Since the universe began, 10 to the power of 18 seconds have elapsed.
The diversity of information in the Library of Congress is on the order of 10 raised to the power of 40.
Hemoglobin is diverse to the 10 raised to the power of 650 -- meaning that the units comprising hemoglobin could in theory be rearranged in that many different combinations.
And finally, the potential diversity of the DNA in the simple T4 bacteriophage is 10 raised to the power of 78,000!
Only one of those combinations would actually be hemoglobin or a T4 bacteriophage, respectively.
Nonsense. You yourself have had two different hemoglobins in your blood in a single lifetime.
I know almost nothing about math, but I am not only amazed; I am skeptical. I think your numbers are BS.
Starting with the assumption that the information content of the Library of Congress is greater than the number of seconds since the creation of the universe, and going downhill from there.
Well, that can't be right - that's waaaayyyy more than 10,000 years.
The really amazing statistic is hidden in this article; that 31% of the people don't wish for students to have a balanced understanding of the issue.
Hey, where have you been. I thought you found out you were wrong about the rapture and were gone and I was wrong about post mil and I was left.
And your point is?
You can choose almost anything after it has occurred and through the use of faulty application of probability make it look like the occurrence was so unlikely as to be remarkable.
For example, there is a rock in my back yard that looks like an arrowhead yet is simply a rock. What is the probability that that special rock would find itself in that special spot in my back yard?
The area covered by that rock is approx 5cm x 9cm = 45cm2. The land surface area of the earth is approx 1.483x108 kms2. There is approx 1x1010 cm2 in a km2. So the probability that a rock of that size will find that special spot in my back yard rather than any other spot is 1 in 3.295x1016.
Now what is the probability that that specific rock will be the one found in that spot? The volume of the lithosphere has been calculated to be 5.054 x1019 cubic meters. My rock's volume is roughly 5cm x 9cm x 3cm = 135 cm3. That means there is a potential 7407 x 5.054 x1019 or 3.7434978 x 1023 rocks of this size that could have landed on that spot. The probability of that rock being the 'special' rock is 1 in 3.7434978 x 1023.
Now the probability that that special rock will be found in that special place is 1 in 3.295x1016 x 1 in 1.483x1012 = 1 in 4.886485 x10 28.
Now what is the probability that the rock will look like an arrow? The probability that that rock will be red in colour? The probability that it will have a crease along its length? The probability that it will be igneous? Each of these considerations decreases the liklihood even further.
I have no idea how to calculate those probabilities but I believe my point has been made. The likelihood that that very special red coloured, longitudinally creased, arrow shaped, 5cm x 9cm x 3cm, igneous rock would be found in that special spot in my back yard is incredibly small. So small that it probably could not have happened by chance. Yet it did.
(please forgive any errors in my math, I was using the calculator that came with Windows which frequently does not represent large numbers in usable form)