one another.
But a lot of those surprises have to do with the fact that we have only one example of a planetary system—our solar system—to base everything on, right?
What’s interesting is that we’ve found very little that resembles our example.
http://www.creationsafaris.com/crev201008.htm#20100831a
Did cosmic collisions make habitable planets rare? - August 2011
Excerpt: Most of the planets in our own solar system, including Earth, have relatively circular orbits and are lined up along a plane that isn't tilted much from the sun's equator. They also orbit in the same direction around the sun as our star spins. But many other solar systems are not so neatly ordered, harboring planets that move in the opposite direction of their stars' spin on highly tilted orbits.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/44230474/ns/technology_and_science-space/#.TlLOD6hEOkM
Man in the moon looking younger - August 17, 2011
Excerpt: "The extraordinarily young age of this lunar sample either means that the Moon solidified significantly later than previous estimates, or that we need to change our entire understanding of the Moon's geochemical history," Carlson said.
http://www.physorg.com/news/2011-08-moon-younger.html
Habitable Zones Constrained by Tides
Excerpt: “I think that the chances for life existing on exoplanets in the traditional habitable zone around low-mass stars are pretty bleak, when considering tidal effects,” lead researcher Rene Heller remarked. “If you want to find a second Earth, it seems that you need to look for a second Sun.”
http://www.creationsafaris.com/crev201102.htm#20110226a
New Definition Could Further Limit Habitable Zones Around Distant Suns: - June 2009
... liquid water is essential for life, but a planet also must have plate tectonics to pull excess carbon from its atmosphere and confine it in rocks to prevent runaway greenhouse warming. Tectonics, or the movement of the plates that make up a planet's surface, typically is driven by radioactive decay in the planet's core, but a star's gravity can cause tides in the planet, which creates more energy to drive plate tectonics.... Barnes added, "The bottom line is that tidal forcing is an important factor that we are going to have to consider when looking for habitable planets."
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/06/090610124831.htm
Tidal forces could squeeze out planetary water - February 2012
Excerpt: Alien planets might experience tidal forces powerful enough to remove all their water, leaving behind hot, dry worlds like Venus, researchers said. These findings might significantly affect searches for habitable exoplanets, scientists explained. Although some planets might dwell in regions around their star friendly enough for life as we know it, they could actually be lifelessly dry worlds. ,,, After a tidal Venus loses all its water and becomes uninhabitable, the tides could alter its orbit so that it no longer experiences tidal heating. As such, it might no longer appear like a tidal Venus, but look just like any other world in its star's habitable zone, fooling researchers into thinking it is potentially friendly for life, even though it has essentially been sterilized.
http://www.physorg.com/news/2012-02-tidal-planetary.html
A Renewed Concern: Flares and Astrobiology - January 2011
Excerpt: “Such powerful flares bode ill for any possible biology, life, on any planet that happens to be close to that flaring star. It’s extraordinary to think that the most numerous stars, the smallest ones in our galaxy, pose this threat to life.”
http://www.centauri-dreams.org/?p=16327
Many Stars Are Planet Destroyers - September 2010
Excerpt: A NASA study is being called “Bad news for planet hunters.” A survey of stars in globular clusters has not turned up the number of planets expected. Astronomers conclude that stars in these presumably ancient clusters have long since devoured their planets or sent them careening out into oblivion.
http://www.creationsafaris.com/crev201009.htm#20100916a
Dominant paradigms in science and their attendant anomalies - David Tyler - July 2010As well, the prevailing 'impact theory', for how our life-enabling moon is hypothesized to have been formed, is not nearly as well established as some people think:
Excerpt: The relative contributions made by these different forces have been much discussed by scientists developing plate tectonic theory. However, firm conclusions have not been reached. If there is any consensus, it is that boundary forces are more significant than drag forces, and that slab pull is more significant than ridge push.
http://www.arn.org/blogs/index.php/literature/2010/07/18/dominant_paradigms_in_science_and_their
Researchers discover water on the moon is widespread, similar to Earth's - July 2010In related note about water on Mars:
Excerpt: The finding of volatiles on the moon has deep implications for how it, and the Earth, formed. It is generally believed that the moon was created when the early Earth was hit by a Mars-sized proto-planet called Theia, melting and vaporizing itself and a large chunk of the Earth. The cloud of particles created by the impact later congealed to form the moon, which supposedly was devoid of highly volatile elements such as hydrogen and chlorine. However, the researchers' discovery of these volatiles challenges this theory. "If water in the Moon was residue water kept during the giant impact, it is surprising that water survived the impact at all because less volatile elements, such as sodium and potassium, are strongly depleted. The details of the impact theory need to be re-examined," Liu said.
http://www.physorg.com/news198934028.html
Surface of Mars an unlikely place for life after 600-million-year drought, say scientists - February 2012In further evidence for the 'Privileged Planet'; relative element abundances, complex symbiotic chemistry, water, and the fine tuning of light for carbon based life on earth, all display extraordinary characteristics of design which also lend strong support to the Privileged Planet principle:
Excerpt: The results of the soil analysis at the Phoenix site suggest the surface of Mars has been arid for hundreds of millions of years, despite the presence of ice and the fact that previous research has shown that Mars may have had a warmer and wetter period in its earlier history more than three billion years ago. The team also estimated that the soil on Mars had been exposed to liquid water for at most 5,000 years since its formation billions of years ago. They also found that Martian and Moon soil is being formed under the same extremely dry conditions.
Satellite images and previous studies have proven that the soil on Mars is uniform across the planet, which suggests that the results from the team's analysis could be applied to all of Mars. This implies that liquid water has been on the surface of Mars for far too short a time for life to maintain a foothold on the surface.
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/02/120203092006.htm
It is found that not only must the right chemicals be present on earth to have life, the chemicals must also be present on the earth in 'specific abundances'.
Elemental Evidence of Earth’s Divine Design - Hugh Ross PhD. - April 2010The stunning long term balance of the necessary chemicals for life, on the face of the earth, is a wonder in and of itself:
Table: Earth’s Anomalous Abundances - Page 8
The twenty-five elements listed below must exist on Earth in specific abundances for advanced life and/or support of civilization to be possible. For each listed element the number indicates how much more or less abundant it is, by mass, in Earth’s crust, relative to magnesium’s abundance, as compared to its average abundance in the rest of the Milky Way Galaxy, also relative to the element magnesium. Asterisks denote “vital poisons,” essential elements that if too abundant would be toxic to advanced life, but if too scarce would fail to provide the quantities of nutrients essential for advanced life. The water measure compares the amount of water in and on Earth relative to the minimum amount the best planet formation models would predict for a planet the mass of Earth orbiting a star identical to the Sun at the same distance from the Sun.
carbon* 1,200 times less
nitrogen* 2,400 times less
fluorine* 50 times more
sodium* 20 times more
aluminum 40 times more
phosphorus* 4 times more
sulfur* 60 times less
potassium* 90 times more
calcium 20 times more
titanium 65 times more
vanadium* 9 times more
chromium* 5 times less
nickel* 20 times less
cobalt* 5 times less
selenium* 30 times less
yttrium 50 times more
zirconium 130 times more
niobium 170 times more
molybdenum* 5 times more
tin* 3 times more
iodine* 3 times more
gold 5 times less
lead 170 times more
uranium 16,000 times more
thorium 23,000 times more
water 250 times less
http://www.reasons.org/files/ezine/ezine-2010-02.pdf
Compositions of Extrasolar Planets - July 2010
Excerpt: ,,,the presumption that extrasolar terrestrial planets will consistently manifest Earth-like chemical compositions is incorrect. Instead, the simulations revealed “a wide variety of resulting planetary compositions.
http://www.reasons.org/compositions-extrasolar-planets
Chances of Exoplanet Life ‘Impossible’? Or ’100 percent’? - February 2011
Excerpt: Howard Smith, an astrophysicist at Harvard University, made the headlines earlier this year when he announced, rather pessimistically, that aliens will unlikely exist on the extrasolar planets we are currently detecting. “We have found that most other planets and solar systems are wildly different from our own. They are very hostile to life as we know it,” “Extrasolar systems are far more diverse than we expected, and that means very few are likely to support life,” he said.
http://news.discovery.com/space/exoplanet-life-impossible-or-100-percent-what.html
Elements of ExoPlanets - February 2012
Excerpt: "I was expecting some subtle changes in our stellar evolution models in terms of the surface temperature and brightness — I was not looking for such a dramatic change in the lifetimes of the stars," said study lead author Patrick Young,
http://www.physorg.com/news/2012-02-elements-exoplanets.html
Chemical Cycles:Carbon and Nitrogen Cycles - music video
Long term chemical balance is essential for life on earth. Complex symbiotic chemical cycles keep the amount of elements on the earth surface in relatively perfect balance and thus in steady supply to the higher life forms that depend on them to remain stable. This is absolutely essential for the higher life forms to exist on Earth for any extended period of time.
http://www.uen.org/themepark/cycles/chemical.shtml
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R8-E6cDCr5U
Carbon Cycle - Illustration
http://www.swiftenterprises.net/images/Charts/Large/Carbon_Cycle.png
When we look at water, the most common substance on earth and in our bodies, we find many odd characteristics which clearly appear to be designed. These oddities are absolutely essential for life on earth. Some simple life can exist without the direct energy of sunlight, some simple life can exist without oxygen; but no life can exist without water. Water is called a universal solvent because it has the unique ability to dissolve a far wider range of substances than any other solvent. This 'universal solvent' ability of water is essential for the cells of living organisms to process the wide range of substances necessary for life. Another oddity is water expands as it becomes ice, by an increase of about 9% in volume. Thus, water floats when it becomes a solid instead of sinking. This is an exceedingly rare ability. Yet if it were not for this fact, lakes and oceans would freeze from the bottom up. The earth would be a frozen wasteland, and human life would not be possible. Water also has the unusual ability to pull itself into very fine tubes and small spaces, defying gravity. This is called capillary action. This action is essential for the breakup of mineral bearing rocks into soil. Water pulls itself into tiny spaces on the surface of a rock and freezes; it expands and breaks the rock into tinier pieces, thus producing soil. Capillary action is also essential for the movement of water through soil to the roots of plants. It is also essential for the movement of water from the roots to the tops of the plants, even to the tops of the mighty redwood trees,,,
Towering Giants Of Teleological Beauty - October 2010
http://www.uncommondescent.com/intelligent-design/towering-giants-of-teleological-beauty/
,,,Capillary action is also essential for the circulation of the blood in our very own capillary blood vessels. Water's melting and boiling point are not where common sense would indicate they should be when we look at its molecular weight. The three sister compounds of water all behave as would be predicted by their molecular weight. Oddly, water just happens to have melting and boiling points that are of optimal biological utility. The other properties of water we measure, like its specific slipperiness (viscosity) and its ability to absorb and release more heat than any other natural substance, have to be as they are in order for life to be possible on earth. Even the oceans have to be the size they are in order to stabilize the temperature of the earth so human life may be possible. On and on through each characteristic we can possibly measure water with, it turns out to be required to be almost exactly as it is or complex life on this earth could not exist. No other liquid in the universe comes anywhere near matching water in its fitness for life (Denton: Nature's Destiny).
Here is a more complete list of the anomalous life enabling properties of water:
Anomalous life enabling properties of water
http://www.lsbu.ac.uk/water/anmlies.html
Water's remarkable capabilities - December 2010 - Peer ReviewedWater cycle song - music video
Excerpt: All these traits are contained in a simple molecule of only three atoms. One of the most difficult tasks for an engineer is to design for multiple criteria at once. ... Satisfying all these criteria in one simple design is an engineering marvel. Also, the design process goes very deep since many characteristics would necessarily be changed if one were to alter fundamental physical properties such as the strong nuclear force or the size of the electron.
http://www.evolutionnews.org/2010/12/pro-intelligent_design_peer_re042211.html
Water's quantum weirdness makes life possible - October 2011
Excerpt: They found that the hydrogen-oxygen bonds were slightly longer than the deuterium-oxygen ones, which is what you would expect if quantum uncertainty was affecting water’s structure. “No one has ever really measured that before,” says Benmore.
We are used to the idea that the cosmos’s physical constants are fine-tuned for life. Now it seems water’s quantum forces can be added to this “just right” list.
http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg21228354.900-waters-quantum-weirdness-makes-life-possible.html
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=okZBiy_IdBA
Although water is semi-famous for its many mysterious and 'miraculous' characteristics that enable physical life to be possible on earth. This following article goes even deeper than the 'science of water' to reveal many mysterious 'spiritual characteristics' of water found in the Bible that enable a deeper 'spiritual life' to even be possible.
WATER, as a metaphor (in the Bible)
http://www.biblesecrets.org/METAPHOR.htm
Visible light is also incredibly fine-tuned for life to exist. Though visible light is only a tiny fraction of the total electromagnetic spectrum coming from the sun, it happens to be the "most permitted" portion of the sun's spectrum allowed to filter through the our atmosphere. All the other bands of electromagnetic radiation, directly surrounding visible light, happen to be harmful to organic molecules, and are almost completely absorbed by the atmosphere. The tiny amount of harmful UV radiation, which is not visible light, allowed to filter through the atmosphere is needed to keep various populations of single cell bacteria from over-populating the world (Ross; reasons.org). The size of light's wavelengths and the constraints on the size allowable for the protein molecules of organic life, also seem to be tailor-made for each other. This "tailor-made fit" allows photosynthesis, the miracle of sight, and many other things that are necessary for human life. These specific frequencies of light (that enable plants to manufacture food and astronomers to observe the cosmos) represent less than 1 trillionth of a trillionth (10^-24) of the universe's entire range of electromagnetic emissions. Like water, visible light also appears to be of optimal biological utility (Denton; Nature's Destiny).
Extreme Fine Tuning of Light for Life and Scientific Discovery - video
http://www.metacafe.com/w/7715887
Fine Tuning Of Universal Constants, Particularly Light - Walter Bradley - video
http://www.metacafe.com/watch/4491552
Fine Tuning Of Light to the Atmosphere, to Biological Life, and to Water - graphs
http://docs.google.com/Doc?docid=0AYmaSrBPNEmGZGM4ejY3d3pfMTljaGh4MmdnOQ
Intelligent Design - Light and Water - video
http://www.metacafe.com/watch/4669620
Proverbs 3:19The scientific evidence clearly indicates the earth is extremely unique in this universe in its ability to support life. These facts are rigorously investigated and cannot be dismissed out of hand as some sort of glitch in accurate information. Here materialism can offer no competing theory of blind chance which can offset the overwhelming evidence for the earth's apparent intelligent design which enables her to host complex life. A materialist can only assert we are extremely 'lucky'. This is some kind of fantastic luck materialists believe. The odds of another life-supporting earth 'just so happening' in this universe (1 in 10^1054) are not even remotely as good as the odds a blind man would have in finding one pre-selected grain of sand, which has been hidden in all vast expanses of deserts and beaches of the world, with only one try, and then the blind man repeatedly finding the grain of sand, first time every time, several times over! These fantastic odds against another life-supporting world 'just so happening' in this universe have not even been refined to their final upper limits yet. The odds will only get far worse for the atheistic materialist.,,, When faced with such staggering odds against life 'just so happening' elsewhere in the universe, I find the Search for Extra-Terrestrial Intelligence by SETI to be amusing:
"The Lord by wisdom founded the earth: by understanding He established the heavens;"
SETI - Search For Extra-Terrestrial Intelligence receives message from God,,,,, Almost - video
http://www.metacafe.com/watch/4007753
I find it strange that the SETI (Search for Extra-Terrestrial Intelligence) organization spends millions of dollars vainly searching for signs of extra-terrestrial life in this universe, when all anyone has to do to make solid contact with THE primary 'extra-terrestrial intelligence' of the entire universe is to pray with a sincere heart. God certainly does not hide from those who sincerely seek Him. Actually communicating with the Creator of the universe is certainly a lot more exciting than not communicating with some little green men that in all probability do not even exist, unless of course, God decided to create them!
Isaiah 45:18-19Hearing God – Are We Listening? – video
For thus says the Lord, who created the heavens, who is God, who formed the earth and made it, who established it, who did not create it in vain, who formed it to be inhabited: “I am the Lord, and there is no other. I have not spoken in secret, in a dark place of the earth; I did not say to the seed of Jacob, ‘seek me in vain’; I, the Lord speak righteousness, I declare things that are right.”
“When I was young, I said to God, 'God, tell me the mystery of the universe.' But God answered, 'That knowledge is for me alone.' So I said, 'God, tell me the mystery of the peanut.' Then God said, 'Well George, that's more nearly your size.' And he told me.”
George Washington Carver
Inventors - George Washington Carver
Excerpt: "God gave them to me" he (Carver) would say about his ideas, "How can I sell them to someone else?"
http://inventors.about.com/od/cstartinventors/a/GWC.htm
http://www.metacafe.com/watch/4200224/
To answer our third question (What evidence is found for the first life on earth?) we will look at the evidence for the first appearance of life on earth and the chemical activity of the first bacterial life on earth. Once again, the presumption of materialistic blind chance being the only reasonable cause must be dealt with.
First and foremost, we now have evidence for photosynthetic life suddenly appearing on earth, as soon as water appeared on the earth, in the oldest sedimentary rocks ever found on earth.
The Sudden Appearance Of Photosynthetic Life On Earth - video
http://www.metacafe.com/watch/4262918
Team Claims It Has Found Oldest Fossils By NICHOLAS WADE - August 2011Earliest (Bacteria) fossils found in Australia, 3.4 bya
Excerpt: Rocks older than 3.5 billion years have been so thoroughly cooked as to destroy all cellular structures, but chemical traces of life can still be detected. Chemicals indicative of life have been reported in rocks 3.5 billion years old in the Dresser Formation of Western Australia and, with less certainty, in rocks 3.8 billion years old in Greenland.
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/08/22/science/earth/22fossil.html?_r=1
http://www.uncommondescent.com/origin-of-life/earliest-fossils-found-in-australia-3-4-bya/
Dr. Hugh Ross - Origin Of Life Paradox - video
http://www.metacafe.com/watch/4012696
Archaean Microfossils and the Implications for Intelligent Design - August 2011Could Impacts Jump-Start the Origin of Life? - Hugh Ross - article
Excerpt: This dramatically limits the amount of time, and thus the probablistic resources, available to those who wish to invoke purely unguided and purposeless material processes to explain the origin of life.
http://www.evolutionnews.org/2011/08/surprisingly_soon_archaean_mic049921.html
http://www.reasons.org/could-impacts-jump-start-origin-life
Moreover, the atmosphere is found not to be 'reducing' on the early earth as is commonly taught in materialistic origin of life scenarios;
Time to end speculation about a reducing atmosphere for the early Earth - David Tyler - December 2011Late Heavy Bombardment - graph
Excerpt: Using zircons dated to almost 4.4 Ga, the researchers have analysed their redox state (a measure of the degree of oxygenation of the mineral).,,, "[In] this issue, Trail et al. report their analysis of the sole mineral survivors of the Hadean, zircon samples more than 4 billion years old. Their findings allowed them to determine the 'fugacity' of oxygen in Hadean magmatic melts, a quantity that acts as a measure of magmatic redox conditions. Unexpectedly, the zircons record oxygen fugacities identical to those in the present-day mantle, leading the authors to conclude that Hadean volcanic gases were as highly oxidized as those emitted today."
http://www.arn.org/blogs/index.php/literature/2011/12/02/time_to_end_speculation_about_a_reducing
http://www.reasons.org/files/clip_image008_0000.jpg
Life - Its Sudden Origin and Extreme Complexity - Dr. Fazale Rana - video
http://www.metacafe.com/watch/4287513
The evidence scientists have discovered in the geologic record is stunning in its support of the anthropic hypothesis. The oldest sedimentary rocks on earth, known to science, originated underwater (and thus in relatively cool environs) 3.86 billion years ago. Those sediments, which are exposed at Isua in southwestern Greenland, also contain the earliest chemical evidence (fingerprint) of 'photosynthetic' life [Nov. 7, 1996, Nature]. This evidence had been fought by materialists since it is totally contrary to their evolutionary theory. Yet, Danish scientists were able to bring forth another line of geological evidence to substantiate the primary line of geological evidence for photo-synthetic life in the earth’s earliest sedimentary rocks.
U-rich Archaean sea-floor sediments from Greenland - indications of +3700 Ma oxygenic photosynthesis (2003)
http://adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/2004E&PSL.217..237R
Moreover, evidence for 'sulfate reducing' bacteria has been discovered alongside the evidence for photosynthetic bacteria:
When Did Life First Appear on Earth? - Fazale Rana - December 2010Thus we now have fairly conclusive evidence for bacterial life in the oldest sedimentary rocks ever found by scientists on earth.
Excerpt: The primary evidence for 3.8 billion-year-old life consists of carbonaceous deposits, such as graphite, found in rock formations in western Greenland. These deposits display an enrichment of the carbon-12 isotope. Other chemical signatures from these formations that have been interpreted as biological remnants include uranium/thorium fractionation and banded iron formations. Recently, a team from Australia argued that the dolomite in these formations also reflects biological activity, specifically that of sulfate-reducing bacteria.
http://www.reasons.org/when-did-life-first-appear-earth
On the third page of this following site there is a illustration that shows some of the interdependent, ‘life-enabling’, biogeochemical complexity of different types of bacterial life on Earth.,,,
Microbial Mat Ecology – Image on page 92 (third page down)
http://www.dsls.usra.edu/biologycourse/workbook/Unit2.2.pdf
,,,Please note, that if even one type of bacteria group did not exist in this complex cycle of biogeochemical interdependence, that was illustrated on the third page of the preceding site, then all of the different bacteria would soon die out. This essential biogeochemical interdependence, of the most primitive different types of bacteria that we have evidence of on ancient earth, makes the origin of life ‘problem’ for neo-Darwinists that much worse. For now not only do neo-Darwinists have to explain how the ‘miracle of life’ happened once with the origin of photosynthetic bacteria, but they must now also explain how all these different types bacteria, that photosynthetic bacteria are dependent on, in this irreducibly complex biogeochemical web, miraculously arose just in time to supply the necessary nutrients, in their biogeochemical link in the chain, for photosynthetic bacteria to continue to survive. As well, though not clearly illustrated in the illustration on the preceding site, please note that a long term tectonic cycle, of the turnover the Earth’s crustal rocks, must also be fine-tuned to a certain degree with the bacteria and thus plays a important ‘foundational’ role in the overall ecology of the biogeochemical system that must be accounted for as well.
As a side issue to these complex interdependent biogeochemical relationships, of the 'simplest' bacteria on Earth, that provide the foundation for a 'friendly' environment on Earth that is hospitable to higher lifeforms above them to eventually appear on earth, it is interesting to note man's failure to build a miniature, self-enclosed, ecology in which humans could live for any extended periods of time.
Biosphere 2 – What Went Wrong?The simplest photosynthetic life on earth is exceedingly complex, too complex to happen by accident even if the primeval oceans had been full of pre-biotic soup.
Excerpt: Other Problems
Biosphere II’s water systems became polluted with too many nutrients. The crew had to clean their water by running it over mats of algae, which they later dried and stored.
Also, as a symptom of further atmospheric imbalances, the level of dinitrogen oxide became dangerously high. At these levels, there was a risk of brain damage due to a reduction in the synthesis of vitamin B12.
http://biology.kenyon.edu/slonc/bio3/2000projects/carroll_d_walker_e/whatwentwrong.html
The Miracle Of Photosynthesis - electron transport - video
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hj_WKgnL6MI
Electron transport and ATP synthesis during photosynthesis - Illustration
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/bv.fcgi?rid=cooper.figgrp.1672
There is actually a molecular motor, that surpasses man made motors in engineering parameters, that is integral to the photosynthetic process:
Evolution vs ATP Synthase - Molecular Machine - video
http://www.metacafe.com/watch/4012706
The ATP Synthase Enzyme - an exquisite motor necessary for first life - video
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W3KxU63gcF4
The photosynthetic process is clearly a irreducible complex condition:
"There is no question about photosynthesis being Irreducibly Complex. But it’s worse than that from an evolutionary perspective. There are 17 enzymes alone involved in the synthesis of chlorophyll. Are we to believe that all intermediates had selective value? Not when some of them form triplet states that have the same effect as free radicals like O2. In addition if chlorophyll evolved before antenna proteins, whose function is to bind chlorophyll, then chlorophyll would be toxic to cells. Yet the binding function explains the selective value of antenna proteins. Why would such proteins evolve prior to chlorophyll? and if they did not, how would cells survive chlorophyll until they did?" Uncommon Descent BloggerOf note: anoxygenic (without oxygen) photosynthesis is even more of a complex chemical pathway than oxygenic photosynthesis is:
Evolutionary biology: Out of thin air John F. Allen & William Martin:
The measure of the problem is here: “Oxygenetic photosynthesis involves about 100 proteins that are highly ordered within the photosynthetic membranes of the cell."
http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v445/n7128/full/445610a.html
"Remarkably, the biosynthetic routes needed to make the key molecular component of anoxygenic photosynthesis are more complex than the pathways that produce the corresponding component required for the oxygenic form."; - Fazale RanaAlso of note: Anaerobic organisms, that live without oxygen, and most viruses are quickly destroyed by direct contact with oxygen.
http://wwwold.reasons.org/resources/apologetics/early_life_remains_complex.shtml
In what I find to be a very fascinating discovery, it is found that photosynthetic life, which is an absolutely vital link that all higher life on earth is dependent on for food, uses ‘non-local’ quantum mechanical principles to accomplish photosynthesis. Moreover, this is direct evidence that a non-local, beyond space-time mass-energy, cause must be responsible for ‘feeding’ all life on earth, since all higher life on earth is eventually completely dependent on the non-local ‘photosynthetic energy’ in which to live their lives on this earth:
Non-Local Quantum Entanglement In Photosynthesis - video with notes in description
http://vimeo.com/30235178
Evidence for wavelike energy transfer through quantum coherence in photosynthetic systems. Gregory S. Engel, Nature (12 April 2007)Materialists have tried to get around this crushing evidence for the sudden appearance of extremely complex, and elegant, photosynthetic life in the oldest sedimentary rocks ever found on earth by suggesting life could have originated in extreme conditions at hydrothermal vents. Yet, ignoring the fact that hydrothermal vents were themselves submerged in the water that produced the earliest sedimentary rocks that we find evidence for photosynthetic life in, the materialists are once again betrayed by the empirical evidence:
Photosynthetic complexes are exquisitely tuned to capture solar light efficiently, and then transmit the excitation energy to reaction centres, where long term energy storage is initiated.,,,, This wavelike characteristic of the energy transfer within the photosynthetic complex can explain its extreme efficiency, in that it allows the complexes to sample vast areas of phase space to find the most efficient path. ---- Conclusion? Obviously Photosynthesis is a brilliant piece of design by "Someone" who even knows how quantum mechanics works.
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/17429397
Quantum Mechanics at Work in Photosynthesis: Algae Familiar With These Processes for Nearly Two Billion Years - Feb. 2010
Excerpt: "We were astonished to find clear evidence of long-lived quantum mechanical states involved in moving the energy. Our result suggests that the energy of absorbed light resides in two places at once -- a quantum superposition state, or coherence -- and such a state lies at the heart of quantum mechanical theory.",,, "It suggests that algae knew about quantum mechanics nearly two billion years before humans," says Scholes.
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/02/100203131356.htm
Life Masters Physics - Feb. 2010
Excerpt: Collini et al.2 report evidence suggesting that a process known as quantum coherence ‘wires’ together distant molecules in the light-harvesting apparatus of marine cryptophyte algae.,,,“Intriguingly, recent work has documented that light-absorbing molecules in some photosynthetic proteins capture and transfer energy according to quantum-mechanical probability laws instead of classical laws at temperatures up to 180 K,”. ,,, “This contrasts with the long-held view that long-range quantum coherence between molecules cannot be sustained in complex biological systems, even at low temperatures.”
http://www.creationsafaris.com/crev201002.htm#20100210a
Refutation Of Hyperthermophile Origin Of Life scenarioBesides hydrothermal vents, it is also commonly, and erroneously, presumed in many grade school textbooks that life slowly arose in a primordial ocean of pre-biotic soup. Yet there are no chemical signatures in the geologic record indicating that a ocean of this pre-biotic soup ever existed. In fact, as stated earlier, the evidence indicates that complex photosynthetic life appeared on earth as soon as water appeared on earth with no chemical signature whatsoever of prebiotic activity.
Excerpt: While life, if appropriately designed, can survive under extreme physical and chemical conditions, it cannot originate under those conditions. High temperatures are especially catastrophic for evolutionary models. The higher the temperature climbs, the shorter the half-life for all the crucial building block molecules,
http://www.reasons.org/LateHeavyBombardmentIntensityandtheOriginofLife
The origin of life--did it occur at high temperatures?
Excerpt: Prebiotic chemistry points to a low-temperature origin because most biochemicals decompose rather rapidly at temperatures of 100 degrees C (e.g., half-lives are 73 min for ribose, 21 days for cytosine, and 204 days for adenine).
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/11539558
Chemist explores the membranous origins of the first living cell:
Excerpt: Conditions in geothermal springs and similar extreme environments just do not favor membrane formation, which is inhibited or disrupted by acidity, dissolved salts, high temperatures, and calcium, iron, and magnesium ions. Furthermore, mineral surfaces in these clay-lined pools tend to remove phosphates and organic chemicals from the solution. "We have to face up to the biophysical facts of life," Deamer said. "Hot, acidic hydrothermal systems are not conducive to self-assembly processes."
http://currents.ucsc.edu/05-06/04-03/deamer.asp
Nick Lane Takes on the Origin of Life and DNA - Jonathan McLatchie - July 2010
Excerpt: numerous problems abound for the hydrothermal vent hypothesis for the origin of life,,,, For example, as Stanley Miller has pointed out, the polymers are "too unstable to exist in a hot prebiotic environment." Miller has also noted that the RNA bases are destroyed very quickly in water when the water boils. Intense heating also has the tendency to degrade amino acids such as serine and threonine. A more damning problem lies in the fact that the homochirality of the amino acids is destroyed by heating.
Of course, accounting for the required building blocks is an interesting problem, but from the vantage of ID proponents, it is only one of many problems facing materialistic accounts of the origin of life. After all, it is the sequential arrangement of the chemical constituents -- whether that happens to be amino acids in proteins, or nucleotides in DNA or RNA -- to form complex specified information (a process which requires the production of specified irregularity), which compellingly points toward the activity of rational deliberation (Intelligence).
http://www.evolutionnews.org/2010/07/nick_lane_and_the_ten_great_in036101.html
Origin-of-Life Theorists Fail to Explain Chemical Signatures in the Cell - Casey Luskin - February 15, 2012
Excerpt: (Nick) Lane also notes that the study has a significant conceptual flaw. "To suggest that the ionic composition of primordial cells should reflect the composition of the oceans is to suggest that cells are in equilibrium with their medium, which is close to saying that they are not alive," Lane says. "Cells require dynamic disequilibrium -- that is what being alive is all about.",,, Our uniform experience affirms that specified information-whether inscribed hieroglyphics, written in a book, encoded in a radio signal, or produced in a simulation experiment-always arises from an intelligent source, from a mind and not a strictly material process.
(Stephen Meyer - Signature in the Cell, p. 347)
http://www.evolutionnews.org/2012/02/origin-of-life_056391.html
The Primordial Soup Myth:Moreover, water is considered a 'universal solvent' which is a very thermodynamic obeying and thus origin of life defying fact.
Excerpt: "Accordingly, Abelson(1966), Hull(1960), Sillen(1965), and many others have criticized the hypothesis that the primitive ocean, unlike the contemporary ocean, was a "thick soup" containing all of the micromolecules required for the next stage of molecular evolution. The concept of a primitive "thick soup" or "primordial broth" is one of the most persistent ideas at the same time that is most strongly contraindicated by thermodynamic reasoning and by lack of experimental support." - Sidney Fox, Klaus Dose on page 37 in Molecular Evolution and the Origin of Life. http://theory-of-evolution.net/chap11/primordial-soup-myth.php
New Research Rejects 80-Year Theory of 'Primordial Soup' as the Origin of Life - Feb. 2010
"Despite bioenergetic and thermodynamic failings the 80-year-old concept of primordial soup remains central to mainstream thinking on the origin of life, But soup has no capacity for producing the energy vital for life."
William Martin - an evolutionary biologist
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/02/100202101245.htm
Abiogenic Origin of Life: A Theory in Crisis - Arthur V. Chadwick, Ph.D.Sea Salt only adds to this thermodynamic problem:
Excerpt: The synthesis of proteins and nucleic acids from small molecule precursors represents one of the most difficult challenges to the model of prebiological evolution. There are many different problems confronted by any proposal. Polymerization is a reaction in which water is a product. Thus it will only be favored in the absence of water. The presence of precursors in an ocean of water favors depolymerization of any molecules that might be formed. Careful experiments done in an aqueous solution with very high concentrations of amino acids demonstrate the impossibility of significant polymerization in this environment. A thermodynamic analysis of a mixture of protein and amino acids in an ocean containing a 1 molar solution of each amino acid (100,000,000 times higher concentration than we inferred to be present in the prebiological ocean) indicates the concentration of a protein containing just 100 peptide bonds (101 amino acids) at equilibrium would be 10^-338 molar. Just to make this number meaningful, our universe may have a volume somewhere in the neighborhood of 10^85 liters. At 10^-338 molar, we would need an ocean with a volume equal to 10^229 universes (100, 000, 000, 000, 000, 000, 000, 000, 000, 000, 000, 000, 000, 000, 000, 000, 000, 000, 000, 000, 000, 000, 000, 000, 000, 000, 000, 000, 000, 000, 000, 000, 000, 000, 000, 000, 000, 000, 000, 000, 000, 000, 000, 000, 000, 000, 000, 000, 000, 000, 000, 000, 000, 000, 000, 000, 000, 000, 000, 000, 000, 000, 000, 000, 000, 000, 000, 000, 000, 000, 000, 000) just to find a single molecule of any protein with 100 peptide bonds. So we must look elsewhere for a mechanism to produce polymers. It will not happen in the ocean.
http://origins.swau.edu/papers/life/chadwick/default.html
Professor Arthur E. Wilder-Smith "Any amounts of polypeptide which might be formed will be broken down into their initial components (amino acids) by the excess of water. The ocean is thus practically the last place on this or any other planet where the proteins of life could be formed spontaneously from amino acids. Yet nearly all text-books of biology teach this nonsense to support evolutionary theory and spontaneous biogenesis ... Has materialistic Neo-Darwinian philosophy overwhelmed us to such an extent that we forget or overlook the well-known facts of science and of chemistry in order to support this philosophy? ... Without exception all Miller's amino acids are completely unsuitable for any type of spontaneous biogenesis. And the same applies to all and any randomly formed substances and amino acids which form racemates. This statement is categorical and absolute and cannot be affected by special conditions."
http://theevolutioncrisis.org.uk/testimony3.php
A Substantial Conundrum Confronting The Chemical Origin Of Life - August 2011
Excerpt: 1. Peptide bond formation is an endothermic reaction. This means that the reaction requires the absorption of energy: It does not take place spontaneously.
