The Question of Complexity
Some are bold enough even to suggest sudden appearance of complex organisms. Stuart Kauffman explains in his book At Home in the Universe said, "I hope to persuade you that life is a natural property of complex chemical systems, that when the number of different kinds of molecules in a chemical soup passes a certain threshold, a self-sustaining network of reactions—an autocatalytic metabolism—will suddenly appear. Life emerged, I suggest, not simple, but complex and whole, and has remained complex and whole ever since… The secret of life, the wellspring of reproduction, is not to be found in the beauty of Watson-Crick pairing, but in the achievement of catalytic closure." (Quoted from http://biologicinstitute.org/2010/02/06/explaining-life-by-explaining-it-away/ Accessed April 19, 2010).This is not a scientific statement, but a metaphysical statement robed in scientific garb. How do we know that evolutionary explanations (there are various theories) cannot claim true "science" as their foundation?
Steven Meyer addressing the issue of complexity writes, “In recent years, biologists have discovered an exquisite world of nanotechnology within living cells - complex circuits, sliding clamps, energy-generating turbines and miniature machines. For example, bacterial cells are propelled by rotary engines called flagellar motors that rotate at 100,000 RPM’s. These engines look like they were designed by engineers, with many distinct mechanical parts (made of proteins), including rotors, stators, O-rings, bushings, U-joints and drive shafts.” As a result of these discoveries some are suggesting it is impossible for change to be gradual. If one part of the organism was missing it would not be capable of survival. Michael Behe calls this the concept of “irreducible complexity.”
Complexity is also noticed in the recent discussion of the “anthropic coincidences.” It seems that the conditions for life on earth are exactly right. Steven Barr writes, “The universe and its laws seem in some respects to be balanced on a knife-edge. A little deviation in one direction or the other in the way the world and its laws are put together, and we would not be here. As people have looked harder, the number of such ‘coincidences’ found has grown” (Steven Barr, Modern Physics and Ancient Faith, p. 25).
Even Richard Dawkins admits at least that life gives the "appearance of having been designed." Maybe it appears to have been designed because it was designed? This however is unscientific, irrational, and a regression to pre-modern superstitious thinking.
Some are bold enough even to suggest sudden appearance of complex organisms. Stuart Kauffman explains in his book At Home in the Universe said, "I hope to persuade you that life is a natural property of complex chemical systems, that when the number of different kinds of molecules in a chemical soup passes a certain threshold, a self-sustaining network of reactions—an autocatalytic metabolism—will suddenly appear. Life emerged, I suggest, not simple, but complex and whole, and has remained complex and whole ever since… The secret of life, the wellspring of reproduction, is not to be found in the beauty of Watson-Crick pairing, but in the achievement of catalytic closure." (Quoted from http://biologicinstitute.org/2010/02/06/explaining-life-by-explaining-it-away/ Accessed April 19, 2010).This is not a scientific statement, but a metaphysical statement robed in scientific garb. How do we know that evolutionary explanations (there are various theories) cannot claim true "science" as their foundation?
Steven Meyer addressing the issue of complexity writes, “In recent years, biologists have discovered an exquisite world of nanotechnology within living cells - complex circuits, sliding clamps, energy-generating turbines and miniature machines. For example, bacterial cells are propelled by rotary engines called flagellar motors that rotate at 100,000 RPM’s. These engines look like they were designed by engineers, with many distinct mechanical parts (made of proteins), including rotors, stators, O-rings, bushings, U-joints and drive shafts.” As a result of these discoveries some are suggesting it is impossible for change to be gradual. If one part of the organism was missing it would not be capable of survival. Michael Behe calls this the concept of “irreducible complexity.”
Complexity is also noticed in the recent discussion of the “anthropic coincidences.” It seems that the conditions for life on earth are exactly right. Steven Barr writes, “The universe and its laws seem in some respects to be balanced on a knife-edge. A little deviation in one direction or the other in the way the world and its laws are put together, and we would not be here. As people have looked harder, the number of such ‘coincidences’ found has grown” (Steven Barr, Modern Physics and Ancient Faith, p. 25).
Even Richard Dawkins admits at least that life gives the "appearance of having been designed." Maybe it appears to have been designed because it was designed? This however is unscientific, irrational, and a regression to pre-modern superstitious thinking.