Posted on 02/12/2002 8:09:16 PM PST by Raymond Hendrix
...DNA is formed by a series of chemical reactions. Unlike some chemicals that breakdown when life ceases or like some paint that breaks down when it freezes, DNA generally retains its shape and information. The famous Neanderthal man was examined and the scraps of DNA that remained in long dead bone was also examined. DNA is not a living thing like a cell or an internal organ. It is like a chemical ladder that forms itself according to laws just like the snow flake does. A rock for instance forms according to law and lasts for thousands of years. In that sense DNA is similar to a rock or a salt crystal. Of course when DNA is actually being used in a cell of an animal or plant it is doing far more than just sitting their like a rock or acting like a snow flake. But we will get to that part later.
Take an imaginary ladder and cut all of its rungs in half so that the ladder is in two long pieces with half rungs sticking out on each side. Set the ladder on the ground just like it would be before you cut it in half but leave a little space between the rungs that you just cut. Now start from one end of the ladder and write the letters, A, T, G, C. on the rungs of one side of the ladder. Put the letters in any order that you want. They can repeat each other as well. For instance the order you choose may look something like this: T G G C A C A A A C C T T T T T C C A G C T C A G G A A C T T C C A G G C
So now you have one half of the ladder marked and of course we want to mark the other half. Here is how you do it: Write these letters on the side that you haven’t marked yet according to the following instructions: Opposite of each T write an A. Opposite of each G write a C. Opposite of each C write a G and opposite of each A write a T. That is the basic structure of DNA except in real life the ladder is twisted into a spiral or “double helix” and is much longer. It is several feet of microscopic ladder in a human for instance. However long it is though you will always find the exact relationship of the letters. The letter A will always be opposite of T. The letter G will always be opposite of C. Of course in real life there are not actual letters but we have used them (and scientists use these exact letters) to represent specific chemicals. In nature these chemicals attract and repel each other according to established laws. That is why the T’s and A’s are always on the opposite sides of the same rungs of the DNA ladder. The order going up and down the ladder seems to be random but the opposite sides of each rung always follow the exact order mentioned. In 50 miles of DNA you will always find that A’s are opposite of T’s and G’s are opposite of C’s. It is simple chemistry just as predictable as a snowflake ordering itself into a hexagon.
Now what about the letters (or chemicals) that you initially arranged in any random order? In my instructions you remember that I said to put the 4 letters in whatever order that you wanted. This still is in some ways just simple chemical reactions. There is nothing miraculous about how they are put together if you think of four different people holding hands. They are joined together by their hands gripping each other. In that sense the 4 chemicals A, T, C, and G have no problem with holding hands with each other. They are not in the least bit prejudiced so they can be arranged in any order and they are still quite happy. The only question that remains really is what does the order mean to the living cell and the human being or plant that results from that seemingly random order of letters? Here is where simple chemical laws of nature break down. The reason they break down is not because chemical laws or thermodynamic laws are defied but because they cannot explain the order which as it turns out is not random at all. My analogy of the ladder was not correct in one place and that is where I told you to write the letters in any random order that you chose. In real life they appear to be random just like the ones that you did but they are in a precise order that represents a coded language.
I will even tell you what one of the codes means. But first let me give a brief explanation of RNA which is often used to copy parts of the information within DNA. The attractions of RNA are according to the same laws that work in DNA except the letter “U” replaces the letter “T” in the RNA code. Also RNA is only half a ladder. That is, it is like one half of the ladder that you made so that it can come between the halves of the DNA chain when it is opened and copy the portion of DNA that will be used in certain situations. So the genetic code is certain combinations of the letters U,A,G and C. In this code the letters UAG mean stop. When certain chemical reactions are taking place in the cell, when they see that code (or a few other ones) they stop doing what they were doing. Other combinations of the coded letters give myriads of specific instructions for the making of various proteins that are used in various ways.
After the RNA has copied the information from the DNA it is used in various ways throughout the cell. You might say that the DNA is like a huge encyclopedia or dictionary that contains all of the information necessary to make and regulate a human being. If it is plant DNA then the information gives the specific instructions on how to make and maintain a specific plant or tree or whatever. The basic structure of DNA is the same in plants and animals and the code is the same as well. The DNA is really like a huge recipe book or dictionary with all the information that a person would need to make and maintain a person or a plant or whatever - assuming that we knew how exactly these basic instructions are interpreted and manipulated within the complex machinery of life.
Making life is possible I suppose if you can get permission from whoever wrote the instructions. Anyway let’s get back to our code and see if we can figure out a few things. The first question is, what caused this code to be arranged in such a precise order with no necessary chemical reactions compelling it? DNA is not just a random jumble of lettersas it appears. It has been discovered that it is broken down into 3 letter codes such as UAG, CCC, CUG, GCC, AAC, GCA, AGA, etc. Each three letter combination is like a word in a language. It is from these words that the instructions are written for the rest of the cell to follow in making a human being. That is how a baby is formed in the womb. It starts out with two cells following instructions and each time the cell divides those new cells follow their instructions. The DNA instructions are in each cell. They constantly reproduce themselves. These instructions are in your hair and in your skin and in your brain and in your liver. The whole encyclopedia is in each cell. Millions of copies of precise instructions necessary to make a complete living human being are in your body. One copy is in each cell. When animals are cloned they only need the information from a cell to do it because all of the information is there.