2. Peptide bond formation is a condensation reaction. It hence involves the net removal of a water molecule. So not only can this reaction not happen spontaneously in an aqueous medium, but, in fact, the presence of water inhibits the reaction.
http://www.uncommondescent.com/origin-of-life/a-substantial-conundrum-confronting-the-chemical-origin-of-life/
...even at concentrations seven times weaker than in today’s oceans. The ingredients of sea salt are very effective at dismembering membranes and preventing RNA units (monomers) from forming polymers any longer than two links (dimers). Creation Evolution News - Sept. 2002The following article and videos have a fairly good overview of the major problems facing any naturalistic Origin Of Life scenario:
On the Origin of Life - The Insurmountable Problems Of Chemistry - Charles Thaxton PhD. - video
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6Ye3oDDAxeE
Is the Chemical Origin of Life (Abiogenesis) a Realistic Scenario?
http://www.godandscience.org/evolution/chemlife.html
Evolution's Fatal Flaw - The Origin Of Life - Chris Ashcraft PhD - video
http://www.metacafe.com/watch/4347153
Evolutionary Assumptions - Life from dead chemicals? - video
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O1fteDkXLBE
"Shut up," Coyne Explained - January 2012Though the 1953 Miller-Urey experiment is often touted, by evolutionists, as evidence that life can spontaneously arise on the primitive earth, evolutionists always seem to fail to mention the severe problems that were found with the 1953 Miller-Urey experiment in which, among other severe problems, only a few of the building blocks for proteins, amino-acids, were ever actually produced in minute quantities in an artificial environment:
Excerpt: Coyne writes that Kuhn's criticisms of current origin-of-life research are "absurdly funny" -- even though such research (into the origin of life) has not led to the abiotic formation of a single functional protein, much less a living cell.
http://www.evolutionnews.org/2012/01/shut_up_coyne_e055421.html
Miller-Urey ExperimentProgramming of Life - Amino Acids - video
Excerpt: While successful in trapping some amino acids, this is now recognized as not being analogous to the real natural world - there are no known or even hypothesized protective traps observed in nature. What they made was 85% tar, 13% carboxylic acid add, (both toxic to life) and only 2% amino acids. Problem: mostly only 2 of the 20 different amino acids life needed were produced, and they are much more likely to bond with the tar or acid than they are with each other. Half of the amino acids were right-handed and half were left-handed. This is a problem because all proteins are left-handed and even the smallest proteins have 70-100 amino acids all in the precise order.
http://www.soulharvest.info/FAQ/Evolution/Commonlies/MillerUrey.html
Rare Amino Acid Challenge to the Origin of Life
Excerpt: Granted that on early Earth arginine and lysine are either totally missing or available only at such extremely low abundance levels as to be irrelevant, and recognizing that arginine-and-lysine-containing proteins are essential for the crucial protein-DNA interactions, naturalistic explanations for the origin of life are ruled out.
http://www.reasons.org/rare-amino-acid-challenge-origin-life
http://www.youtube.com/user/Programmingoflife#p/c/AFDF33F11E2FB840/2/hixVhW-8ae0
The problem of 'left handed' homochirality found in the Miller-Urey experiment is of no small concern to any Origin Of Life scenario put forth by evolutionists:
Dr. Charles Garner on the problem of Chirality in nature and Origin of Life Research - audio
http://intelligentdesign.podomatic.com/player/web/2010-04-12T17_21_16-07_00
Origin Of Life - Problems With Proteins - Homochirality - Charles Thaxton PhD. - video
http://www.metacafe.com/watch/5222490
Homochirality and Darwin - Robert Sheldon - April 2010Left-Handed Amino Acids Explained Naturally? Not by a long shot! - January 2010
Excerpt: there is no abiotic path from a racemic solution to a stereo-active solution of amino acid(s) that doesn't involve a biotic chiral agent, be it chiral beads or Louis Pasteur himself. Like many critiques of ID, the problem with these "Darwinist" solutions is that they always smuggle in some information, in this case, chiral agents.
http://procrustes.blogtownhall.com/page3
Homochirality and Darwin: part 2 - Robert Sheldon - May 2010
Excerpt: With regard to the deniers who think homochirality is not much of a problem, I only ask whether a solution requiring multiple massive magnetized black-hole supernovae doesn't imply there is at least a small difficulty to overcome? A difficulty, perhaps, that points to the non-random nature of life in the cosmos?
http://procrustes.blogtownhall.com/2010/05/21/homochirality_and_darwin_part_2.thtml
http://www.creationsafaris.com/crev201101.htm#20110110a
The severity of the homochirality problem begins to highlight the number one question facing any Origin Of Life research. Namely, "Where is the specified complexity (information) coming from?" Even this recent 'evolution friendly' article readily admitted the staggering level of 'specified complexity' (information) being dealt with in the first cell:
Was our oldest ancestor a proton-powered rock? - Oct. 2009So much for 'simple' life!
Excerpt: “There is no doubt that the progenitor of all life on Earth, the common ancestor, possessed DNA, RNA and proteins, a universal genetic code, ribosomes (the protein-building factories), ATP and a proton-powered enzyme for making ATP. The detailed mechanisms for reading off DNA and converting genes into proteins were also in place. In short, then, the last common ancestor of all life looks pretty much like a modern cell.”
http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg20427306.200-was-our-oldest-ancestor-a-protonpowered-rock.html
Colossians 1:16I think David Abel, the director of the Gene Emergence Project, does a very good job of highlighting just how crucial 'information' is to Origin of Life research:
For by him all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities—all things were created through him and for him.
Chance and necessity do not explain the origin of life: Trevors JT, Abel DL.Does New Scientific Evidence About the Origin of Life Put an End to Darwinian Evolution? - Stephen Meyer - 4 part video
Excerpt: Minimal metabolism would be needed for cells to be capable of growth and division. All known metabolism is cybernetic--that is, it is programmatically and algorithmically organized and controlled.
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/15563395
http://www.evolutionnews.org/2011/03/does_new_scientific_evidence_a045171.html
The "simplest" life currently found on the earth that is able to exist outside of a test tube, the parasitic Mycoplasmal, has between a 0.56-1.38 megabase genome which results in drastically reduced biosynthetic capabilities and explains their dependence on a host. Yet even with this 'reduced complexity' we find that even the 'simplest' life on earth exceeds man's ability to produce such complexity in his computer programs or in his machines:
Three Subsets of Sequence Complexity and Their Relevance to Biopolymeric Information - David L. Abel and Jack T. Trevors - Theoretical Biology & Medical Modelling, Vol. 2, 11 August 2005, page 8Mycoplasma Genitalium - The "Simplest" Life On Earth - video
"No man-made program comes close to the technical brilliance of even Mycoplasmal genetic algorithms. Mycoplasmas are the simplest known organism with the smallest known genome, to date. How was its genome and other living organisms' genomes programmed?"
http://www.biomedcentral.com/content/pdf/1742-4682-2-29.pdf
http://www.metacafe.com/watch/4012738
First-Ever Blueprint of 'Minimal Cell' Is More Complex Than Expected - Nov. 2009On top of the fact that we now know the genetic code of the simplest organism ever found on Earth is a highly advanced 'logic' code, which far surpasses man's ability to devise such codes, we also know for a fact no operation of logic ever performed by a computer will ever increase the algorithmic code inherent in a computer's program, i.e. Bill Gates will never use random number generators and selection software to write more highly advanced computer codes:
Excerpt: A network of research groups,, approached the bacterium at three different levels. One team of scientists described M. pneumoniae's transcriptome, identifying all the RNA molecules, or transcripts, produced from its DNA, under various environmental conditions. Another defined all the metabolic reactions that occurred in it, collectively known as its metabolome, under the same conditions. A third team identified every multi-protein complex the bacterium produced, thus characterising its proteome organisation.
"At all three levels, we found M. pneumoniae was more complex than we expected,"
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/11/091126173027.htm
There’s No Such Thing as a ‘Simple’ Organism - November 2009
Excerpt: In short, there was a lot going on in lowly, supposedly simple M. pneumoniae, and much of it is beyond the grasp of what’s now known about cell function.
http://www.wired.com/wiredscience/2009/11/basics-of-life/
Simplest Microbes More Complex than Thought - Dec. 2009
Excerpt: PhysOrg reported that a species of Mycoplasma,, “The bacteria appeared to be assembled in a far more complex way than had been thought.” Many molecules were found to have multiple functions: for instance, some enzymes could catalyze unrelated reactions, and some proteins were involved in multiple protein complexes."
http://www.creationsafaris.com/crev200912.htm#20091229a
"... no operation performed by a computer can create new information."The 'simplest' life possible, by experiment, requires several hundred distinct interlocking protein types which further interlock with several hundred distinct genes in the DNA, which are all further interlocked with RNA, and the associated protein machinery, in an irreducibly complex manner that defies all attempts to reduce its complexity further.
Douglas G. Robertson, "Algorithmic Information Theory, Free Will and the Turing Test," Complexity, Vol.3, #3 Jan/Feb 1999, pp. 25-34.
William Dembski calls the DNA, RNA, Protein interlock problem :
"Irreducible Complexity on steroids".
Biological function and the genetic code are interdependent: Voie:Journey Inside The Cell - DNA to mRNA to Proteins - Stephen Meyer - Signature In The Cell - video
Life never ceases to astonish scientists as its secrets are more and more revealed. In particular the origin of life remains a mystery:
Chaos, Solitons and Fractals, 2006, Vol 28(4), 1000-1004.
http://home.online.no/~albvoie/index.cfm
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1fiJupfbSpg
Recently Craig Venter, of deciphering the human genome fame, created quite a stir, in the public imagination, by claiming to have 'created' synthetic life. The fact is that the claim was a gross exaggeration of what Venter's group had actually accomplished, for the truth is that they did not truly 'create' anything, not even a single protein or gene, they merely copied information that was already present in life before:
Is Craig Venter’s Synthetic Cell Really Life? - July 2010Stephen Meyer Discusses Craig Venter's "Synthetic Life" on CBN - video
Excerpt: David Baltimore was closer to the truth when he told the New York Times that the researchers had not created life so much as mimicked it. It might be still more accurate to say that the researchers mimicked one part and borrowed the rest.
http://www.uncommondescent.com/evolution/is-craig-venters-synthetic-cell-really-life/
http://www.evolutionnews.org/2010/06/stephen_meyer_discusses_craig035991.html
Aside from the small, but impressive, technical feat of Venter's work, in reality researchers can't even say with 100% certainty what the minimal gene set for a genome is, much less are they anywhere near creating life from scratch in the laboratory:
John I. Glass et al., "Essential Genes of a Minimal Bacterium," PNAS, USA103 (2006): 425-30.The following study highlights the inherent fallacy in gene deletion/knockout experiments that have led many scientists astray in the past as to underestimating what the minimal genome for life should actually be:
Excerpt: "An earlier study published in 1999 estimated the minimal gene set to fall between 265 and 350. A recent study making use of a more rigorous methodology estimated the essential number of genes at 382.,,, Given the evolutionary path of extreme genome reduction taken by M. genitalium, it is likely that all its 482 protein-coding genes are in some way necessary for effective growth in its natural habitat"
http://www.pnas.org/content/103/2/425.full
Life’s Minimum Complexity Supports ID - Fazale Rana - November 2011
Excerpt page 16: The Stanford investigators determined that the essential genome of C. crescentus consisted of just over 492,000 base pairs (genetic letters), which is close to 12 percent of the overall genome size. About 480 genes comprise the essential genome, along with nearly 800 sequence elements that play a role in gene regulation.,,, When the researchers compared the C. crescentus essential genome to other essential genomes, they discovered a limited match. For example, 320 genes of this microbe’s basic genome are found in the bacterium E. coli. Yet, of these genes, over one-third are nonessential for E. coli. This finding means that a gene is not intrinsically essential. Instead, it’s the presence or absence of other genes in the genome that determine whether or not a gene is essential.,,
http://www.reasons.org/files/ezine/ezine-2011-11/ezine-2011-11.pdf
Minimal genome should be twice the size - 2006Mouse Genome Knockout Experiment
Excerpt: “Previous attempts to work out the minimal genome have relied on deleting individual genes in order to infer which genes are essential for maintaining life,” said Professor Laurence Hurst from the Department of Biology and Biochemistry at the University of Bath. “This knock out approach misses the fact that there are alternative genetic routes, or pathways, to the production of the same cellular product. “When you knock out one gene, the genome can compensate by using an alternative gene. “But when you repeat the knock out experiment by deleting the alternative, the genome can revert to the original gene instead. “Using the knock-out approach you could infer that both genes are expendable from the genome because there appears to be no deleterious effect in both experiments.
http://www.news-medical.net/news/2006/03/30/16976.aspx
http://www.uncommondescent.com/books-of-interest/new-book-junk-dna-junked-in-favour-of-what/comment-page-3/#comment-374647
Jonathan Wells on Darwinism, Science, and Junk DNA - November 2011The probabilities against life 'spontaneously' originating are simply overwhelming:
Excerpt: Mice without “junk” DNA. In 2004, Edward Rubin] and a team of scientists at Lawrence Berkeley Laboratory in California reported that they had engineered mice missing over a million base pairs of non-protein-coding (“junk”) DNA—about 1% of the mouse genome—and that they could “see no effect in them.”
But molecular biologist Barbara Knowles (who reported the same month that other regions of non-protein-coding mouse DNA were functional) cautioned that the Lawrence Berkeley study didn’t prove that non-protein-coding DNA has no function. “Those mice were alive, that’s what we know about them,” she said. “We don’t know if they have abnormalities that we don’t test for.”And University of California biomolecular engineer David Haussler said that the deleted non-protein-coding DNA could have effects that the study missed. “Survival in the laboratory for a generation or two is not the same as successful competition in the wild for millions of years,” he argued.
In 2010, Rubin was part of another team of scientists that engineered mice missing a 58,000-base stretch of so-called “junk” DNA. The team found that the DNA-deficient mice appeared normal until they (along with a control group of normal mice) were fed a high-fat, high-cholesterol diet for 20 weeks. By the end of the study, a substantially higher proportion of the DNA-deficient mice had died from heart disease. Clearly, removing so-called “junk” DNA can have effects that appear only later or under other circumstances.
http://www.uncommondescent.com/intelligent-design/jonathan-wells-on-darwinism-science-and-junk-dna/
In fact Dean Kenyon, who was a leading Origin Of Life researcher as well as a college textbook author on the subject in the 1970s, admitted after years of extensive research:
"We have not the slightest chance for the chemical evolutionary origin of even the simplest of cells".Origin Of Life? - Probability Of Protein And The Information Of DNA - Dean Kenyon - video
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9VhR2BHhxeo
Probability Of A Protein and First Living Cell - Chris Ashcraft - video (notes in description)
http://vimeo.com/31536455
Stephen Meyer - Proteins by Design - Doing The Math - video
http://www.metacafe.com/watch/6332250/
Signature in the Cell - Book Review - Ken PetersonIn fact years ago Fred Hoyle arrived at approximately the same number, one chance in 10^40,000, for life spontaneously arising. From this number, Fred Hoyle compared the random emergence of the simplest bacterium on earth to the likelihood “a tornado sweeping through a junkyard might assemble a Boeing 747 therein”. Fred Hoyle also compared the chance of obtaining just one single functioning protein molecule, by chance combination of amino acids, to a solar system packed full of blind men solving Rubik’s Cube simultaneously.
Excerpt: If we assume some minimally complex cell requires 250 different proteins then the probability of this arrangement happening purely by chance is one in 10 to the 164th multiplied by itself 250 times or one in 10 to the 41,000th power.
http://www.spectrummagazine.org/reviews/book_reviews/2009/10/06/signature_cell
Professor Harold Morowitz shows the Origin of Life 'problem' escalates dramatically over the 1 in 10^40,000 figure when working from a thermodynamic perspective,:
"The probability for the chance of formation of the smallest, simplest form of living organism known is 1 in 10^340,000,000. This number is 10 to the 340 millionth power! The size of this figure is truly staggering since there is only supposed to be approximately 10^80 (10 to the 80th power) electrons in the whole universe!"Dr. Don Johnson lays out some of the probabilities for life in this following video:
(Professor Harold Morowitz, Energy Flow In Biology pg. 99, Biophysicist of George Mason University)
Probabilities Of Life - Don Johnson PhD. - 38 minute mark of videoProgramming of Life - Probability of a Cell Evolving - video
a typical functional protein - 1 part in 10^175
the required enzymes for life - 1 part in 10^40,000
a living self replicating cell - 1 part in 10^340,000,000
http://www.vimeo.com/11706014
http://www.youtube.com/user/Programmingoflife#p/c/AFDF33F11E2FB840/9/nyTUSe99z6o
Programming of Life - video playlist:
http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLAFDF33F11E2FB840
Dr. Morowitz did another probability calculation working from the thermodynamic perspective with a already existing cell and came up with this number:
DID LIFE START BY CHANCE?Also of interest is the information content that is derived in a cell when working from a thermodynamic perspective:
Excerpt: Molecular biophysicist, Horold Morowitz (Yale University), calculated the odds of life beginning under natural conditions (spontaneous generation). He calculated, if one were to take the simplest living cell and break every chemical bond within it, the odds that the cell would reassemble under ideal natural conditions (the best possible chemical environment) would be one chance in 10^100,000,000,000. You will have probably have trouble imagining a number so large, so Hugh Ross provides us with the following example. If all the matter in the Universe was converted into building blocks of life, and if assembly of these building blocks were attempted once a microsecond for the entire age of the universe. Then instead of the odds being 1 in 10^100,000,000,000, they would be 1 in 10^99,999,999,916 (also of note: 1 with 100 billion zeros following would fill approx. 20,000 encyclopedias)
http://members.tripod.com/~Black_J/chance.html
“a one-celled bacterium, e. coli, is estimated to contain the equivalent of 100 million pages of Encyclopedia Britannica. Expressed in information in science jargon, this would be the same as 10^12 bits of information. In comparison, the total writings from classical Greek Civilization is only 10^9 bits, and the largest libraries in the world – The British Museum, Oxford Bodleian Library, New York Public Library, Harvard Widenier Library, and the Moscow Lenin Library – have about 10 million volumes or 10^12 bits.” – R. C. Wysongof note: The 10^12 bits of information number for a bacterium is derived from entropic considerations, which is, due to the tightly integrated relationship between information and entropy, considered the most accurate measure of the transcendent quantum information/entanglement constraining a 'simple' life form to be so far out of thermodynamic equilibrium.
'The information content of a simple cell has been estimated as around 10^12 bits, comparable to about a hundred million pages of the Encyclopedia Britannica."
Carl Sagan, "Life" in Encyclopedia Britannica: Macropaedia (1974 ed.), pp. 893-894
"Is there a real connection between entropy in physics and the entropy of information? ....The equations of information theory and the second law are the same, suggesting that the idea of entropy is something fundamental..." Siegfried, Dallas Morning News, 5/14/90, [Quotes Robert W. Lucky, Ex. Director of Research, AT&T, Bell Laboratories & John A. Wheeler, of Princeton & Univ. of TX, Austin]For calculations, from the thermodynamic perspective, please see the following site:
Moleular Biophysics – Information theory. Relation between information and entropy: - Setlow-Pollard, Ed. Addison WesleyFurther comments:
Excerpt: Linschitz gave the figure 9.3 x 10^12 cal/deg or 9.3 x 10^12 x 4.2 joules/deg for the entropy of a bacterial cell. Using the relation H = S/(k In 2), we find that the information content is 4 x 10^12 bits. Morowitz' deduction from the work of Bayne-Jones and Rhees gives the lower value of 5.6 x 10^11 bits, which is still in the neighborhood of 10^12 bits. Thus two quite different approaches give rather concordant figures.
http://www.astroscu.unam.mx/~angel/tsb/molecular.htm
The Theist holds the Intellectual High-Ground - March 2011Here is a related article with several more excellent quotes, by leading origin of life researchers, commenting on the 'problem' that the origin of life presents to 'science' (actually it is only a problem for atheists who 'believe' that 'science' equates strictly to their reductive materialistic view of reality):
Excerpt: To get a range on the enormous challenges involved in bridging the gaping chasm between non-life and life, consider the following: “The difference between a mixture of simple chemicals and a bacterium, is much more profound than the gulf between a bacterium and an elephant.” (Dr. Robert Shapiro, Professor Emeritus of Chemistry, NYU)
http://www.faithfulnews.com/contents/view_content2/49631/rabbi-moshe-averick-the-theist-holds-the-intellectual-high-ground-apologetics-christian-apologetics-defending-gospel
Scientists Prove Again that Life is the Result of Intelligent Design - Rabbi Moshe Averick - August 2011
Excerpt: “To go from bacterium to people is less of a step than to go from a mixture of amino acids to a bacterium.” - Dr. Lynn Margulis
http://www.algemeiner.com/2011/08/17/scientists-prove-again-that-life-is-the-result-of-intelligent-design/
Faye Flam: Atheist Writer Who is Long on Graciousness, Long on Civility… Short on Reason, Short on Scientific Realities - Rabbi Averick
http://www.algemeiner.com/2012/01/12/faye-flam-atheist-writer-who-is-long-on-graciousness-long-on-civility-short-on-reason-short-on-scientific-realities-2/
The following videos give a small glimpse into how the probabilities are calculated for the origin of life:
The Origin of Life - Lecture On Probability - John Walton - Professor Of Chemistry - short video
http://www.metacafe.com/watch/4012749
Entire Video:
http://edinburghcreationgroup.org/originoflife.xml
Protein Molecules and "Simple" Cells - video
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uFNwStNhHIc
Further comment:
Ilya Prigogine was an eminent chemist and physicist who received two Nobel Prizes in chemistry. Regarding the probability of life originating by accident, he said:
“The statistical probability that organic structures and the most precisely harmonized reactions that typify living organisms would be generated by accident, is zero.”Anyone who has debated an evolutionist, over the probability of life spontaneous arising, knows that it can be quite frustrating because eventually the person will realize that many times the evolutionist will not be reasonable on the matter and that he is operating on nothing but blind faith that life can spontaneously arise by unintelligent processes. Here are a few more links relating to the (im)probability of life:
Ilya Prigogine, Gregoire Nicolis, and Agnes Babloyantz, Physics Today 25, pp. 23-28. (Sourced Quote)
http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Western_Thought_on_Creation
http://www.miraclesormagic.com/intelligent-design-vs-evolution.html
Probability's Nature and Nature's Probability: A Call to Scientific Integrity - Donald E. Johnson
Excerpt: "one should not be able to get away with stating “it is possible that life arose from non-life by ...” or “it’s possible that a different form of life exists elsewhere in the universe” without first demonstrating that it is indeed possible (non-zero probability) using known science. One could, of course, state “it may be speculated that ... ,” but such a statement wouldn’t have the believability that its author intends to convey by the pseudo-scientific pronouncement."
http://www.amazon.com/Probabilitys-Nature-Natures-Probability-Scientific/dp/1439228620
Intelligent Design: Required by Biological Life? K.D. Kalinsky - Pg. 11Even the low end 'hypothetical' probability estimate given by a evolutionist, for life spontaneously arising, is fantastically impossible:
Excerpt: It is estimated that the simplest life form would require at least 382 protein-coding genes. Using our estimate in Case Four of 700 bits of functional information required for the average protein, we obtain an estimate of about 267,000 bits for the simplest life form. Again, this is well above Inat and it is about 10^80,000 times more likely that ID (Intelligent Design) could produce the minimal genome than mindless natural processes.
http://www.newscholars.com/papers/ID%20Web%20Article.pdf
Could Chance Arrange the Code for (Just) One Gene?
"our minds cannot grasp such an extremely small probability as that involved in the accidental arranging of even one gene (10^-236)."
http://www.creationsafaris.com/epoi_c10.htm
General and Special Evidence for Intelligent Design in Biology:The cosmological model of eternal inflation and the transition from chance to biological evolution in the history of life - Eugene V Koonin
- The requirements for the emergence of a primitive, coupled replication-translation system, which is considered a candidate for the breakthrough stage in this paper, are much greater. At a minimum, spontaneous formation of: - two rRNAs with a total size of at least 1000 nucleotides - ~10 primitive adaptors of ~30 nucleotides each, in total, ~300 nucleotides - at least one RNA encoding a replicase, ~500 nucleotides (low bound) is required. In the above notation, n = 1800, resulting in E < 10^-1018. That is, the chance of life occurring by natural processes is 1 in 10 followed by 1018 zeros. (Koonin's intent was to show that short of postulating a multiverse of an infinite number of universes (Many Worlds), the chance of life occurring on earth is vanishingly small.)
http://www.conservapedia.com/General_and_Special_Evidence_for_Intelligent_Design_in_Biology
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1892545/
Origin of life both one of the hardest and most important problems in science - November 2011It should be stressed that Dr. Koonin tries to account for the origination of the massive amount of functional information, required for the Origin of Life, by trying to access an 'unelucidated and undirected' mechanism of Quantum Mechanics called 'Many Worlds in one'(He is trying to invoke a ‘materialistic miracle’). Besides Dr. Koonin ignoring the fact that Quantum Events, on a whole, are strictly restricted to the transcendent universal laws/constants of the universe, including and especially the second law of thermodynamics, for as far back in time in the universe as we can 'observe', it is also fair to note, in criticism to Dr. Koonin’s scenario, that appealing to the undirected infinite probabilistic resource, of the quantum mechanics of the Many Worlds scenario, actually greatly increases the amount of totally chaotic information one would expect to see generated 'randomly' on the earth. In fact the Many Worlds scenario actually greatly increases the likelihood we would witness total chaos, instead of order, surrounding us as the following video points out:
Excerpt: 'Despite many interesting results to its credit, when judged by the straightforward criterion of reaching (or even approaching) the ultimate goal, the origin of life field is a failure – we still do not have even a plausible coherent model, let alone a validated scenario, for the emergence of life on Earth. Certainly, this is due not to a lack of experimental and theoretical effort, but to the extraordinary intrinsic difficulty and complexity of the problem. A succession of exceedingly unlikely steps is essential for the origin of life, from the synthesis and accumulation of nucleotides to the origin of translation; through the multiplication of probabilities, these make the final outcome seem almost like a miracle.' - Eugene V. Koonin, molecular biologist
http://www.uncommondescent.com/intelligent-design/he-said-it-origin-of-life-both-one-of-the-hardest-and-most-important-problems-in-science-and-the-solution-is/
Finely Tuned Big Bang, Elvis In Many Worlds, and the Schroedinger Equation – Granville Sewell – audio
http://www.metacafe.com/watch/4233012
Though Koonin appeals to a 'modern version' of Many Worlds, called 'Many Worlds in One' (Alex Vilenkin), 'Many Worlds' was originally devised because of the inability of materialistic scientists to find adequate causation for quantum wave collapse in the first place (i.e. that is, adequate causation that did not involve God!):
Quantum mechanicsPerhaps some may say Everett’s Many Worlds in not absurd, if so, then in some other parallel universe, where Elvis happens to now be president of the United States, they actually do think that the Many Worlds conjecture is absurd! That type of 'flexible thinking' within science I find to be completely absurd! And that one 'Elvis' example from Many Worlds is just small potatoes to the levels of absurdity that we would actually witness in reality if Many Worlds were actually true.
Excerpt: The Everett many-worlds interpretation, formulated in 1956, holds that all the possibilities described by quantum theory simultaneously occur in a multiverse composed of mostly independent parallel universes.[39] This is not accomplished by introducing some new axiom to quantum mechanics, but on the contrary by removing the axiom of the collapse of the wave packet:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quantum_mechanics
Though Eugene Koonin is correct to recognize that the infinite probabilistic resource postulated in ‘Many Worlds’ does not absolutely preclude the sudden appearance of massive amounts of functional information on the earth, he is very incorrect to disregard the ‘Logos’ of John 1:1 needed to correctly specify the ‘precisely controlled mechanism of implementation’ for the massive amounts of complex functional and specified information witnessed abruptly and mysteriously appearing in the first life on earth, nor for the mysterious appearing of the subsequent 'sudden' appearances of life on earth. i.e. Koonin must sufficiently account for the 'cause' for the 'effect' he wants to explain. And as I have noted previously, Stephen Meyer clearly points out that the only known cause now in operation, sufficient to explain the generation of the massive amounts of functional information we find in life, is intelligence:
Stephen C. Meyer – What is the origin of the digital information found in DNA? – August 2010 - video
http://www.evolutionnews.org/2010/08/stephen_meyer_on_intelligent_d037271.html
Evolutionist Koonin's estimate of 1 in 10 followed by 1018 zeros, for the probability of the simplest self-replicating molecule 'randomly occurring', is a fantastically large number. The number, 10^1018, if written out in its entirety, would be a 1 with one-thousand-eighteen zeros following to the right! The universe itself is estimated to have only 1 with 80 zeros following to the right particles in it. This is clearly well beyond the 10^150 universal probability bound set by William Dembski and is thus clearly a irreducibly complex condition. Basically Koonin, in appealing to a never before observed 'materialistic miracle' from the 'Many Worlds' hypothesis, clearly illustrates that the materialistic argument essentially appears to be like this:
Premise One: No materialistic cause of specified complex information is known.On the other hand, Stephen Meyer describes the intelligent design argument as follows:
Conclusion: Therefore, it must arise from some unknown materialistic cause
“Premise One: Despite a thorough search, no material causes have been discovered that demonstrate the power to produce large amounts of specified information.Stephen Meyer - The Scientific Basis for the Intelligent Design Inference - video
“Premise Two: Intelligent causes have demonstrated the power to produce large amounts of specified information.
“Conclusion: Intelligent design constitutes the best, most causally adequate, explanation for the information in the cell.”
There remains one and only one type of cause that has shown itself able to create functional information like we find in cells, books and software programs -- intelligent design. We know this from our uniform experience and from the design filter -- a mathematically rigorous method of detecting design. Both yield the same answer. (William Dembski and Jonathan Witt, Intelligent Design Uncensored: An Easy-to-Understand Guide to the Controversy, p. 90 (InterVarsity Press, 2010).)
http://vimeo.com/32148403
Though purely material processes have NEVER shown the ability to produce ANY functional information whatsoever (Abel - Null Hypothesis), Darwinists are adamant that material processes produced more information, of a much higher level of integrated complexity than man can produce, than is contained in a very large library:
“a one-celled bacterium, e. coli, is estimated to contain the equivalent of 100 million pages of Encyclopedia Britannica. Expressed in information in science jargon, this would be the same as 10^12 bits of information. In comparison, the total writings from classical Greek Civilization is only 10^9 bits, and the largest libraries in the world – The British Museum, Oxford Bodleian Library, New York Public Library, Harvard Widenier Library, and the Moscow Lenin Library – have about 10 million volumes or 10^12 bits.” – R. C. WysongWhen faced with the staggering impossibilities of random material processes ever generating any functional information, Evolutionists will sometimes make the claim that infinite monkeys banging away on infinite typewriters could produce the entire works of Shakespeare. Well someone humorously put that 'hypothesis' to the test:
http://www.uncommondescent.com/darwinism/media-mum-about-deranged-darwinist-gunman/#comment-363647
“Again, this is characteristic of all animal and plant cells. Each nucleus … contains a digitally coded database larger, in information content, than all 30 volumes of the Encyclopaedia Britannica put together. And this figure is for each cell, not all the cells of a body put together. … When you eat a steak, you are shredding the equivalent of more than 100 billion copies of the Encyclopaedia Britannica.”
(Dawkins R., “The Blind Watchmaker [1986], Penguin: London, 1991, reprint, pp.17-18. Emphasis in original)
http://www.uncommondescent.com/darwinism/media-mum-about-deranged-darwinist-gunman/#comment-363645
Monkey Theory Proven Wrong:The following is a very interesting 'origin of first self-replicating molecule' interview with one of the top chemists in America today:
Excerpt: A group of faculty and students in the university’s media program left a computer in the monkey enclosure at Paignton Zoo in southwest England, home to six Sulawesi crested macaques. Then, they waited. At first, said researcher Mike Phillips, “the lead male got a stone and started bashing the hell out of it. “Another thing they were interested in was in defecating and urinating all over the keyboard,” added Phillips, who runs the university’s Institute of Digital Arts and Technologies. Eventually, monkeys Elmo, Gum, Heather, Holly, Mistletoe and Rowan produced five pages of text, composed primarily of the letter S. Later, the letters A, J, L and M crept in — not quite literature.
http://www.arn.org/docs2/news/monkeysandtypewriters051103.htm
On The Origin Of Life And God - Henry F. Schaefer, III PhD. - video
http://www.metacafe.com/watch/4018204
Further comments:
Intelligent Design or Evolution? Stuart Pullen
The chemical origin of life is the most vexing problem for naturalistic theories of life's origins. Despite an intense 50 years of research, how life can arise from non-life through naturalistic processes is as much a mystery today as it was fifty years ago, if not more.
http://www.arn.org/arnproducts/php/book_show_item.php?id=106
Szostak on Abiogenesis: Just Add Water - Cornelius Hunter - Aug. 2009Along these lines of 'silliest of stories' passing for rigorous science in origin of life research:
Excerpt: "While Szostak and Ricardo may sound scientific with their summary of the abiogenesis research, the article is firmly planted in the non scientific evolution genre where evolution is dogmatically mandated to be a fact. Consequently, the bar is lowered dramatically as the silliest of stories pass as legitimate science." http://darwins-god.blogspot.com/2009/08/szostak-on-abiogenesis-just-add-water.html
Grandma Gets Sexy Idea for Origin of Life - August 2010By the way, there is a one million dollar 'Origin-of-Life' prize being offered:
Excerpt: In the video clip, she suggested that it might be possible some day to get good evidence for her ideas on the origin of life, implying that evidence has not yet been a primary concern.
http://www.creationsafaris.com/crev201008.htm#20100807a
SETI Ignorance Gets Stronger - December 2010
Excerpt: Steve Benner, an origin of life researcher, “used the analogy of a steel chain with a tinfoil link to illustrate that the arsenate ion said to replace phosphate in the bacterium’s DNA forms bonds that are orders of magnitude less stable.”
http://www.creationsafaris.com/crev201012.htm#20101209a
Pumice and the Origin of Life - October 17, 2011
Excerpt: However, the reactions required are not simple reactions, and the steps involved, even using a substrate such as pumice, are still too numerous and specific to have happened by chance. It appears highly unlikely that pumice is capable of solving the problem of the origin of life.
http://www.evolutionnews.org/2011/10/pumice_and_the_origin_of_life051861.html
"In my opinion, there is no basis in known chemistry for the belief that long sequences of reactions can organize spontaneously -- and every reason to believe that they cannot. The problem of achieving sufficient specificity, whether in consisting of or occurring within a water-based system, aqueous solution, or on the surface of a mineral, is so severe that the chance of closing a cycle of reactions as complex as the reverse citric acid cycle, for example, is negligible." Leslie Orgel, 1998
"The Origin-of-Life Prize" ® (hereafter called "the Prize") will be awarded for proposing a highly plausible mechanism for the spontaneous rise of genetic instructions in nature sufficient to give rise to life.To reiterate, the problem for the origin of life clearly turns out to be explaining where the information came from in the first place:
http://www.us.net/life/index.htm
“The problem of the origin of life is clearly basically equivalent to the problem of the origin of biological information.”The simplest, non-parasitic, bacteria ever found on earth is constructed with over a million individual protein molecules divided into hundreds of different protein types. Protein molecules are made from one dimensional sequences of the 20 different L-amino acids that can be used as building blocks for proteins. (there are hundreds of amino acids found in nature, but only 20 are commonly used in life). These one dimensional sequences of amino acids fold into highly complex three-dimensional structures. The proteins vary in length of sequences of amino acids. The average sequence of a typical protein is about 300 to 400 amino acids long. Yet many crucial proteins are thousands of amino acids long. Titin, which helps in the contraction of striated muscle tissues, consists of 34,350 amino acids, and is the largest known protein. Some proteins are now shown to be absolutely irreplaceable in their specific biological/chemical reactions for the first cell:
Origin of life theorist Bernd-Olaf Kuppers in his book "Information and the Origin of Life".
