Beginnings Of A Personal Conviction
| July 1, 2009 | Posted by Robert Deyes under Intelligent Design |
Synopsis Of The First Chapter Of Signature In The Cell by Stephen Meyer
ISBN: 9780061894206; ISBN10: 0061894206; Imprint: HarperCollins
In August of 2004, philosopher Stephen Meyer published an article in the Proceedings Of The Biological Society Of Washington. The article raised media interest and outrage because it was the first to “advance the theory of intelligent design” in a peer-reviewed scientific journal. The editor Richard Sternberg lost his position as a result of the ensuing debacle.
Just a few months later, renowned British philosopher Antony Flew shocked the world by reversing his life-long atheistic commitment and announcing his support for an idea reminiscent of that proposed by the modern intelligent design movement. That same month the ACLU declared it would be filing charges against the Dover, Pennsylvania school board for approving the teaching of Intelligent Design in its science classes.
Much of the controversy in all the above cases stems from a misunderstanding over what the intelligent design movement does and does not purport to explain. As many in the movement have re-iterated throughout the years, intelligent design is not in any way synonymous with biblical creationism. In the words of Stephen Meyer “intelligent design is an inference from scientific evidence, not a deduction from religious authority” (p. 8).
In his recent book Signature In The Cell, Meyer presents a fresh outlook on one of the most compeling facets of the Intelligent Design case- that of biological information in DNA. When Watson and Crick published their famous paper in 1958, they not only solved the mystery of the structure of DNA but also unearthed the computer program-like nature of the information that it carried. While experience tells us that such information has its origins in the activity of conscious beings, evolutionary biologists have dismissed such a connection in biology. As an alternative, they have as we all know placed their belief in the blind activity of natural selection.
It would seem ironic therefore that these same scientists would then employ design-evoking metaphors such as ‘code’ and ‘language’ to describe DNA. They of course qualify this by stating that the apparent design of DNA is merely illusionary. Still as Meyer hammers home, the mystery of the origins of DNA and life itself remains one that modern day biology is finding difficult to unravel.
Meyer provides a lucid and personal account of his own experiences as a scientist and philosopher revealing to the reader the watershed events that led to his move towards the intelligent design alternative. Foremost in his initial exposé are the meetings he conducted with Charles Thaxton who, in his co-authorship of the book The Mystery Of Life’s Origin, rejuvenated the idea of intelligent causation in biology.
36 Responses to Beginnings Of A Personal Conviction
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Nakashima-san,
The point is if my premise is correct then if we build a ribosome by making copies of an existing and functioning ribosome, then the instructions will/ may get passed down from that original.
If it takes living organisms to make living organisms that doesn’t help the reductionist.
That said we can look at the sequence specificity and copy that using cold first pressed virgin chemicals and keeping those chemicals away from the living copy.
I say that because it appears the information in living organisms “wants” to be copied.
Viral infections appear to take full advantage of that “feature”.
Thank’s for your efforts Joseph. I still don’t grasp the following:
Do you refer to epigenetic effects like TF-induced DNA bending, DNA methylation, histone acetylation, nucleosome positioning, higher order DNA structures? This is how I read your next comment
Or are you heading towards DNA activation as described by Alexander.
Unfortunately, you may have overseen my last question regarding how your take on the DNA/information issue fits with the ideas of leading ID proponents like Dembski, Behe and Meyer. I would appreciate if you could convince the founder of this platform to add his thoughts to this discussion.
sparc,
Is it the physical make-up of the computer disc that is the computer’s information?
No.
There is information on/ in the DNA that is not part of its physical make-up.
The physical part- ie the sequence specificity- is required to carry out that information.
Do you have knowledge of data packet sending/ data communications? Or computer bus structure?
Dr Meyer appears close to my comcept but as of chapter 7 he really hasn’t made the plunge.
As for Wm Dembski, my plan was to develop my thoughts a bit more.
I am still working on a test.
Dr. Meyers may come even closer in the following chapters.
As for Dr. Dembski I guess as the founder of UD he will be aware of the thoughts you have published here.
No, but I have added several Mb to organisms as different as E.coli and M. musculus. I also contributed something like 1/1,000,000 of humen and mouse sequence information to the databases back in the 90s and was involved in the sequencing of several Mb of the IgH locus of 129 mice.
I assume that this can not be expressed in IUPAC code or other measures of physical properties. Thus, I would suggest that you try to formulate it in pure mathematical terms though I must admit that this is not my field of expertise. Still, mathmaticians like Dr. Dembski would surely appreciate this.
sparc,
Do you think a computer program can be formulated in pure mathematical terms?
Has someone tried this for some OS (operating system)?
Has someone tried this for any application programs?