GLA 3 - An Outline of Evolution: A Theory In Crisis {1,385 words}
Chapter 13: Beyond the Reach of Chance
I. Every adaptive advance in evolution must have been found by a purely random search strategy.
A. Experience teaches that random search theories are inefficient.
1. Trying to find three letter words by making random changes to a letter string is not so difficult.
2. Trying to find seven letter words by making random changes to a letter string is much more difficult.
3. Twelve-letter words occur only once by chance in strings of letter 1014 units long.
B. The probability of finding words by chance is extremely small.
1. Finding one twelve-letter word by chance does not make it any easier to find another one simply by modifying the letter string.
2. Each word is isolated in a vast ocean of nonsense strings.
C. Forming coherent English sentences are almost beyond imagination.
1. Linguists have estimated that there are 1025 possible English sentences one hundred letters long.
2. There is less than one in 10100 chances that a one-hundred letter long string will form an English sentence.
3. Random strings of English words do not form sentences.
D. The complexity of a random search theory for forming coherent English sentences would overwhelm the most advanced computers on earth.
1. Substituting new words for the existing words in an English sentence would take an unbelievably long time is done by pure chance.
2. Testing one word per minute would require five days to find the first grammatical substitution by chance.
3. Testing every position in the sentence would require three years and would yield only a handful of closely related sentences.
4. Sentences are beyond the reach of chance.
E. Watches are also beyond the reach of chance.
1. In a universe of all watch components, the total number of incoherent nonsense combinations of components is much greater than the number of precise combinations that actually form a watch.
2. It is not possible for a random search to find the exact components needed to satisfy the stringent criteria for watches.
F. All complex systems are beyond the reach of chance.
II. Living organisms are complex systems.
A. Organisms consist of a number of subsystems which are co-adapted to interact together.
B. Finding functional organic systems by chance is not any easier than finding all the right components for any other complex system or machine by chance.
1. Complex systems, analogous to living organisms, cannot undergo evolution by pure trial and error.
2. Therefore, Darwin's Theory of Evolution is practically proven to be untrue.
III. Some machines exhibit the properties of living systems.
A. The close analogy between living systems and complex machines led the natural theologians of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries to reject the origin of complex living organisms by chance.
1. Technological advances do not compare with evolution because they are not by chance.
2. Arguments by leading Darwinists make bad assumptions.
B. Determining the relevance of chance in evolution is a very big task because defining the universe of all possibilities is probably not possible or at least not feasible.
IV. The evolution of complex living organisms by chance has an incredibly low probability.
A. The a priori rules that govern amino acids are very stringent.
B. The probability of evolving two thousand enzymes by chance in a random trial is 1 in 1040000 chances.
C. Darwin's Theory of Evolution is one of the most outrageous and least substantiated claims of science.
Summary: Michael Denton is a molecular biologist and medical doctor. In chapter 13 of his book, he discussed the development by chance of a number of complex systems. In the beginning of the chapter, he wrote about the extraordinarily low probability that a series of letters could randomly fall into place by chance to form words, sentences, and thoughts. After that, he made a similar analogy to the making of watches. Then, by comparing living organisms to these types of complex systems and by discussing the complexity of amino acids, he concluded the chapter by saying that Darwin's claims of evolution by chance are completely unrealistic.
An Outline of Evolution: A Theory In Crisis
Chapter 14: The Puzzle of Perfection
I. Darwin was concerned about the validity of his evolution by natural selection theory.
A. The complexity and perfection of the body makes evolution by chance absurd.
1. The work of the kidneys to achieve water and salt homeostasis is amazing.
2. The work of the lungs to maintain acid base homeostasis is equally amazing.
B. Looking at a cell, when magnified one billion times, shows its unparalleled complexity and adaptive design.
1. Each cell has endless highly organized corridors and conduits leading to other parts of the cell.
2. Movement through the many corridors and conduits would be in perfect unison.
3. The life of the cell depends on probably hundreds of thousands of different protein molecules.
4. Constructing an atomic model of the cell, with each atom being the size of a tennis ball, would take fifty million years to do and be the size that is thousands of times bigger than the Great Pyramid.
C. The human brain is even more complex than the cell.
1. The human brain has about ten billion nerve cells.
2. Each nerve cell puts out about ten thousand and one hundred thousand connecting fibres that are used to connect to other nerve cells.
II. Living systems are very complex, and their designs are incredibly ingenuous.
A. The sophistication of the human eye, which compares closely to a television camera, is much greater than was known during Darwin's time.
B. Numerous examples of advancements in technology show the ingenuity of biological design.
1. The Soviet lunar exploratory machine, Lunakod, showed the ingenuous design of an insect's legs.
2. The capacity for cells to generate synthetic organic compounds shows the efficiency of their biological design.
3. The cell's self-regulated capacity to manufacture its component structures resembles the complexity of partially automated technological assemblies.
4. Chloroplast might be a new source of energy in the future. The author indicated that life on earth began three and a half billion years ago.
5. Overlapping genes were discovered a few years ago by biochemists at Cambridge University.
C. Some examples do not have a strict analogy to technology.
1. Technology cannot match the use of the breakdown products of proteins to perform functions that often differ from the function of the original protein.
2. Technology cannot match the capacity for the self-duplication of living systems.
3. Technology cannot match human intelligence.
a. No machines exist that can perform the cognitive capabilities of the human brain.
b. To build a model that might duplicate the brain would require eternity based on current engineering capabilities.
III. William Paley said that no one would say that a watch evolved over time through natural processes by chance.
A. David Hume pointed out that living organisms may still be essentially natural, despite their machine-like similarities.
1. Over the past twenty years, molecular biology has shown Hume to be wrong.
2. Paley correctly guessed that the technological ingenuity seen in living systems greatly exceeds anything accomplished by mankind.
B. Paley's assertion would silence Darwin's followers.
C. Many dissenters to the idea of achieving complex adaptations by chance exist today.
D. The credibility of natural selection is weakened because the perfection seen in the various depths of ingenuity and complexity.
Summary: In this chapter, the author wrote that the complexity and perfection of the human body makes evolution by chance absurd. He said that living systems are very complex and that their designs are incredibly ingenuous. He then presented several examples of living organisms that cannot be matched by any of the advances in technology. First, technology cannot match the capacity for the self-duplication of living systems. Also, technology cannot match human intelligence. No machines exist that can perform the cognitive capabilities of the human brain. Therefore, the credibility of natural selection is weakened considerably because of the many examples of perfect design and complexity found in fundamental biological research.
Tom of Spotswood "He that hath the Son hath life; and he that hath not the Son of God hath not life." (I John 5:12) "And ye shall seek me, and find me, when ye shall search for me with all your heart." (Jeremiah 29:13)
Index to Selected Essays And Book Reviews
Send email to:
tlee6040@aol.com