Book Review - Meyer, Stephen C. Signature in the Cell. New York: HarperCollins, 2009.
Excerpt: As early as the 1960s, those who approached the problem of the origin of life from the standpoint of information theory and combinatorics observed that something was terribly amiss. Even if you grant the most generous assumptions: that every elementary particle in the observable universe is a chemical laboratory randomly splicing amino acids into proteins every Planck time for the entire history of the universe, there is a vanishingly small probability that even a single functionally folded protein of 150 amino acids would have been created. Now of course, elementary particles aren't chemical laboratories, nor does peptide synthesis take place where most of the baryonic mass of the universe resides: in stars or interstellar and intergalactic clouds. If you look at the chemistry, it gets even worse—almost indescribably so: the precursor molecules of many of these macromolecular structures cannot form under the same prebiotic conditions—they must be catalysed by enzymes created only by preexisting living cells, and the reactions required to assemble them into the molecules of biology will only go when mediated by other enzymes, assembled in the cell by precisely specified information in the genome.
So, it comes down to this: Where did that information come from? The simplest known free living organism (although you may quibble about this, given that it's a parasite) has a genome of 582,970 base pairs, or about one megabit (assuming two bits of information for each nucleotide, of which there are four possibilities). Now, if you go back to the universe of elementary particle Planck time chemical labs and work the numbers, you find that in the finite time our universe has existed, you could have produced about 500 bits of structured, functional information by random search. Yet here we have a minimal information string which is (if you understand combinatorics) so indescribably improbable to have originated by chance that adjectives fail.
http://www.fourmilab.ch/documents/reading_list/indices/book_726.html
Of Molecules and (Straw) Men: Stephen Meyer Responds to Dennis Venema's Review of Signature in the Cell - Stephen C. Meyer October 9, 2011
Excerpt of Conclusion: The origin-of-life scenarios that Venema cites as alternatives to intelligent design lack biochemical plausibility and do not account for the ultimate origin of biological information.
http://www.evolutionnews.org/2011/10/of_molecules_and_straw_men_a_r051601.html
"Monkeys Typing Shakespeare" Simulation Illustrates Combinatorial Inflation Problem - October 2011
Excerpt: In other words, Darwinian evolution isn't going to be able to produce fundamentally new protein folds. In fact, it probably wouldn't even be able to produce a single 9-character string of nucleotides in DNA, if that string would not be retained by selection until all 9 nucleotides were in place.
http://www.evolutionnews.org/2011/10/monkeys_typing_shakespeare_sim051561.html
Natural selection cannot explain the origin of life
Excerpt: “DNA is not a special life-giving molecule, but a genetic databank that transmits its information using a mathematical code. Most of the workings of the cell are best described, not in terms of material stuff — hardware — but as information, or software. Trying to make life by mixing chemicals in a test tube is like soldering switches and wires in an attempt to produce Windows 98. It won’t work because it addresses the problem at the wrong conceptual level.”
Paul Davies
http://creation.com/ns-origin-of-life
“The existence of a genome and the genetic code divides the living organisms from nonliving matter. There is nothing in the physico-chemical world that remotely resembles reactions being determined by a sequence and codes between sequences.”,,,"The belief of mechanist-reductionists that the chemical processes in living matter do not differ in principle from those in dead matter is incorrect. There is no trace of messages determining the results of chemical reactions in inanimate matter. If genetical processes were just complicated biochemistry, the laws of mass action and thermodynamics would govern the placement of amino acids in the protein sequences.”
Hubert P. Yockey: Information Theory, Evolution, and the Origin of Life, page 2 and 5
H.P. Yockey also notes in the Journal of Theoretical Biology:
It is important to understand that we are not reasoning by analogy. The sequence hypothesis applies directly to the protein and the genetic text as well as to written language and therefore the treatment is mathematically identical:
"Self Organization Origin of Life Scenarios and Information Theory," J. Theoret. Biol.
"Information is information, not matter or energy. No materialism which does not admit this can survive at the present day."
Norbert Weiner - MIT Mathematician - Father of Cybernetics
Programming of Life - October 2010
Excerpt: "Evolutionary biologists have failed to realize that they work with two more or less incommensurable domains: that of information and that of matter... These two domains will never be brought together in any kind of the sense usually implied by the term ‘reductionism.'... Information doesn't have mass or charge or length in millimeters. Likewise, matter doesn't have bytes... This dearth of shared descriptors makes matter and information two separate domains of existence, which have to be discussed separately, in their own terms."
George Williams - Evolutionary Biologist
http://scienceintegrity.net/ProgrammingofLife.aspx
Without enzyme, biological reaction essential to life takes 2.3 billion years: UNC study:When they try to heat solutions to get around these prohibitive reaction times they run into the competing problem of product stability:
In 1995, Wolfenden reported that without a particular enzyme, a biological transformation he deemed “absolutely essential” in creating the building blocks of DNA and RNA would take 78 million years.“Now we’ve found a reaction that – again, in the absence of an enzyme – is almost 30 times slower than that,” Wolfenden said. “Its half-life – the time it takes for half the substance to be consumed – is 2.3 billion years, about half the age of the Earth. Enzymes can make that reaction happen in milliseconds.”
http://www.med.unc.edu/www/news/2008-news-archives/november/without-enzyme-biological-reaction-essential-to-life-takes-2-3-billion-years-unc-study/?searchterm=Wolfenden
"Phosphatase speeds up reactions vital for cell signalling by 10^21 times. Allows essential reactions to take place in a hundreth of a second; without it, it would take a trillion years!" Jonathan Sarfati
http://www.pnas.org/content/100/10/5607.abstract
Programming of Life - Proteins & Enzymes - video
http://www.youtube.com/user/Programmingoflife#p/c/AFDF33F11E2FB840/3/BOxR23EdG3s
Book Review: Creating Life in the Lab: How New discoveries in Synthetic Biology Make a Case for the Creator - Rich Deem - January 2011
Excerpt: Despite all this "intelligent design," the artificial enzymes were 10,000 to 1,000,000,000 times less efficient than their biological counterparts. Dr. Rana asks the question, "is it reasonable to think that undirected evolutionary processes routinely accomplished this task?"
http://www.godandscience.org/evolution/creating_life_in_the_lab.html
Research group develops more efficient artificial enzyme - November 2011
Excerpt: Though the artificial enzyme is still many orders of magnitude less efficient than nature’s way of doing things, it is far more efficient than any other artificial process to date, a milestone that gives researchers hope that they will one day equal nature’s abilities.
http://www.physorg.com/news/2011-11-group-efficient-artificial-enzyme.html
Is the Origin of Life in Hot Water? - December 2010To reiterate what was quoted before, amino acids don't even have a tendency to chemically bond with each other, despite over fifty years of experimentation trying to get the amino acids to bond naturally. The odds of just one protein of 150 amino acids, overcoming the barriers presented by chemical bonding and forming a functional protein spontaneously, have been calculated at less than 1 in 10^164 (Meyer, Signature In The Cell). On top of the fact that nature cannot 'naturally' produce proteins, the limit to man's ability to 'intelligently' form a single synthetic amino acid chain (a protein), using all his intelligence and lab equipment, is currently severely constrained to about 70-100 amino acids:
Excerpt: Heating a reaction does nothing for product stability. Cooling a reaction makes the reaction rate problems worse.
http://www.evolutionnews.org/2010/12/is_the_origin_of_life_in_hot_w041311.html
Peptide synthesisOn top of that, Doug Axe has shown that only 1 in 10^77 of any proteins 'randomly' formed would perform any beneficial biological function. The rest of the sequences would be totally useless for any meaningful function in the cell. Even a child knows you cannot put any piece of a puzzle anywhere in a puzzle. You must have the required piece in the required place.
"typically peptides and proteins in the range of 70~100 amino acids are pushing the limits of synthetic accessibility. Synthetic difficulty also is sequence dependent; typically amyloid peptides and proteins are difficult to make."(To make larger proteins requires “non-natural” peptide bonds - (Chemical Synthesis Of Proteins - 2005))
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peptide_synthesis
Estimating the prevalence of protein sequences adopting functional enzyme folds: Doug Axe:Evolution vs. Functional Proteins - Doug Axe - Video
Excerpt: The prevalence of low-level function in four such experiments indicates that roughly one in 10^64 signature-consistent sequences forms a working domain. Combined with the estimated prevalence of plausible hydropathic patterns (for any fold) and of relevant folds for particular functions, this implies the overall prevalence of sequences performing a specific function by any domain-sized fold may be as low as 1 in 10^77, adding to the body of evidence that functional folds require highly extraordinary sequences.
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/15321723
Correcting Four Misconceptions about my 2004 Article in JMB — May 4th, 2011 by Douglas Axe
http://biologicinstitute.org/2011/05/04/correcting-four-misconceptions-about-my-2004-article-in-jmb/
ID Scientist Douglas Axe Responds to His Critics - June 2011 - Audio Podcast
http://intelligentdesign.podomatic.com/entry/2011-06-01T15_59_43-07_00
Doug Axe Knows His Work Better Than Steve Matheson
Excerpt: Regardless of how the trials are performed, the answer ends up being at least half of the total number of password possibilities, which is the staggering figure of 10^77 (written out as 100, 000, 000, 000, 000, 000, 000, 000, 000, 000, 000, 000, 000, 000, 000, 000, 000, 000, 000, 000, 000, 000, 000, 000, 000, 000). Armed with this calculation, you should be very confident in your skepticism, because a 1 in 10^77 chance of success is, for all practical purposes, no chance of success. My experimentally based estimate of the rarity of functional proteins produced that same figure, making these likewise apparently beyond the reach of chance.
http://www.evolutionnews.org/2010/06/doug_axe_knows_his_work_better035561.html
http://www.metacafe.com/watch/4018222
Dennis Venema, a theistic evolutionist, had tried to challenge Doug Axe's work on the extreme rarity of functional proteins, and here is what one of the very papers said, that Venema tried to use to supposedly refute Axe:
Responding to Venema - Casey Luskin - October 2011And how do Darwinists deal with the astronomical improbabilities that are stacked against them for explaining the novel origination of even just one required protein by 'natural' means? At least as far as the public is concerned??? Well by deception of course!
Excerpt: However, these experiments do not really model the evolution that occurs through gradual, step-by-step changes, with all intermediates being fully foldable proteins (Blanco et al., 1999). To create such an evolutionarily relevant path from all-a to all-b domains would be the next challenge for protein designers.
http://www.evolutionnews.org/2011/10/responding_to_venemas_response052061.html
Axe Diagram for finding a functional protein domain out of all sequence space:
The y-axis can be seen as representing enzyme activity, and the x-axis represents all possible amino acid sequences. Enzymes sit at the peak of their fitness landscapes (Point A). There are extremely high levels of complex and specified information in proteins--informational sequences which point to intelligent design.
http://www.evolutionnews.org/axediagram.jpg
Back to School Part VIIIKirk Durston has done work on defining how much functional information resides in proteins:
Excerpt: Amazingly evolutionists think hemoglobin’s special amino acid sequence encoding for this machine is no different than any random list, such (as) a list of birthdays. To be sensible Johnson’s and Losos’ analogy would need the list of birthdays to provide something fantastic, such as the answers to the biology class final exam.
http://darwins-god.blogspot.com/2010/12/back-to-school-part-viii.html
Proteins Did Not Evolve Even According to the Evolutionist’s Own Calculations but so What, Evolution is a Fact - Cornelius Hunter - July 2011
Excerpt: For instance, in one case evolutionists concluded that the number of evolutionary experiments required to evolve their protein (actually it was to evolve only part of a protein and only part of its function) is 10^70 (a one with 70 zeros following it). Yet elsewhere evolutionists computed that the maximum number of evolutionary experiments possible is only 10^43. Even here, giving the evolutionists every advantage, evolution falls short by 27 orders of magnitude.
http://darwins-god.blogspot.com/2011/07/response-to-comments-proteins-did-not.html
Does God Exist? - Argument From Molecular Biology - Proteins - Kirk Durston - short video
http://www.metacafe.com/watch/4171853
Intelligent Design - Kirk Durston - Lecture video
http://vimeo.com/1775160
Measuring the functional sequence complexity of proteins - 2007: Kirk K Durston, David KY Chiu, David L Abel, Jack T TrevorsAxe's work substantiates, and extends, previous work that was done at Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT):
In this paper, we provide a method to measure functional sequence complexity (in proteins).
Conclusion: This method successfully distinguishes between order, randomness, and biological function (for proteins).
http://www.tbiomed.com/content/4/1/47/
Intelligent Design: Required by Biological Life? K.D. Kalinsky - Pg. 10 - 11
Case Three: an average 300 amino acid protein:
Excerpt: It is reasonable, therefore, to estimate the functional information required for the average 300 amino acid protein to be around 700 bits of information. I(Ex) > Inat and ID (Intelligent Design) is 10^155 times more probable than mindless natural processes to produce the average protein.
http://www.newscholars.com/papers/ID%20Web%20Article.pdf
"a very rough but conservative result is that if all the sequences that define a particular (protein) structure or fold-set where gathered into an area 1 square meter in area, the next island would be tens of millions of light years away."
Kirk Durston
Experimental Support for Regarding Functional Classes of Proteins to be Highly Isolated from Each Other: - Michael BeheEven the low end estimate, for functional proteins given by evolutionists (1 in 10^12), is very rare:
"From actual experimental results it can easily be calculated that the odds of finding a folded protein are about 1 in 10 to the 65 power (Sauer, MIT).,,, The odds of finding a marked grain of sand in the Sahara Desert three times in a row are about the same as finding one new functional protein structure. Rather than accept the result as a lucky coincidence, most people would be certain that the game had been fixed.”
Michael J. Behe, The Weekly Standard, June 7, 1999
http://www.arn.org/docs/behe/mb_smu1992.htm
Fancy footwork in the sequence space shuffle - 2006It is interesting to note that the 1 in 10^12 (trillion) estimate for functional proteins (Szostak), though still very rare and of insurmountable difficulty for a materialist to use in any evolutionary scenario, was arrived at by an in-vitro (out of living organism) binding of ANY random proteins to the 'universal' ATP energy molecule.
"Estimates for the density of functional proteins in sequence space range anywhere from 1 in 10^12 to 1 in 10^77. No matter how you slice it, proteins are rare. Useful ones are even more rare."
http://www.nature.com/nbt/journal/v24/n3/full/nbt0306-328.html
How Proteins Evolved - Cornelius Hunter - December 2010The entire episode of Szostak’s failed attempt to establish the legitimacy of the 1 in 10^12 functional protein number from a randomly generated library of proteins can be read here::
Excerpt: Comparing ATP binding with the incredible feats of hemoglobin, for example, is like comparing a tricycle with a jet airplane. And even the one in 10^12 shot, though it pales in comparison to the odds of constructing a more useful protein machine, is no small barrier. If that is what is required to even achieve simple ATP binding, then evolution would need to be incessantly running unsuccessful trials. The machinery to construct, use and benefit from a
potential protein product would have to be in place, while failure after failure results. Evolution would make Thomas Edison appear lazy, running millions of trials after millions of trials before finding even the tiniest of function.
http://darwins-god.blogspot.com/2010/12/how-proteins-evolved.html
http://www.uncommondescent.com/intelligent-design/proteins-fold-as-darwin-crumbles/comment-page-2/#comment-358394
This following paper was the paper that put the final nail in the coffin for Szostak's work:
A Man-Made ATP-Binding Protein Evolved Independent of Nature Causes Abnormal Growth in Bacterial CellsHere is a very interesting comment by Jack Szostak himself:
Excerpt: "Recent advances in de novo protein evolution have made it possible to create synthetic proteins from unbiased libraries that fold into stable tertiary structures with predefined functions. However, it is not known whether such proteins will be functional when expressed inside living cells or how a host organism would respond to an encounter with a non-biological protein. Here, we examine the physiology and morphology of Escherichia coli cells engineered to express a synthetic ATP-binding protein evolved entirely from non-biological origins. We show that this man-made protein disrupts the normal energetic balance of the cell by altering the levels of intracellular ATP. This disruption cascades into a series of events that ultimately limit reproductive competency by inhibiting cell division."
http://www.plosone.org/article/info:doi%2F10.1371%2Fjournal.pone.0007385
The Origin of Life on EarthFurther defence of Dr. Axe's work on the rarity of proteins:
Excerpt: Every living cell, even the simplest bacterium, teems with molecular contraptions that would be the envy of any nanotechnologist. As they incessantly shake or spin or crawl around the cell, these machines cut, paste and copy genetic molecules, shuttle nutrients around or turn them into energy, build and repair cellular membranes, relay mechanical, chemical or electrical messages—the list goes on and on, and new discoveries add to it all the time.
It is virtually impossible to imagine how a cell’s machines, which are mostly protein-based catalysts called enzymes, could have formed spontaneously as life first arose from nonliving matter around 3.7 billion years ago.
Dr. Jack Szostak - Nobel Laureate and leading Origin of Life researcher who, despite the evidence he sees first hand, still believes 'life' simply 'emerged' from molecules
http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=origin-of-life-on-earth
Axe (2004) And The Evolution Of Protein Folds - March 2011
http://www.uncommondescent.com/intelligent-design/axe-2004-and-the-evolution-of-protein-folds/
On top of the fact that Origin of Life researcher Jack Szostak, and others, failed to generate any biologically relevant proteins, from a library of trillions of randomly generated proteins, proteins have now been shown to have a ‘Cruise Control’ mechanism, which works to ‘self-correct’ the integrity of the protein structure from any random mutations imposed on them.
Proteins with cruise control provide new perspective:Cruise Control permeating the whole of the protein structure??? This is an absolutely fascinating discovery. The equations of calculus involved in achieving even a simple process control loop, such as a dynamic cruise control loop, are very complex. In fact it seems readily apparent to me that highly advanced mathematical information must reside 'transcendentally' along the entirety of the protein structure, in order to achieve such control of the overall protein structure. This fact gives us clear evidence that there is far more functional information residing in proteins than meets the eye. Moreover this ‘oneness’ of cruise control, within the protein structure, can only be achieved through quantum computation/entanglement principles, and is inexplicable to the reductive materialistic approach of neo-Darwinism! For a sample of the equations that must be dealt with, to 'engineer' even a simple process control loop like cruise control for a single protein, please see this following site:
"A mathematical analysis of the experiments showed that the proteins themselves acted to correct any imbalance imposed on them through artificial mutations and restored the chain to working order."
http://www.princeton.edu/main/news/archive/S22/60/95O56/
PID controllerIt is in realizing the staggering level of engineering that must be dealt with to achieve ‘cruise control’ for each individual protein, along the entirety of the protein structure, that it becomes apparent even Axe’s 1 in 10^77 estimate for rarity of finding specific functional proteins within sequence space is far, far too generous. In fact probabilities over various ‘specific’ configurations of material particles simply do not even apply, at all, since the 'cause' of the non-local quantum information does not reside within the material particles in the first place (i.e. falsification of local realism; Alain Aspect). Here is corroborating evidence that 'protein specific' quantum information/entanglement resides in functional proteins:
A proportional–integral–derivative controller (PID controller) is a generic control loop feedback mechanism (controller) widely used in industrial control systems. A PID controller attempts to correct the error between a measured process variable and a desired setpoint by calculating and then outputting a corrective action that can adjust the process accordingly and rapidly, to keep the error minimal.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PID_controller
Quantum states in proteins and protein assemblies:In fact since quantum entanglement falsified reductive materialism/local realism (Alain Aspect) then finding quantum entanglement/information to be ‘protein specific’ is absolutely shattering to any hope that materialists had in whatever slim probabilities there were, since a ‘transcendent’ cause must be supplied which is specific to each unique protein structure. Materialism is simply at a complete loss to supply such a 'non-local' transcendent cause, whereas Theism has always postulated a transcendent cause for life!
The essence of life? – STUART HAMEROFF, JACK TUSZYNSKI
Excerpt: It is, in fact, the hydrophobic effect and attractions among non-polar hydrophobic groups by van der Waals forces which drive protein folding. Although the confluence of hydrophobic side groups are small, roughly 1/30 to 1/250 of protein volumes, they exert enormous influence in the regulation of protein dynamics and function. Several hydrophobic pockets may work cooperatively in a single protein (Figure 2, Left). Hydrophobic pockets may be considered the “brain” or nervous system of each protein.,,, Proteins, lipids and nucleic acids are composed of constituent molecules which have both non-polar and polar regions on opposite ends. In an aqueous medium the non-polar regions of any of these components will join together to form hydrophobic regions where quantum forces reign.
http://www.tony5m17h.net/SHJTQprotein.pdf
Though the authors of the 'cruise control' paper tried to put a evolution friendly spin on the 'cruise control' evidence, for finding a highly advanced 'Process Control Loop' at such a base molecular level, before natural selection even has a chance to select for any morphological novelty of a protein, this limit to variability is very much to be expected as a Intelligent Design/Genetic Entropy feature, and is in fact a very constraining thing to the amount of variation we should reasonably expect from any 'kind' of species in the first place.
Here are some more articles highlighting the extreme rarity of functional proteins:
Minimal Complexity Relegates Life Origin Models To Fanciful Speculation - Nov. 2009The Case Against a Darwinian Origin of Protein Folds - Douglas Axe, Jay Richards - audio
Excerpt: Based on the structural requirements of enzyme activity Axe emphatically argued against a global-ascent model of the function landscape in which incremental improvements of an arbitrary starting sequence "lead to a globally optimal final sequence with reasonably high probability". For a protein made from scratch in a prebiotic soup, the odds of finding such globally optimal solutions are infinitesimally small- somewhere between 1 in 10exp140 and 1 in 10exp164 for a 150 amino acid long sequence if we factor in the probabilities of forming peptide bonds and of incorporating only left handed amino acids.
http://www.arn.org/blogs/index.php/2/2009/11/10/minimal_complexity_relegates_life_origin
The Case Against a Darwinian Origin of Protein Folds - Douglas Axe - 2010
Excerpt Pg. 11: "Based on analysis of the genomes of 447 bacterial species, the projected number of different domain structures per species averages 991. Comparing this to the number of pathways by which metabolic processes are carried out, which is around 263 for E. coli, provides a rough figure of three or four new domain folds being needed, on average, for every new metabolic pathway. In order to accomplish this successfully, an evolutionary search would need to be capable of locating sequences that amount to anything from one in 10^159 to one in 10^308 possibilities, something the neo-Darwinian model falls short of by a very wide margin."
http://bio-complexity.org/ojs/index.php/main/article/view/BIO-C.2010.1
http://intelligentdesign.podomatic.com/player/web/2010-05-03T11_09_03-07_00
The following site offers a short summary of the 'Darwinian shortcuts' that failed to overcome Axe's finding for the rarity of protein folds:
Shortcuts to new protein folds - October 2010Here are articles that clearly illustrate that the protein evidence, no matter how crushing to Darwinism, is always crammed into the Darwinian framework by Evolutionists:
Excerpt: Axe concludes that all of these putative shortcuts are dead ends. The Darwinian search mechanism is not capable of finding new protein folds by random sampling and all the shortcuts to new folds are dead ends.
http://idintheuk.blogspot.com/2010/10/shortcuts-to-new-protein-folds.html
The Hierarchy of Evolutionary Apologetics: Protein Evolution Case Study - Cornelius Hunter - January 2011
http://darwins-god.blogspot.com/2011/01/hierarchy-of-evolutionary-apologetics.html
Here is a critique of the failed attempt to evolve a 'fit' protein to replace a protein in a virus which had a gene knocked out:
New Genes: Putting the Theory Before the Evidence - January 2011
Excerpt: What they discovered was that the evolutionary process could produce only tiny improvements to the virus’ ability to infect a host. Their evolved sequences showed no similarity to the native sequence which is supposed to have evolved. And the best virus they could produce, even with the vast majority of the virus already intact, was several orders of magnitude weaker than nature’s virus.
http://darwins-god.blogspot.com/2011/01/new-genes-putting-theory-before.html
Proteins Did Not Evolve Even According to the Evolutionist’s Own Calculations but so What, Evolution is a Fact - Cornelius Hunter - July 2011
Excerpt: For instance, in one case evolutionists concluded that the number of evolutionary experiments required to evolve their protein (actually it was to evolve only part of a protein and only part of its function) is 10^70 (a one with 70 zeros following it). Yet elsewhere evolutionists computed that the maximum number of evolutionary experiments possible is only 10^43. Even here, giving the evolutionists every advantage, evolution falls short by 27 orders of magnitude.
The theory, even by the evolutionist’s own reckoning, is unworkable. Evolution fails by a degree that is incomparable in science. Scientific theories often go wrong, but not by 27 orders of magnitude. And that is conservative.
http://darwins-god.blogspot.com/2011/07/response-to-comments-proteins-did-not.html
Here is a fairly good defense of the rarity of protein folds, from a blogger called gpuccio, from the best Darwinian objections that could be mustered against it:
http://www.uncommondescent.com/darwinism/media-mum-about-deranged-darwinist-gunman/comment-page-5/#comment-363452
Signature In The Cell - ReviewOur most advanced supercomputers pale in comparison to this assumption, of a universe full of chemical laboratories, that has been generously granted to evolutionists for 'randomly' finding a functional protein in sequence space:
Excerpt: Even if you grant the most generous assumptions: that every elementary particle in the observable universe is a chemical laboratory randomly splicing amino acids into proteins every Planck time for the entire history of the universe, there is a vanishingly small probability that even a single functionally folded protein of 150 amino acids would have been created.
http://www.fourmilab.ch/documents/reading_list/indices/book_726.html
"SimCell," anyone?Instead of us just looking at the probability of finding a single 'simple' functional protein molecule by chance, (a solar system full of blind men solving the Rubik’s Cube simultaneously (Hoyle), let’s also look at the complexity which goes into crafting the shape of just one protein molecule. Complexity will give us a better indication if a protein molecule is indeed the handi-work of an infinitely powerful Creator.
"Unfortunately, Schulten's team won't be able to observe virtual protein synthesis in action. Even the fastest supercomputers can only depict such atomic complexity for a few dozen nanoseconds." - cool cellular animation videos on the site
http://whyfiles.org/shorties/230simcell/
Francis Collins on Making LifeIn the year 2000 IBM announced the development of a new super-computer, called Blue Gene, which was 500 times faster than any supercomputer built up until that time. It took 4-5 years to build. Blue Gene stands about six feet high, and occupies a floor space of 40 feet by 40 feet. It cost $100 million to build. It was built specifically to better enable computer simulations of molecular biology. The computer performs one quadrillion (one million billion) computations per second. Despite its speed, it was estimated to take one entire year for it to analyze the mechanism by which JUST ONE “simple” protein will fold onto itself from its one-dimensional starting point to its final three-dimensional shape.
Excerpt: 'We are so woefully ignorant about how biology really works. We still don't understand how a particular DNA sequence—when we just stare at it—codes for a protein that has a particular function. We can't even figure out how that protein would fold—into what kind of three-dimensional shape. And I would defy anybody who is going to tell me that they could, from first principles, predict not only the shape of the protein but also what it does.' - Francis Collins - Former Director of the Human Genome Project
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/tech/collins-genome.html
Creating Life in the Lab: How New Discoveries in Synthetic Biology Make a Case for the Creator - Fazale Rana
Excerpt of Review: ‘Another interesting section of Creating Life in the Lab is one on artificial enzymes. Biological enzymes catalyze chemical reactions, often increasing the spontaneous reaction rate by a billion times or more. Scientists have set out to produce artificial enzymes that catalyze chemical reactions not used in biological organisms. Comparing the structure of biological enzymes, scientists used super-computers to calculate the sequences of amino acids in their enzymes that might catalyze the reaction they were interested in. After testing dozens of candidates,, the best ones were chosen and subjected to “in vitro evolution,” which increased the reaction rate up to 200-fold. Despite all this “intelligent design,” the artificial enzymes were 10,000 to 1,000,000,000 times less efficient than their biological counterparts. Dr. Rana asks the question, “is it reasonable to think that undirected evolutionary processes routinely
accomplished this task?”
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0801072093
"Blue Gene's final product, due in four or five years, will be able to "fold" a protein made of 300 amino acids, but that job will take an entire year of full-time computing." Paul Horn, senior vice president of IBM research, September 21, 2000Networking a few hundred thousand computers together has reduced the time to a few weeks for simulating the folding of a single protein molecule:
http://www.news.com/2100-1001-233954.html
A Few Hundred Thousand Computers vs. A Single Protein Molecule - video
http://www.metacafe.com/watch/4018233
Interestingly, there are some (perhaps many?) complex protein folding problems found by scientists that have still refused to be solved by the brute number crunching power of super-computers, but, 'surprisingly', these problems have been solved by the addition of 'human intuition';
So Much For Random Searches - PaV - September 2011As well, despite some very optimistic claims, it seems future 'quantum computers' will not fair much better in finding functional proteins in sequence space than even a idealized 'material' supercomputer of today can do:
Excerpt: There’s an article in Discover Magazine about how gamers have been able to solve a problem in HIV research in only three weeks (!) that had remained outside of researcher’s powerful computer tools for years. This, until now, unsolvable problem gets solved because: "They used a wide range of strategies, they could pick the best places to begin, and they were better at long-term planning. Human intuition trumped mechanical number-crunching." Here’s what intelligent agents were able to do within the search space of possible solutions:,,, "until now, scientists have only been able to discern the structure of the two halves together. They have spent more than ten years trying to solve structure of a single isolated half, without any success. The Foldit players had no such problems. They came up with several answers, one of which was almost close to perfect. In a few days, Khatib had refined their solution to deduce the protein’s final structure, and he has already spotted features that could make attractive targets for new drugs." Thus,,
Random search by powerful computer: 10 years and No Success
Intelligent Agents guiding powerful computing: 3 weeks and Success.
http://www.uncommondescent.com/intelligent-design/so-much-for-random-searches/
The Limits of Quantum Computers – March 2008Here is Scott Aaronson's blog in which refutes recent claims that P=NP (Of note: if P were found to equal NP, then a million dollar prize would be awarded to the mathematician who provided the proof that NP problems could be solved in polynomial time):
Excerpt: "Quantum computers would be exceptionally fast at a few specific tasks, but it appears that for most problems they would outclass today’s computers only modestly. This realization may lead to a new fundamental physical principle"
http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=the-limits-of-quantum-computers
The Limits of Quantum Computers - Scott Aaronson - 2007
Excerpt: In the popular imagination, quantum computers would be almost magical devices, able to “solve impossible problems in an instant” by trying exponentially many solutions in parallel. In this talk, I’ll describe four results in quantum computing theory that directly challenge this view.,,, Second I’ll show that in the “black box” or “oracle” model that we know how to analyze, quantum computers could not solve NP-complete problems in polynomial time, even with the help of nonuniform “quantum advice states”,,,
http://www.springerlink.com/content/0662222330115207/
Shtetl-OptimizedProtein folding is found to be a 'intractable NP-complete problem' by several different methods. Thus protein folding will not be able to take advantage of any advances in speed that quantum computation may offer to any other problems of computation that may be solved in polynomial time:
Excerpt: Quantum computers are not known to be able to solve NP-complete problems in polynomial time.
http://scottaaronson.com/blog/?p=456
Combinatorial Algorithms for Protein Folding in LatticeAnother factor severely complicating man's ability to properly mimic protein folding is that, much contrary to evolutionary thought, many proteins fold differently in different 'molecular' situations:
Models: A Survey of Mathematical Results – 2009
Excerpt: Protein Folding: Computational Complexity
4.1
NP-completeness: from 10^300 to 2 Amino Acid Types
4.2
NP-completeness: Protein Folding in Ad-Hoc Models
4.3
NP-completeness: Protein Folding in the HP-Model
http://www.cs.brown.edu/~sorin/pdfs/pfoldingsurvey.pdf
The Gene Myth, Part II - August 2010As a sidelight to the complexity found for folding any relatively short amino acid sequence into a 3-D protein, the complexity of computing the actions of even a simple atom, in detail, quickly exceeds the capacity of our most advanced supercomputers of today:
Excerpt: the rate at which a protein is synthesized, which depends on factors internal and external to the cell, affects the order in which its different portions fold. So even with the same sequence a given protein can have different shapes and functions. Furthermore, many proteins have no intrinsic shape, taking on different roles in different molecular contexts. So even though genes specify protein sequences they have only a tenuous influence over their functions.
http://darwins-god.blogspot.com/2010/08/gene-myth-part-ii.html
Delayed time zero in photoemission: New record in time measurement accuracy - June 2010Also of interest to the extreme difficultly man has in computing the folding of a protein within any reasonable amount of time, it seems water itself, (H2O), was 'designed' with protein folding in mind:
Excerpt: Although they could confirm the effect qualitatively using complicated computations, they came up with a time offset of only five attoseconds. The cause of this discrepancy may lie in the complexity of the neon atom, which consists, in addition to the nucleus, of ten electrons. "The computational effort required to model such a many-electron system exceeds the computational capacity of today's supercomputers," explains Yakovlev.
http://www.physorg.com/news196606514.html
Protein Folding: One Picture Per Millisecond Illuminates The Process - 2008There are overlapping 'chaperone' systems insuring that proteins fold into the precisely correct shape:
Excerpt: The RUB-chemists initiated the folding process and then monitored the course of events. It turned out that within less than ten milliseconds, the motions of the water network were altered as well as the protein itself being restructured. “These two processes practically take place simultaneously“, Prof. Havenith-Newen states, “they are strongly correlated.“ These observations support the yet controversial suggestion that water plays a fundamental role in protein folding, and thus in protein function, and does not stay passive.
