September 26, 2022
Thoughts on Creation by Random Mutation
Assume a relatively simple protein of 150 amino acids (There are 20 different types of amino acid). The odds of producing one specific sequence of those 150 amino acids by chance is 20 to the 150th power (20 x 20 x 20 150 times). Introducing random mutations into a functioning protein sequence will soon degrade the function of the protein and render it useless, just as introducing random mutations into an English sentence will soon produce gibberish, or introducing random change in a computer program will make the program cease to function (as anyone who has introduced a typo into his own program has discovered).
The idea that random mutations can create a better protein considering its inherent complexity is mathematically vanishingly small. It is as likely as the idea that you can improve a complex computer program by introducing random variations. Yet the theory of evolution depends upon REPEATEDLY creating superior proteins by random mutation.
— Return of the God Hypothesis: Three Scientific Discoveries That Reveal the Mind Behind the Universe by Stephen C. Meyer
https://a.co/77gBRHb
To put this into some context, there are 10 to the 65th power atoms in the universe.
The main point is that DNA is a code, like an alphabet and proteins are coded by a specific sequence which is quite long and therefore, extremely improbable. What materialism fails to explain is not the chemistry but the information stored in the code.
John Trauger adds:
It isn't that simple.
Probabilities taken as abstracts make the implicit assumption that all 20 amino acids are available in about equal amounts in the field and that they will combine equally well in any sequence. Neither assumption need be true and both are likely untrue. Some amino acids are going to be more available than others and are going to combine more readily than others.
Other factors I don't know about could further tweak the probabilities toward the reasonable, including but not limited to, how many trials we expect to have occurred over a given amount of time.
Mark McDougall adds:
It's worse than you think - there are something like 500 amino acids identified. 20 is the figure used in the human body.
And if you want to get REALLY far out there about random, the so-called 'junk DNA' responds to analysis as LANGUAGE! The gene encoding parts do not but the rest of the 3 billion base pairs are a language. (look up Zipf's law among others)
Posted by: Timothy Birdnow at
09:13 AM
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