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Sorry for the long post but I cannot seem to stay online. I will have to sign off for now. The following is relevant to the above post:
Now let’s show how this works. Let’s say there is a pile of plastic letters laying around outside. The wind blows these millions of letters around for millions of years and eventually we come on the scene and look the situation over. After searching through the confusion we eventually find a complete sentence spelled out that says, “Give this information to the DNA.” Now remember, we are a distant observer looking at things like they were in the beginning before there was life, so let’s not interject ourselves into this situation. What would a creature with no mind do with that “information”? There is no information there because there is no instructions that can be read and interpreted. No one knows what any of that means. That sentence may as well be any other random jumble of letters. It only makes sense to us but remember we are not supposed to be there. So the question is, who makes sense of it? How can anyone or anything follow these so called instructions?
Who says that a G means one thing and a U means another? Who or what decides that letters lined up to form “Give” mean anything at all? Please step back now. These questions are not for you. They are for the mindless matter and energy to figure out. What good are the letters anyway? Are they of any use at all without a mind? Why would one mindless-wonder read the order put down by another mindless-wonder? It is confusion to both. What seems so plain to us is utter confusion to that which has no mind. The DNA code came from somewhere. Where? Who decided that a T should attract an A? Who or what decided that it should be translated and interpreted one way and not another? What possible good could it do if the code was not understood and translated correctly? How could even one letter in the DNA code have any significance whatsoever without a value judgement being made?
The reason why the computer cannot design something on its own is because of value judgements that must be entered into the system by someone who has values. In other words, why is a word better than a letter? Or, why is a sentence better than a word? It seems like the word would be better at first glance because it is much more brief. Someone has to decide if the brevity is better or the more complete explanation is better. Is a tube better if it is porous and allows some of the liquid to seep through or is it better if it contains the liquid completely? Is a low electrical current better than a higher one? Is an image better than text or is text better?
The answers to the above questions may vary even within the same system. Who or what makes these decisions? In the case of a computer we can simply program it to select the color red each time it comes across it. After we do that the computer will do the work for us seemingly making the value judgements, but we all know who is behind it don’t we? The ultimate conclusion that must be drawn is that an intelligent source is behind the design regardless of what the automatic system is able to do on its own. No one seriously thinks that by turning on a switch a complicated machine comes into existence and operates without the benefit of a designer somewhere along the line.
Let’s say that all the chemicals formed magically out of stuff laying around the earth and a string of DNA formed. Now what? Is there any instructions there? Remember, I am not talking to you. What is that string of DNA except a disordered mass of confusion of no use whatsoever in telling anything or anyone what to do. It can be a string of DNA a mile long that formed itself out of the earth but it is absolutely useless, just as the ladder was that you lettered in a random manner. Now if you had known the code ahead of time then you could have made some real DNA that gave sensible instructions. Again YOU could have done that. Play this game however you like but you will find that all roads lead to intelligent life as the source of information.
You can probably make an interesting language out of snow flakes. I would suggest that you get 26 different ones and start out with an alphabet and assign different sounds to each one. Then you could devise some type of grammatical rules so that they can be formed into words and sentences. Before you know it you have a language, all from mindless snow flakes. Happy day!
Now let’s move this analogy into the body. RNA, as has been mentioned, copies various pieces of information from DNA and gets the ball rolling so that it can be used in making things. This procedure is quite complicated in real life but I will try and simplify it here. There are plenty of books on the subject and I suggest that anyone who is inclined to pass it all off as a relatively simple thing read up on it first. It is to this day not completely understood how the information in DNA gets transcribed and then translated and then put to work. Some parts are now pretty clear as to their inner workings and some are still a mystery but it seems like the major components of the cell have at least been identified as to their usual function. The ribosomes are one part that is still not entirely understood. These are an absolutely essential part and can only be described as information based machines. There are thousands of them in each cell and they are made up largely of unique structures of information carrying RNA.
Simply stated we can say that the RNA follows close behind an ordered chemical reaction that directs the DNA to open itself like a zipper does. The RNA then obtains a copy of relevant portions of the information. The relevant portion, and how that is determined is another area that is not completely understood although we already know that there are coded messages ordering the process to stop and start. Of course there are start and stop messages all through the code so there is still uncertainty as to how it all works. There is even a mechanism that double checks the copies to make sure that they are accurate.
Precisely timed release of certain chemicals causes the RNA to be cut at just the right places. In other parts of the cell these pieces are sometimes spliced back together or formed with precisely made proteins into other components. Those components help in the translation of the code that is interpreted by biological machines (ribosomes) by way of other coded instructions into the actual work of making proteins. These unique proteins are manufactured according to the strict instructions from a selection of 20 amino acids which themselves provide an endless possibility of combinations similar to the possibilities contained in the English alphabet. Nothing is possible without the information. The cell can do nothing without it except die. All of the processes in the cell are interdependent with each other and they all depend on the information and the precise instructions given by the DNA and by other means.
The cell is like a machine of life. Parts of the machine can be altered and it will still work to some extent, and people can purposely change some of the information in the DNA but the point is that there must be some logic to it. It definitely is not just a mindless code that can be ordered randomly. And it certainly is not just a disordered jumble of proteins that simply react according to the laws of thermodynamics. They do of course react precisely according to those laws but only as they are shielded and directed in those chemical reactions by the unique order dictated by the information. In other words, the proteins that are manufactured are not allowed to simply float about looking for a function or a random chemical reaction to engage in anymore than an automatic transmission is simply a box full of gears that are randomly thrown into a metal case.