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/08/080805075610.htm
Water Is 'Designer Fluid' That Helps Proteins Change Shape - 2008
Excerpt: "When bound to proteins, water molecules participate in a carefully choreographed ballet that permits the proteins to fold into their functional, native states. This delicate dance is essential to life."
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/08/080806113314.htm
Proteins Fold Who Knows How - July 2010In real life, the protein folds into its final shape in a fraction of a second! The Blue Gene computer would have to operate at least 33 million times faster to accomplish what the protein does in a fraction of a second. This is the complexity found for folding JUST ONE relatively short 'simple' existing protein molecule. Yet, evolution must account for the origination, and organization, of far, far, more than just one relatively short specifically sequenced protein molecule:
Excerpt: New work published in Cell shows that this “chaperone” device speeds up the proper folding of the polypeptide when it otherwise might get stuck on a “kinetic trap.” A German team likened the assistance to narrowing the entropic funnel. “The capacity to rescue proteins from such folding traps may explain the uniquely essential role of chaperonin cages within the cellular chaperone network,” they said. GroEL+GroES therefore “rescues” protein that otherwise might misfold and cause damage to the cell.,,, “In contrast to all other components of this chaperone network, the chaperonin, GroEL, and its cofactor, GroES, are uniquely essential, forming a specialized nano-compartment for single protein molecules to fold in isolation.”
http://www.creationsafaris.com/crev201007.htm#20100709a
Nature Review Article Yields Unpleasant Data For Darwinism - August 2011
Excerpt: The number of possible shapes that a protein can fold into is very high and folding reactions are very complex, involving the co-operation of many weak, non-covalent interactions. A high percentage of proteins do not fold automatically into the required shape and are at risk of aberrant folding and aggregation. As the abstract to this paper states: “To avoid these dangers, cells invest in a complex network of molecular chaperones, which are ingenious mechanisms to prevent aggregation and promote efficient folding.”
http://www.uncommondescent.com/intelligent-design/nature-review-article-yields-unpleasant-data-for-darwinism/
A New Guide to Exploring the Protein UniverseShoot no one really has a firm clue as to exactly how many different proteins reside in a single cell much less all of life;
"It is estimated, based on the total number of known life forms on Earth, that there are some 50 billion different types of proteins in existence today, and it is possible that the protein universe could hold many trillions more."
Lynn Yarris - 2005
http://www.lbl.gov/Science-Articles/Archive/sabl/2005/March/02-protein-universe.html
Go to the Cell, Thou Sluggard - March 2011Even the most generous of protein classifications, 'folds and superfamilies' yields several thousand completely unique proteins:
Excerpt: Calculations indicate that each human cell contains roughly a billion protein molecules.,,, These proteins have a kind of address label, a signal sequence, that specifies what place inside or outside the cell they need to be transported to. This transport must function flawlessly if order is to be maintained in the cell,
http://www.creationsafaris.com/crev201103.htm#20110302a
SCOP (Structural Classification of Proteins) site - gpuccioWhat makes matters much worse for the materialist is that he will try to assert that existing functional proteins of one structure can easily mutate into other functional proteins, of a completely different structure or function, by pure chance. Yet once again the empirical evidence betrays the materialist. The proteins that are found in life are shown to be highly constrained in their ability to evolve into other proteins:
Excerpt: However we group the proteome, we have at present at least 1000 different fundamental folds, 2000 “a little less fundamentally different” folds (the superfamilies), and 6000 totally unrelated groups of primary sequences.
http://www.uncommondescent.com/intelligent-design/uh-oh-is-he-going-to-get-gould-ed/#comment-367564
Following the Evidence Where It Leads: Observations on Dembski's Exchange with Shapiro - Ann Gauger - January 2012As well, the 'errors/mutations' that are found to 'naturally' occur in protein sequences are found to be 'designed errors':
Excerpt: So far, our research indicates that genuine innovation, a change to a function not already pre-existent in a protein, is beyond the reach of natural processes, even when the starting proteins are very similar in structure.
http://www.evolutionnews.org/2012/01/observations_re055171.html
Dollo’s law, the symmetry of time, and the edge of evolution - Michael Behe - Oct 2009
Excerpt: Nature has recently published an interesting paper which places severe limits on Darwinian evolution.,,,
A time-symmetric Dollo’s law turns the notion of “pre-adaptation” on its head. The law instead predicts something like “pre-sequestration”, where proteins that are currently being used for one complex purpose are very unlikely to be available for either reversion to past functions or future alternative uses.
http://www.evolutionnews.org/2009/10/dollos_law_the_symmetry_of_tim.html
Severe Limits to Darwinian Evolution: - Michael Behe - Oct. 2009
Excerpt: The immediate, obvious implication is that the 2009 results render problematic even pretty small changes in structure/function for all proteins — not just the ones he worked on.,,,Thanks to Thornton’s impressive work, we can now see that the limits to Darwinian evolution are more severe than even I had supposed.
http://www.evolutionnews.org/2009/10/severe_limits_to_darwinian_evo.html#more
Wheel of Fortune: New Work by Thornton's Group Supports Time-Asymmetric Dollo's Law - Michael Behe - October 5, 2011
Excerpt: Darwinian selection will fit a protein to its current task as tightly as it can. In the process, it makes it extremely difficult to adapt to a new task or revert to an old task by random mutation plus selection.
http://www.evolutionnews.org/2011/10/wheel_of_fortune_new_work_by_t051621.html
Stability effects of mutations and protein evolvability. October 2009
Excerpt: The accepted paradigm that proteins can tolerate nearly any amino acid substitution has been replaced by the view that the deleterious effects of mutations, and especially their tendency to undermine the thermodynamic and kinetic stability of protein, is a major constraint on protein evolvability,,
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19765975
The Evolutionary Accessibility of New Enzyme Functions: A Case Study from the Biotin Pathway - Ann K. Gauger and Douglas D. Axe - April 2011
Excerpt: We infer from the mutants examined that successful functional conversion would in this case require seven or more nucleotide substitutions. But evolutionary innovations requiring that many changes would be extraordinarily rare, becoming probable only on timescales much longer than the age of life on earth.
http://bio-complexity.org/ojs/index.php/main/article/view/BIO-C.2011.1/BIO-C.2011.1
When Theory and Experiment Collide — April 16th, 2011 by Douglas Axe
Excerpt: Based on our experimental observations and on calculations we made using a published population model [3], we estimated that Darwin’s mechanism would need a truly staggering amount of time—a trillion trillion years or more—to accomplish the seemingly subtle change in enzyme function that we studied.
http://biologicinstitute.org/2011/04/16/when-theory-and-experiment-collide/
Corticosteroid Receptors in Vertebrates: Luck or Design? - Ann Gauger - October 11, 2011
Excerpt: if merely changing binding preferences is hard, even when you start with the right ancestral form, then converting an enzyme to a new function is completely beyond the reach of unguided evolution, no matter where you start.
http://www.evolutionnews.org/2011/10/luck_or_design051801.html
“Mutations are rare phenomena, and a simultaneous change of even two amino acid residues in one protein is totally unlikely. One could think, for instance, that by constantly changing amino acids one by one, it will eventually be possible to change the entire sequence substantially… These minor changes, however, are bound to eventually result in a situation in which the enzyme has ceased to perform its previous function but has not yet begun its ‘new duties’. It is at this point it will be destroyed - along with the organism carrying it.” Maxim D. Frank-Kamenetski, Unraveling DNA, 1997, p. 72. (Professor at Brown U. Center for Advanced Biotechnology and Biomedical Engineering)
"A problem with the evolution of proteins having new shapes is that proteins are highly constrained, and producing a functional protein from a functional protein having a significantly different shape would typically require many mutations of the gene producing the protein. All the proteins produced during this transition would not be functional, that is, they would not be beneficial to the organism, or possibly they would still have their original function but not confer any advantage to the organism. It turns out that this scenario has severe mathematical problems that call the theory of evolution into question. Unless these problems can be overcome, the theory of evolution is in trouble."
Problems in Protein Evolution:
http://www.cs.unc.edu/~plaisted/ce/blocked.html
Extreme functional sensitivity to conservative amino acid changes on enzyme exteriors - Doug Axe
Excerpt: Contrary to the prevalent view, then, enzyme function places severe constraints on residue identities at positions showing evolutionary variability, and at exterior non-active-site positions, in particular.
http://nsmserver2.fullerton.edu/departments/chemistry/evolution_creation/web/AxeProteinEvolution.pdf
Darwin's God: Post Synaptic Proteins Intolerant of Change - December 2010
Excerpt: Not only is there scant evidence of intermediate designs leading to the known proteins, but the evidence we do have is that these proteins do not tolerate change.
http://darwins-god.blogspot.com/2010/12/post-synaptic-proteins-intolerant-of.html
Cells Defend Themselves from Viruses, Bacteria With Armor of Protein Errors - Nov. 2009There are even 'protein police':
Excerpt: These "regulated errors" comprise a novel non-genetic mechanism by which cells can rapidly make important proteins more resistant to attack when stressed,
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/11/091125134701.htm
GATA-1: A Protein That Regulates Proteins - Feb. 2010
http://darwins-god.blogspot.com/2010/02/gata-1-protein-that-regulates-proteins.html
Heat shock proteins:This following paper, and audio interview, shows that there is a severe 'fitness cost' for cells to carry 'transitional' proteins that have not achieved full functionality yet:
Excerpt: They play an important role in protein-protein interactions such as folding and assisting in the establishment of proper protein conformation (shape) and prevention of unwanted protein aggregation. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heat_shock_protein
Reductive Evolution Can Prevent Populations from Taking Simple Adaptive Paths to High Fitness - May 2010Testing Evolution in the Lab With Biologic Institute's Ann Gauger - audio
Excerpt: Despite the theoretical existence of this short adaptive path to high fitness, multiple independent lines grown in tryptophan-limiting liquid culture failed to take it. Instead, cells consistently acquired mutations that reduced expression of the double-mutant trpA gene. Our results show that competition between reductive and constructive paths may significantly decrease the likelihood that a particular constructive path will be taken.
http://bio-complexity.org/ojs/index.php/main/article/view/BIO-C.2010.2
http://www.idthefuture.com/2010/05/testing_evolution_in_the_lab_w.html
In fact the Ribosome, which makes the myriad of different, yet specific, types of proteins found in life, is found to be severely intolerant to any random mutations occurring to proteins.
The Ribosome: Perfectionist Protein-maker Trashes ErrorsAnd exactly how is the evolution new life forms suppose to 'randomly' occur if it is prevented from 'randomly' occurring to the proteins in the first place?
Excerpt: The enzyme machine that translates a cell's DNA code into the proteins of life is nothing if not an editorial perfectionist...the ribosome exerts far tighter quality control than anyone ever suspected over its precious protein products... To their further surprise, the ribosome lets go of error-laden proteins 10,000 times faster than it would normally release error-free proteins, a rate of destruction that Green says is "shocking" and reveals just how much of a stickler the ribosome is about high-fidelity protein synthesis.
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/01/090107134529.htm
As well, the 'protein factory' of the ribosome, which is the only known machine in the universe capable of making proteins of any significant length, is far more complicated than first thought:
Honors to Researchers Who Probed Atomic Structure of Ribosomes - Robert F. ServiceMoreover, scientists are finding many protein complexes are extremely intolerant to any random mutations:
Excerpt: "The ribosome’s dance, however, is more like a grand ballet, with dozens of ribosomal proteins and subunits pirouetting with every step while other key biomolecules leap in, carrying other dancers needed to complete the act.”
http://www.creationsafaris.com/crev200910.htm#20091015a
Warning: Do NOT Mutate This Protein Complex: - June 2009Which begs the question, "If this complex of 8 proteins which is found throughout life, is severely intolerant to any mutations happening to it now, how in the world did it come to be in the first photosynthetic life in the first place?
Excerpt: In each cell of your body there is a complex of 8 or more proteins bound together called the BBSome. This protein complex, discovered in 2007, should not be disturbed. Here’s what happens when it mutates: “A homozygous mutation in any BBSome subunit (except BBIP10) will make you blind, obese and deaf, will obliterate your sense of smell, will make you grow extra digits and toes and cause your kidneys to fail.”... the BBSome is “highly conserved” (i.e., unevolved) in all ciliated organisms from single-celled green algae to humans,..."
http://www.creationsafaris.com/crev200906.htm#20090630a
Even if evolution somehow managed to overcome these impossible hurdles for generating novel proteins by totally natural means, evolution would still face the monumental hurdles of generating complimentary protein/protein binding sites, in which the novel proteins would actually interact with each other in order to accomplish the specific tasks needed in a cell (it is estimated that there are least 10,000 different types of protein-protein binding sites in a 'simple' cell; Behe: Edge Of Evolution).
What does the recent hard evidence say about novel protein-protein binding site generation?
Protein-Protein Interactions (PPI) Fine-Tune the Case for Intelligent Design - Article with video - April 2011The Sheer Lack Of Evidence For Macro Evolution - William Lane Craig - video
Excerpt: The most recent work by the Harvard scientists indicates that the concentration of PPI-participating proteins in the cell is also carefully designed.
http://www.reasons.org/protein-protein-interactions-fine-tune-case-intelligent-design
"The likelihood of developing two binding sites in a protein complex would be the square of the probability of developing one: a double CCC (chloroquine complexity cluster), 10^20 times 10^20, which is 10^40. There have likely been fewer than 10^40 cells in the entire world in the past 4 billion years, so the odds are against a single event of this variety (just 2 binding sites being generated by accident) in the history of life. It is biologically unreasonable."
Michael J. Behe PhD. (from page 146 of his book "Edge of Evolution")
http://www.metacafe.com/watch/4023134
Nature Paper,, Finds Darwinian Processes Lacking - Michael Behe - Oct. 2009So, how many protein-protein binding sites are found in life?
Excerpt: Now, thanks to the work of Bridgham et al (2009), even such apparently minor switches in structure and function (of a protein to its supposed ancestral form) are shown to be quite problematic. It seems Darwinian processes can’t manage to do even as much as I had thought. (which was 1 in 10^40 for just 2 binding sites)
http://www.evolutionnews.org/2009/10/nature_paper_finally_reaches_t.html
Dr. Behe, on the important Table 7.1 on page 143 of Edge Of Evolution, finds that a typical cell might have some 10,000 protein-binding sites. Whereas a conservative estimate for protein-protein binding sites in a multicellular creature is,,,
Largest-Ever Map of Plant Protein Interactions - July 2011So taking into account that they only covered 2%, of the full protein-protein "interactome", then that gives us a number, for different protein-protein interactions, of 310,000. Thus, from my very rough 'back of the envelope' calculations, we find that this is at least 30 times higher than Dr. Behe's estimate of 10,000 different protein-protein binding sites for a typical single cell (Page 143; Edge of Evolution; Behe). Therefore, at least at first glance from my rough calculations, it certainly seems to be a gargantuan step that evolution must somehow make, by purely unguided processes, to go from a single cell to a multi-cellular creature. To illustrate just how difficult of a step it is, the order of difficulty, of developing a single protein-protein binding site, is put at 10^20 replications of the malarial parasite by Dr. Behe. This number comes from direct empirical observation.
Excerpt: The new map of 6,205 protein partnerings represents only about two percent of the full protein- protein "interactome" for Arabidopsis, since the screening test covered only a third of all Arabidopsis proteins, and wasn't sensitive enough to detect many weaker protein interactions. "There will be larger maps after this one," says Ecker.
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2011/07/110728144936.htm
Dr. Behe's empirical research agrees with what is found if scientists try to purposely design a protein-protein binding site:
Viral-Binding Protein Design Makes the Case for Intelligent Design Sick! (as in cool) - Fazale Rana - June 2011Moreover, there is, 'surprisingly', found to be 'rather low' conservation of Domain-Domain Interactions occurring in Protein-Protein interactions:
Excerpt: When considering this study, it is remarkable to note how much effort it took to design a protein that binds to a specific location on the hemagglutinin molecule. As biochemists Bryan Der and Brian Kuhlman point out while commenting on this work, the design of these proteins required:
"...cutting-edge software developed by ~20 groups worldwide and 100,000 hours of highly parallel computing time. It also involved using a technique known as yeast display to screen candidate proteins and select those with high binding affinities, as well as x-ray crystallography to validate designs.2"
If it takes this much work and intellectual input to create a single protein from scratch, is it really reasonable to think that undirected evolutionary processes could accomplish this task routinely?
In other words, the researchers from the University of Washington and The Scripps Institute have unwittingly provided empirical evidence that the high-precision interactions required for PPIs requires intelligent agency to arise. Sick!
http://www.reasons.org/viral-binding-protein-design-makes-case-intelligent-design-sick-cool
A Top-Down Approach to Infer and Compare Domain-Domain Interactions across Eight Model OrganismsAs well, RNA, which codes for the proteins at the ribosome, is found to be intolerant to 'random mutations':
Excerpt: Knowledge of specific domain-domain interactions (DDIs) is essential to understand the functional significance of protein interaction networks. Despite the availability of an enormous amount of data on protein-protein interactions (PPIs), very little is known about specific DDIs occurring in them.,,, Our results show that only 23% of these DDIs are conserved in at least two species and only 3.8% in at least 4 species, indicating a rather low conservation across species.,,,
http://www.plosone.org/article/info:doi/10.1371/journal.pone.0005096
Molecular Typesetting: How Errors Are Corrected (In RNA) While Proteins Are Being BuiltOn top of these monumental problems, for just finding any one specific functional protein, or for just finding any protein/protein binding sites, or for accounting for multiple layers of error correction that prevent evolution from happening to proteins in the first place, a materialist must still account for how the DNA code came about in any origin of life scenario he puts forth. These following videos and articles highlight the 'DNA problem':
Excerpt: Ensuring that proteins are built correctly is essential to the proper functioning of our bodies,,,“Scientists have been puzzled as to how this process makes so few mistakes.,,,“In fact, there is more than one identified mechanism for ensuring that genetic code is copied correctly."
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/06/090623090157.htm
The cell has elaborate ways to safeguard its genetic library by repairing DNA, but now scientists are finding the same enzymes can also repair RNA. RNA methylation damage can be repaired by the same AlkB enzyme that repairs DNA. This is surprising because RNA and proteins were considered more expendable than DNA. (Creation-Evolution Headlines - Feb. 2003)
RNA: Protein Regulators Are Themselves Regulated
“What was formerly conceived of as a direct, straightforward pathway is gradually turning out to be a dense network of regulatory mechanisms: genes are not simply translated into proteins via mRNA (messenger RNA). MicroRNAs control the translation of mRNAs (messenger RNAs) into proteins, and proteins in turn regulate the microRNAs at various levels.”
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/09/090910084147.htm
Researchers Uncover New Kink In Gene Control: - Oct. 2009
Excerpt: a collaborative effort,, has uncovered more than 300 proteins that appear to control genes, a newly discovered function for all of these proteins previously known to play other roles in cells.,,,The team suspects that many more proteins encoded by the human genome might also be moonlighting to control genes,,,
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/10/091029125536.htm
Programming of Life - DNA - video
http://www.youtube.com/user/Programmingoflife#p/c/AFDF33F11E2FB840/7/O4GV1xI-DSQ
A New Design Argument - Charles ThaxtonThe DNA Code - Solid Scientific Proof Of Intelligent Design - Perry Marshall - video
Excerpt: "There is an identity of structure between DNA (and protein) and written linguistic messages. Since we know by experience that intelligence produces written messages, and no other cause is known, the implication, according to the abductive method, is that intelligent cause produced DNA and protein. The significance of this result lies in the security of it, for it is much stronger than if the structures were merely similar. We are not dealing with anything like a superficial resemblance between DNA and a written text. We are not saying DNA is like a message. Rather, DNA is a message. True design thus returns to biology."
http://www.arn.org/docs/thaxton/ct_newdesign3198.htm
Information Theory, Evolution, and the Origin of Life - Hubert P. Yockey, 2005
Excerpt: “Information, transcription, translation, code, redundancy, synonymous, messenger, editing, and proofreading are all appropriate terms in biology. They take their meaning from information theory (Shannon, 1948) and are not synonyms, metaphors, or analogies.”
http://www.cambridge.org/catalogue/catalogue.asp?isbn=9780521802932&ss=exc
Information Theory, Evolution, and the Origin of Life - Hubert P. Yockey, 2005
“The belief of mechanist-reductionists that the chemical processes in living matter do not differ in principle from those in dead matter is incorrect. There is no trace of messages determining the results of chemical reactions in inanimate matter. If genetical processes were just complicated biochemistry, the laws of mass action and thermodynamics would govern the placement of amino acids in the protein sequences.” Let me provide the unstated conclusion: But they don’t.
http://www.uncommondescent.com/intelligent-design/living-things-machines-and-intelligent-design-part-two-of-a-response-to-the-smithy/#comment-353336
http://www.metacafe.com/watch/4060532
Codes and Axioms are always the result of mental intention, not material processes
https://docs.google.com/document/pub?id=1PrE2Syt5SJUxeh2YBBBWrrPailC3uTFMdqPMFrzvwDY
A.E. Wilder Smith, DNA, Cactus, and Von Neumann Machines - John MacArthur - audio
http://www.vimeo.com/11341080
Information - The Utter Demise Of Darwinian Evolution - video
http://www.metacafe.com/watch/4914327
"A code system is always the result of a mental process (it requires an intelligent origin or inventor). It should be emphasized that matter as such is unable to generate any code. All experiences indicate that a thinking being voluntarily exercising his own free will, cognition, and creativity, is required. ,,,there is no known law of nature and no known sequence of events which can cause information to originate by itself in matter. Werner Gitt 1997 In The Beginning Was Information pp. 64-67, 79, 107."The Digital Code of DNA and the Unimagined Complexity of a ‘Simple’ Bacteria – Rabbi Moshe Averick – video (Notes in Description)
(The retired Dr Gitt was a director and professor at the German Federal Institute of Physics and Technology (Physikalisch-Technische Bundesanstalt, Braunschweig), the Head of the Department of Information Technology.)
The Digital Code of DNA - 2003 - Leroy Hood & David Galas
Excerpt: The discovery of the structure of DNA transformed biology profoundly, catalysing the sequencing of the human genome and engendering a new view of biology as an information science.
http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v421/n6921/full/nature01410.html
http://vimeo.com/35730736
Upright Biped Replies to Dr. Moran on “Information” - December 2011Even the leading "New Atheist" in the world, Richard Dawkins, agrees that DNA functions exactly like digital code:
Excerpt: 'a fair reading suggests that the information transfer in the genome shouldn’t be expected to adhere to the qualities of other forms of information transfer. But as it turns out, it faithfully follows the same physical dynamics as any other form of recorded information.'
http://www.uncommondescent.com/intelligent-design/upright-biped-replies-to-dr-moran-on-information/
Richard Dawkins Opens Mouth; Inserts Foot - video
http://www.evolutionnews.org/2010/06/richard_dawkins_opens_mouth_in035861.html#more
i.e. DNA functions exactly as a 'devised code':
Biophysicist Hubert Yockey determined that natural selection would have to explore 1.40 x 10^70 different genetic codes to discover the optimal universal genetic code that is found in nature. The maximum amount of time available for it to originate is 6.3 x 10^15 seconds. Natural selection would have to evaluate roughly 10^55 codes per second to find the one that is optimal. Put simply, natural selection lacks the time necessary to find the optimal universal genetic code we find in nature. (Fazale Rana, -The Cell's Design - 2008 - page 177)Evolutionists have long argued that the genetic code is universal for all lifeforms, and maintain that that fact is strong evidence for evolution from a universal common anscestor, yet it appears they were wrong once again:
Ode to the Code - Brian Hayes
The few variant codes known in protozoa and organelles are thought to be offshoots of the standard code, but there is no evidence that the changes to the codon table offer any adaptive advantage. In fact, Freeland, Knight, Landweber and Hurst found that the variants are inferior or at best equal to the standard code. It seems hard to account for these facts without retreating at least part of the way back to the frozen-accident theory, conceding that the code was subject to change only in a former age of miracles, which we'll never see again in the modern world.
https://www.americanscientist.org/issues/pub/ode-to-the-code/4
No Darwin Tree of Life (Craig Venter vs. Richard Dawkins)- video
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zqaXVqmcDVI
Venter vs. Dawkins on the Tree of Life - and Another Dawkins Whopper - March 2011As well there was a ‘optimality’ found for the 20 amino acid set used in the 'standard' Genetic code when the set was compared to 1 million randomly generated alternative amino acid sets;
Excerpt:,,, But first, let's look at the reason Dawkins gives for why the code must be universal:
"The reason is interesting. Any mutation in the genetic code itself (as opposed to mutations in the genes that it encodes) would have an instantly catastrophic effect, not just in one place but throughout the whole organism. If any word in the 64-word dictionary changed its meaning, so that it came to specify a different amino acid, just about every protein in the body would instantaneously change, probably in many places along its length. Unlike an ordinary mutation...this would spell disaster." (2009, p. 409-10)
OK. Keep Dawkins' claim of universality in mind, along with his argument for why the code must be universal, and then go here (linked site listing 23 variants of the genetic code).
Simple counting question: does "one or two" equal 23? That's the number of known variant genetic codes compiled by the National Center for Biotechnology Information. By any measure, Dawkins is off by an order of magnitude, times a factor of two.
http://www.evolutionnews.org/2011/03/venter_vs_dawkins_on_the_tree_044681.html
Does Life Use a Non-Random Set of Amino Acids? - Jonathan M. - April 2011Moreover the first DNA code of life on earth had to be at least as complex as the current DNA code found in life:
Excerpt: The authors compared the coverage of the standard alphabet of 20 amino acids for size, charge, and hydrophobicity with equivalent values calculated for a sample of 1 million alternative sets (each also comprising 20 members) drawn randomly from the pool of 50 plausible prebiotic candidates. The results? The authors noted that: "…the standard alphabet exhibits better coverage (i.e., greater breadth and greater evenness) than any random set for each of size, charge, and hydrophobicity, and for all combinations thereof."
http://www.evolutionnews.org/2011/04/does_life_use_a_non-random_set045661.html
Extreme genetic code optimality from a molecular dynamics calculation of amino acid polar requirement – 2009
Excerpt: A molecular dynamics calculation of the amino acid polar requirement is used to score the canonical genetic code. Monte Carlo simulation shows that this computational polar requirement has been optimized by the canonical genetic code, an order of magnitude more than any previously known measure, effectively ruling out a vertical evolution dynamics.
http://pre.aps.org/abstract/PRE/v79/i6/e060901
The Finely Tuned Genetic Code - Jonathan M. - November 2011
Excerpt: Summarizing the state of the art in the study of the code evolution, we cannot escape considerable skepticism. It seems that the two-pronged fundamental question: "why is the genetic code the way it is and how did it come to be?," that was asked over 50 years ago, at the dawn of molecular biology, might remain pertinent even in another 50 years. Our consolation is that we cannot think of a more fundamental problem in biology. - Eugene Koonin and Artem Novozhilov
http://www.evolutionnews.org/2011/11/the_finely_tuned_genetic_code052611.html
Shannon Information - Channel Capacity - Perry Marshall - video
http://www.metacafe.com/watch/5457552/
“Because of Shannon channel capacity that previous (first) codon alphabet had to be at least as complex as the current codon alphabet (DNA code), otherwise transferring the information from the simpler alphabet into the current alphabet would have been mathematically impossible”Here is a comment on a study of a 'putative primitive' amino acid set;
Donald E. Johnson – Bioinformatics: The Information in Life
Deciphering Design in the Genetic Code - Fazale Rana
Excerpt: When researchers calculated the error-minimization capacity of one million randomly generated genetic codes, they discovered that the error-minimization values formed a distribution where the naturally occurring genetic code's capacity occurred outside the distribution. Researchers estimate the existence of 10 possible genetic codes possessing the same type and degree of redundancy as the universal genetic code. All of these codes fall within the error-minimization distribution. This finding means that of the 10 possible genetic codes, few, if any, have an error-minimization capacity that approaches the code found universally in nature.
http://www.reasons.org/biology/biochemical-design/fyi-id-dna-deciphering-design-genetic-code
“The genetic code’s error-minimization properties are far more dramatic than these (one in a million) results indicate. When the researchers calculated the error-minimization capacity of the one million randomly generated genetic codes, they discovered that the error-minimization values formed a distribution. Researchers estimate the existence of 10^18 possible genetic codes possessing the same type and degree of redundancy as the universal genetic code. All of these codes fall within the error-minimization distribution. This means of 10^18 codes few, if any have an error-minimization capacity that approaches the code found universally throughout nature.”
Fazale Rana - From page 175; 'The Cell’s Design'
http://www.reasons.org/biology/biochemical-design/fyi-id-dna-deciphering-design-genetic-code
http://www.uncommondescent.com/intelligent-design/the-first-gene-an-information-theory-look-at-the-origin-of-life/comment-page-1/#comment-409611
DNA - The Genetic Code - Optimal Error Minimization & Parallel Codes - Dr. Fazale Rana - video
http://www.metacafe.com/watch/4491422
Nick Lane Takes on the Origin of Life and DNA - Jonathan McLatchie - July 2010Though the DNA code is found to be optimal from a error minimization standpoint, it is also now found that the fidelity of the genetic code, of how a specific amino acid is spelled, is far greater than had at first been thought:
Excerpt: It appears then, that the genetic code has been put together in view of minimizing not just the occurence of amino acid substitution mutations, but also the detrimental effects that would result when amino acid substitution mutations do occur.
http://www.evolutionnews.org/2010/07/nick_lane_and_the_ten_great_in036101.html
Synonymous Codons: Another Gene Expression Regulation Mechanism - September 2010
Excerpt: There are 64 possible triplet codons in the DNA code, but only 20 amino acids they produce. As one can see, some amino acids can be coded by up to six “synonyms” of triplet codons: e.g., the codes AGA, AGG, CGA, CGC, CGG, and CGU will all yield arginine when translated by the ribosome. If the same amino acid results, what difference could the synonymous codons make? The researchers found that alternate spellings might affect the timing of translation in the ribosome tunnel, and slight delays could influence how the polypeptide begins its folding. This, in turn, might affect what chemical tags get put onto the polypeptide in the post-translational process. In the case of actin, the protein that forms transport highways for muscle and other things, the researchers found that synonymous codons produced very different functional roles for the “isoform” proteins that resulted in non-muscle cells,,, In their conclusion, they repeated, “Whatever the exact mechanism, the discovery of Zhang et al. that synonymous codon changes can so profoundly change the role of a protein adds a new level of complexity to how we interpret the genetic code.”,,,
http://www.creationsafaris.com/crev201009.htm#20100919a
The coding system used for living beings is optimal from an engineering standpoint.
Werner Gitt - In The Beginning Was Information - p. 95
Collective evolution and the genetic code - 2006:Besides multiple layers of 'classical information' embedded in overlapping layers throughout the DNA, there has now been discovered another layer of 'quantum information' embedded throughout the DNA:
Excerpt: The genetic code could well be optimized to a greater extent than anything else in biology and yet is generally regarded as the biological element least capable of evolving.
http://www.pnas.org/content/103/28/10696.full
Here, we show that the universal genetic code can efficiently carry arbitrary parallel codes much better than the vast majority of other possible genetic codes.... the present findings support the view that protein-coding regions can carry abundant parallel codes.
http://genome.cshlp.org/content/17/4/405.full
The data compression of some stretches of human DNA is estimated to be up to 12 codes thick (12 different ways of DNA transcription) (Trifonov, 1989). (This is well beyond the complexity of any computer code ever written by man). John Sanford - Genetic Entropy
The multiple codes of nucleotide sequences. Trifonov EN. - 1989
Excerpt: Nucleotide sequences carry genetic information of many different kinds, not just instructions for protein synthesis (triplet code).
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/2673451
"In the last ten years, at least 20 different natural information codes were discovered in life, each operating to arbitrary conventions (not determined by law or physicality). Examples include protein address codes [Ber08B], acetylation codes [Kni06], RNA codes [Fai07], metabolic codes [Bru07], cytoskeleton codes [Gim08], histone codes [Jen01], and alternative splicing codes [Bar10].
Donald E. Johnson – Programming of Life – pg.51 - 2010
DNA Caught Rock 'N Rollin': On Rare Occasions DNA Dances Itself Into a Different Shape - January 2011
Excerpt: Because critical interactions between DNA and proteins are thought to be directed by both the sequence of bases and the flexing of the molecule, these excited states represent a whole new level of information contained in the genetic code,
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2011/01/110128104244.htm
Ends and Means: More on Meyer and Nelson in BIO-Complexity - September 2011
Excerpt: According to Garrett and Grisham's Biochemistry, the aminoacyl tRNA snythetase is a "second genetic code" because it must discriminate among each of the twenty amino acids and then call out the proper tRNA for that amino acid: "Although the primary genetic code is key to understanding the central dogma of molecular biology on how DNA encodes proteins, the second genetic code is just as crucial to the fidelity of information transfer."
http://www.evolutionnews.org/2011/09/ends_and_means050391.html
Histone Inspectors: Codes and More Codes - Cornelius Hunter - March 2010
Excerpt: By now most people know about the DNA code. A DNA strand consists of a sequence of molecules, or letters, that encodes for proteins. Many people do not realize, however, that there are additional, more nuanced, codes associated with the DNA.
http://darwins-god.blogspot.com/2010/03/histone-inspectors-codes-and-more-codes.html
Four More DNA Bases? - August 2011
Excerpt: As technology allows us to delve ever deeper into the inner workings of the cell, we continue to find layer-upon-layer of complexity. DNA, in particular, is an incredibly complex information-bearing molecule that bears the hallmarks of design.
http://www.evolutionnews.org/2011/08/four_more_dna_bases049091.html
Quantum Information In DNA & Protein Folding - short video
http://www.metacafe.com/watch/5936605/
Human DNA is like a computer program but far, far more advanced than any software we've ever created.The Coding Found In DNA Surpasses Man's Ability To Code - Stephen Meyer - video
Bill Gates, The Road Ahead, 1996, p. 188
http://www.metacafe.com/watch/4050638
Stephen Meyer - Excerpted Clip of CBN interview on problems of Craig Venter's Synthetic Life - DNA - Complexity Of The Cell - Layered Information - video
http://www.metacafe.com/watch/4798685
Genetic Entropy - Dr. John Sanford - Evolution vs. Reality (Super Programming in the Genome that 'dwarfs' our computer programs) - video
http://vimeo.com/35088933
DNA - Evolution Vs. Polyfuctionality - video
http://www.metacafe.com/watch/4614519/
DNA - Poly-Functional Complexity equals Poly-Constrained Complexity
http://docs.google.com/Doc?docid=0AYmaSrBPNEmGZGM4ejY3d3pfMjdoZmd2emZncQ
Do you believe Richard Dawkins exists?Bill Gates, in recognizing the superiority found in Genetic Coding compared to the best computer coding we now have, has now funded research into this area:
Excerpt: DNA is the best information storage mechanism known to man. A single pinhead of DNA contains as much information as could be stored on 2 million two-terabyte hard drives.
http://creation.com/does-dawkins-exist
Welcome to CoSBi - (Computational and Systems Biology)How DNA Compares To Human Language - Perry Marshall - video
Excerpt: Biological systems are the most parallel systems ever studied and we hope to use our better understanding of how living systems handle information to design new computational paradigms, programming languages and software development environments. The net result would be the design and implementation of better applications firmly grounded on new computational, massively parallel paradigms in many different areas.
http://www.cosbi.eu/index.php/component/content/article/171
http://www.metacafe.com/watch/4298072
Yet the DNA code is not even reducible to the laws of physics or chemistry:
The Origin of Life and The Suppression of Truthi.e. There are no physical or chemical forces between the nucleotides along the linear axis of DNA (where the information is) that causes the sequence of nucleotides to exist as they do. In fact as far as the foundational laws of the universe are concerned the DNA molecule doesn’t even have to exist at all.
