Tuesday, April 13, 2010
Is it Mathematically Possible?
Most Intelligent Design proponents base their theory on the idea of something being "irreducibly complex". A recent finding by scientists, according to Mr. Roys, proved that for a cell to survive, it needs a certain number of proteins (around 100), but the chances of molecular combinations occurring in such a way that all 100 proteins are created in the proper way at the proper time is around 1/10^40,000. Because any number lower than 1/10^150 is out of the realm of possibility, how can evolution be true when such clear-cut evidence is provided for an intelligent designer?
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ReplyDeleteSimply put, if radiocarbon dating is accurate then the world is about 4.54 billion years old. The earliest photosynthetic life that we know of was 3850 million years ago, this leaves nearly 700 million years from when the planet was first created until life seemingly appeared. Based on the relative amounts of minerals that constitute the planet, scientists believe that there are approximately 1.33*10^50 atoms that are in planet earth. While this certainly does not conclude that the “perfect match of atoms in a flurry of energy” that created organic life happened during this period (hence why it is a very strong point in the argument against evolution) it does make the numbers and mathematical odds seem more plausible than originally presented.
ReplyDeleteSources:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Timetable_of_the_Precambrian
http://education.jlab.org/qa/mathatom_05.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Age_of_the_Earth
One of the evidences of evolution can be found in the definition itself. Evolution is driven by adaptive behavior that allows an organism to reproduce thus giving it a selective advantage because without the selective advantage of survival and reproduction, the genes of the specie is not passed on to the next generation. The number 1/10^40000 seems too be a probability that seems to be improbable. Having the idea of 1/10^150 is out of the realm of possibility, such idea of having that magical 100 proteins seems to be a impossible event. Or is it? Take bacterias for example. The protists that biologists study today have similarity to the protist ancestor of animal kingdom. One of the possibility for quick bacterial mutation and immunity, to substances like penicillin and even stronger menicillin, is that the life of the bacteria in one generation is relatively short. This shows that many mutations and selective reproduction allows the bacteria to acquire immunity. Now when we put that idea into the idea for creation of specific protein that seems almost impossible, its actually a possible fact. The simple prokaryotes also needs a certain 100 proteins to survive. Through countless numbers of mutations and reproduction in short generations, the bacteria would have found a generally specific way to make those proteins. For example, E. coli is a bacteria that forms a symbiotic relationship with humans. In the intestines, there are more E.coli bacteria than all the humans who ever lived on Earth throughout time. This shows that E.coli is a bacteria that undergoes countless number of bacterial reproduction. Also the mutation is also present in E.coli. Such as there is estimated 700 serotypes of E. coli. When bacteria makes colony in a human, or other warm blooded mammal's body, after two days of being born, it multiplies countless number of times. Therefore, comparing the life cycle and the reproduction time of bacteria to the almost impossible, yet improbable, number of chance in order for a protein to survive, the possibility does not seem to be out of the realm of possibility.
ReplyDeleteSources:
Why Evolution is True by Jerry A. Coyne
Mr. Erdmann
Campbell AP Biology 8eth edition text book
http://www.about-ecoli.com/
This evidence is proof for intelligent designers because this is what our bodies need right now in order to survive. Back in the day, our bodies could have survived on less proteins. This is because of evolution. Since we evolved from generation to generation, our bodies got more complex in time. So we can see that our bodies could have lived on less protein back then, but now since we are such complex creatures, we need more proteins in order for our cells to work. Natural selection opted for creatures that could produce more energy at lower costs to our body. So our ancestors had a different amount of proteins than we did, and thats why are numbers are like this. But bottom line is that numbers are everything. We see all the other evidence for evolution, and we are shocked that so much evidence could possibly exist. It looks so convincing and everything, but it is so hard to think that we are possibly descendent's of chimps because we are so complex. Our bodies are way to intelligently designed, besides a few flaws, but this could be proof that evolution could have occurred because why would there be flaws.
ReplyDeleteSources:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Natural_selection
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Evolution
Statistically, the odds of random elements coming together at random to form the 100 proteins required for the survival of a single cell is improbable. However, improbable does not definitively say that the occurrence is impossible. As Mintz said, there is a 700 million gap between the age of Earth (4.54 billion years old) and the first sign of life (3.8 billion years ago). This first form of life was prokaryotic. Hypothesized by A.I. Oparin and J.B.S. Haldane, Earth's early atmosphere highly reductive, which is a prime condition for elements to form simple molecules (Campbell, 508). At this time, the Earth was also believed to have protobionts, which were clusters of randomly formed molecules. They provided nucleotides into the growing "soup" of molecules. This soup, in theory, 3.8 billion years ago came together with the catalysts of the environment to form the first self replicating strand of RNA. This first RNA acted like an enzyme in order to aid in the formation of these necessary proteins. Contact between the RNA and the protoboints is hypothesized to be the origin of the first self replicating life on earth. Once this first self replicating cell was created, within only 0.3 billion years, the cell replicated and life became abundant to the point where there are fossil records of microorganisms. Even though these early protists were relatively simple, they possessed the ability to form the enzymatic catalysts to create the the proteins required for survival.
ReplyDeletehttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Timeline_of_evolution
Campbell ch 25