Tuesday, December 08, 2009

 

Intelligent Construction


Ah, there's a new entry in creationism.

We've had regular ol' Biblical literalism ("God told us so"); creation "science" ("God told us so and let's see if we can mangle science to fit what we think God said"); and Intelligent Design ("God told us so and let's see if we can mangle science to fit what we think God said without saying God told us so").

Now we have Intelligent Construction:

[I]f one looks at the replacement red blood cells needed for each average adult, approximately 4900 quadrillion (4,900,000,000,000,000,000) atoms per second have to be sorted, selected, assembled and delivered to their bloodstream from the food they have eaten. All that is accomplished for each average adult every second of every day and that is just for the needed replacement red blood cells. And of course an equal or greater number of atoms have to be sorted, selected, assembled and delivered with lightning speed and great precision from the soil, rain and air to make the vegetables, fruit, etc. for our next meals. Again, that is for each adult just for replacement red blood cells alone.

"From dust we are made, in a two step process...From atoms in soil to food, then these atoms in food to human cells". Another thing we have learned is that ‘Dead dogs don't bark'. Yes, even though all the atoms, molecules and cells are precisely assembled for eyes, ears, legs, teeth, etc., etc., something is obviously missing from a dead dog. What is it? That Divine Breath of Life without which no atoms "live" and perform their assigned functions for eyesight, hearing, running, barking, etc.

It can be seen that there is an enormous amount of vital, precision work being done for each person every second of every day. It is not the wind, not magic, not random chance not anything else but phenomenal hard work by someone who must love His creatures and care for them immensely, whether He receives any thanks or not.

In summary, the reason for the absolute breakdown of the Theory of Evolution is this: The precision and speed required for the assembly of atoms into living cells far exceeds the capability of the unintelligent designlessness theorized by atheistic ‘Evolution'. In addition: ‘Dead dogs don't bark', which is to say that although all the necessary atoms, molecules and cells are precisely assembled in a dead dog, without the Divine Breath of Life, atoms do not live and function together as required for life in any living thing.

The author ends with this:

One day atheistic evolution may be moved to the History books and Intelligent Design and Construction will be taught as the science of life.
Of course, the notion that atoms we receive in food (not to mention others we receive though breathing) are directly turned into red blood cells shows a profound ignorance of how life works. Even assuming the author is right about that number of atoms (did he count them?) there is something on the magnitude of 1014 cells in the human body that can do "sorting," processing and transporting of those atoms throughout the body at any one time. So (assuming my math is right ... a big assumption) those 4.9 x 1018 atoms, divided by 1014, means that there are, on average, only 4.9 x 104, or 49,000 atoms being processed per cell into the products that eventually go into making up blood cells. Given that those atoms are largely in the form of sugars, water and other nutrients, already in molecules usable by the body, the amount of work needed to be done by each cell is hardly unimaginable.

As for the dead dog, the reason it is dead is that it has stopped sorting, processing and transporting atoms, i.e. the chemical reactions that we call "life" have ceased. If God has to continually breathe life into living things, then he/she/it has to constantly push atoms together and hold them together in what we call "chemistry" as well. Busy fellow ...

But why would considerations like that stop anyone who is prone to quote mining (I'll leave the reader to work that out) and who adds yet another data point to The Longest Running Falsehood in Creationism?
.

Comments:
Just out of curiosity, if some unspecified constructor is carrying out some enormous amount of vital, precision work at an atomic level for each person every second of every day, why should we believe that we have any responsibility for our actions?

Can you have Original Sin and Free Will when all your atoms are being managed by the Constructor?
 
Wow. It's one thing to argue that living cells are automata that must have been designed. Thinking that life requires divine micromanaging is on quite a different level.

I have to confess some sympathy, though. When I learned about DNA replication in introductory biology, I was just flabbergasted at the speed of the process (50 nuceotides per second in eukaryotes, 1000 in bacteria). So it's easy to see why someone who is ignorant about biochemistry and also believes in an interventionist god would believe that life requires constant intervention.
 
... why should we believe that we have any responsibility for our actions?

Because micromanagement is selective?

So it's easy to see why someone who is ignorant about biochemistry and also believes in an interventionist god would believe that life requires constant intervention.

But if you take the slightest time to research and consider? ...
 
...approximately 4900 quadrillion (4,900,000,000,000,000,000) atoms per second have to be sorted, selected, assembled and delivered to their bloodstream...

Through his choice of words and means of expression the author is actually guilty of 'begging the question'.
 
...approximately 4900 quadrillion (4,900,000,000,000,000,000) atoms per second have to be sorted, selected, assembled and delivered to their bloodstream...

Through his choice of words and means of expression the author is actually guilty of 'begging the question'.
 
Based on my dim recollection of Avagadro's Number, I must be moving trillions of molecules around just to type out this message. Does that mean God is helping me sort out where all those molecules need to go, or did I manage this on my own with the help of a (semi-)intelligent keyboard designer?
 
Post a Comment

<< Home

This page is powered by Blogger. Isn't yours?

. . . . .

Organizations

Links
How to Support Science Education
archives