Excerpt: 'Many claims have been made that nucleotides of DNA have been produced in such “spark and soup” experiments. However, after a careful review of the scientific literature, evolutionist Robert Shapiro stated that the nucleotides of DNA and RNA, "….have never been reported in any amount in such sources, yet a mythology has emerged that maintains the opposite….I have seen several statements in scientific sources which claim that proteins and nucleic acids themselves have been prepared… These errors reflect the operation of an entire belief system… The facts do not support his belief…Such thoughts may be comforting, but they run far ahead of any experimental validation."
http://the_wordbride.tripod.com/origin.html
Life’s Irreducible Structure
Excerpt: “Mechanisms, whether man-made or morphological, are boundary conditions harnessing the laws of inanimate nature, being themselves irreducible to those laws. The pattern of organic bases in DNA which functions as a genetic code is a boundary condition irreducible to physics and chemistry." Michael Polanyi - Hungarian polymath - 1968 - Science (Vol. 160. no. 3834, pp. 1308 – 1312)
“an attempt to explain the formation of the genetic code from the chemical components of DNA… is comparable to the assumption that the text of a book originates from the paper molecules on which the sentences appear, and not from any external source of information.”
Dr. Wilder-Smith
The Capabilities of Chaos and Complexity - David L. Abel - 2009
Excerpt: "A monstrous ravine runs through presumed objective reality. It is the great divide between physicality and formalism. On the one side of this Grand Canyon lies everything that can be explained by the chance and necessity of physicodynamics. On the other side lies those phenomena than can only be explained by formal choice contingency and decision theory—the ability to choose with intent what aspects of ontological being will be preferred, pursued, selected, rearranged, integrated, organized, preserved, and used. Physical dynamics includes spontaneous non linear phenomena, but not our formal applied-science called “non linear dynamics”(i.e. language,information).
http://www.mdpi.com/1422-0067/10/1/247/pdf
Judge Rules DNA is Unique (and not patentable) Because it Carries Functional Information - March 2010Stephen Meyer is interviewed about the "information problem" in DNA, Signature in the Cell - video
“Today the idea that DNA carries genetic information in its long chain of nucleotides is so fundamental to biological thought that it is sometimes difficult to realize the enormous intellectual gap that it filled.... DNA is relatively inert chemically.”
http://www.uncommondescent.com/intelligent-design/judge-rules-dna-is-unique-because-it-carries-information/
http://downloads.cbn.com/cbnnewsplayer/cbnplayer.swf?aid=8497
The DNA Enigma - The Ultimate Chicken and Egg Problem - Chris Ashcraft - video
http://www.metacafe.com/watch/5542033/
The DNA Enigma - Where Did The Information Come From? - Stephen C. Meyer - video
http://www.metacafe.com/watch/4125886
Believing Life's 'Signature in the Cell' an Interview with Stephen Meyer - CBN video
http://www.evolutionnews.org/2010/06/believing_lifes_signature_in_t035911.html
Every Bit Digital DNA’s Programming Really Bugs Some ID Critics - March 2010Extreme Software Design In Cells - Stephen Meyer - video
Excerpt: In 2003 renowned biologist Leroy Hood and biotech guru David Galas authored a review article in the world’s leading scientific journal, Nature, titled, “The digital code of DNA.”,,, MIT Professor of Mechanical Engineering Seth Lloyd (no friend of ID) likewise eloquently explains why DNA has a “digital” nature: "It’s been known since the structure of DNA was elucidated that DNA is very digital. There are four possible base pairs per site, two bits per site, three and a half billion sites, seven billion bits of information in the human DNA. There’s a very recognizable digital code of the kind that electrical engineers rediscovered in the 1950s that maps the codes for sequences of DNA onto expressions of proteins."
http://www.salvomag.com/new/articles/salvo12/12luskin2.php
Stephen C. Meyer - Signature In The Cell:
"DNA functions like a software program," "We know from experience that software comes from programmers. Information--whether inscribed in hieroglyphics, written in a book or encoded in a radio signal--always arises from an intelligent source. So the discovery of digital code in DNA provides evidence that the information in DNA also had an intelligent source."
http://www.evolutionnews.org/2009/07/leading_advocate_of_intelligen.html
http://www.metacafe.com/watch/5495397/
DNA - The Genetic Code - Optimization, Error Minimization & Parallel Codes - Fazale Rana - video
http://www.metacafe.com/watch/4491422/
As well as coding optimization, DNA is also optimized to prevent damage from light:
DNA Optimized for PhotostabilityThe materialist must also account for the overriding complex architectural organization of DNA:
Excerpt: These nucleobases maximally absorb UV-radiation at the same wavelengths that are most effectively shielded by ozone. Moreover, the chemical structures of the nucleobases of DNA allow the UV-radiation to be efficiently radiated away after it has been absorbed, restricting the opportunity for damage.
http://www.reasons.org/dna-soaks-suns-rays
DNA Wrapping (Histone Protein Wrapping to Cell Division)- video
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gbSIBhFwQ4s
DNA - Replication, Wrapping & Mitosis - video
http://vimeo.com/33882804
Dr. Jerry Bergman, "Divine Engineering: Unraveling DNA's Design":It turns out that DNA is also optimized for 'maximally dense packing' as well:
The DNA packing process is both complex and elegant and is so efficient that it achieves a reduction in length of DNA by a factor of 1 million.
http://www.harunyahya.com/books/darwinism/if_darwin_had_known/if_darwin_had_known06.php#dipnot
DNA Packaging: Nucleosomes and Chromatin
each of us has enough DNA to go from here to the Sun and back more than 300 times, or around Earth's equator 2.5 million times! How is this possible? http://www.nature.com/scitable/topicpage/DNA-Packaging-Nucleosomes-and-Chromatin-310
Comprehensive Mapping of Long-Range Interactions Reveals Folding Principles of the Human Genome - Oct. 2009Although evolution depends on 'mutations/errors' to DNA to make evolution plausible, there are multiple layers of error correction in the cell to protect against any "random changes" to DNA from happening in the first place:
Excerpt: At the megabase scale, the chromatin conformation is consistent with a fractal globule, a knot-free, polymer conformation that enables maximally dense packing while preserving the ability to easily fold and unfold any genomic locus.
http://www.sciencemag.org/cgi/content/abstract/326/5950/289
3-D Structure Of Human Genome: Fractal Globule Architecture Packs Two Meters Of DNA Into Each Cell - Oct. 2009
Excerpt: the information density in the nucleus is trillions of times higher than on a computer chip -- while avoiding the knots and tangles that might interfere with the cell's ability to read its own genome. Moreover, the DNA can easily unfold and refold during gene activation, gene repression, and cell replication.
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/10/091008142957.htm
Scientists' 3-D View of Genes-at-Work Is Paradigm Shift in Genetics - Dec. 2009
Excerpt: Highly coordinated chromosomal choreography leads genes and the sequences controlling them, which are often positioned huge distances apart on chromosomes, to these 'hot spots'. Once close together within the same transcription factory, genes get switched on (a process called transcription) at an appropriate level at the right time in a specific cell type. This is the first demonstration that genes encoding proteins with related physiological role visit the same factory.
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/12/091215160649.htm
The Evolutionary Dynamics of Digital and Nucleotide Codes: A Mutation Protection Perspective - February 2011Contradiction in evolutionary theory - video - (The contradiction between extensive DNA repair mechanisms and the necessity of 'random mutations/errors' for Darwinian evolution)
Excerpt: "Unbounded random change of nucleotide codes through the accumulation of irreparable, advantageous, code-expanding, inheritable mutations at the level of individual nucleotides, as proposed by evolutionary theory, requires the mutation protection at the level of the individual nucleotides and at the higher levels of the code to be switched off or at least to dysfunction. Dysfunctioning mutation protection, however, is the origin of cancer and hereditary diseases, which reduce the capacity to live and to reproduce. Our mutation protection perspective of the evolutionary dynamics of digital and nucleotide codes thus reveals the presence of a paradox in evolutionary theory between the necessity and the disadvantage of dysfunctioning mutation protection. This mutation protection paradox, which is closely related with the paradox between evolvability and mutational robustness, needs further investigation."
http://www.arn.org/blogs/index.php/literature/2011/04/26/dna_repair_mechanisms_reveal_a_contradic
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dzh6Ct5cg1o
The Darwinism contradiction of repair systemsOf note: DNA repair machines ‘Fixing every pothole in America before the next rush hour’ is analogous to the traveling salesman problem. The traveling salesman problem is a NP-hard (read: very hard) problem in computer science; The problem involves finding the shortest possible route between cities, visiting each city only once. ‘Traveling salesman problems’ are notorious for keeping supercomputers busy for days.
Excerpt: The bottom line is that repair mechanisms are incompatible with Darwinism in principle. Since sophisticated repair mechanisms do exist in the cell after all, then the thing to discard in the dilemma to avoid the contradiction necessarily is the Darwinist dogma.
http://www.uncommondescent.com/intelligent-design/the-darwinism-contradiction-of-repair-systems/
Repair mechanisms in DNA include:
A proofreading system that catches almost all errors
A mismatch repair system to back up the proofreading system
Photoreactivation (light repair)
Removal of methyl or ethyl groups by O6 – methylguanine methyltransferase
Base excision repair
Nucleotide excision repair
Double-strand DNA break repair
Recombination repair
Error-prone bypass
http://www.newgeology.us/presentation32.html
Scientists Decipher Missing Piece Of First-responder DNA Repair Machine - Oct. 2009
Excerpt: The first-responder machine, a protein complex called Mre11-Rad50-Nbs1 (or MRN for short), homes in on the gravest kind of breaks in which both strands of a DNA double helix are cut. It then stops the cell from dividing and launches an error-free DNA repair process called homologous recombination, which replaces defective genes.
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/10/091001164106.htm
Quantum Dots Spotlight DNA-Repair Proteins in Motion - March 2010
Excerpt: "How this system works is an important unanswered question in this field," he said. "It has to be able to identify very small mistakes in a 3-dimensional morass of gene strands. It's akin to spotting potholes on every street all over the country and getting them fixed before the next rush hour." Dr. Bennett Van Houten - of note: A bacterium has about 40 team members on its pothole crew. That allows its entire genome to be scanned for errors in 20 minutes, the typical doubling time.,, These smart machines can apparently also interact with other damage control teams if they cannot fix the problem on the spot.
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/03/100311123522.htm
NP-hard problem
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NP-hard
Since it is obvious that there is not a material CPU (central processing unit) in the DNA, or cell, busily computing answers to this monster logistic problem, in a purely ‘material’ fashion, by crunching bits, then it is readily apparent that this monster ‘traveling salesman problem’, for DNA repair, is somehow being computed by ‘non-local’ quantum computation within the cell and/or within DNA;
Of related interest:
Can Quantum Mechanics Play a Role in DNA Damage Detection? (Short answer; YES!) – video - as well at about 27 Minute mark in the video - Fröhlich Condensation and Quantum Consciousness
http://www.scivee.tv/node/25476
Electric (Quantum) DNA repair - video
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=60tqaKyzHxs#!
DNA Computerfurther notes:
Excerpt: DNA computers will work through the use of DNA-based logic gates. These logic gates are very much similar to what is used in our computers today with the only difference being the composition of the input and output signals.,,, With the use of DNA logic gates, a DNA computer the size of a teardrop will be more powerful than today’s most powerful supercomputer. A DNA chip less than the size of a dime will have the capacity to perform 10 trillion parallel calculations at one time as well as hold ten terabytes of data. The capacity to perform parallel calculations, much more trillions of parallel calculations, is something silicon-based computers are not able to do. As such, a complex mathematical problem that could take silicon-based computers thousands of years to solve can be done by DNA computers in hours.
http://www.tech-faq.com/dna-computer.html
Researchers discover how key enzyme repairs sun-damaged DNA - July 2010Moreover, the protein machinery that replicates DNA is found to be vastly different in even the most ancient of different single celled organisms:
Excerpt: Ohio State University physicist and chemist Dongping Zhong and his colleagues describe how they were able to observe the enzyme, called photolyase, inject a single electron and proton into an injured strand of DNA. The two subatomic particles healed the damage in a few billionths of a second. "It sounds simple, but those two atomic particles actually initiated a very complex series of chemical reactions," said Zhong,,, "It all happened very fast, and the timing had to be just right."
http://www.physorg.com/news199111045.html
DNA 'molecular scissors' discovered - July 2010
Excerpt: ' We discovered a new protein, FAN1, which is essential for the repair of DNA breaks and other types of DNA damage.
http://www.physorg.com/news197902053.html
More DNA Repair Wonders Found - October 2010
Excerpt: This specialized enzyme may attract other repair enzymes to the site, and “speeds up the process by about 100 times.” The enzyme “uses several rod-like helical structures... to grab hold of DNA.”,,, On another DNA-repair front, today’s Nature described a “protein giant” named BRCA2 that is critically involved in DNA repair, specifically targeting the dangerous double-stranded breaks that can lead to serious health consequences
http://www.creationsafaris.com/crev201010.htm#20101007a
‘How good would each typists have to be, in order to match the DNA’s performance? The answer is almost too ludicrous to express. For what it is worth, every typists would have to have an error rate of about one in a trillion; that is, he would have to be accurate enough to make only a single error in typing the Bible 250,000 times at a stretch. A good secretary in real life has an error rate of about one per page. This is about a billion times the error rate of the histone H4 gene. A line of real life secretaries (without a correcting reference) would degrade the text to 99 percent of its original by the 20th member of the line of 20 billion. By the 10,000 member of the line less than 1 percent would survive. The point near total degradation would be reached before 99.9995% of the typists had even seen it.
Richard Dawkins - The blind watchmaker - Page 123-124
Did DNA replication evolve twice independently? - KooninThere simply is no smooth 'gradual transition' to be found between these most ancient of life forms, bacteria and archaea, as this following articles and videos clearly point out:
Excerpt: However, several core components of the bacterial (DNA) replication machinery are unrelated or only distantly related to the functionally equivalent components of the archaeal/eukaryotic (DNA) replication apparatus.
http://nar.oxfordjournals.org/cgi/content/full/27/17/3389
Was our oldest ancestor a proton-powered rock?Problems of the RNA World - Did DNA Evolve Twice? - Dr. Fazale Rana - video
Excerpt: In particular, the detailed mechanics of DNA replication would have been quite different. It looks as if DNA replication evolved independently in bacteria and archaea,... Even more baffling, says Martin, neither the cell membranes nor the cell walls have any details in common (between the bacteria and the archaea).
http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg20427306.200-was-our-oldest-ancestor-a-protonpowered-rock.html?page=1
http://www.metacafe.com/watch/4564682
An enormous gap exists between prokaryote (bacteria and cyanobacteria) cells and eukaryote (protists, plants and animals) type of cells. A crucial difference between prokaryotes and eukaryotes is the means they use to produce ATP (energy).
http://www.trueorigin.org/atp.asp
Mitochondria - Molecular Machine - Powerhouse Of The Cell - video
http://www.metacafe.com/watch/5510941/
On The Non-Evidence For The Endosymbiotic Origin Of The Mitochondria - March 2011
http://www.uncommondescent.com/intelligent-design/on-the-non-evidence-for-the-endosymbiotic-origin-of-the-mitochondria/
Bacteria Too Complex To Be Primitive Eukaryote Ancestors - July 2010Materialism simply has no credible answer for how this extreme level of complexity 'accidentally' arose in the first living cell, nor how this extreme integrated complexity found in life randomly evolved to the next 'simple' step of life, and to imagine/believe it can happen by accident, with no compelling evidence to support your position, is not empirical science. In fact, believing in something without any reasonable evidence whatsoever is usually called blind faith.
Excerpt: “Bacteria have long been considered simple relatives of eukaryotes,” wrote Alan Wolfe for his colleagues at Loyola. “Obviously, this misperception must be modified.... There is a whole process going on that we have been blind to.”,,, For one thing, Forterre and Gribaldo revealed serious shortcomings with the popular “endosymbiosis” model – the idea that a prokaryote engulfed an archaea and gave rise to a symbiotic relationship that produced a eukaryote.
http://www.creationsafaris.com/crev201007.htm#20100712b
On the Origin of Mitochondria: Reasons for Skepticism on the Endosymbiotic Story -
Jonathan M. - January 10, 2012
Excerpt: While we find examples of similarity between eukaryotic mitochondria and bacterial cells, other cases also reveal stark differences. In addition, the sheer lack of a mechanistic basis for mitochondrial endosymbiotic assimilation ought to -- at the very least -- give us reason for caution and the expectation of some fairly spectacular evidence for the claim being made. At present, however, such evidence does not exist -- and justifiably gives one cause for skepticism.
http://www.evolutionnews.org/2012/01/on_the_origin_o054891.html
Even more problematic for evolutionists is that even within the 'bacterial world' there are enormous unexplained gaps of completely unique genes within each different species of bacteria:
ORFan Genes Challenge Common Descent – Paul Nelson – video with references
http://www.vimeo.com/17135166
Because of these insurmountable problems, for generating novel functional proteins, or meaningful DNA, or any meaningfully functional information whatsoever, materialists are trying real hard to sell the 'RNA World' to the general public. Yet, we have absolutely no compelling reason to believe that a hypothetical 'RNA World' will ever start magically generating the massive amounts of complex functional information required for the first life. Here is a sampling of many critiques against the RNA world hypothesis:
Three subsets of sequence complexity and their relevance to biopolymeric information - David L Abel and Jack T Trevors:Doug Axe humorously dismantled one of the latest ploys by materialists to oversell their meager evidence for a "self-replicating RNA molecule" in this following article:
Excerpt: Genetic algorithms instruct sophisticated biological organization. Three qualitative kinds of sequence complexity exist: random (RSC), ordered (OSC), and functional (FSC). FSC alone provides algorithmic instruction...No empirical evidence exists of either RSC of OSC ever having produced a single instance of sophisticated biological organization...It is only in researching the pre-RNA world that the problem of single-stranded metabolically functional sequencing of ribonucleotides (or their analogs) becomes acute.
http://www.biomedcentral.com/content/pdf/1742-4682-2-29.pdf
Origin of Life: Claiming Something for Almost Nothing (RNA)
Excerpt: Yarus admitted, “the tiny replicator has not been found, and that its existence will be decided by experiments not yet done, perhaps not yet imagined.” But does this (laboratory) work support a naturalistic origin of life? A key question is whether a (self-replicating) molecule could form under plausible prebiotic conditions. Here’s how the paper described their work in the lab to get this (precursor) molecule:,,(several 'unnatural' complex steps are listed)
http://www.creationsafaris.com/crev201003.htm#20100302a
Biologic Institute Announces First Self-Replicating Motor Vehicle - Doug Axe -Stephen Meyer points out that intelligence design was clearly required for even this meager result that Dr. Axe spoke about:
Excerpt: "So, advertising this as “self-replication” is a bit like advertising something as “free” when the actual deal is 1 free for every 1,600 purchased. It’s even worse, though, because you need lots of the pre-made precursors in cozy proximity to a finished RNA in order to kick the process off. That makes the real deal more like n free for every 1,600 n purchased, with the caveats that n must be a very large number and that full payment must be made in advance."
http://biologicinstitute.org/2009/04/01/biologic-institute-announces-first-self-replicating-motor-vehicle/
Biological Information: The Puzzle of Life that Darwinism Hasn’t Solved - Stephen C. Meyer
Thus, as my book Signature in the Cell shows, Joyce’s experiments not only demonstrate that self-replication itself depends upon information-rich molecules, but they also confirm that intelligent design is the only known means by which information arises. http://www.evolutionnews.org//2009/06/biological_information_the_puz.html
Stephen Meyer Responds to Fletcher in Times Literary Supplement - Jan. 2010Ann Gauger offers a easy to understand outline of Meyer and Nelson's preceding paper:
Excerpt: everything we know about RNA catalysts, including those with partial self-copying capacity, shows that the function of these molecules depends upon the precise arrangement of their information-carrying constituents (i.e., their nucleotide bases). Functional RNA catalysts arise only once RNA bases are specifically-arranged into information-rich sequences—that is, function arises after, not before, the information problem has been solved.
http://www.evolutionnews.org/2010/01/stephen_meyer_responds_to_flet.html
Can the Origin of the Genetic Code Be Explained by Direct RNA Templating?
Stephen C. Meyer and Paul A. Nelson
Excerpt: Although Yarus et al. claim that the DRT model undermines an intelligent design explanation for the origin of the genetic code, the model’s many shortcomings in fact illustrate the insufficiency of undirected chemistry to construct the semantic system represented by the code we see today.
http://bio-complexity.org/ojs/index.php/main/article/view/BIO-C.2011.2/BIO-C.2011.2
In BIO-Complexity, Meyer and Nelson Debunk DRT - Ann GaugerMaterialists have not even created all 4 'letters' of RNA by natural means:
Excerpt: While DNA carries information necessary to build cells, it performs no chemistry and builds no cellular structures by itself. Rather, the information in DNA must be translated into proteins, which then can carry out the various chemical and structural functions of life. But there is no direct way to convert a given DNA sequence into a protein sequence -- no direct chemical association between DNA nucleotides and amino acids. Some sort of decoding mechanism is needed to translate the information encoded in DNA into protein.
That decoding mechanism involves a whole host of enzymes, RNAs and regulatory molecules, all functioning as an elegant, efficient, accurate and complicated system for copying and translating the information in DNA into a usable form.,,, The problem is, this decoding system is self-referential and causally circular. Explaining its origin becomes a chicken and egg problem. As it stands now, you need the machinery that translates DNA into protein in order to make the very same machinery that translates DNA into protein.,,, There is no natural affinity between RNAs, amino acids, and codes. And the origin of life remains inexplicable in materialistic terms.
http://www.evolutionnews.org/2011/08/in_bio-complexity_meyer_and_ne050041.html
Response to Darrel Falk’s Review of Signature in the Cell - Stephen Meyer - Jan. 2010Here are some more critiques of the 'RNA World' scenario:
Excerpt: Sutherland’s work only partially addresses the first and least severe of these difficulties: the problem of generating the constituent building blocks or monomers in plausible pre-biotic conditions. It does not address the more severe problem of explaining how the bases in nucleic acids (either DNA or RNA) acquired their specific information-rich arrangements.
http://www.signatureinthecell.com/responses/response-to-darrel-falk.php
Stirring the Soup - May 2009
"essentially, the scientists have succeeded in creating a couple of letters of the biological alphabet (in a "thermodynamically uphill" environment). What they need to do now is create the remaining letters, and then show how these letters were able to attach themselves together to form long chains of RNA, and arrange themselves in a specific order to encode information for creating specific proteins, and instructions to assemble the proteins into cells, tissues, organs, systems, and finally, complete phenotypes."
Uncommon Descent - C Bass:
http://www.uncommondescent.com/intelligent-design/stirring-the-soup/#comments
Scientists Say Intelligent Designer Needed for Origin of Life Chemistry
Excerpt: Organic chemist Dr. Charles Garner recently noted in private correspondence that "while this work helps one imagine how RNA might form, it does nothing to address the information content of RNA. So, yes, there was a lot of guidance by an intelligent chemist." Sutherland's research produced only 2 of the 4 RNA nucleobases, and Dr. Garner also explained why, as is often the case, "the basic chemistry itself also required the hand of an intelligent chemist." http://www.evolutionnews.org/2009/07/scientists_say_intelligent_des.html#more
Meyer Responds to Stephen Fletcher - Stephen Meyer - March 2010
Excerpt: Nevertheless, this work does nothing to address the much more acute problem of explaining how the nucleotide bases in DNA or RNA acquired their specific information-rich arrangements, which is the central topic of my book (Signature In The Cell). In effect, the Powner (Sutherland) study helps explain the origin of the “letters” in the genetic text, but not their specific arrangement into functional “words” or “sentences.”
http://www.evolutionnews.org/2010/03/meyer_responds_to_stephen_flet.html
Deflating the synthetic proofs of the RNA World - David Tyler - August 2011
Excerpt: There may be a consensus about the RNA World, but it is not a consensus based on evidence. The approach is supported by synthetic proofs drawn from unrealistic laboratory experiments, showing all the signs of a dogmatism that pastes its ideas on to nature.
http://www.arn.org/blogs/index.php/literature/2011/08/04/deflating_the_synthetic_proofs_of_the_rn
Did Life Begin in an RNA World?
http://www.creationsafaris.com/crev0702.htm#abiogenesis62
Self Replication and Perpetual Motion - The Second Law's Take On The RNA World
http://theory-of-evolution.net/chap10/self-replicating-RNA-perpetual-motion-4.php
Chemistry by Chance: A Formula for Non-Life by Charles McCombs, Ph.D.The RNA World: A Critique - Gordon Mills and Dean Kenyon:
Excerpt: The following eight obstacles in chemistry ensure that life by chance is untenable.
1. The Problem of Unreactivity
2. The Problem of Ionization
3. The Problem of Mass Action
4. The Problem of Reactivity
5. The Problem of Selectivity
6. The Problem of Solubility
7. The Problem of Sugar
8. The Problem of Chirality
The chemical control needed for the formation of a specific sequence in a polymer chain is just not possible through random chance. The synthesis of proteins and DNA/RNA in the laboratory requires the chemist to control the reaction conditions, to thoroughly understand the reactivity and selectivity of each component, and to carefully control the order of addition of the components as the chain is building in size.
http://www.icr.org/article/chemistry-by-chance-formula-for-non-life/
http://www.arn.org/docs/odesign/od171/ribo171.htm
OOL (Origin Of Life) on the Rocks:Since the RNA-World has so many insurmountable problems, some evolutionists have tried the 'metabolism first' scenario to try get past the gargantuan probabilistic hurdles facing the origin of life 'problem'. But yet again the evolutionists have failed miserably:
Excerpt: Robert Shapiro, a senior prize-winning chemist, cancer researcher, emeritus professor and author of books in the field, debunks the Miller experiment, the RNA World and other popular experiments as unrealistic dead ends.
http://www.creationsafaris.com/crev200702.htm#20070215a
New Scientist Weighs in on the Origin of Life - Jonathan M. - August 17, 2011
Excerpt: To conclude, Michael Marshall's New Scientist article does not even come close to demonstrating the feasibility of the RNA world hypothesis, much less the origin of the sequence-specific information necessary for even the simplest of biological systems.
http://www.evolutionnews.org/2011/08/new_scientist_weighs_in_on_ori049621.html
The Origin of Life: An RNA World? - Jonathan M. - August 22, 2011 (Refutation of Nick Matzke)
Excerpt Summary & Conclusion
We have explored just a small handful of the confounding difficulties confronting the chemical origin of life. This is not a god-of-the-gaps argument, as Matzke claims, but rather a positive argument, based on our uniform and repeated experience of cause-and-effect. It is not based on what we don't know, but on what we do know: that intelligence is a necessary and sufficient condition for the production of novel complex and functionally specified information. The design inference is based on sound and conventional scientific methodology. It utilizes the historical or abductive method and infers to the best explanation from multiple competing hypotheses.
http://www.evolutionnews.org/2011/08/the_rna_world_a_response_to_ni049871.html
Origin of Life: Claiming Something for Almost Nothing - March 2010
Excerpt: A look through the paper, however, shows complex lab procedures that are hard to justify in nature. (intelligence is required for even this meager step),,, the problem of sequencing the nucleotides – the key question – has not been addressed. Where did the genetic code come from? One ribozyme is not a code.
http://www.creationsafaris.com/crev201003.htm#20100302a
Nick Lane Takes on the Origin of Life and DNA - Jonathan McLatchie - July 2010
Excerpt: As Stephen Meyer has comprehensively documented in his book, Signature in the Cell, the RNA-world hypothesis is fraught with problems, quite apart from those pertaining to the origin of information. For example, the formation of the first RNA molecule would have required the prior emergence of smaller constituent molecules, including ribose sugar, phosphate molecules, and the four RNA nucleotide bases. However, it turns out that both synthesizing and maintaining these essential RNA building blocks -- especially ribose -- and the nucleotide bases is a very difficult task under origin-of-life conditions.
http://www.evolutionnews.org/2010/07/nick_lane_and_the_ten_great_in036101.html
Lack of evolvability in self-sustaining autocatalytic networks constraints metabolism-first scenarios for the origin of life - Dec. 2009A realistic look at the preceding paper is found here:
Excerpt: we demonstrate here that replication of compositional information is so inaccurate that fitter compositional genomes cannot be maintained by selection and, therefore, the system lacks evolvability (i.e., it cannot substantially depart from the asymptotic steady-state solution already built-in in the dynamical equations).
http://www.pnas.org/content/107/4/1470
Metabolism-First Origin of Life Won’t WorkDouglas Axe also comments on the results of the preceding study here:
Excerpt: "“We do not know how the transition to digitally encoded information has happened in the originally inanimate world; that is, we do not know where the RNA world might have come from,"
http://www.creationsafaris.com/crev201001.htm#20100105a
Explaining Life by Explaining it Away — February 6th, 2010 by Douglas AxeOther leading researchers find the metabolism first scenario wholly implausible:
Excerpt: Think of it this way. If no conceivable mixture of small molecules provides even a faint hope for the emergence of metabolism catalyzed by genetically encoded enzymes, then whatever these mixtures may or may not do, they can’t explain life as we see it. And as the evidence now stands, one would be hard pressed to argue that there is even a faint hope.
http://biologicinstitute.org/2010/02/06/explaining-life-by-explaining-it-away/
“Pigs don’t fly”Even leading 'new atheist' Richard Dawkins admits no one has a clue how the first living cell 'evolved':
Excerpt: One of the most devastating critiques of the new “metabolism first” approaches to the origin of life was leveled two years ago by Leslie Orgel right before he died (Nov. 2007)
http://www.creationsafaris.com/crev200801.htm#20080126a
Leading Darwinist Richard Dawkins Dodges Debates, Refuses to Defend Evolution - Stephen MeyerIn realizing the staggering impossibilities presented for any conceivable origin of life scenario, some materialists, including Francis Crick the co-discover of the DNA helix, have, in my opinion, completely left the field of experimental biology and suggested pan-spermia, the theory pre-biotic amino acids, or life itself, came to earth from outer-space on comets, or even delivered by UFO's, to account for this sudden appearance of life on earth.
"(Richard) Dawkins says that there is no evidence for intelligent design in life, and yet he also acknowledges that neither he nor anyone else has an evolutionary explanation for the origin of the first living cell. We know now even the simplest forms of life are chock-full of digital code, complex information processing systems and other exquisite forms of nanotechnology."
http://www.discovery.org/a/12801
Richard Dawkins Vs. Ben Stein - The UFO Interview - video
http://www.metacafe.com/watch/4134259
The panspermia hypothesis, which is really born out of sheer desperation rather than any sound reason on the materialist part, has several problems. One problem is astronomers, using spectral analysis, have not found any vast reservoirs of biological molecules anywhere they have looked in the universe (Ross; Creation as Science). Another problem is, even if comets were nothing but pre-biotic amino acid snowballs, how are the amino acids going to molecularly survive the furnace-like temperatures generated when the comet crashes into the earth?
Botching Evolutionary Science - Casey Luskin - April 2009Dr. Hugh Ross has surmised delivery by meteorites or comets has now effectively been ruled out because of the homochirality problem of finding only the 'left handed' amino acids needed to build life in the universe somewhere:
Excerpt: Of course, the textbook makes no mention of studies which have shown that such impacts would likely vaporize organic molecules carried to earth. (See Edward Anders. “Pre-biotic organic matter from comets and asteroids.” Nature, Vol. 342:255-257 (1989).
http://www.evolutionnews.org/2010/04/the_biggest_problem_in_asking.html#more
"Circularly polarized UV light only produces a 17% excess (of R or L-amino-acids) and such selective destruction of organics require monochromatic light (monochromatic light isn’t known to occur naturally anywhere in the universe). So directed panspermia (life delivered by UFO's) is their last resort." Hugh RossI would like to reiterate, materialism postulated a very simple first cell, yet the simplest cell scientists have been able to find on earth, which can't even be seen with the naked eye, is vastly more complex than any machine man has ever made through concerted effort. This is especially true since a cell can self-replicate with seeming ease whereas a machine cannot. This following site has a interactive graph that lets people look into this 'invisible' world of microbes:
CELL TO CARBON ATOM - SIZE AND SCALE - Interactive Graph - Move cursor at the bottom of graph to the right to reduce the size:
http://learn.genetics.utah.edu/content/begin/cells/scale/
Here is a neat little video clip that I wish was a bit longer (they say a longer one is in the works):
The Flow – Resonance Film – video
Description: The Flow, from inside a cell, looks at the supervening layers of reality that we can observe, from quarks to nucleons to atoms and beyond. The deeper we go into the foundations of reality the more it loses its form, eventually becoming a pure mathematical conception.
http://vimeo.com/groups/7286/videos/25430131
The smallest cyano-bacterium known to science has hundreds of millions of individual atomic molecules (not counting water molecules), divided into nearly a thousand completely distinct atomic molecule types; and a genome (DNA sequence) of 1.8 million bits, with over a million individual protein molecules which are sub-divided into hundreds of distinct protein classes. Once again, the integrated complexity found in the simplest bacterium known to science easily outclasses the integrated complexity of any machine man has ever made. These following articles and videos make this point clear:
"The manuals needed for building the entire space shuttle and all its components and all its support systems would be truly enormous! Yet the specified complexity (information) of even the simplest form of life - a bacterium - is arguably as great as that of the space shuttle."Ben Stein - EXPELLED - The Staggering Complexity Of The Cell - video
J.C. Sanford - Geneticist - Genetic Entropy and the Mystery Of the Genome
'The information content of a simple cell has been estimated as around 10^12 bits, comparable to about a hundred million pages of the Encyclopedia Britannica."Carl Sagan, "Life" in Encyclopedia Britannica: Macropaedia (1974 ed.), pp. 893-894
http://www.metacafe.com/watch/4227700
“Although the tiniest living things known to science, bacterial cells, are incredibly small (10^-12 grams), each is a veritable micro-miniaturized factory containing thousands of elegantly designed pieces of intricate molecular machinery, made up altogether of one hundred thousand million atoms, far more complicated than any machine built by man and absolutely without parallel in the non-living world”. Michael Denton, "Evolution: A Theory in Crisis," 1986, p. 250.The Cell - A World Of Complexity Darwin Never Dreamed Of - Donald E. Johnson - video
The Cell as a Collection of Protein Machines
"We have always underestimated cells. Undoubtedly we still do today,,, Indeed, the entire cell can be viewed as a factory that contains an elaborate network of interlocking assembly lines, each which is composed of a set of large protein machines."
