Purpose
This manuscript attempts to create a simple and intuitive framework that puts an end to the controversies between Evolution and Intelligent Creation theories. The manuscript demonstrates that life on earth could not have occurred by chance. In order to achieve that goal, this manuscript identifies four key factors, which are Intelligence, Natural Cause, Information and Design. This manuscript does not depend on personal or religious views to prove or to disprove anything.
1. Prerequisites
The following concepts are already known to us. For the benefit of generic reader, each key word is mentioned and explained. The explanation found here is sufficient to understand the rest of this manuscript.
Science:
Science is the rational aspect of human thoughts. Science is not against religion. Science is accommodative to changes and new ideas. For things that are yet to be proved but are fair enough to be reasoned, science does have a word, "Theory".
Naturalism:
The scientific community is driven by three postulates of naturalism. 1. That an event or an object does not have a supernatural significance. 2. Scientific laws are adequate to account for all phenomena. 3. The human mind is capable of accurately modeling all observable aspects of nature.
Nature:
It is important to distinguish between what is generally known as nature and a natural cause. Since we are examining origins of life and biological structures, we have to exclude all cellular life forms while dealing with natural causes. Plants and animals are not to be included as part of nature. However, it is true that plants and animals do obey scientific laws in terms of physics, chemistry and so on.
Big Bang Theory:
Big bang theory considers that the whole Universe, including the space that we see now was in a condensed form just like a ball. The ball has a mathematical name called singularity. The ball expanded due to an unknown cause which is called "The Big Bang". After the Big Bang, there was simultaneous expansion of space, time and manifestation of something into matter. By theoretical estimates, big bang is said to have occurred some 15 billion years ago.
Ideal Conditions for life:
Through geological data and big bang theory, the age of earth is estimated to be roughly 4.5 billion years. Ideal conditions for life is a hypothesis which assumes that there was a period on earth where the conditions were conducive for supporting life forms but life was yet to occur. This includes availability of water, chemicals and gases that are essential for plants and animals, an atmosphere that supports life.
Abiogenesis:
Is a study that continues from "Ideal conditions for life" explained above. It analyzes how life on earth originated from a naturalistic perspective. It purely considers chemical and physical reactions that could have started the chain of life. Some proponents of this theory including Darwin, speculated that life could have started in a pond or in sea with correct proportions of chemicals. That magical proportion has a name and is called "primeval soup".
Polymer:
Tiny molecules strung in long repeating chains form polymers. The individual molecules that join together to form a polymer are called monomers.
If we can imagine the letter 'o' as a monomer, then a polymer can be represented as follows
o-o-o-o-o-o
This is generally called a polymer chain. The dashes '-' in between the monomers indicate a particular type of chemical bond between the monomer molecules.
DNA, the genetic blueprint that defines people and other living things, is a polymer. There are no evidences for naturally occurring polymers from non-biological sources.
DNA (Deoxyribonucleic acid):
Deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) is the chemical compound that contains the instructions needed to develop and direct the activities of nearly all living organisms. DNA molecules are made of two twisting, paired strands, often referred to as a double helix.
DNA is made of chemical building blocks called nucleotides. These building blocks are made of three parts: a phosphate group, a sugar group and one of four types of nitrogen bases. To form a strand of DNA, nucleotides are linked into chains, with the phosphate and sugar groups alternating.
There are four different bases in DNA:
Adenine (A) Thymine (T)
Cytosine (C)
Guanine (G)
Each base will pair with only one of the others:
A – T, C – G
In other words, the pattern in which bases pair is specific.
Evolution Theory:
Theory of Evolution believes that all life forms on earth must have had common ancestor. Neo-Darwinism is a theory that starts from Abiogenesis explained above. There are quite a few points that gain importance as part of Evolution theory. Two of the most critical points important to our discussions are:
1. Natural selection
Is a process by which primitive life forms evolve into more complex systems by retaining beneficial traits and discarding unsuitable attributes. Natural selection is an unguided process. In other words, natural selection happens due to random events.
2. Survival of the fittest
Is a concept in Evolution theory in which life forms evolve when particular species contain beneficial traits that can survive harsh environments.
Evolution theory does not care much to explain about the evolution of plants as much as it does for animals. Most of the discussions that deal with evolution gets hijacked by zoology and simply ignores Botany. But both the fields deal with cellular life forms. It is worth questioning, "Were there common ancestors for plants and animals?". If yes, what is the pattern by which plants evolve?
Prokaryotes:
Prokaryotes are the first cellular organisms believed to be formed on earth through abiogenesis explained above. Prokaryotes reproduce through cell division. Approximately, first prokaryotes were formed some 3.8 billion years ago.
Eukaryotes:
Eukaryotes are cellular organisms with complex cell structures. All modern species we know now are thought to have been evolved from eukaryotes. The first eukaryotic cells is believed to have formed some 2 billion years ago.
Light detector:
Light detector is a device that converts light into information. The information may be in form of electrical conductivity and so on.