Each cell in the body knows which instructions to read from the DNA in order to perform its specific function. One cell may make more parts of a kidney according to precise instructions. Another cell may provide more energy according to the portion of the DNA recipe book that it is reading. Each cell reads and interprets the code and follows the instructions that it is given. Each cell knows which part of the instructions apply to it. Like a team of construction workers building a skyscraper, each worker reads the part of the plans that apply to his specific project. One worker may read the instructions on how to instal windows, another may read the instructions on how to operate the elevator or crane, another may read the instructions on how to instal the plumbing system and another follows instructions that pertain to the electrical wiring. In the end the entire building fits together perfectly according to the master set of instructions that are called DNA in a living organism.
After the building is built the DNA has only begun its continuing work of providing the base of information for maintaining, regulating and altering specific instructions according to continually changing factors. An attack by a foreign biological invasion for instance which contains its own RNA and destructive information is provided for by the base instructions and information of DNA. Even the DNA in the most basic single celled organism contains far more instructive DNA than is contained in our analogy of the construction workers reading blue prints and building codes etc.
It seems like now we have lost the ability to compare DNA to a snow flake. Now that we have entered the essence of DNA we find no comparison whatsoever. Chemical reactions and molecular or atomic structure are now nearly useless to us. The laws of nature now tell us nothing about the instructions in DNA. The simple natural explanations have now ended. Where are now the laws of thermodynamics? They have not been violated at all. They are simply irrelevant to this foundational portion of the life process upon which the rest of the operation of life rests.
Where did these minutely detailed precise instructions come from? How does each cell know what portion of the book to open to at any given time? It does no good for the glass maker to read about making an elevator. The crane operator needs to read about the weight loads he will be carrying but he could not care less about how you make steel. The information in DNA and how it is used specifically and at the precise times necessary cannot be explained by the laws of thermodynamics. We need another law before we can even hope to understand the origin of information like this. Snow flakes and interesting patterns in nature do nothing to help us here. Snow flakes or salt crystals do not give this type of instruction. Remember these instructions can be read, translated, understood and used to build a human being or a tree or a hummingbird or whatever animal or plant you can think of. There is even DNA in bacteria telling it how to do its good or evil and instructing it when to start and stop its job.
The foundation of all life is the written word.
That written word is in the cell of every plant, animal and human being on this planet. That word upholds all of life. Without the word all life perishes in an instant. There is not one process in the cell that will sustain life without the written word that is contained within it. All of life as we now know it is utterly impossible without the written word -- utterly, completely, absolutely and finally impossible. It would seem then because these words are vital that there would be a great deal of study in this area form those interested in proving that life evolved from nothing and without direction from an intelligent source. There has in fact been quite a bit of study in this area but the conclusion is always the same. After wading through complicated mathematical formulas and listening to philosophers and computer programers and various theorists and “artificial intelligence” proponents it became clear that the solution is really quite simple and I will tell you what it is so you can save yourself a headache.
The type of instructions that are found in DNA cannot come into being without intelligent input. We have already seen how patterns can form and order can arise as we saw in the snow flake but we have also seen how that does nothing to help us here. I used to think that I was a professional gambler because I had a long winning streak. I thought I had the perfect system to beat the house. I finally gave up gambling completely, largely because of a book that I read that explained that it was not possible to add up a series of negative odds and come out with a positive chance of winning. In each throw of the dice the house has the odds. You will eventually lose and they will eventually win. An acquaintance of mine happened to be around when I learned the losing part of the lesson. He saw me making quite a lot of money and he wanted to stake me with his money. That was a horrible night for him. I lost hundreds of his dollars with my “system”. I never gambled after that.
Some people do not learn this information lesson quite so easily. They are still trying to beat the odds. I suppose it is because they have so much to lose now. Part of my system included doubling the bets when I lost. This works fine for two or three times but eventually you end up betting hundreds of dollars trying to cover a two dollar bet. I disciplined myself to stop doubling after the third and take my losses. I have an idea that there are some that have doubled their bets to the extent that now they have staked their very lives on odds that they can never overcome. I am not going to go into much complication here because I would probably lose you and myself along the way. We will just discuss that which is already known about information of the type contained in DNA. Again we are talking about specific instructions that can be read, understood and acted upon. For some reason I have found that information gamblers like to confuse this issue and start talking about patterns and order again. That discussion is irrelevant to this subject.
How do computers work? They are fascinating things and they are an exact analogy for us to use here. I am well aware that the factory worker thing is not exactly what goes on in a cell but I think it worked pretty well to prove some points. In the case of computers however we have an exact analogy for studying the subject of information. I mean, what is the whole essence of a computer if it is not to process and contain information? Now, how can I obtain information from my computer without intelligent input? I will leave it to the reader to experiment on his own but I will tell you one thing and that is that every single path that you choose to go down will lead you to the necessity of intelligent input at one place or another. Computers have the ability under established maxim to sort, copy, multiply, and otherwise manipulate information but behind it all is a human programer. He or she decides what is good and what is bad. That person decides what is to be multiplied or what is to be eliminated. That intelligent life decides how the system that he is designing will build itself, and multiply itself. All paths eventually lead to an intelligent mental source. Regardless of how a computer talks to another one or how one programs another one or any other scenario that you can think of, the beginning of the road is always intelligent life. I might add that a mental source is required in several places usually but it is ALWAYS required somewhere. Now I emphasized the word always for a reason and that is because it is an absolute indisputable fact. There are no “could-haves” involved here at all. This is not a theory I am proposing that exists only in my mind. I am talking about an irrefutable law...
This is continued at the above URL
In the absence of proof, what's to believe? But the default
position need not be that we must therefore introject
the superstitions and fantasies of desert dwellers thousands
of years gone.
But they are like rungs on a ladder aren't they? I ask because I need a mental picture of some kind. Shapes or colors or something. Or notes on a musical scale. Or like the fine drawings in Scientific American, little colored balls.
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