Bruce Alberts: Former President, National Academy of Sciences;
http://www.imbb.forth.gr/people/aeconomou/documents/Alberts98.pdf
http://www.metacafe.com/watch/4139390
Bioinformatics: The Information in Life - Donald Johnson - video
http://vimeo.com/11314902
On this episode of ID the Future, Casey Luskin interviews Dr. Donald E. Johnson about his 2010 book, Programming of Life, which compares the workings of biology to a computer.
Programming of Life - February 2012 - podcast
http://intelligentdesign.podomatic.com/entry/2012-02-17T13_29_15-08_00
Here is the video that goes with the 'Programming Of Life' book:
Programming of Life - video
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k6iWX9nGocg&feature=list_related&playnext=1&list=SPAFDF33F11E2FB840
Here is Dr. Johnson's Home Page;
Science Integrity - Exposing Unsubstantiated Science Claims
http://scienceintegrity.net/default.aspx
On a slide in the preceding video, entitled 'Information Systems In Life', Dr. Johnson points out that:
* the genetic system is a pre-existing operating system;
* the specific genetic program (genome) is an application;
* the native language has codon-based encryption system;
* the codes are read by enzyme computers with their own operating system;
* each enzyme’s output is to another operating system in a ribosome;
* codes are decrypted and output to tRNA computers;
* each codon-specified amino acid is transported to a protein construction site; and
* in each cell, there are multiple operating systems, multiple programming languages, encoding/decoding hardware and software, specialized communications systems, error detection/correction systems, specialized input/output for organelle control and feedback, and a variety of specialized “devices” to accomplish the tasks of life.
Cells Are Like Robust Computational Systems, - June 2009This stunning energy efficiency of a cell is found across all life domains, thus strongly suggesting that all life on earth was Intelligently Design for maximal efficiency instead of accidentally, and gradually, evolved:
Excerpt: Gene regulatory networks in cell nuclei are similar to cloud computing networks, such as Google or Yahoo!, researchers report today in the online journal Molecular Systems Biology. The similarity is that each system keeps working despite the failure of individual components, whether they are master genes or computer processors. ,,,,"We now have reason to think of cells as robust computational devices, employing redundancy in the same way that enables large computing systems, such as Amazon, to keep operating despite the fact that servers routinely fail."
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/06/090616103205.htm
Nanoelectronic Transistor Combined With Biological Machine Could Lead To Better Electronics: - Aug. 2009
Excerpt: While modern communication devices rely on electric fields and currents to carry the flow of information, biological systems are much more complex. They use an arsenal of membrane receptors, channels and pumps to control signal transduction that is unmatched by even the most powerful computers.
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/08/090811091834.htm
Paramecium caudatum can communicate with neighbors using a non-molecular method, probably photons. The cell populations were separated either with glass allowing photon transmission from 340 nm to longer waves, or quartz being transmittable from 150 nm, i.e. from UVlight to longer waves. Energy uptake, cell division rate and growth correlation were influenced.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paramecium_caudatum
Systems biology: Untangling the protein web - July 2009
Excerpt: Vidal thinks that technological improvements — especially in nanotechnology, to generate more data, and microscopy, to explore interaction inside cells, along with increased computer power — are required to push systems biology forward. "Combine all this and you can start to think that maybe some of the information flow can be captured," he says. But when it comes to figuring out the best way to explore information flow in cells, Tyers jokes that it is like comparing different degrees of infinity. "The interesting point coming out of all these studies is how complex these systems are — the different feedback loops and how they cross-regulate each other and adapt to perturbations are only just becoming apparent," he says. "The simple pathway models are a gross oversimplification of what is actually happening."
http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v460/n7253/full/460415a.html
Simulations reveal new information about the gateway to the cell nucleus
Excerpt: “There are whole machines in living cells that are made of hundreds or thousands of proteins,” says Schulten, “and the nuclear pore is one of those systems. It’s actually one of the most magnificent systems in the cell.”,,,Hundreds to thousands of NPCs are embedded in the nuclear envelope of each cell,"...
http://www.psc.edu/science/2006/schulten/
Life Leads the Way to Invention - Feb. 2010
Excerpt: a cell is 10,000 times more energy-efficient than a transistor. “ In one second, a cell performs about 10 million energy-consuming chemical reactions, which altogether require about one picowatt (one millionth millionth of a watt) of power.” This and other amazing facts lead to an obvious conclusion: inventors ought to look to life for ideas.,,, Essentially, cells may be viewed as circuits that use molecules, ions, proteins and DNA instead of electrons and transistors. That analogy suggests that it should be possible to build electronic chips – what Sarpeshkar calls “cellular chemical computers” – that mimic chemical reactions very efficiently and on a very fast timescale.
http://creationsafaris.com/crev201002.htm#20100226a
Mean mass-specific metabolic rates are strikingly similar across life's major domains: Evidence for life's metabolic optimumAlso of interest is that a cell apparently seems to be successfully designed along the very stringent guidelines laid out by Landauer's principle of 'reversible computation' in order to achieve such amazing energy efficiency, something man has yet to accomplish in any meaningful way for computers:
Excerpt: Here, using the largest database to date, for 3,006 species that includes most of the range of biological diversity on the planet—from bacteria to elephants, and algae to sapling trees—we show that metabolism displays a striking degree of homeostasis across all of life.
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2572558/
Notes on Landauer’s principle, reversible computation, and Maxwell’s Demon - Charles H. BennettFurther quotes on the unmatched complexity of the cell:
Excerpt: Of course, in practice, almost all data processing is done on macroscopic apparatus, dissipating macroscopic amounts of energy far in excess of what would be required by Landauer’s principle. Nevertheless, some stages of biomolecular information processing, such as transcription of DNA to RNA, appear to be accomplished by chemical reactions that are reversible not only in principle but in practice.,,,,
http://www.hep.princeton.edu/~mcdonald/examples/QM/bennett_shpmp_34_501_03.pdf
“Each cell with genetic information, from bacteria to man, consists of artificial languages and their decoding systems, memory banks for information storage and retrieval, elegant control systems regulating the automated assembly of parts and components, error fail-safe and proof-reading devices utilized for quality control, assembly processes involving the principle of prefabrication and modular construction and a capacity not equaled in any of our most advanced machines, for it would be capable of replicating its entire structure within a matter of a few hours" Geneticist Michael Denton PhD. Evolution: A Theory In Crisis pg. 329Here is a good article that came out in GN magazine in Nov. 2009:
"To grasp the reality of life as it has been revealed by molecular biology, we must first magnify a cell a thousand million times until it is 20 kilometers in diameter and resembles a giant airship large enough to cover a great city like London or New York. What we would see then would be an object of unparalleled complexity,...we would find ourselves in a world of supreme technology and bewildering complexity."
Geneticist Michael Denton PhD., Evolution: A Theory In Crisis, pg.328
Building a Cell: Staggering Complexity: - Feb. 2010
Excerpt: “All organisms, from bacteria to humans, face the daunting task of replicating, packaging and segregating up to two metres (about 6 x 10^9 base pairs) of DNA when each cell divides,” “,,,the segregation machinery must function with far greater accuracy than man-made machines and with an exquisitely soft touch to prevent the DNA strands from breaking.” Bloom and Joglekar talked “machine language” over and over. The cell has specialized machines for all kinds of tasks: segregation machines, packaging machines, elaborate machines, streamlined machines, protein translocation machines, DNA-processing machines, DNA-translocation machines, robust macromolecular machines, accurate machines, ratchets, translocation pumps, mitotic spindles, DNA springs, coupling devices, and more. The authors struggle to “understand how these remarkable machines function with such exquisite accuracy.”
http://www.creationsafaris.com/crev201002.htm#20100202a
10 Ways Darwin Got It WrongThere simply is no "simple life" on earth as materialism had presumed - even the well known single celled amoeba has the complexity of the city of London and reproduces that complexity in only 20 minutes.
Excerpt: As molecular biologist Jonathan Wells and mathematician William Dembski point out: “It’s true that eukaryotic cells are the most complicated cells we know. But the simplest life forms we know, the prokaryotic cells (such as bacteria, which lack a nucleus), are themselves immensely complex.,,, There is no evidence whatsoever of earlier, more primitive life forms from which prokaryotes might have evolved” (How to Be an Intellectually Fulfilled Atheist (or Not), 2008, p. 4). These authors then mention what these two types of cells share in terms of complexity:
• Information processing, storage and retrieval.
• Artificial languages and their decoding systems.
• Error detection, correction and proofreading devices for quality control.
• Digital data-embedding technology.
• Transportation and distribution systems.
• Automated parcel addressing (similar to zip codes and UPS labels).
• Assembly processes employing pre-fabrication and modular construction.
• Self-reproducing robotic manufacturing plants.
So it turns out that cells are far more complex and sophisticated than Darwin could have conceived of. How did mere chance produce this, when even human planning and engineering cannot?
http://www.gnmagazine.org/issues/gn85/10-ways-darwin-wrong.htm
Programming of Life - Biological Computers - video
http://www.youtube.com/user/Programmingoflife#p/c/AFDF33F11E2FB840/5/hRooe6ehrPs
The inner life of a cell - Harvard University - video
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MMrvmZ2i1sE
User's guide to the video
http://sparkleberrysprings.com/innerlifeofcell.html
Dr. Fazale (Fuz) Rana discusses the beauty and elegance of biochemistry - video
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_zxYPO62Ygc
Here are some fairly simple overviews of the cell:
How the Body Works: The Cell - video
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NiiLS_ovLwM
Programming of Life - Eukaryotic Cell - video
http://www.youtube.com/user/Programmingoflife#p/c/6/WVCwDOMCpXY
Map Of Major Metabolic Pathways In A Cell - Diagram
http://www.sigmaaldrich.com/img/assets/4202/MetabolicPathways_6_17_04_.pdf
Glycolysis and the Citric Acid Cycle: The Control of Proteins and Pathways - Cornelius Hunter - July 2011
http://darwins-god.blogspot.com/2011/07/glycolysis-and-citric-acid-cycle.html
Metabolism: A Cascade of DesignWonders of the Cell - 2008 - Christopher Wayne Ashcraft - video
Excerpt: A team of biological and chemical engineers wanted to understand just how robust metabolic pathways are. To gain this insight, the researchers compared how far the errors cascade in pathways found in a variety of single-celled organisms with errors in randomly generated metabolic pathways. They learned that when defects occur in the cell’s metabolic pathways, they cascade much shorter distances than when errors occur in random metabolic routes. Thus, it appears that metabolic pathways in nature are highly optimized and unusually robust, demonstrating that metabolic networks in the protoplasm are not haphazardly arranged but highly organized.
http://www.reasons.org/metabolism-cascade-design
Making the Case for Intelligent Design More Robust
Excerpt: ,,, In other words, metabolic pathways are optimized to withstand inevitable concentration changes of metabolites.
http://www.reasons.org/making-case-intelligent-design-more-robust
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bfoRTMmoxzo
Primary Cilium As Cellular 'GPS System' Crucial To Wound RepairMere Biochemistry: Cell Division Involves Thousands of Complex, Interacting Parts - September 2010
Excerpt: The primary cilium, the solitary, antenna-like structure that studs the outer surfaces of virtually all human cells, orient cells to move in the right direction and at the speed needed to heal wounds, much like a Global Positioning System helps ships navigate to their destinations.
"What we are dealing with is a physiological analogy to the GPS system with a coupled autopilot that coordinates air traffic or tankers on open sea,"
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/12/081217190330.htm
http://www.creationsafaris.com/crev201009.htm#20100925a
Astonishingly, actual motors, which far surpass man-made motors in 'engineering parameters', are now being found inside 'simple cells'.
Articles and Videos on Molecular Motors
http://docs.google.com/Doc?docid=0AYmaSrBPNEmGZGM4ejY3d3pfMzlkNjYydmRkZw&hl=en
Michael Behe - Life Reeks Of Design - 2010 - video
http://www.metacafe.com/watch/5066181
Macroevolution, Good Science, and Redeeming Mathematics - Kate Deddens - February 2012And in spite of the fact of finding molecular motors permeating the simplest of bacterial life, there are no detailed Darwinian accounts for the evolution of even one such motor or system.
Excerpted quote: As obviously designed as a spaceship or a computer…Evolutionary biologists have been able to pretend to know how complex biological systems originated only because they treated them as black boxes. Now that biochemists have opened the black boxes and see what is inside, they know the Darwinian theory is just a story, not a scientific explanation…
(Phillip E. Johnson, Defeating Darwinism, Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 1997, 77-78.)
http://www.classicalconversations.com/easyblog/entry/macroevolution-good-science-and-redeeming-mathematics.html
"There are no detailed Darwinian accounts for the evolution of any fundamental biochemical or cellular system only a variety of wishful speculations. It is remarkable that Darwinism is accepted as a satisfactory explanation of such a vast subject."The following expert doesn't even hide his very unscientific preconceived philosophical bias against intelligent design,,,
James Shapiro - Molecular Biologist
‘We should reject, as a matter of principle, the substitution of intelligent design for the dialogue of chance and necessity,,,Yet at the same time the same expert readily admits that neo-Darwinism has ZERO evidence for the chance and necessity of material processes producing any cellular system whatsoever,,,
,,,we must concede that there are presently no detailed Darwinian accounts of the evolution of any biochemical or cellular system, only a variety of wishful speculations.’Michael Behe - No Scientific Literature For Evolution of Any Irreducibly Complex Molecular Machines
Franklin M. Harold,* 2001. The way of the cell: molecules, organisms and the order of life, Oxford University Press, New York, p. 205.
*Professor Emeritus of Biochemistry, Colorado State University, USA
http://www.metacafe.com/watch/5302950/
“The response I have received from repeating Behe's claim about the evolutionary literature, which simply brings out the point being made implicitly by many others, such as Chris Dutton and so on, is that I obviously have not read the right books. There are, I am sure, evolutionists who have described how the transitions in question could have occurred.” And he continues, “When I ask in which books I can find these discussions, however, I either get no answer or else some titles that, upon examination, do not, in fact, contain the promised accounts. That such accounts exist seems to be something that is widely known, but I have yet to encounter anyone who knows where they exist.”What I find very persuasive, to the suggestion that the universe was designed with life in mind, is that physicists find many processes in a cell operate at the 'near optimal' capacities allowed in any physical system:
David Ray Griffin - retired professor of philosophy of religion and theology
William Bialek - Professor Of Physics - Princeton University:Also of note: There is a fairly substantial economic payoff to be had for presupposing superior 'Intelligent Design' in life, as is testified to by the burgeoning field of Biomimicry:
Excerpt: "A central theme in my research is an appreciation for how well things “work” in biological systems. It is, after all, some notion of functional behavior that distinguishes life from inanimate matter, and it is a challenge to quantify this functionality in a language that parallels our characterization of other physical systems. Strikingly, when we do this (and there are not so many cases where it has been done!), the performance of biological systems often approaches some limits set by basic physical principles. While it is popular to view biological mechanisms as an historical record of evolutionary and developmental compromises, these observations on functional performance point toward a very different view of life as having selected a set of near optimal mechanisms for its most crucial tasks.,,,The idea of performance near the physical limits crosses many levels of biological organization, from single molecules to cells to perception and learning in the brain,,,,"
http://www.princeton.edu/~wbialek/wbialek.html
Physicists Finding Perfection… in Biology — June 1st, 2009 by Biologic Staff
Excerpt: "biological processes tend to be optimal in cases where this can be tested."
http://biologicinstitute.org/2009/06/01/physicists-finding-perfection-in-biology/
Biomimicry - Superior Designs That Were Found In Life
http://docs.google.com/Doc?docid=0AYmaSrBPNEmGZGM4ejY3d3pfNDBkZ3Nwcnd0Yw&hl=en
Also of note; Sometimes evolutionists will point to the Rubisco Enzyme as an example of 'bad design', but it turns out the Rubisco Enzyme is indeed optimal for the purpose to which it was created for supporting higher life forms above it. Higher life forms that the Rubisco is not aware of, nor cares about.
Rubisco is not an example of unintelligent design - David TylerFrom 3.8 to .6 billion years ago photosynthetic bacteria, and sulfate-reducing reducing bacteria, dominated the geologic and fossil record (that’s over 80% of the entire time life has existed on earth). The geologic and fossil record also reveals, during this time, a large portion of these very first bacterial life-forms lived in irreducibly complex, symbiotic, mutually beneficial, colonies called Stromatolites. Stromatolites are rock like structures the photo-synthetic bacteria built up over many years, much like coral reefs are slowly built up over many years by the tiny creatures called corals. Although Stromatolites are not nearly as widespread as they once were, they are still around today in a few sparse places like Shark’s Bay Australia.
Excerpt: Rubisco's ability to capture CO2 increases with increasing CO2 content in the atmosphere, so its efficiency rises in a CO2-rich atmosphere. However, increasing oxygen levels in the atmosphere will reduce Rubisco's ability to capture carbon. So a negative feedback mechanism exists to regulate the relative concentrations of oxygen and carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. This is another example of design affecting the Earth's ecology,,
http://www.arn.org/blogs/index.php/literature/2010/01/21/rubisco_is_not_an_example_of_unintellige
Michael Denton - Stromatolites Are Extremely Ancient - video
http://www.metacafe.com/watch/4023098
Shark's Bay - Modern Stromatolites - Pictures
http://seapics.com/feature-subject/marine-invertebrates/stromatolite-pictures.html
Ancient Microorganisms Helped Build 3.4-billion-year-old Stromatolite Rock Structures
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/07/090716141221.htm
Both the oldest Stromatolite fossils, and the oldest bacterium fossils, found on earth demonstrate an extreme conservation of morphology which, very contrary to evolutionary thought, simply means they have not changed and look very similar to Stromatolites and bacteria of today.
Odd Geometry of Bacteria May Provide New Way to Study Earth's Oldest Fossils - May 2010Bacteria: Fossil Record - Ancient Compared to Modern - Picture
Excerpt: Known as stromatolites, the layered rock formations are considered to be the oldest fossils on Earth.,,,That the spacing pattern corresponds to the mats' metabolic period -- and is also seen in ancient rocks -- shows that the same basic physical processes of diffusion and competition seen today were happening billions of years ago,,,
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/05/100517152520.htm
Everything new is old again: Photosynthesis from 3.3 billion years ago - July 2011
Excerpt: The most direct evidence yet for ancient photosynthesis has been uncovered in a fossil of a matted carpet of microbes that lived on a beach 3.3 billion years ago.
http://www.uncommondescent.com/darwinism/everything-new-is-old-again-photosynthesis-from-3-3-billion-years-ago/
AMBER: THE LOOKING GLASS INTO THE PAST:
Excerpt: These (fossilized bacteria) cells are actually very similar to present day cyanobacteria. This is not only true for an isolated case but many living genera of cyanobacteria can be linked to fossil cyanobacteria. The detail noted in the fossils of this group gives indication of extreme conservation of morphology, more extreme than in other organisms.
http://bcb705.blogspot.com/2007/03/amber-looking-glass-into-past_23.html
Static evolution: is pond scum the same now as billions of years ago?
Excerpt: But what intrigues (paleo-biologist) J. William Schopf most is lack of change. Schopf was struck 30 years ago by the apparent similarities between some 1-billion-year-old fossils of blue-green bacteria and their modern microbial microbial. "They surprisingly looked exactly like modern species," Schopf recalls. Now, after comparing data from throughout the world, Schopf and others have concluded that modern pond scum differs little from the ancient blue-greens. "This similarity in morphology is widespread among fossils of [varying] times," says Schopf. As evidence, he cites the 3,000 such fossils found;
http://www.thefreelibrary.com/Static+evolution%3A+is+pond+scum+the+same+now+as+billions+of+years+ago%3F-a014909330
http://www.ucmp.berkeley.edu/bacteria/bacteriafr.html
Contrary to what materialism would expect, these very first photosynthetic bacteria found in the fossil record, and by chemical analysis of the geological record, are shown to have been preparing the earth for more advanced life to appear from the very start of their existence by producing the necessary oxygen for higher life-forms to exist, and by reducing the greenhouse gases of earth’s early atmosphere. Photosynthetic bacteria slowly removed the carbon dioxide, and built the oxygen up, in the earth’s atmosphere primarily by this following photosynthetic chemical reaction:
6H2O + 6CO2 ----------> C6H12O6+ 6O2
The above chemical equation translates as:
Six molecules of water plus six molecules of carbon dioxide produce one molecule of sugar plus six molecules of oxygen
Interestingly, the gradual removal of greenhouse gases corresponded to the gradual 15% increase of light and heat coming from the sun during that time (Ross; Creation as Science). This 'lucky' correspondence of the slow increase of heat from the sun with the same perfectly timed slow removal of greenhouse gases from the earth’s atmosphere was necessary to keep the earth from cascading into either a 'greenhouse earth' or 'snowball earth'.
Why Didn't Early Earth Freeze? The Mystery Deepens - April 2010This following paper offers methane gas as a possible contributing solution to the faint sun paradox:
Excerpt: The results were "very surprising," Rosing says. As to the question of what kept the planet warm instead of CO2, he says his research points to two possibilities. First, Earth's land masses were much smaller billions of years ago, meaning that the oceans, which generally are darker than continents, could absorb more of the sun's heat. Second, because life was brand new, organisms were manufacturing little of the gases that help clouds form. So, more sunlight reached the surface.,, There are bound to be other factors, Rosing says. "I think that our paper is just one link in a long chain of further refinements of our understanding of the early Earth and of the dynamics of our planet."
http://news.sciencemag.org/sciencenow/2010/03/why-didnt-early-earth-freeze-the.html
Methane-Based Greenhouse and Anti-Greenhouse Events Led to Stable Archean Climate
http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/Newsroom/view.php?id=22846
This following paper shows that the Earth's early atmosphere would have been stripped away by the sun if it had not been finely tuned:
Earth’s Primordial Atmosphere Must Be Fine-Tuned - Hugh RossThus following study shows that the buildup of oxygen in the atmosphere was more gradual than previously thought;
Excerpt: The team then produced calculations demonstrating that the only reasonable scenario for explaining why the Sun’s radiation did not remove Earth’s primordial atmosphere was that the early Earth’s atmosphere was at least a hundred times richer in carbon dioxide.
http://www.reasons.org/earths-primordial-atmosphere-must-be-fine-tuned
Rise of Atmospheric Oxygen More Complicated (Gradual) Than Previously Thought - December 2011More interesting still, the byproducts of the complex biogeochemical processes involved in the oxygen production by these early bacteria are (red banded) iron formations, limestone, marble, gypsum, phosphates, sand, and to a lesser extent, coal, oil and natural gas (note; though some coal, oil and natural gas deposits are from this early era of bacterial life, most coal, oil and natural gas deposits originated on earth after the Cambrian explosion of higher life forms some 540 million years ago). The resources produced by these early photosynthetic bacteria are very useful, one could even very well say 'necessary', for the technologically advanced civilizations of humans today to exist.
Excerpt: Oxygen levels gradually crossed the low atmospheric oxygen threshold for pyrite -- an iron sulfur mineral -- oxidation by 2,500 million years ago and the loss of any mass-independently fractionated sulfur by 2,400 million years ago. Then oxygen levels rose at an ever-increasing rate through the Paleoproterozoic, achieving about 1 percent of the present atmospheric level.,, Initially, any oxygen in the atmosphere, produced by the photosynthesis of single-celled organisms, was used up when sulfur, iron and other elements oxidized. When sufficient oxygen accumulated in the atmosphere, it permeated the groundwater and began oxidizing buried organic material, oxidizing carbon to create carbon dioxide.
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2011/12/111201142754.htm
The following video is good for seeing just how far back the red banded iron formations really go (3.8 billion years ago). But be warned, Dr. Newman operates from a materialistic worldview and makes many unwarranted allusions of the 'magical' power of evolution to produce photosynthetic bacteria. Although to be fair, she does readily acknowledge the staggering level of complexity being dealt with in photosynthesis, as well as admitting that no one really has a clue how photosynthesis 'evolved'.
Exploring the deep connection between bacteria and rocks - Dianne Newman - MIT lecture video
http://mitworld.mit.edu/video/496
This following papers back up Dr. Newman's assertion of extremely ancient oxygenic photosynthesis with other lines of evidence:
Ancient Microbes Responsible for Breathing Life Into Ocean 'Deserts' - August 2010These following articles explore some of the other complex geochemical processes that are also involved in the forming of the red banded iron, and other precious ore, formations on the ancient earth.
Excerpt: Brian Kendall and Ariel Anbar, together with colleagues at other institutions, show that "oxygen oases" in the surface ocean were sites of significant oxygen production long before the breathing gas began to accumulate in the atmosphere..,, What Kendall discovered was a unique relationship of high rhenium and low molybdenum enrichments in the samples from South Africa, pointing to the presence of dissolved oxygen on the seafloor itself.,,, "It was especially satisfying to see two different geochemical methods -- rhenium and molybdenum abundances and Fe chemistry -- independently tell the same story," Kendall noted. Evidence that the atmosphere contained at most minute amounts of oxygen came from measurements of the relative abundances of sulfur (S) isotopes.
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/08/100823113436.htm
Breathing new life into Earth: New research shows evidence of early oxygen on our planet - August 2011
Excerpt: Waldbauer and Summons surmise that oxygen production and consumption may have occurred in the oceans for hundreds of millions of years before the atmosphere saw even a trace of the gas. They say that in all likelihood, cyanobacteria, blue-green algae living at the ocean surface, evolved the ability to produce O2 via sunlight in a process known as oxygenic photosynthesis. But instead of building up in the oceans and then seeping into the atmosphere, O2 may have been rapidly consumed by early aerobic organisms. Large oceanic and atmospheric sinks, such as iron and sulfide spewing out of subsea volcanoes, likely consumed whatever O2 was left over.
http://www.physorg.com/news/2011-08-life-earth-evidence-early-oxygen.html
Banded Rocks Reveal Early Earth Conditions, Changes
Excerpt: Called banded iron formations or BIFs, these ancient rocks formed between 3.8 and 1.7 billion years ago at what was then the bottom of the ocean. The stripes represent alternating layers of silica-rich chert and iron-rich minerals like hematite and magnetite. First mined as a major iron source for modern industrialization, BIFs are also a rich source of information about the geochemical conditions that existed on Earth when the rocks were made.
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/10/091011184428.htm
Rich Ore Deposits Linked to Ancient Atmosphere - Nov. 2009Interestingly, while the photo-synthetic bacteria were reducing greenhouse gases and producing oxygen, and metal, and minerals, which would all be of benefit to modern man, 'sulfate-reducing' bacteria were also producing their own natural resources which would be very useful to modern man. Sulfate-reducing bacteria helped prepare the earth for advanced life by detoxifying the primeval earth and oceans of poisonous levels of heavy metals while depositing them as relatively inert metal ores. Metal ores which are very useful for modern man, as well as fairly easy for man to extract today (mercury, cadmium, zinc, cobalt, arsenic, chromate, tellurium and copper to name a few). To this day, sulfate-reducing bacteria maintain an essential minimal level of these heavy metals in the ecosystem which are high enough so as to be available to the biological systems of the higher life forms that need them yet low enough so as not to be poisonous to those very same higher life forms.
Excerpt: Much of our planet's mineral wealth was deposited billions of years ago when Earth's chemical cycles were different from today's.
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/11/091119193640.htm
Bacterial Heavy Metal Detoxification and Resistance Systems:Man has only recently caught on to harnessing the ancient detoxification ability of bacteria to cleanup his accidental toxic spills, as well as his toxic waste, from industry:
Excerpt: Bacterial plasmids contain genetic determinants for resistance systems for Hg2+ (and organomercurials), Cd2+, AsO2, AsO43-, CrO4 2-, TeO3 2-, Cu2+, Ag+, Co2+, Pb2+, and other metals of environmental concern.,, Recombinant DNA analysis has been applied to mercury, cadmium, zinc, cobalt, arsenic, chromate, tellurium and copper resistance systems.
http://www.springerlink.com/content/u1t281704577v8t3/
http://www.int-res.com/articles/meps/26/m026p203.pdf
The role of bacteria in hydrogeochemistry, metal cycling and ore deposit formation:
Textures of sulfide minerals formed by SRB (sulfate-reducing bacteria) during bioremediation (most notably pyrite and sphalerite) have textures reminiscent of those in certain sediment-hosted ores, supporting the concept that SRB may have been directly involved in forming ore minerals.
http://www.goldschmidt2009.org/abstracts/finalPDFs/A1161.pdf
Researchers Identify Mysterious Life Forms in the Extreme Deep Sea
Excerpt: Xenophyophores are noteworthy for their size, with individual cells often exceeding 10 centimeters (4 inches), their extreme abundance on the seafloor and their role as hosts for a variety of organisms.,,, The researchers spotted the life forms at depths up to 10,641 meters (6.6 miles) within the Sirena Deep of the Mariana Trench.,,, Scientists say xenophyophores are the largest individual cells in existence. Recent studies indicate that by trapping particles from the water, xenophyophores can concentrate high levels of lead, uranium and mercury,,,
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2011/10/111024165037.htm
What is Bioremediation? - video
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pSpjRPWYJPg
Metal-mining bacteria are green chemists - Sept. 2010Further note:
Excerpt: Microbes could soon be used to convert metallic wastes into high-value catalysts for generating clean energy, say scientists writing in the September issue of Microbiology.
http://www.physorg.com/news202618665.html
Arsenic removal: research on bioremediation using arsenite-eating bacteria
http://www.uncommondescent.com/intelligent-design/alien-life/#comment-368346
As a side note to this, recently bacteria surprised scientists by their ability to quickly detoxify the millions of barrels of oil spilled in the Gulf of Mexico:
Mighty oil-eating microbes help clean up the Gulf - July 2010Here are a couple of sites showing the crucial link of a minimal levels of metals to biological life:
Excerpt: Where is all the oil? Nearly two weeks after BP finally capped the biggest oil spill in U.S. history, the oil slicks that once spread across thousands of miles of the Gulf of Mexico have largely disappeared. Nor has much oil washed up on the sandy beaches and marshes along the Louisiana coast.,,, The lesson from past spills is that the lion’s share of the cleanup work is done by nature in the form of oil-eating bacteria and fungi. (Thank God)
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ynews_excl/ynews_excl_sc3270
Deepwater Oil Plume in Gulf Degraded by Microbes, Study Shows
Excerpt: An intensive study by scientists with the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab) found that microbial activity degrades oil much faster than anticipated. This degradation appears to take place without a significant level of oxygen depletion.
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/08/100824132349.htm
Methane Gas Concentrations in Gulf of Mexico Quickly Returned to Near-Normal Levels, Surprising Researchers - January 2011
Excerpt: Calling the results "extremely surprising", researchers report that methane gas concentrations in the Gulf of Mexico have returned to near normal levels only months after a massive release occurred following the Deepwater Horizon oil rig explosion.
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2011/01/110106145436.htm
Microbes Consumed Oil in Gulf Slick at Unexpected Rates, Study Finds - August 2011
Excerpt: "Our study shows that the dynamic microbial community of the Gulf of Mexico supported remarkable rates of oil respiration, despite a dearth of dissolved nutrients," the researchers said. Edwards added that the results suggest "that microbes had the metabolic potential to break down a large portion of hydrocarbons and keep up with the flow rate from the wellhead."
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2011/08/110801111752.htm
Transitional Metals And Cytochrome C oxidase - Michael Denton - Nature's Destiny
http://books.google.com/books?id=CdYpDRY0Z6oC&pg=PA203&lpg
Proteins prove their metal - July 2010As well, in conjunction with bacteria, geological processes helped detoxify the earth of dangerous levels of metal:
Excerpt: ‘Nearly half of all enzymes require metals to function in catalysing biological reactions,’ Kylie Vincent, of Oxford University’s Department of Chemistry tells us. ‘Both the metal and the surrounding protein are crucial in tuning the reactivity of metal catalytic centres in enzymes.' These ‘metal centres’ are hives of industry at a microscopic scale, with metals often held in a special protein environment where they may be assembled into intricate clusters inside proteins.
http://www.physorg.com/news197728929.html
Your Copper Pipes - November 2011
Excerpt: In the fascinating field of ‘metals in biology’, by virtue of direct interactions with amino acid side-chains within polypeptide chains, metals play unique and critical roles in biology, promoting structures and chemistries that would not otherwise be available to proteins alone.,,, ATP7A is also important for the delivery of copper to nascent proteins in the Golgi apparatus. In mammals, ATP7A is expressed in many tissues except the liver,
http://crev.info/content/111108-your_copper_pipes
The Concentration of Metals for Humanity's Benefit:And on top of the fact that poisonous heavy metals on the primordial earth were brought into 'life-enabling' balance by complex biogeochemical processes, there was also an explosion of minerals on earth which were a result of that first life, as well as being a result of each subsequent 'Big Bang of life' there afterwards.
Excerpt: They demonstrated that hydrothermal fluid flow could enrich the concentration of metals like zinc, lead, and copper by at least a factor of a thousand. They also showed that ore deposits formed by hydrothermal fluid flows at or above these concentration levels exist throughout Earth's crust. The necessary just-right precipitation conditions needed to yield such high concentrations demand extraordinary fine-tuning. That such ore deposits are common in Earth's crust strongly suggests supernatural design.
http://www.reasons.org/TheConcentrationofMetalsforHumanitysBenefit
The Creation of Minerals:To put it mildly, this minimization of poisonous elements, and 'explosion' of useful minerals, is strong evidence for Intelligently Designed terra-forming of the earth that 'just so happens' to be of great benefit to modern man.
Excerpt: Thanks to the way life was introduced on Earth, the early 250 mineral species have exploded to the present 4,300 known mineral species. And because of this abundance, humans possessed all the necessary mineral resources to easily launch and sustain global, high-technology civilization.
http://www.reasons.org/The-Creation-of-Minerals
"Today there are about 4,400 known minerals - more than two-thirds of which came into being only because of the way life changed the planet. Some of them were created exclusively by living organisms" - Bob Hazen - Smithsonian - Oct. 2010, pg. 54
Clearly many, if not all, of these metal ores and minerals laid down by these sulfate-reducing bacteria, as well as laid down by the biogeochemistry of more complex life, as well as laid down by finely-tuned geological conditions throughout the early history of the earth, have many unique properties which are crucial for technologically advanced life, and are thus indispensable to man’s rise above the stone age to the advanced 'space-age' technology of modern civilization.