Now let’s show how this works. Let’s say there is a pile of plastic letters laying around outside. The wind blows these millions of letters around for millions of years and eventually we come on the scene and look the situation over. After searching through the confusion we eventually find a complete sentence spelled out that says, “Give this information to the DNA.” Now remember, we are a distant observer looking at things like they were in the beginning before there was life, so let’s not interject ourselves into this situation. What would a creature with no mind do with that “information”? There is no information there because there is no instructions that can be read and interpreted. No one knows what any of that means. That sentence may as well be any other random jumble of letters. It only makes sense to us but remember we are not supposed to be there. So the question is, who makes sense of it? How can anyone or anything follow these so called instructions?
Who says that a G means one thing and a U means another? Who or what decides that letters lined up to form “Give” mean anything at all? Please step back now. These questions are not for you. They are for the mindless matter and energy to figure out. What good are the letters anyway? Are they of any use at all without a mind? Why would one mindless-wonder read the order put down by another mindless-wonder? It is confusion to both. What seems so plain to us is utter confusion to that which has no mind. The DNA code came from somewhere. Where? Who decided that a T should attract an A? Who or what decided that it should be translated and interpreted one way and not another? What possible good could it do if the code was not understood and translated correctly? How could even one letter in the DNA code have any significance whatsoever without a value judgement being made?
The reason why the computer cannot design something on its own is because of value judgements that must be entered into the system by someone who has values. In other words, why is a word better than a letter? Or, why is a sentence better than a word? It seems like the word would be better at first glance because it is much more brief. Someone has to decide if the brevity is better or the more complete explanation is better. Is a tube better if it is porous and allows some of the liquid to seep through or is it better if it contains the liquid completely? Is a low electrical current better than a higher one? Is an image better than text or is text better?
The answers to the above questions may vary even within the same system. Who or what makes these decisions? In the case of a computer we can simply program it to select the color red each time it comes across it. After we do that the computer will do the work for us seemingly making the value judgements, but we all know who is behind it don’t we? The ultimate conclusion that must be drawn is that an intelligent source is behind the design regardless of what the automatic system is able to do on its own. No one seriously thinks that by turning on a switch a complicated machine comes into existence and operates without the benefit of a designer somewhere along the line.
Let’s say that all the chemicals formed magically out of stuff laying around the earth and a string of DNA formed. Now what? Is there any instructions there? Remember, I am not talking to you. What is that string of DNA except a disordered mass of confusion of no use whatsoever in telling anything or anyone what to do. It can be a string of DNA a mile long that formed itself out of the earth but it is absolutely useless, just as the ladder was that you lettered in a random manner. Now if you had known the code ahead of time then you could have made some real DNA that gave sensible instructions. Again YOU could have done that. Play this game however you like but you will find that all roads lead to intelligent life as the source of information.
You can probably make an interesting language out of snow flakes. I would suggest that you get 26 different ones and start out with an alphabet and assign different sounds to each one. Then you could devise some type of grammatical rules so that they can be formed into words and sentences. Before you know it you have a language, all from mindless snow flakes. Happy day!
Now let’s move this analogy into the body. RNA, as has been mentioned, copies various pieces of information from DNA and gets the ball rolling so that it can be used in making things. This procedure is quite complicated in real life but I will try and simplify it here. There are plenty of books on the subject and I suggest that anyone who is inclined to pass it all off as a relatively simple thing read up on it first. It is to this day not completely understood how the information in DNA gets transcribed and then translated and then put to work. Some parts are now pretty clear as to their inner workings and some are still a mystery but it seems like the major components of the cell have at least been identified as to their usual function. The ribosomes are one part that is still not entirely understood. These are an absolutely essential part and can only be described as information based machines. There are thousands of them in each cell and they are made up largely of unique structures of information carrying RNA.
Simply stated we can say that the RNA follows close behind an ordered chemical reaction that directs the DNA to open itself like a zipper does. The RNA then obtains a copy of relevant portions of the information. The relevant portion, and how that is determined is another area that is not completely understood although we already know that there are coded messages ordering the process to stop and start. Of course there are start and stop messages all through the code so there is still uncertainty as to how it all works. There is even a mechanism that double checks the copies to make sure that they are accurate.
Precisely timed release of certain chemicals causes the RNA to be cut at just the right places. In other parts of the cell these pieces are sometimes spliced back together or formed with precisely made proteins into other components. Those components help in the translation of the code that is interpreted by biological machines (ribosomes) by way of other coded instructions into the actual work of making proteins. These unique proteins are manufactured according to the strict instructions from a selection of 20 amino acids which themselves provide an endless possibility of combinations similar to the possibilities contained in the English alphabet. Nothing is possible without the information. The cell can do nothing without it except die. All of the processes in the cell are interdependent with each other and they all depend on the information and the precise instructions given by the DNA and by other means.
The cell is like a machine of life. Parts of the machine can be altered and it will still work to some extent, and people can purposely change some of the information in the DNA but the point is that there must be some logic to it. It definitely is not just a mindless code that can be ordered randomly. And it certainly is not just a disordered jumble of proteins that simply react according to the laws of thermodynamics. They do of course react precisely according to those laws but only as they are shielded and directed in those chemical reactions by the unique order dictated by the information. In other words, the proteins that are manufactured are not allowed to simply float about looking for a function or a random chemical reaction to engage in anymore than an automatic transmission is simply a box full of gears that are randomly thrown into a metal case.
Sorry I missed ya in Tennessee. Would've loved to go out for some backcountry BBQ with ya.
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