Sound detector:
Sound detector is a device that converts sound into information. The information may be in form of electrical conductivity and so on.
2. Events
Understanding events requires a bit of attention hence this section finds its due place. Events can be categorized into three types. Each of these three types are interdependent. This text deals with discrete events.
1. Physical events
Physical events are those events that are governed by physical laws. All physical events are governed by laws of exchange of energy from one or more entities to one or more entities. All observable events in nature are preceded by one or more physical events.
2. Chemical events
A chemical event is a change in molecular arrangement which is governed by rules of chemistry. Chemical events are triggered by physical events. The physical event that acted as a cause for a chemical event would have occurred in form of a change in volume, pressure, temperature and proximity.
3. Geometrical events
Geometrical events are those events that reflect a change in the internal geometry and or position of a physical entity. The inclusion of geometrical events may look redundant as it is already contained in physical events. But Geometric arrangements find a critical place in understanding intelligence.
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| (A) |
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| (B) |
Image (A) above represents a random geometrical event that can occur naturally. Image (B) above represents a guided geometrical event. That is, the pebbles are arranged in a way which cannot occur naturally.
3. The concept of Intelligence
Let us perform a thought experiment. Imagine that we are excavating some place on earth to trace historical events and objects. In doing so, we simply look for signs of intelligence during excavation. Examples include, tools made of wood or stones, drawing and art, pottery etc. In simple words, we look for any change brought upon any entity which could not have occurred due to natural causes.
Let us continue with our thought experiment, excavating on some part of this earth. If we find a nail, we can conclude that the nail could not have been formed by natural causes. If somebody argues that millions and millions of years of natural events could have led to the formation of the nail, we can simply ignore and conclude that nail could not have formed by natural causes. Similarly if we find a screw, we can conclude that it must have been the work of intelligence. We must examine how our mind concludes that the nail and screw could not have been formed by natural causes. The nail contains a pattern which could not have occurred by natural causes. The nail contains information in form of the pattern. Similarly, the screw contains more information than the nail, where the additional information is coded in form of thread over the surface. Recall the three types of events we discussed namely physical, chemical and geometrical. Now, if we look at the nail, we can easily realize that nail contains information. What information? Firstly, the iron in the nail is not available naturally. Someone has processed iron ore to separate the iron. Secondly, iron is not moldable under room temperature. Someone has raised the temperature to the melting point of iron. Thirdly, we find that the geometrical arrangement of iron atoms in form of a nail cannot occur due to natural causes. Thus we find chemical, physical and geometrical events that preceded the formation of nail and have been selectively picked and guided by intelligence.
Let us now formalize our approach that determines what can and what cannot occur due to natural causes. As we know, events fall into three types which are physical, chemical and geometrical. In case of a nail, the sequence of events namely physical, chemical and geometrical are guided by intelligence. We are now ready to define four important concepts
Intelligence Definition
Intelligence is the capacity to bring change upon an entity which could not have occurred due to natural causes. Intelligence is a non-physical entity.
Natural Cause Definition
A natural cause is an event caused by a non-intelligent system.
Information Definition
Information is coding of intelligence. It is a rule or set of rules that formulate a way by which matter, fundamental forces, physical laws and intelligence interact. Information is a representation of intelligence.
Design definition
Guided and Unguided Events
A guided event is an event initiated by intelligence. An unguided event is a random event without any inherent purpose. For example, volcanic eruptions are unguided events which result in explosion. On the other hand, if an explosive is exploded, it is a guided event.
4. Life
It is important to remember that rules of evolution are equally applicable to living and nonliving things. Rules of evolution cannot distinguish between living and nonliving things. There is no concept of design in evolution.
Let us first examine the formation of eye. We shall begin with an eukaryote. The common explanation given for the evolutionary formation of eye is that when an eukaryote is exposed to light for a very long period, it develops a sensory organ for vision. Natural exposure of an eukaryote to light is an unguided physical event. All that happens is that light simply acts as a source of energy. Exposure to light simply alters the energy level of an eukaryote no matter for how many millions years this happens. Constant exposure to light cannot make it to evolve vision. If we look at the human eye, there are plenty of reasons to conclude that it has a design. First of all, each of the retinal cells in eye convert light into electrical information. If this is possible naturally, then we must have at least one example of such an occurrence naturally. Each of the retinal cells is a light detector, which reflects design. The arrangement of retinal cells into multiple rows and columns to construct a frame of vision is a guided geometrical event which cannot occur naturally.
The same line of thoughts applies to ears. Constant exposure to sound only acts as a source of mechanical energy. No matter for how many million years to which an eukaryote gets exposed to sound, it can never get the information to develop a sound detector and audition.
To sum it up, in both the cases, evolutionary principles does not have the information required to construct the eye or the ear.
Conclusions
A most important point to remember is that there is no natural occurrence of any monomer molecules that form DNA. By natural source, it is meant that from a non-biological source. It is reasonable to conclude that life could not have risen by chance and unguided events. There is a Creator.