Metallurgy
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Metallurgy
Minerals and Their Uses
http://www.scienceviews.com/geology/minerals.html
Mineral Uses In Industry
http://www.peterharben.com/industrial_minerals_uses.htm
Mineral
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mineral
Inventions: Elements and Compounds - video
http://videos.howstuffworks.com/hsw/20809-invention-elements-and-compounds-video.htm
Bombardment Makes Civilization PossibleAs well, many types of bacteria in earth's early history lived in what are called cryptogamic colonies on the earth's primeval continents. These colonies dramatically transformed the primeval land into stable nutrient filled soils which were receptive for future advanced vegetation to appear.
What is the common thread among the following items: pacemakers, spark plugs, fountain pens and compass bearings? Give up? All of them currently use (or used in early versions) the two densest elements, osmium and iridium. These two elements play important roles in technological advancements. However, if certain special events hadn't occurred early in Earth's history, no osmium or iridium would exist near the planet's surface.
http://www.reasons.org/BombardmentMakesCivilizationPossible
Land organisms from Cambrian found in soil layer under the soil - November 2011Moreover, worms, in addition to their critical role for soil aeration, are also found to detoxify the soils of poisonous heavy metals:
Excerpt: Other evidence of life on land includes quilted spheroids (Erytholus globosus gen. et sp. nov.) and thallose impressions (Farghera sp. indet.), which may have been slime moulds and lichens, respectively. These distinctive fossils in Cambrian palaeosols represent communities comparable with modern biological soil crusts.
http://www.uncommondescent.com/cambrian-explosion/land-organisms-from-cambrian-found-in-soil-layer-under-the-soil/
Cryptobiotic Soils: Holding the Place in Place
Excerpt: Cryptobiotic soil crusts, consisting of soil cyanobacteria, lichens and mosses, play an important ecological roles,,, Cryptobiotic crusts increase the stability of otherwise easily eroded soils, increase water infiltration in regions that receive little precipitation, and increase fertility in soils often limited in essential nutrients such as nitrogen and carbon (Harper and Marble, 1988; Johansen, 1993; Metting, 1991; Belnap and Gardner, 1993; Belnap, 1994; Williams et al., 1995).
http://geochange.er.usgs.gov/sw/impacts/biology/crypto/
Bacterial 'Ropes' Tie Down Shifting Southwest
Excerpt: In the desert, the initial stabilization of topsoil by rope-builders promotes colonization by a multitude of other microbes. From their interwoven relationships arise complex communities known as "biological soil crusts," important ecological components in the fertility and sustainability of arid ecosystems.
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/11/091116203140.htm
CRYPTOBIOTIC SOIL -
Excerpt: When moistened, cyanobacteria become active, moving through the soil and leaving a trail of sticky material behind. The sheath material sticks to surfaces such as rock or soil particles, forming an intricate web of fibers throughout the soil. In this way, loose soil particles are joined together, and an otherwise unstable surface becomes very resistant to both wind and water erosion.
http://www.toddshikingguide.com/FloraFauna/Other2.htm
The worm that turned on heavy metal - December 2010Materialism simply has no coherent answers for why these different bacterial types, biogeochemical processes, and worms etc.., would start working in precise concert with each other preparing the earth for future life to appear from the very start of their first appearance on earth.
Excerpt: The team has carried out two feasibility studies on the use of worms in treating waste. The team first used compost produced by worms, vermicompost, as a successful adsorbent substrate for remediation of wastewater contaminated with the metals nickel, chromium, vanadium and lead. The second used earthworms directly for remediation of arsenic and mercury present in landfill soils and demonstrated an efficiency of 42 to 72% in approximately two weeks for arsenic removal and 7.5 to 30.2% for mercury removal in the same time period.
http://www.physorg.com/news/2010-12-worm-heavy-metal.html
In further related note, several different types of bacteria are found to be integral for the nitrogen fixation cycle required for plants:
nitrogen fixation - illustration
http://www.bio.miami.edu/dana/pix/nitrogencycle.gif
nitrogen fixation - video:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GVbHIR2xZ0E
Just how crucial, and finely tuned, the nitrogen cycle is is revealed by this following study:
Engineering and Science Magazine - Caltech - March 2010Of somewhat related interest to this topic, it is found that colonies of bacteria have some mysterious way of communicating essential information very quickly amongst themselves:
Excerpt: “Without these microbes, the planet would run out of biologically available nitrogen in less than a month,” Realizations like this are stimulating a flourishing field of “geobiology” – the study of relationships between life and the earth. One member of the Caltech team commented, “If all bacteria and archaea just stopped functioning, life on Earth would come to an abrupt halt.” Microbes are key players in earth’s nutrient cycles. Dr. Orphan added, “...every fifth breath you take, thank a microbe.”
http://www.creationsafaris.com/crev201003.htm#20100316a
Planet's Nitrogen Cycle Overturned - Oct. 2009
Excerpt: "Ammonia is a waste product that can be toxic to animals.,,, archaea can scavenge nitrogen-containing ammonia in the most barren environments of the deep sea, solving a long-running mystery of how the microorganisms can survive in that environment. Archaea therefore not only play a role, but are central to the planetary nitrogen cycles on which all life depends.,,,the organism can survive on a mere whiff of ammonia – 10 nanomolar concentration, equivalent to a teaspoon of ammonia salt in 10 million gallons of water."
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/09/090930132656.htm
Novel Nitrogen Uptake Design - Oct. 2009
Excerpt: The exceptionality of the snow roots and their nitrogen-capturing machinery, their extraordinarily complex designs, and their optimal efficiency qualifies them as evidence, not for evolution, but rather for supernatural design.
http://www.reasons.org/NovelNitrogenUptakeDesign
Arbuscular Mycorrhizal Fungi Design
Excerpt: The mutual relationship between vascular plants (flowering plants) and arbuscular mycorrihizal fungi (AMF) is the most prevalent known plant symbiosis. Vascular plants provide sites all along their root systems where colonies of AMF can assemble and feed on the nutrients supplied by the plants. In return, the AMF supply phosphorus, nitrogen, and carbon in molecular forms that the vascular plants can readily assimilate. The (overwhelming) challenge for evolutionary models is how to explain by natural means the simultaneous appearance of both vascular plants and AMF.
http://www.reasons.org/ArbuscularMycorrhizalFungiDesign2
Electrical Communication in Bacteria - August 2010Moreover, the overall principle of long term balanced symbiosis, which is in fact what we have with the overall biogeochemical cycles of the earth, is a very anti-random chance fact which pervades the entire ecology of our planet and points powerfully to the intentional craftsmanship of a Designer:
Excerpt: These responses occurred too quickly for any sort of chemical exchange or molecular process such as osmosis, says Nielsen. The most plausible option, his team reports in the 25 February issue of Nature, is that the bacteria are somehow communicating electrically by transmitting electrons back and forth. How exactly they do this is unclear,
http://www.uncommondescent.com/intelligent-design/electrical-communication-in-bacteria/comment-page-1/#comment-361367
Intelligent Design - Symbiosis and the Golden Ratio - video
http://www.metacafe.com/watch/4669633
God's Creation - Symbiotic (Cooperative) Relationships - video
http://www.metacafe.com/watch/4023110
Some Trees 'Farm' Bacteria to Help Supply Nutrients - July 2010
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/07/100729172332.htm
Since oxygen readily reacts and bonds with many of the solid elements making up the earth itself, and since the slow process of tectonic activity controls the turnover of the earth's crust, it took photosynthetic bacteria a few billion years before the earth’s crust was saturated with enough oxygen to allow a sufficient level of oxygen to be built up in the atmosphere as to allow higher life:
New Wrinkle In Ancient Ocean Chemistry - Oct. 2009As well, Plate tectonics are also shown to be finely-tuned and thus tied to the 'terra forming', intelligent design, perspective in this following paper:
Excerpt: "Our data point to oxygen-producing photosynthesis long before concentrations of oxygen in the atmosphere were even a tiny fraction of what they are today, suggesting that oxygen-consuming chemical reactions were offsetting much of the production,"
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/10/091029141217.htm
Increases in Oxygen Prepare Earth for Complex Life
Excerpt: We at RTB argue that any mechanism exhibiting complex, integrated actions that bring about a specified outcome is designed. Studies of Earth’s history reveal highly orchestrated interplay between astronomical, geological, biological, atmospheric, and chemical processes that transform the planet from an uninhabitable wasteland to a place teeming with advanced life. The implications of design are overwhelming.
http://www.reasons.org/increases-oxygen-prepare-earth-complex-life
Evidence of Early Plate TectonicsOnce sufficient oxygenation of the earth's mantle and atmosphere was finally accomplished, higher life forms could finally be introduced on earth. Moreover, scientists find the rise in oxygen percentages in the geologic record to correspond exactly to the sudden appearance of large animals in the fossil record that depend on those particular percentages of oxygen to be present. The geologic record shows a 10% oxygen level at the time of the Cambrian explosion of higher life-forms in the fossil record some 540 million years ago. The geologic record also shows a strange and very quick rise from the 17% oxygen level, of 50 million years ago, to a 23% oxygen level 40 million years ago (Falkowski 2005, 2008). This strange rise in oxygen levels corresponds exactly to the abrupt appearance of large mammals in the fossil record who depend on those high oxygen levels. Interestingly, for the last 10 million years the oxygen percentage has been holding steady around 21%. 21% happens to be a 'very comfortable' percentage for humans to exist. If the oxygen level was only a few percentage lower, large mammals would become severely hampered in their ability to metabolize energy; if only a few percentage higher, there would be uncontrollable outbreaks of fire across the land (Denton; Nature's Destiny).
Excerpt: Plate tectonics plays a critical role in keeping the Earth’s temperature constant during the Sun’s significant brightness changes. Almost four billion years ago, the Sun was 30 percent dimmer than it is today, and it has steadily increased its light output over the intervening period. This steady increase would have boiled Earth’s oceans away without plate tectonics moderating the greenhouse gas content of the atmosphere.
http://www.reasons.org/evidence-early-plate-tectonics
Composition Of Atmosphere - Pie Chart and Percentages:
http://www.ux1.eiu.edu/~cfjps/1400/FIG01_010.JPG
http://www.ux1.eiu.edu/~cfjps/1400/TBL01_0T2.JPG
The interplay of the biogeochemical (life and earth) processes that produce this balanced. life enabling, oxygen rich, atmosphere are very complex:
The Life and Death of Oxygen - 2008The Oxygen and Carbon Dioxide Cycle - video
Excerpt: “The balance between burial of organic matter and its oxidation appears to have been tightly controlled over the past 500 million years.” “The presence of O2 in the atmosphere requires an imbalance between oxygenic photosynthesis and aerobic respiration on time scales of millions of years hence, to generate an oxidized atmosphere, more organic matter must be buried (by tectonic activity) than respired.” - Paul Falkowski
http://www.creationsafaris.com/crev200810.htm#20081024a
http://videos.howstuffworks.com/hsw/7942-abiotic-factors-the-oxygen-carbon-dioxide-cycle-video.htm
This following article and video clearly indicate that the life sustaining balanced symbiosis of the atmosphere is far more robust, as to tolerating man's industrial activities, than Global Warming alarmist would have us believe:
Earth's Capacity To Absorb CO2 Much Greater Than Expected: Nov. 2009A Really Inconvenient Truth!
Excerpt: New data show that the balance between the airborne and the absorbed fraction of carbon dioxide has stayed approximately constant since 1850, despite emissions of carbon dioxide having risen from about 2 billion tons a year in 1850 to 35 billion tons a year now. This suggests that terrestrial ecosystems and the oceans have a much greater capacity to absorb CO2 than had been previously expected.
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/11/091110141842.htm
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dAd1b1s9ulg
Global Warming Apocalypse? No! - video
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eu1cjp3hYcg
Because of this basic chemical requirement of complex photosynthetic bacterial life establishing and helping maintain the proper oxygen levels necessary for higher life forms on any earth-like planet, this gives us further reason to strongly believe the earth is extremely unique in its ability to support intelligent life in this universe. What is more remarkable is that this balance for the atmosphere is maintained through complex symbiotic relationships with other bacteria, all of which are intertwined in very complex geochemical processes. This is irreducible complexity stacked on top of irreducible complexity!!! All of these studies of early life, and processes, on early earth fall directly in line with the anthropic hypothesis and have no rational explanation, from any materialistic theory based on blind chance, as to why all the first types of bacterial life found in the fossil record would suddenly, from the very start of their appearance on earth, start working in precise harmony with each other, and with geology, to prepare the earth for future life to appear. Nor can materialism explain why once these complex bacterial-geological processes had helped prepare the earth for higher life forms, they continue to work in precise harmony with each other to help maintain the proper balanced conditions that are of primary benefit for the higher life that is above them:
The Microbial Engines That Drive Earth’s Biogeochemical Cycles - Falkowski 2008Biologically mediated cycles for hydrogen, carbon, nitrogen, oxygen, sulfur, and iron - image of interdependent 'biogeochemical' web
Excerpt: Microbial life can easily live without us; we, however, cannot survive without the global catalysis and environmental transformations it provides. - Paul G. Falkowski - Professor Geological Sciences - Rutgers
http://www.genetics.iastate.edu/delong1.pdf
http://www.sciencemag.org/content/320/5879/1034/F2.large.jpg
Interestingly, when Dr. Ross factors in the probability for 'simple' bacterial life randomly happening in this universe, which is necessary for more advanced life to exist on any planet in the first place, the probability for a planet which can host life explodes into gargantuan proportions:
Does the Probability for ETI = 1?Dr. Ross points out that the extremely long amount of time it took to prepare a suitable place for humans to exist in this universe, for the relatively short period of time that we can exist on this planet, is actually a point of evidence that argues strongly for Theism:
Excerpt: In another book I wrote with Fuz, Who Was Adam?, we describe calculations done by evolutionary biologist Francisco Ayala and by astrophysicists John Barrow, Brandon Carter, and Frank Tipler for the probability that a bacterium would evolve under ideal natural conditions—given the presumption that the mechanisms for natural biological evolution are both effective and rapid. They determine that probability to be no more than 10-24,000,000.
The bottom line is that rather than the probability for extraterrestrial intelligent life being 1 as Aczel claims, very conservatively from a naturalistic perspective it is much less than 10^500 + 22 -1054 -100,000,000,000 -24,000,000. That is, it is less than 10-100,024,000,532. In longhand notation it would be 0.00 … 001 with 100,024,000,531 zeros (100 billion, 24 million, 5 hundred and thirty-one zeros) between the decimal point and the 1. That longhand notation of the probability would fill over 20,000 complete Bibles. (As far as scientific calculations are concerned, determining how close a probability is to zero, only Penrose's 1 in 10^10^123 calculation, for the initial phase-space of the universe, is closer)
http://www.reasons.org/does-probability-eti-1
Anthropic Principle: A Precise Plan for Humanity By Hugh RossAt least one scientist is far more pessimistic about the 'natural' future lifespan of the human race than 20,000 years:
Excerpt: Brandon Carter, the British mathematician who coined the term “anthropic principle” (1974), noted the strange inequity of a universe that spends about 15 billion years “preparing” for the existence of a creature that has the potential to survive no more than 10 million years (optimistically).,, Carter and (later) astrophysicists John Barrow and Frank Tipler demonstrated that the inequality exists for virtually any conceivable intelligent species under any conceivable life-support conditions. Roughly 15 billion years represents a minimum preparation time for advanced life: 11 billion toward formation of a stable planetary system, one with the right chemical and physical conditions for primitive life, and four billion more years toward preparation of a planet within that system, one richly layered with the biodeposits necessary for civilized intelligent life. Even this long time and convergence of “just right” conditions reflect miraculous efficiency.
Moreover the physical and biological conditions necessary to support an intelligent civilized species do not last indefinitely. They are subject to continuous change: the Sun continues to brighten, Earth’s rotation period lengthens, Earth’s plate tectonic activity declines, and Earth’s atmospheric composition varies. In just 10 million years or less, Earth will lose its ability to sustain human life. In fact, this estimate of the human habitability time window may be grossly optimistic. In all likelihood, a nearby supernova eruption, a climatic perturbation, a social or environmental upheaval, or the genetic accumulation of negative mutations will doom the species to extinction sometime sooner than twenty thousand years from now.
http://christiangodblog.blogspot.com/2006_12_01_archive.html
Humans will be extinct in 100 years says eminent scientist - June 2010
http://www.physorg.com/news196489543.html
This following study, of a vital enzyme found in all life, conforms to the notion of 'terraforming' the toxic primordial earth, as well I would argue that the enzyme conforms to the principle of 'Genetic Entropy' since the enzyme was reconstructed from the data of many different 'derived' enzymes;
Enzymes Complex from the Get-goThough it is impossible to reconstruct the DNA of the earliest bacteria fossils, scientists find in the fossil record, and compare them to their descendants of today, there are many ancient bacteria spores recovered and 'revived' from salt crystals and amber crystals which have been compared to their living descendants of today. Some bacterium spores, in salt crystals, dating back as far as 250 million years have been revived, had their DNA sequenced, and compared to their offspring of today (Vreeland RH, 2000 Nature). To the disbelieving shock of many evolutionary scientists, both ancient and modern bacteria were found to have the almost same exact DNA sequence.
Excerpt: “Given the ancient origin of the reconstructed thioredoxin enzymes (a vital enzyme found in all living cells), with some of them predating the buildup of atmospheric oxygen, we expected their catalytic chemistry to be simple," said Fernandez. "Instead we found that enzymes that existed in the Precambrian era up to four billion years ago possessed many of the same chemical mechanisms observed in their modern-day relatives.”,, Further examination of the ancient enzymes revealed some striking features: The enzymes were highly resistant to temperature and were active in more acidic conditions. The findings suggest that the species hosting these ancient enzymes thrived in very hot environments that since then have progressively cooled down, and that they lived in oceans that were more acidic than today.
http://www.uncommondescent.com/intelligent-design/enzymes-complex-from-the-get-go/
The Paradox of the "Ancient" (250 Million Year Old) Bacterium Which Contains "Modern" Protein-Coding Genes:Evolutionists were so disbelieving at this stunning lack of change, far less change than was expected from the neo-Darwinian view, that they insisted the stunning similarity was due to modern contamination in Vreeland's experiment. Yet the following study laid that objection to rest by verifying that Dr. Vreeland's methodology for extracting ancient DNA was solid and was not introducing contamination because the DNA sequences this time around were completely unique:
“Almost without exception, bacteria isolated from ancient material have proven to closely resemble modern bacteria at both morphological and molecular levels.” Heather Maughan*, C. William Birky Jr., Wayne L. Nicholson, William D. Rosenzweig§ and Russell H. Vreeland ;
http://mbe.oxfordjournals.org/cgi/content/full/19/9/1637
World’s Oldest Known DNA Discovered (419 million years old) - Dec. 2009These following studies, by Dr. Cano on ancient bacteria, preceded Dr. Vreeland's work:
Excerpt: But the DNA was so similar to that of modern microbes that many scientists believed the samples had been contaminated. Not so this time around. A team of researchers led by Jong Soo Park of Dalhousie University in Halifax, Canada, found six segments of identical DNA that have never been seen before by science. “We went back and collected DNA sequences from all known halophilic bacteria and compared them to what we had,” Russell Vreeland of West Chester University in Pennsylvania said. “These six pieces were unique",,,
http://news.discovery.com/earth/oldest-dna-bacteria-discovered.html
“Raul J. Cano and Monica K. Borucki discovered the bacteria preserved within the abdomens of insects encased in pieces of amber. In the last 4 years, they have revived more than 1,000 types of bacteria and microorganisms — some dating back as far as 135 million years ago, during the age of the dinosaurs.,,, In October 2000, another research group used many of the techniques developed by Cano’s lab to revive 250-million-year-old bacteria from spores trapped in salt crystals. With this additional evidence, it now seems that the “impossible” is true.”30-Million-Year Sleep: Germ Is Declared Alive
http://www.physicsforums.com/showthread.php?t=281961
Revival and identification of bacterial spores in 25- to 40-million-year-old Dominican amber
Dr. Cano and his former graduate student Dr. Monica K. Borucki said that they had found slight but significant differences between the DNA of the ancient, 25-40 million year old amber-sealed Bacillus sphaericus and that of its modern counterpart,(thus ruling out that it is a modern contaminant, yet at the same time confounding materialists, since the change is not nearly as great as evolution's 'genetic drift' theory requires.)
http://www.sciencemag.org/cgi/content/abstract/268/5213/1060
http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=990CEFD61439F93AA25756C0A963958260&sec=&spon=&pagewanted=2
Dr. Cano's work on ancient bacteria came in for intense scrutiny since it did not conform to Darwinian predictions, and since people found it hard to believe you could revive something that was millions of years old. Yet Dr. Cano has been vindicated:
“After the onslaught of publicity and worldwide attention (and scrutiny) after the publication of our discovery in Science, there have been, as expected, a considerable number of challenges to our claims, but in this case, the scientific method has smiled on us. There have been at least three independent verifications of the isolation of a living microorganism from amber."In reply to a personal e-mail from myself, Dr. Cano commented on the 'Fitness Test' I had asked him about:
http://www.uncommondescent.com/intelligent-design/reductionist-predictions-always-fail/comment-page-3/#comment-357693
Dr. Cano stated: "We performed such a test, a long time ago, using a panel of substrates (the old gram positive biolog panel) on B. sphaericus. From the results we surmised that the putative "ancient" B. sphaericus isolate was capable of utilizing a broader scope of substrates. Additionally, we looked at the fatty acid profile and here, again, the profiles were similar but more diverse in the amber isolate.":Thus, the most solid evidence available for the most ancient DNA scientists are able to find does not support evolution happening on the molecular level of bacteria. In fact, according to the fitness test of Dr. Cano, the change witnessed in bacteria conforms to the exact opposite, Genetic Entropy; a loss of functional information/complexity, since fewer substrates and fatty acids are utilized by the modern strains. Considering the intricate level of protein machinery it takes to utilize individual molecules within a substrate, we are talking an impressive loss of protein complexity, and thus loss of functional information, from the ancient amber sealed bacteria. Here is a revisit to the video of the 'Fitness Test' that evolutionary processes have NEVER passed as for a demonstration of the generation of functional complexity/information above what was already present in a parent species bacteria:
Fitness test which compared ancient bacteria to its modern day descendants, RJ Cano and MK Borucki
Is Antibiotic Resistance evidence for evolution? - 'Fitness Test' - video
http://www.metacafe.com/watch/3995248
According to prevailing evolutionary dogma, there 'HAS' to be 'major genetic drift' to the DNA of modern bacteria from 250 million years ago, even though the morphology (shape) of the bacteria can be expected to remain exactly the same. In spite of their preconceived materialistic bias, scientists find there is no significant genetic drift from the ancient DNA. In fact recent research, with bacteria which are alive right now, has also severely weakened the 'genetic drift' argument of evolutionists:
The consequences of genetic drift for bacterial genome complexity - Howard Ochman - 2009I find it interesting that the materialistic theory of evolution expects there to be a significant amount of genetic drift from the DNA of ancient bacteria to its modern descendants, while the morphology can be allowed to remain exactly the same with its descendants. Alas for the atheistic materialist once again, the hard evidence of ancient DNA has fell in line with the anthropic hypothesis.
Excerpt: The increased availability of sequenced bacterial genomes allows application of an alternative estimator of drift, the genome-wide ratio of replacement to silent substitutions in protein-coding sequences. This ratio, which reflects the action of purifying selection across the entire genome, shows a strong inverse relationship with genome size, indicating that drift promotes genome reduction in bacteria.
http://genome.cshlp.org/content/early/2009/06/05/gr.091785.109
Many times a materialist will offer what he considers conclusive proof for evolution by showing bacteria that have become resistant to a certain antibiotic such as penicillin. Yet upon close inspection, once again this 'conclusive proof' dissolves away. All observed instances of 'beneficial' adaptations of bacteria to new antibiotics have been shown to be the result of degradation of preexisting molecular abilities:
List Of Degraded Molecular Abilities Of Antibiotic Resistant Bacteria:
http://www.trueorigin.org/bacteria01.asp
Moreover it is shown that nothing new has evolved since ancient bacteria have the very same ability to developed resistance to antibiotics as modern strains do:
Antibiotic resistance is ancient - September 2011
http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v477/n7365/full/nature10388.html?WT.ec_id=NATURE-20110922
Evolution - Tested And Falsified - Don Patton - video
http://www.metacafe.com/watch/4036803
The following is a reflection on the true implications of the 'evolution' of bacteria becoming resistant to multiple antibiotics that has many people concerned as to its danger:
Superbugs not super after allAre You Too Clean? - New Studies Suggest Getting A Little Dirty May Be Just What The Doctor Ordered - December 2010
Excerpt: It is precisely because the mutations which give rise to resistance are in some form or another defects, that so-called supergerms are not really ‘super’ at all—they are actually rather ‘wimpy’ compared to their close cousins.
http://creation.com/superbugs-not-super-after-all
MRSA - Supergerms Do they prove evolution?
In places that are exposed to dirt from the street—such as your house—the supergerms are kept in their place not by powerful drugs and poisons but by competition with other germs. And their resistance genes are diluted by genes of the susceptible or non-resistant germs of the same species rather than being concentrated by selective breeding. That is why most non-hospital infections respond readily to antibiotics—the drug kills most of the germs, the body takes care of the rest. If it were not so, the so called supergerms would escape from hospitals and sweep the world.
http://www.answersingenesis.org/creation/v11/i2/supergerms.asp
http://www.creationsafaris.com/crev201012.htm#20101208a
For materialists to conclusively prove evolution they would have to violate the principle of Genetic Entropy by clearly demonstrating a gain of functional information bits (Fits) over the parent species (Abel - Null-Hypothesis) in the fitness test which I've listed previously. Materialists have not done so, nor will they ever. The staggering interrelated complexity for the integrated whole of a distinct 'kind' of life-form simply will not allow the generation of complex functional information above the parent species to happen in its genome by chance alone. (Sanford, Genetic Entropy 2005)
This following site highlights the problem that the integrated complexity of a genome presents for Neo-Darwinism mechanism of random mutation:
Poly-Functional Complexity equals Poly-Constrained Complexity
http://docs.google.com/Doc?docid=0AYmaSrBPNEmGZGM4ejY3d3pfMjdoZmd2emZncQ
This following quote reiterates the principle that material processes cannot generate functional information:
“There is no known law of nature, no known process and no known sequence of events which can cause information to originate by itself in matter.” Werner Gitt, “In the Beginning was Information”, 1997, p. 106. (Dr. Gitt was the Director at the German Federal Institute of Physics and Technology) His challenge to scientifically falsify this statement has remained unanswered since first published.Some materialists believe they have conclusive proof for evolution because bacteria can quickly adapt to detoxify new man-made materials, such as nylon, even though it is, once again, just a minor variation within kind, i.e. though the bacteria adapt they still do not demonstrate a gain in fitness over the parent strain once the nylon is consumed (Genetic Entropy). I’m not nearly as impressed with their 'stunning proof' as they think I should be. In fact recent research has shown the correct explanation for the nylon-eating enzyme, produced on the plasmids, seems to be a special mechanism which recombines parts of the genes in the plasmids in a way that is non-random. This is shown by the absence of stop codons, which would be generated if the variation were truly random. The 'clockwork' repeatability of the adaptation clearly indicates a designed mechanism that fits perfectly within the limited 'variation within kind' model of Theism, and stays well within the principle of Genetic Entropy since the parent strain is still more fit for survival once the nylon is consumed from the environment. (Answers In Genesis)
Nylon Degradation – Analysis of Genetic EntropyThough Darwinists love to claim this as a 'new' protein. The simple fact is that is the same exact enzyme/protein, esterase, with only a minor variation on its previous enzymatic activity:
Excerpt: At the phenotypic level, the appearance of nylon degrading bacteria would seem to involve “evolution” of new enzymes and transport systems. However, further molecular analysis of the bacterial transformation reveals mutations resulting in degeneration of pre-existing systems.
http://www.answersingenesis.org/articles/aid/v4/n1/beneficial-mutations-in-bacteria
Why Scientists Should NOT Dismiss Intelligent Design - William Dembski
Excerpt: "the nylonase enzyme seems “pre-designed” in the sense that the original DNA sequence was preadapted for frame-shift mutations to occur without destroying the protein-coding potential of the original gene. Indeed, this protein sequence seems designed to be specifically adaptable to novel functions."
http://www.uncommondescent.com/evolution/why-scientists-should-not-dismiss-intelligent-design/
“Mutational analysis of 6-aminohexanoate-dimer hydrolase:In fact it is now strongly suspected that all changes in the genome, which are deemed to be 'beneficial', are now found to be 'designed' changes that still stay within the overriding principle of Genetic Entropy:
Relationship between nylon oligomer hydrolytic and esterolytic activities”
Excerpt: “Based upon the following findings, we propose that the nylon oligomer hydrolase has newly evolved through amino acid substitutions in the catalytic cleft of a pre-existing esterase with the b-lactamase-fold”.
Taku Ohkia, Yoshiaki Wakitania, Masahiro Takeoa, Kengo Yasuhiraa, Naoki Shibatab,
Yoshiki Higuchib, Seiji Negoroa FEBS Letters 580 (2006) 5054–5058
http://www.uncommondescent.com/intelligent-design/intelligent-design-and-the-demarcation-problem/comment-page-12/#comment-362219
Revisiting The Central Dogma (Of Evolution) In The 21st Century - James Shapiro - 2008This overriding truth of never being able to violate the Genetic Entropy of poly-constrained information by natural means applies to the 'non-living realm' of viruses, such as bird flu and HIV, as well:
Excerpt: Genetic change is almost always the result of cellular action on the genome (not replication errors). (of interest - 12 methods of 'epigenetic' information transfer in the cell are noted in the paper)
http://www.uncommondescent.com/intelligent-design/central-dogma-revisited/
Scientists Discover What Makes The Same Type Of Cells Different - Oct. 2009
Excerpt: Until now, cell variability was simply called “noise”, implying statistical random distribution. However, the results of the study now show that the different reactions are not random, but that certain causes (environmental clues) lead to predictable distribution patterns,,,
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/09/090911204217.htm
Bacteria 'Invest' (Designed) Wisely to Survive Uncertain Times, Scientists Report - Dec. 2009
Excerpt: Essentially, variability of bacterial cells appears to match the variability in the environment, thereby increasing the chances of bacterial survival,
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/11/091102112102.htm
De Novo Genes: - Cornelius Hunter - Nov. 2009
Excerpt: Cells have remarkable adaptation capabilities. They can precisely adjust which segments of the genome are copied for use in the cell. They can edit and regulate those DNA copies according to their needs. And they can even modify the DNA itself, such as with adaptive mutations,,,,One apparent de novo gene is T-urf13 which was found in certain varieties of corn.
http://darwins-god.blogspot.com/2009/11/de-novo-genes-evolutionary-explanation.html
The secrets of intelligence lie within a single cell - April 2010
Excerpt: Yet something amazing is happening here: because the damage to the Antithamnion filament is unforeseeable, the organism faces a situation for which it has not been able to adapt, and is therefore unable to call upon inbuilt responses. It has to use some sort of problem-solving ingenuity instead.
http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg20627571.100-the-secrets-of-intelligence-lie-within-a-single-cell.html
Ryan Lucas Kitner, Ph.D. 2006. - Bird FluAs well, the virus is far more complex than many people have ever imagined, as this following video clearly points out:
Excerpt: influenza viruses do possess a certain degree of variability; however, the amount of genetic information which a virus can carry is vastly limited, and so are the changes which can be made to its genome before it can no longer function.
http://www.answersingenesis.org/articles/aid/v1/n1/has-it-evolved
Virus - Assembly Of A Nano-Machine - video
http://www.metacafe.com/watch/4023122
Though most people think of viruses as being very harmful to humans, the fact is that the Bacteriophage (Bacteria Eater) virus, in the preceding video, is actually a very beneficial virus to man for it is one of the main mechanisms found in nature by which bacteria populations are kept in check so as to keep them from 'overpopulating' the world. If bacteria did not have such mechanisms keeping them in check, the effect on the environment of the earth would soon throw the entire ecology of the planet into chaos, thus making the earth inhospitable for higher life forms.
http://www.uncommondescent.com/intelligent-design/bruce-waltke-and-the-scientific-orthodoxy/#comment-351840
Michael Behe defends the one 'overlooked' protein/protein binding site generated by the HIV virus, that Abbie Smith and Ian Musgrave had found, by pointing out it is well within the 2 binding site limit he set in "The Edge Of Evolution" on this following site:
Response to Ian Musgrave's "Open Letter to Dr. Michael Behe," Part 4An information-gaining mutation in HIV? NO!
"Yes, one overlooked protein-protein interaction developed, leading to a leaky cell membrane --- not something to crow about after 10^20 replications and a greatly enhanced mutation rate."
http://behe.uncommondescent.com/page/4/
http://creation.com/an-information-gaining-mutation-in-hiv
In fact, I followed this debate very closely and it turns out the trivial gain of just one protein-protein binding site being generated for the non-living HIV virus, that the evolutionists were 'crowing' about, came at a staggering loss of complexity for the living host it invaded (People) with just that one trivial gain of a 'leaky cell membrane' in binding site complexity. Thus the 'evolution' of the virus clearly stayed within the principle of Genetic Entropy since far more functional complexity was lost by the living human cells it invaded than was ever gained by the non-living HIV virus. A non-living virus which depends on those human cells to replicate in the first place. Moreover, while learning HIV is a 'mutational powerhouse' which greatly outclasses the 'mutational firepower' of the entire spectrum of higher life-forms combined for millions of years, and about the devastating effect HIV has on humans with just that one trivial binding site being generated, I realized if evolution were actually the truth about how life came to be on Earth then the only 'life' that would be around would be extremely small organisms with the highest replication rate, and with the most mutational firepower, since only they would be the fittest to survive in the dog eat dog world where blind pitiless evolution rules and only the 'fittest' are allowed to survive.
