Discussed as a design but believed, by dogma, not to be a design.
From the Atlantic:
Genomes are so regularly represented as strings of letters-As, Gs, Cs, and Ts-that it’s easy to forget that they aren’t just abstract collections of data. They exist in three dimensions. They are made of molecules. They are physical objects that take up space-a lot of space.
Consider that the human genome is longer than the average human. It consists of around two meters of DNA, which must somehow fit into cells, whose nuclei are about 200,000 times narrower.
So it folds. And it folds in such a way that any given stretch can be easily unfolded, so the genes within it can be read and used. Knots are verboten, and anyone who has ever shoved headphones into their pockets will know how hard it is to scrunch an extremely long thread into a ball without knotting anything.
More.
An interesting fact about dogma is, once culturally accepted, it becomes an automatic thought stopper. It looks like design, and there is no alternative possibility if the universe and Earth are of the finite ages generally given (plus or minus 4 B yrs and 13 B yrs respectively.
We are not allowed to think it is design because … well, that’s religion! Karl Giberson’s territory!
Then Darwin’s magic is invoked. Dawkins’s guiding words about Darwinism have shaped many a career:
“My argument will be that Darwinism is the only known theory that is in principle capable of explaining certain aspects of life. If I am right it means that, even if there were no actual evidence in favour of the Darwinian theory (there is, of course) we should still be justified in preferring it over all rival theories.” — p. 287, Blind Watchmaker” (1986)
However, we talked to the fossils, and they said no. But we were told to shut up. Not any more.
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