Friend Malcolm Chisholm writes to say,
Some fascinating research on electron transport chain proteins from Princeton.
These guys say:
“Our new theory extends Darwin’s model, demonstrating how organisms can subtly direct aspects of their own evolution to create order out of randomness.”
Apparently they have self correcting proteins, but they seem to think it goes beyond that to proteins that can find optimal energy levels.
“In this paper, we present what is ostensibly the first quantitative experimental evidence, since Wallace’s original proposal, that nature employs evolutionary control strategies to maximize the fitness of biological networks,”
Oddly, they cite as an inspiration A. R. Wallace, Darwin’s co-founder of the Theory of Evolution through Natural Selection (whose ID views gave Darwin regular heartburn).
They also feel the need to deny the possibility of ID. Apparently no publication in this area is complete without one. Maybe such denials should be turned into a standard disclaimer, like the ones at the bottom of email messages for these guys.
And maybe if William Paley had stubbed his toe on an atomic clock they would still claim it was produced by chance.
That’s an idea! Why not compose a standard disclaimer that all these people can just insert at the bottom of their papers: Something along the lines of “Please rest assured that this intricate machinery is not designed, no matter what it looks like.” But doen up in obfuscated research paper style.
List, can you help?
While we are here, more fun with Chisholm,
About circumcision, believe whatever you like: Darwin certainly did.
Darwin’s co-founder Wallace accepted intelligent design?
His online evolution games:
A physicist directs you to online evolution games
Master of the games: Richard Dawkins vs. you
Rainy morning? Try out this new game!
(Note: If you evolve any trolls, do not send screen captures to Uncommon Descent. We do not sponsor beauty contests for trolls. Just delete the file and start over.)