Dr. Meyer makes a interesting comment here about simple self-replicating molecules which got simpler very quickly by neo-Darwinian processes;
In a classic experiment, Spiegelman in 1967 showed what happens to a molecular replicating system in a test tube, without any cellular organization around it. … these initial templates did not stay the same; they were not accurately copied. They got shorter and shorter until they reached the minimal size compatible with the sequence retaining self-copying properties. And as they got shorter, the copying process went faster. - Stephen Meyer - The Nature of Nature: Examining the Role of Naturalism in Science (Wilmington, DE: ISI Books, 2011), p. 313–18.This following link has a nice overview of the self-replicating experiment in 1967 by Spiegelman in which the replicating molecule got simpler;
Origins of Life – Freeman Dyson – page 74
http://books.google.com/books?id=aQ75QhwpXoEC&pg=PA74&lpg=PA74&dq=Spiegelman+in+1967++origin+of+life&source=bl&ots=oJx64fYN4P&sig=xycZD-Xff6D-UkO4ZhzFWxfMFNA&hl=en&sa=X&ei=jFZFT4WnKqmfsQKg79nCDw&ved=0CCQQ6AEwAA#v=onepage&q=Spiegelman%20in%201967%20%20origin%20of%20life&f=false
Here is a defence of Dr. Behe's binding site limit from the T-urf13 gene/protein that was argued, by Darwinists, to be a 'new' gene/protein that refuted Behe's limit:
How Arthur Hunt Fails To Refute Behe (T-URF13)- Jonathan M - February 2011
http://www.uncommondescent.com/intelligent-design/on-the-non-evolution-of-irreducible-complexity-how-arthur-hunt-fails-to-refute-behe/#comment-373010
On the non-evolution of Irreducible Complexity – How Arthur Hunt Fails To Refute BeheI would also like to point out scientists have never changed any one type of single cell organism, bacteria, or virus, into any other type of single cell organism, bacteria, or virus, despite years of exhaustive experimentation trying to change them. In fact, it is commonly known the further scientists deviate any particular single cell organism, bacteria, or virus, type from its original state, the more unfit for survival the manipulated population will quickly become (Genetic Entropy). As former president of the French Academy of Sciences Pierre P. Grasse has stated:
Excerpt: furthermore, T-urf 13 involves a kind of degradation of maize. In the case of the Texas maize–hence the T—the T-urf 13 was located by researchers because it was there that the toxin that decimated the corn grown in Texas in the late 60′s attached itself. So the “manufacturing” of this “de novo” gene proved to make the maize less fit. This is in keeping with Behe’s latest findings.
http://www.uncommondescent.com/intelligent-design/on-the-non-evolution-of-irreducible-complexity-how-arthur-hunt-fails-to-refute-behe/comment-page-3/#comment-373178
“What is the use of their unceasing mutations, if they do not change? In sum, the mutations of bacteria and viruses are merely hereditary fluctuations around a median position; a swing to the right, a swing to the left, but no final evolutionary effect.”As well, to reiterate what was said in another article I listed previously, bacteria that are resistant to multiple antibiotics (MRSA) are actually superwimps instead of supergerms. This is because the multiple deleterious mutations they have incurred, from their interaction with different antibiotics, make them dramatically less fit for survival in the wild than their non-mutated cousins:
Superbugs not super after allNDM-1 Superbug the Result of Bad Policies, Not Compelling Evidence for Evolution's Creative Powers - Sept. 2010
Excerpt: It is precisely because the mutations which give rise to resistance are in some form or another defects, that so-called supergerms are not really ‘super’ at all—they are actually rather ‘wimpy’ compared to their close cousins. When I was finally discharged from hospital, I still had a strain of supergerm colonizing my body. Nothing had been able to get rid of it, after months in hospital. However, I was told that all I had to do on going home was to ‘get outdoors a lot, occasionally even roll in the dirt, and wait.’ In less than two weeks of this advice, the supergerms were gone. Why? The reason is that supergerms are actually defective in other ways, as explained. Therefore, when they are forced to compete with the ordinary bacteria which normally thrive on our skin, they do not have a chance. They thrive in hospital because all the antibiotics and antiseptics being used there keep wiping out the ordinary bacteria which would normally outcompete, wipe out and otherwise keep in check these ‘superwimps’.
http://creation.com/superbugs-not-super-after-all
http://www.evolutionnews.org/2010/09/ndm-1_superbug_the_result_of_b038021.html
'Random mutations', though touted as this great engine of creativity by evolutionists, are in fact a pitiful mechanism to explain the generation of the functional information that we find in life, as this following references show:
Unexpectedly small effects of mutations in bacteria bring new perspectives - November 2010Random Mutations Destroy Information - Perry Marshall - video
Excerpt: Most mutations in the genes of the Salmonella bacterium have a surprisingly small negative impact on bacterial fitness. And this is the case regardless whether they lead to changes in the bacterial proteins or not.,,, using extremely sensitive growth measurements, doctoral candidate Peter Lind showed that most mutations reduced the rate of growth of bacteria by only 0.500 percent. No mutations completely disabled the function of the proteins, and very few had no impact at all. Even more surprising was the fact that mutations that do not change the protein sequence had negative effects similar to those of mutations that led to substitution of amino acids. A possible explanation is that most mutations may have their negative effect by altering mRNA structure, not proteins, as is commonly assumed.
http://www.physorg.com/news/2010-11-unexpectedly-small-effects-mutations-bacteria.html
http://www.metacafe.com/watch/4023143
Random Mutations and the Heroics of EvolutionMaterialists simply do not have any evidence for the truly 'beneficial' mutations they need to make evolution work. The following site has numerous quotes, studies and videos which reveal the overwhelmingly negative mutation rate which has been found in life:
Excerpt: A child once informed his friends his toy bulldozer could dig all the way through the Earth. But wasn’t the Earth too big? No, look at the Grand Canyon—it is proof of what such small shovels can do. Such childish logic, amazingly, shows up repeatedly in evolutionary “theory.”
http://darwins-god.blogspot.com/2010/07/random-mutations-and-heroics-of.html
Michael Behe's Blog - October 2007
Excerpt: As I showed for mutations that help in the human fight against malaria, many beneficial mutations actually are the result of breaking or degrading a gene. Since there are so many ways to break or degrade a gene, those sorts of beneficial mutations can happen relatively quickly. For example, there are hundreds of different mutations that degrade an enzyme abbreviated G6PD, which actually confers some resistance to malaria. Those certainly are beneficial in the circumstances. The big problem for evolution, however, is not to degrade genes (Darwinian random mutations can do that very well!) but to make the coherent, constructive changes needed to build new systems.
http://behe.uncommondescent.com/page/6/
Mutation Studies, Videos, And Quotes
http://docs.google.com/Doc?docid=0AYmaSrBPNEmGZGM4ejY3d3pfMjZjZnM5M21mZg
It is also interesting to note that scientists have actually used a mechanism of 'excessive mutations' to help humans in their fight against pathogenic viruses, as the following articles clearly point out:
GM Crops May Face Genetic MeltdownIn fact, trying to narrow down an actual hard number for the truly beneficial mutation rate, that would actually explain the massively integrated machine-like complexity of proteins we find in life, is what Dr. Behe did in this following book:
Excerpt: Error catastrophe occurs when high mutation rates give rise to so many deleterious mutations that they make the population go extinct. For example, foot and mouth disease virus treated with mutagens (base analogues fluorouracil and azacytidine) eventually become extinct [1]. Polio virus treated with the mutagenic drug ribavirin similarly went extinct [2].
http://www.i-sis.org.uk/meltdown.php
Quasispecies Theory and the Behavior of RNA Viruses - July 2010
Excerpt: Many predictions of quasispecies theory run counter to traditional views of microbial behavior and evolution and have profound implications for our understanding of viral disease. ,,, it has been termed “mutational meltdown.” It is now clear that many RNA viruses replicate near the error threshold. Early studies with VSV showed that chemical mutagens generally reduced viral infectivity, and studies with poliovirus clearly demonstrated that mutagenic nucleoside analogs push viral populations to extinction [40]–[43]. The effect is dramatic—a 4-fold increase in mutation rate resulted in a 95% reduction in viral titer.,,, While mutation-independent activities have also been identified, it is clear that APOBEC-mediated lethal mutagenesis is a critical cellular defense against RNA viruses. The fact that these pathogens replicate close to the error threshold makes them particularly sensitive to slight increases in mutational load.,,,
http://www.plospathogens.org/article/info%3Adoi%2F10.1371%2Fjournal.ppat.1001005#ppat-1001005-g003
"The Edge of Evolution: The Search for the Limits of Darwinism"
http://www.amazon.com/Edge-Evolution-Search-Limits-Darwinism/dp/0743296206
The Edge Of Evolution - Michael Behe - Video Lecture
http://www.c-spanvideo.org/program/199326-1
A review of The Edge of Evolution: The Search for the Limits of DarwinismDr. Behe states in The Edge of Evolution on page 135:
The numbers of Plasmodium and HIV in the last 50 years greatly exceeds the total number of mammals since their supposed evolutionary origin (several hundred million years ago), yet little has been achieved by evolution. This suggests that mammals could have "invented" little in their time frame. Behe: ‘Our experience with HIV gives good reason to think that Darwinism doesn’t do much—even with billions of years and all the cells in that world at its disposal’ (p. 155).
http://creation.com/review-michael-behe-edge-of-evolution
"Generating a single new cellular protein-protein binding site (in other words, generating a truly beneficial mutational event that would actually explain the generation of the complex molecular machinery we see in life) is of the same order of difficulty or worse than the development of chloroquine resistance in the malarial parasite."To illustrate just how difficult of a step it is, the order of difficulty, of developing a single protein-protein binding site, is put at 10^20 replications of the malarial parasite by Dr. Behe. This number comes from direct empirical observation.
Where's the substantiating evidence for neo-Darwinism?
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1q-PBeQELzT4pkgxB2ZOxGxwv6ynOixfzqzsFlCJ9jrw/edit
Richard Dawkins’ The Greatest Show on Earth Shies Away from Intelligent Design but Unwittingly Vindicates Michael Behe - Oct. 2009The Sheer Lack Of Evidence For Macro Evolution - William Lane Craig - video
Excerpt: The rarity of chloroquine resistance is not in question. In fact, Behe’s statistic that it occurs only once in every 10^20 cases was derived from public health statistical data, published by an authority in the Journal of Clinical Investigation. The extreme rareness of chloroquine resistance is not a negotiable data point; it is an observed fact.
http://www.evolutionnews.org/2009/10/richard_dawkins_the_greatest_s.html
Antimalarial drug resistance - Nicholas J. White 1,2
Excerpt: Resistance to chloroquine in P. falciparum has arisen spontaneously less than ten times in the past fifty years (14). This suggests that the per-parasite probability of developing resistance de novo is on the order of 1 in 10^20 parasite multiplications. The single point mutations in the gene encoding cytochrome b (cytB), which confer atovaquone resistance, or in the gene encoding dihydrofolate reductase (dhfr), which confer pyrimethamine resistance, have a per-parasite probability of arising de novo of approximately 1 in 10^12 parasite multiplications (5). To put this in context, an adult with approximately 2% parasitemia has 10^12 parasites in his or her body. But in the laboratory, much higher mutation rates thane 1 in every 10^12 are recorded (12).
http://www.jci.org/articles/view/21682
http://www.metacafe.com/watch/4023134/
An Atheist Interviews Michael Behe About "The Edge Of Evolution" - video
http://www.in.com/videos/watchvideo-bloggingheads-interview-with-michael-behe-4734623.html
Thus, the actual rate for 'truly' beneficial mutations, which would account for the staggering machine-like complexity we see in life, is far in excess of one-hundred-billion-billion mutational events. So the one in a thousand, to one in a million, number for 'truly' beneficial mutations is actually far, far, too generous for an estimate for evolutionists to use as an estimate in their 'hypothetical' calculations for beneficial mutations.
In fact, from consistent findings such as these, it is increasingly apparent the principle of Genetic Entropy is the overriding foundational rule for all of biology, with no exceptions at all, and belief in 'truly' beneficial mutations is nothing more than wishful speculation on the materialist part which has no foundation in empirical science whatsoever.
Evolution vs. Genetic Entropy - video
http://www.metacafe.com/watch/4028086
The following article has a simple example of how Genetic Entropy plays out, even allowing that some mutations might truly be slightly beneficial in the molecular sense as far as molecular functionality is concerned:
Richard Lenski’s Long-Term Evolution Experiments with E. coli and the Origin of New Biological InformationThe foundational overriding principle, in life sciences, for explaining the sub-speciation of all species from any particular initial parent species that was designed is Genetic Entropy. Genetic Entropy, a rule which draws its foundation in science from the twin pillars of the Second Law of Thermodynamics and from the Law of Conservation of Information (Dembski, Marks, Abel), and the principle can be stated something like this:
Excerpt: Even if there were several possible pathways by which to construct a gain-of-FCT mutation, or several possible kinds of adaptive gain-of-FCT features, the rate of appearance of an adaptive mutation that would arise from the diminishment or elimination of the activity of a protein is expected to be 100-1000 times the rate of appearance of an adaptive mutation that requires specific changes to a gene.
(Michael J. Behe, “Experimental Evolution, Loss-of-Function Mutations and ‘The First Rule of Adaptive Evolution’,” Quarterly Review of Biology, Vol. 85(4) (December, 2010).)
The sort of loss-of-function examples seen in the Lenski's LTEE (Long Term Evolution Experiment) will never show that natural selection can increase high CSI. To understand why, imagine the following hypothetical situation.
Consider an imaginary order of insects, the Evolutionoptera. Let’s say there are 1 million species of Evolutionoptera, but ecologists find that the extinction rate among Evolutionoptera is 1000 species per millennium. The speciation rate (the rate at which new species arise) during the same period is 1 new species per 1000 years. At these rates, every thousand years 1000 species of Evolutionoptera will die off, while one new species will develop–a net loss of 999 species. If these processes continue, in 1,000,001 years there will be no species of Evolutionoptera left on earth.
http://www.evolutionnews.org/2011/09/richard_lenskis_long_term_evol051051.html
More Darwinian Degradation: Much Ado about Yeast - Michael Behe - January 2012
Excerpt: "It seems to me that Richard Lenski, who knows how to get the most publicity out of exceedingly modest laboratory results, has taught his student well. In fact, the results can be regarded as the loss of two pre-existing abilities: 1) the loss of the ability to separate from the mother cell during cell division; and 2) the loss of control of apoptosis. The authors did not analyze the genetic changes that occurred in the cells, but I strongly suspect that if and when they do, they'll discover that functioning genes or regulatory regions were broken or degraded. This would be just one more example of evolution by loss of pre-existing systems, at which we already knew that Darwinian processes excel. The apparently insurmountable problem for Darwinism is to build new systems."
http://www.evolutionnews.org/2012/01/more_darwinian055511.html
"All beneficial adaptations away from a parent species for a sub-species, which increase fitness to a particular environment, will always come at a loss of the optimal functional information that was originally created in the parent species genome."Genetic Entropy also fits very well with the theological question that many children ask their teachers, 'Why would a loving God allow pathogenic viruses and bacteria to exist?'
What about parasites? - September 2010The following shows that we can actually watch the 'final act' of Genetic Entropy, 'mutational meltdown', in the laboratory for small asexual populations (bacteria, yeast, etc.):
Excerpt: these parasites must have been benign and beneficial in their original form. Perhaps some were independent and free-living, and others had beneficial symbiotic relationships with animals or humans. ,,,These once-harmless creatures degenerated, and became parasitic and harmful.
http://creation.com/what-about-parasites
The Mutational Meltdown in Asexual Populations - LynchThese following articles refute Richard E. Lenski's 'supposed evolution' of the citrate ability for the E-Coli bacteria after 20,000 generations of the E-Coli from his 'Long Term Evolution Experiment' (LTEE) which has been going on since 1988:
Excerpt: Loss of fitness due to the accumulation of deleterious mutations appears to be inevitable in small, obligately asexual populations, as these are incapable of reconstituting highly fit genotypes by recombination or back mutation. The cumulative buildup of such mutations is expected to lead to an eventual reduction in population size, and this facilitates the chance accumulation of future mutations. This synergistic interaction between population size reduction and mutation accumulation leads to an extinction process known as the mutational meltdown,,,
http://www.oxfordjournals.org/our_journals/jhered/freepdf/84-339.pdf
Multiple Mutations Needed for E. Coli - Michael BeheThe preceding experiment was interesting, for they found, after 50,000 generations of e-coli which is equivalent to about 1,000,000 years of 'supposed' human evolution, only 5 'beneficial' mutations. Moreover, these 5 'beneficial' mutations were found to interfere with each other when they were combined in the ancestral population. Needless to say, this is far, far short of the functional complexity we find in life that neo-Darwinism is required to explain the origination of. Even more problematic for neo-Darwinism is when we realize that Michael Behe showed that the 'beneficial' mutations were actually loss or modification of function mutations. i.e. The individual 'beneficial' mutations were never shown to be in the process of building functional complexity at the molecular level in the first place!
Excerpt: As Lenski put it, “The only known barrier to aerobic growth on citrate is its inability to transport citrate under oxic conditions.” (1) Other workers (cited by Lenski) in the past several decades have also identified mutant E. coli that could use citrate as a food source. In one instance the mutation wasn’t tracked down. (2) In another instance a protein coded by a gene called citT, which normally transports citrate in the absence of oxygen, was overexpressed. (3) The overexpressed protein allowed E. coli to grow on citrate in the presence of oxygen. It seems likely that Lenski’s mutant will turn out to be either this gene or another of the bacterium’s citrate-using genes, tweaked a bit to allow it to transport citrate in the presence of oxygen. (He hasn’t yet tracked down the mutation.),,, If Lenski’s results are about the best we've seen evolution do, then there's no reason to believe evolution could produce many of the complex biological features we see in the cell.
http://behe.uncommondescent.com/2008/06/multiple-mutations-needed-for-e-coli/
Michael Behe's Quarterly Review of Biology Paper Critiques Richard Lenski's E. Coli Evolution Experiments - December 2010
Excerpt: After reviewing the results of Lenski's research, Behe concludes that the observed adaptive mutations all entail either loss or modification--but not gain--of Functional Coding ElemenTs (FCTs)
http://www.evolutionnews.org/2010/12/michael_behes_quarterly_review041221.html
Richard Lenski's Long-Term Evolution Experiments with E. coli and the Origin of New Biological Information - September 2011
Excerpt: The results of future work aside, so far, during the course of the longest, most open-ended, and most extensive laboratory investigation of bacterial evolution, a number of adaptive mutations have been identified that endow the bacterial strain with greater fitness compared to that of the ancestral strain in the particular growth medium. The goal of Lenski's research was not to analyze adaptive mutations in terms of gain or loss of function, as is the focus here, but rather to address other longstanding evolutionary questions. Nonetheless, all of the mutations identified to date can readily be classified as either modification-of-function or loss-of-FCT.
(Michael J. Behe, "Experimental Evolution, Loss-of-Function Mutations and 'The First Rule of Adaptive Evolution'," Quarterly Review of Biology, Vol. 85(4) (December, 2010).)
http://www.evolutionnews.org/2011/09/richard_lenskis_long_term_evol051051.html
Lenski's e-coli - Analysis of Genetic Entropy
Excerpt: Mutants of E. coli obtained after 20,000 generations at 37°C were less “fit” than the wild-type strain when cultivated at either 20°C or 42°C. Other E. coli mutants obtained after 20,000 generations in medium where glucose was their sole catabolite tended to lose the ability to catabolize other carbohydrates. Such a reduction can be beneficially selected only as long as the organism remains in that constant environment. Ultimately, the genetic effect of these mutations is a loss of a function useful for one type of environment as a trade-off for adaptation to a different environment.
http://www.answersingenesis.org/articles/aid/v4/n1/beneficial-mutations-in-bacteria
Genetic Entropy Confirmed (in Lenski's e-coli) - June 2011
Excerpt: No increases in adaptation or fitness were observed, and no explanation was offered for how neo-Darwinism could overcome the downward trend in fitness.
http://crev.info/content/110605-genetic_entropy_confirmed
Mutations : when benefits level off - June 2011 - (Lenski's e-coli after 50,000 generations)
Excerpt: After having identified the first five beneficial mutations combined successively and spontaneously in the bacterial population, the scientists generated, from the ancestral bacterial strain, 32 mutant strains exhibiting all of the possible combinations of each of these five mutations. They then noted that the benefit linked to the simultaneous presence of five mutations was less than the sum of the individual benefits conferred by each mutation individually.
http://www2.cnrs.fr/en/1867.htm?theme1=7
Moreover, Lenski's work has also shown that 'convergent evolution' is impossible because his work has shown that evolution is 'historically contingent'. This following video and article make this point clear:
Lenski's Citrate E-Coli - Disproof of Convergent Evolution - Fazale Rana - video (the disproof of convergence starts at the 2:45 minute mark of the video)
http://www.metacafe.com/watch/4564682
The Long Term Evolution Experiment - AnalysisThe loss of 'convergent evolution', as a argument for molecular sequence similarity in widely divergent species, is a major blow to neo-Darwinian story telling:
Excerpt: The experiment just goes to show that even with historical contingency and extreme selection pressure, the probability of random mutations causing even a tiny evolutionary improvement in digestion is, in the words of the researchers who did the experiment, “extremely low.” Therefore, it can’t be the explanation for the origin and varieity of all the forms of life on Earth.
http://www.scienceagainstevolution.org/v12i11f.htm
Implications of Genetic Convergent Evolution for Common Descent - Casey Luskin - Sept. 2010Lenski's work also conforms to the extreme limit found for just two 'coordinated' mutations conferring any 'evolutionary benefit';
Excerpt: When building evolutionary trees, evolutionists assume that functional genetic similarity is the result of inheritance from a common ancestor. Except for when it isn't. And when the data doesn't fit their assumptions, evolutionists explain it away as the result of "convergence." Using this methodology, one can explain virtually any dataset. Is there a way to falsify common descent, even in the face of convergent genetic similarity? If convergent genetic evolution is common, how does one know if their tree is based upon homologous sequences or convergent ones? Critics like me see the logic underlying evolutionary trees to be methodologically inconsistent, unpersuasive, and ultimately arbitrary.
http://www.evolutionnews.org/2010/09/implications_of_genetic_conver037841.html
Origin of Hemoglobins: A Repeated Problem for Biological Evolution - 2010
Excerpt: When analyzed from an evolutionary perspective, it appears as if the hemoglobins originated independently in jawless vertebrates and jawed vertebrates.,,, This result fits awkwardly within the evolutionary framework. It also contradicts the results of the Long-term Experimental Evolution (LTEE; Lenski) study, which demonstrated that microevolutionary biochemical changes are historically contingent.
http://www.reasons.org/origin-hemoglobins-repeated-problem-biological-evolution
Convergence: Evidence for a Single Creator - Fazale Rana
Excerpt: When critically assessed, the evolutionary paradigm is found to be woefully inadequate when accounting for all the facets of biological convergence. On the other hand, biological convergence is readily explained by an origins model that evokes a single Creator (reusing optimal designs).
http://www.reasons.org/convergence-evidence-single-creator
Bernard d'Abrera on Butterfly Mimicry and the Faith of the Evolutionist - October 2011
Excerpt: For it to happen in a single species once through chance, is mathematically highly improbable. But when it occurs so often, in so many species, and we are expected to apply mathematical probability yet again, then either mathematics is a useless tool, or we are being criminally blind.,,, Evolutionism (with its two eldest daughters, phylogenetics and cladistics) is the only systematic synthesis in the history of the universe (science) that proposes an Effect without a Final Cause. It is a great fraud, and cannot be taken seriously because it outrageously attempts to defend the philosophically indefensible.
http://www.evolutionnews.org/2011/10/in_this_excerpt_from_the051571.html
Michael Behe on the most recent Richard Lenski “evolvability” paper - April 2011
http://www.uncommondescent.com/irreducible-complexity/michael-behe-on-the-most-recent-richard-lenski-%E2%80%9Cevolvability%E2%80%9D-paper/
More from Lenski's Lab, Still Spinning Furiously - Michael Behe - January, 2012Even more crushing evidence can be gleaned from Lenski's long term evolution experiment on E-coli. Upon even closer inspection, it seems Lenski's 'cuddled' E. coli are actually headed for genetic meltdown instead of evolving into something, anything, better.
Excerpt: So at the end of the day there was left the mutated bacteriophage lambda, still incompetent to invade most E. coli cells, plus mutated E. coli, now with broken genes which remove its ability to metabolize maltose and mannose. It seems Darwinian evolution took a little step sideways and two big steps backwards.
http://www.evolutionnews.org/2012/01/more_from_lensk055751.html
New Work by Richard Lenski:Sometimes a materialist will say, "gene duplication is the real engine of evolution" which generates the new functional information in molecular biology. Yet they simply don't have any evidence to support that assertion:
Excerpt: Interestingly, in this paper they report that the E. coli strain became a “mutator.” That means it lost at least some of its ability to repair its DNA, so mutations are accumulating now at a rate about seventy times faster than normal.
http://www.evolutionnews.org/2009/10/new_work_by_richard_lenski.html
Gene Duplication Quotes and Papers
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1u-mn_eUVxx5aSv_iz6xkRXbqJri_ZxJLY2Q9Hx02-X4/edit?hl=en_US
Michael Behe, The Edge of Evolution, pg. 162 Swine Flu, Viruses, and the Edge of EvolutionThe following experiment recently confirmed the severe limit for evolution found by Dr Behe:
"Indeed, the work on malaria and AIDS demonstrates that after all possible unintelligent processes in the cell--both ones we've discovered so far and ones we haven't--at best extremely limited benefit, since no such process was able to do much of anything. It's critical to notice that no artificial limitations were placed on the kinds of mutations or processes the microorganisms could undergo in nature. Nothing--neither point mutation, deletion, insertion, gene duplication, transposition, genome duplication, self-organization nor any other process yet undiscovered--was of much use."
http://www.evolutionnews.org/2009/05/swine_flu_viruses_and_the_edge.html
Again I would like to emphasize, I’m not arguing Darwinism cannot make complex functional systems, the data on malaria, and the other examples, are a observation that it does not. In science observation beats theory all the time. So Professor (Richard) Dawkins can speculate about what he thinks Darwinian processes could do, but in nature Darwinian processes have not been shown to do anything in particular.
Michael Behe - 46 minute mark of video lecture on 'The Edge of Evolution' for C-SPAN
http://www.uncommondescent.com/intelligent-design/michael-behe-lecture-recommend/comment-page-1/#comment-361037
Experimental evolution, loss-of-function mutations, and “the first rule of adaptive evolution” - Michael J. Behe - December 2010
Excerpt: In this paper, I review molecular changes underlying some adaptations, with a particular emphasis on evolutionary experiments with microbes conducted over the past four decades. I show that by far the most common adaptive changes seen in those examples are due to the loss or modification of a pre-existing molecular function, and I discuss the possible reasons for the prominence of such mutations.
http://www.journals.uchicago.edu/doi/abs/10.1086/656902
Mike Behe on a new journal paper admitting that Darwinian evolution 'can’t do' complex systems - August 2011
Excerpt: 'I don’t mean to be unkind, but I think that the idea seems reasonable only to the extent that it is vague and undeveloped; when examined critically it quickly loses plausibility. The first thing to note about the paper is that it contains absolutely no calculations to support the feasibility of the model. This is inexcusable. - Michael Behe
http://www.uncommondescent.com/evolution/mike-behe-on-a-new-journal-paper-admitting-that-darwinian-evolution-can%E2%80%99t-do-really-complex-systems/
Reductive Evolution Can Prevent Populations from Taking Simple Adaptive Paths to High Fitness - Ann K. Gauger, Stephanie Ebnet, Pamela F. Fahey, and Ralph Seelke – 2010Behe and Snoke go even further, addressing the severe problems with the Gene Duplication scenario in this following study:
Excerpt: When all of these possibilities are left open by the experimental design, the populations consistently take paths that reduce expression of trpAE49V,D60N, making the path to new (restored) function virtually inaccessible. This demonstrates that the cost of expressing genes that provide weak new functions is a significant constraint on the emergence of new functions. In particular, populations with multiple adaptive paths open to them may be much less likely to take an adaptive path to high fitness if that path requires over-expression.
http://bio-complexity.org/ojs/index.php/main/article/view/BIO-C.2010.2/BIO-C.2010.2
Response from Ralph Seelke to David Hillis Regarding Testimony on Bacterial Evolution Before Texas State Board of Education, January 21, 2009
Excerpt: He has done excellent work showing the capabilities of evolution when it can take one step at a time. I have used a different approach to show the difficulties that evolution encounters when it must take two steps at a time. So while similar, our work has important differences, and Dr. Bull’s research has not contradicted or refuted my own.
http://www.discovery.org/a/9951
Epistasis between Beneficial Mutations - July 2011
Excerpt: We found that epistatic interactions between beneficial mutations were all antagonistic—the effects of the double mutations were less than the sums of the effects of their component single mutations. We found a number of cases of decompensatory interactions, an extreme form of antagonistic epistasis in which the second mutation is actually deleterious in the presence of the first. In the vast majority of cases, recombination uniting two beneficial mutations into the same genome would not be favored by selection, as the recombinant could not outcompete its constituent single mutations.
http://www.uncommondescent.com/epigenetics/darwins-beneficial-mutations-do-not-benefit-each-other/
Simulating evolution by gene duplication of protein features that require multiple amino acid residues: Michael J. Behe and David W. SnokeInterestingly Fred Hoyle arrived at the same conclusion, of a 2 amino acid limit, years earlier from a 'mathematical' angle:
Excerpt: The fact that very large population sizes—10^9 or greater—are required to build even a minimal [multi-residue] feature requiring two nucleotide alterations within 10^8 generations by the processes described in our model, and that enormous population sizes are required for more complex features or shorter times, seems to indicate that the mechanism of gene duplication and point mutation alone would be ineffective, at least for multicellular diploid species, because few multicellular species reach the required population sizes.
http://www.pubmedcentral.nih.gov/articlerender.fcgi?artid=2286568
http://www.uncommondescent.com/intelligent-design/uh-oh-is-he-going-to-get-gould-ed/comment-page-3/#comment-367658
The Limits of Complex Adaptation: An Analysis Based on a Simple Model of Structured Bacterial Populations - Douglas D. Axe* - December 2010This following paper clearly reveals that there is a 'cost' to duplicate genes that further precludes the scenario from being plausible:
quote of note: ,, the most significant implication comes not from how the two cases contrast but rather how they cohere—both showing severe limitations to complex adaptation. To appreciate this, consider the tremendous number of cells needed to achieve adaptations of such limited complexity. As a basis for calculation, we have assumed a bacterial population that maintained an effective size of 10^9 individuals through 10^3 generations each year for billions of years. This amounts to well over a billion trillion (10^21) opportunities (in the form of individuals whose lines were not destined to expire imminently) for evolutionary experimentation. Yet what these enormous resources are expected to have accomplished, in terms of combined base changes, can be counted on the fingers.
http://bio-complexity.org/ojs/index.php/main/article/view/BIO-C.2010.4/BIO-C.2010.4
The GS (genetic selection) Principle – David L. Abel – 2009
Excerpt: No increase in Shannon or Prescriptive information occurs in duplication. What the above papers show is that not even variation of the duplication produces new information, not even Shannon “information.”
http://www.bioscience.org/2009/v14/af/3426/fulltext.htm
Experimental Evolution of Gene Duplicates in a Bacterial Plasmid ModelThis recent paper also found the gene duplication scenario to be highly implausible:
Excerpt: In a striking contradiction to our model, no such conditions were found. The fitness cost of carrying both plasmids increased dramatically as antibiotic levels were raised, and either the wild-type plasmid was lost or the cells did not grow. This study highlights the importance of the cost of duplicate genes and the quantitative nature of the tradeoff in the evolution of gene duplication through functional divergence. http://www.springerlink.com/content/vp471464014664w8/
The Extinction Dynamics of Bacterial Pseudogenes - Kuo and Ochman - August 2010Many times evolutionists are very deceptive in saying that evolutionary processes can generate functional information, as with the duplicate gene scenario, when in fact no one has ever experimentally demonstrated a gain in functional information, above a parent species, that would violate the principle of genetic entropy. These following articles reveal some of the many elaborate ploys evolutionists have used in the past to try to deceive, yes deceive!, the public into thinking evolutionary processes can easily generate functional information:
Excerpt: "Because all bacterial groups, as well as those Archaea examined, display a mutational pattern that is biased towards deletions and their haploid genomes would be more susceptible to dominant-negative effects that pseudogenes might impart, it is likely that the process of adaptive removal of pseudogenes is pervasive among prokaryotes."
http://www.evolutionnews.org/2010/08/on_reductive_evolution_and_the037581.html
Assessing the NCSE’s Citation Bluffs on the Evolution of New Genetic Information - Feb. 2010
http://www.evolutionnews.org/2010/02/assessing_the_ncses_citation_b.html
Casey Luskin, in response to a comment from Nick Matzke claiming that there are many examples of neo-Darwinian processes creating functional information in life, points out the 'scientifically' vacuous nature of the vast majority of neo-Darwinian claims for the origin of new biological information here:
Richard Lenski's Long-Term Evolution Experiments with E. coli and the Origin of New Biological Information - September 2011How to Play the Gene Evolution Game - Casey Luskin - Feb. 2010
Excerpt: many papers which Nick (Matzke) would probably claim show the “origin of new genetic information” invoked natural selection, but then:
did not identify a stepwise mutational pathway,
did not identify what advantages might be gained at each step
did not calculate the plausibility of this pathway evolving under known population sizes, mutation rates, and other relevant probabilistic resources, and in many cases
DID NOT EVEN KNOW THE FUNCTION OF THE GENE, AND THUS HAD NO IDEA WHAT FUNCTION WAS BEING SELECTED FOR
Is it persuasive to invoke natural selection as the cause of new genetic information when you don’t even know what function is being selected? This is why I said that in many cases, natural selection is used as a “magic wand.” It’s just asserted, even though no one really knows what was going on.
http://www.evolutionnews.org/2011/09/richard_lenskis_long_term_evol051051.html#comment-11290411
http://www.evolutionnews.org/2010/02/how_to_play_the_gene_evolution.html
The NCSE, Judge Jones, and Bluffs About the Origin of New Functional Genetic Information - Casey Luskin - March 2010
http://www.discovery.org/a/14251
To answer our fourth question (What evidence is found for the appearance of all species of life on earth, and is man the last species to appear on earth?) we come to the evidence found for the amazing variety of complex life on earth.
Cambrian Explosion thru Refutation Of Human Evolution
http://lettherebelight-77.blogspot.com/2010/08/corrected-link.html
6 comments:
great blog! thanks!
Quoting Behe: "There is now considerable evidence that genes alone do not control development. For example when an egg's genes (DNA) are removed and replaced with genes (DNA) from another type of animal, development follows the pattern of the original egg until the embryo dies from lack of the right proteins. (The rare exceptions to this rule involve animals that could normally mate to produce hybrids.) ..."
I had long wondered about that. I had, in fact, strongly suspected that that is how it would be.
Useful material. Thanks. Do you have time to organize it?
Hey BA, I think you might find this article interesting:
Direct measurement of the quantum wavefunction
http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v474/n7350/full/nature10120.html
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