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To: aquila48; Alamo-Girl
It seems to do pretty good at explaining the form of a snowflake, a salt crystal, diamonds...

aquila48, indeed these things have form. But it is not the same kind of form that living systems have. For the instances you give are "informed" by relatively simple, repetitive instructions (information). In comparison, living organisms are astronomically more complex, and likely are not reducible to such simple repetitive instructions.

In short, a "bottom-up approach" from simple instructions/material basis -- which is available for the non-living systems you cite -- will likely not get you to an explanation or description of even the simplest of living forms, even supposing a hypothetical eternity for evolution.

FWIW, there is an important distinction to be made between "ordered" and "self-ordering systems" (crystals, snowflakes, dust eddies, tornadoes, Benard cells, etc.), and "self-organizing systems" (living organisms) in nature. WRT the latter, I do not think they "reduce" to the relatively low level of informational complexity that we observe in the former. For one thing, living states are constantly changing from moment to moment both at the organic level of the sytem and at the sub-levels (molecules, macromolecules, organelles, organs, etc.); for another, they are able to modify their paths from those predicted on the basis of initial conditions and the physical laws. They are "self-moving" and even "self-repairing" systems.

In other words, biological systems clearly have a physical/material basis; but they are not entirely reducible to the laws of physics and chemistry. There is something else involved in living systems that physics and chemistry cannot "access," let alone explain.

Or at least, that is my view, based on the present state of knowledge that I have. Which I guarantee you, is incomplete.

So, FWIW.... Thanks for writing!

248 posted on 05/23/2005 9:44:00 AM PDT by betty boop (God alone is Guarantor of an intelligible Universe.)
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To: betty boop
Thank you so much for your replies and encouragements! I fully agree with your post #248. Excellent post, betty boop, as always.
251 posted on 05/23/2005 10:18:57 AM PDT by Alamo-Girl
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