If the science is so settled why are Darwinists going 'cruisin''?

Chicken or Egg? More Flirting with Lamarck

Evolution News & Views July 3, 2015 4:19 AM

Here's a cute paper, "The Lamarckian chicken and the Darwinian egg," inBiology Direct, by a couple of Israeli researchers. It's open access so you can read the whole thing.

The Abstract is concise:

"Which came first, the Chicken or the Egg?" We suggest this question is not a paradox. The Modern Synthesis envisions speciation through genetic changes in germ cells via random mutations, an "Egg first" scenario, but perhaps epigenetic inheritance mechanisms can transmit adaptive changes initiated in the soma ("Chicken first").

More:

In this commentary paper we wish to use the well-known "Chicken and Egg" paradox as a gateway for discussing different processes of evolution. While in the biological sense this is not a paradox at all, the metaphor is still useful because it allows examining of the distinction between Lamarckian and Darwinian evolution, and specifically, since it enables us to raise an important and unsolved question: "Can the phenotype affect the genotype?" or in other words, "can epigenetics translate into genetics"?

What makes speculative articles such as this ultimately disappointing is the absence of supporting data (i.e., evidence) for the mechanisms being proposed.

From a philosophical standpoint, however, the speculations are fascinating -- because they indicate what researchers are willing to try, in the face of the supposed "highly confirmed" status of textbook evolutionary theory.

If the current Darwinian theory were in such good shape, why do so many people keep wandering off into heresy?

A line in the sand XVI

China criticized over Ramadan restrictions

by Ivan Watson, Serena Dong and Shen Lu, CNN

Beijing (CNN)Some schools and local government agencies in China's restive Xinjiang province have adopted policies that critics, including the Turkish government, say prevent residents from fasting during the Muslim holy month ofRamadan.

The fast -- traditionally observed from dawn until dusk -- is a central tenet of Islam, the religion practiced by many of the ethnic Uyghurs native to China's western province of Xinjiang.

The Turkish Foreign Ministry published a statement this week saying that reports of Uyghurs being "banned from fasting and fulfilling other acts of worship have been received with sadness by the Turkish public opinion."

The ministry said it had conveyed Turkey's "deep concern" to the Chinese ambassador in Ankara.

A Chinese Foreign Ministry representative responded Wednesday, telling journalists in Beijing that "China has already demanded that Turkey clarify these reports, and we have expressed concern about the statement from the Turkishurkey, a majority Muslim country, has close ethnic, religious and linguistic ties to China's Uyghur minority.

In Malaysia, another country with a large Muslim population, the Chinese Embassy said in a statement on its website that "reports from foreign media regarding the banning of fasting during Ramadan are complete nonsense."

READ: Rare access to China's far west

Religious freedom?

Senior Chinese officials insist they do not force Muslims in Xinjiang to break the Ramadan fast, citing clauses in the Chinese Constitution that enshrine freedom of religion.

But statements posted on the official websites of two middle schools, a village Communist Party branch and two county governments all include instructions that appear to be aimed at restricting people from observing religious rites during Ramadan.The Food and Drug Administration for Xinjiang's Jinghe County instructs employees to sign a statement that includes a "pledge to obey political discipline to firmly ensure that families that have (Communist) party members and students will not fast and will not participate in any forms of religious activities."

Contacted by phone, an employee of the agency who refused to be named told CNN that "our main goal is to prevent extremists from threatening them."

"Ordinary people can fast, have religion and worship ... people are not forbidden from Ramadan as long as they are not Communist Party members," the employee added. Within several hours of the conversation, the statement was removed from the Jinghe County government website.

The website of a middle school in the town of Bole published instructions calling for teachers to ensure that "students and juveniles do not fast during the holy month and do not participate in religious activities."

A middle school in the city of Tunshuq published a statement on its website ordering department heads "to conduct thorough inspections of classrooms, canteens and dormitories before Ramadan; to completely prohibit teachers and students from participating in Ramadan activities."

Reached by phone, a person from the school who also refused to be named told CNN that the policies against Ramadan were "a region-wide ban" aimed at preventing public servants and students from practicing religion. The Chinese communist government is being two-faced, trying to fool the international community," said Seyit Tumturk, a Turkey-based leader of the World Uyghur Congress, a Munich-based group of Chinese Uyghur exiles.

"What they do to test you is, if you're a student or teach or government worker, they give you water or food during lunch, and if you don't accept it, they start a process against you," he said in a phone interview with CNN.

"It can be fines or jail time depending on your past and how old you are and what you do," Tumturk added.

Beijing has vehemently denied accusations by human rights organizations that Uyghurs face widespread discrimination and curtailed religious freedom.

Recent violent incidents have rocked Xinjiang. The arrival of waves of Han Chinese, the country's predominant ethnic group, over past decades has fueled ethnic tensions.

Chinese officials have blamed recent attacks on Uyghur separatists, whom they also label as "religious extremists."

In January, lawmakers in Xinjiang passed legislation banning residents of the provincial capital of Urumqi from wearing burqas in public.

There have also been reports of bans of Muslim veils, long beards, and the star and crescent symbols in other cities in the province.

CNN's Gul Tuysuz contributed reporting from Turkey, and CNN's Steven Jiang contributed reporting from Beijing.

On Michael the great prince.

MICHAEL

(Mi′cha·el) [Who Is Like God?].

1. The only holy angel other than Gabriel named in the Bible, and the only one called “archangel.” (Jude 9) The first occurrence of the name is in the tenth chapter of Daniel, where Michael is described as “one of the foremost princes”; he came to the aid of a lesser angel who was opposed by “the prince of the royal realm of Persia.” Michael was called “the prince of [Daniel’s] people,” “the great prince who is standing in behalf of the sons of [Daniel’s] people.” (Da 10:13, 20, 21; 12:1) This points to Michael as the angel who led the Israelites through the wilderness. (Ex 23:20, 21, 23; 32:34; 33:2) Lending support to this conclusion is the fact that “Michael the archangel had a difference with the Devil and was disputing about Moses’ body.”—Jude 9.

Scriptural evidence indicates that the name Michael applied to God’s Son before he left heaven to become Jesus Christ and also after his return. Michael is the only one said to be “the archangel,” meaning “chief angel,” or “principal angel.” The term occurs in the Bible only in the singular. This seems to imply that there is but one whom God has designated chief, or head, of the angelic host. At 1 Thessalonians 4:16 the voice of the resurrected Lord Jesus Christ is described as being that of an archangel, suggesting that he is, in fact, himself the archangel. This text depicts him as descending from heaven with “a commanding call.” It is only logical, therefore, that the voice expressing this commanding call be described by a word that would not diminish or detract from the great authority that Christ Jesus now has as King of kings and Lord of lords. (Mt 28:18; Re 17:14) If the designation “archangel” applied, not to Jesus Christ, but to other angels, then the reference to “an archangel’s voice” would not be appropriate. In that case it would be describing a voice of lesser authority than that of the Son of God.

There are also other correspondencies establishing that Michael is actually the Son of God. Daniel, after making the first reference to Michael (Da 10:13), recorded a prophecy reaching down to “the time of the end” (Da 11:40) and then stated: “And during that time Michael will stand up, the great prince who is standing in behalf of the sons of [Daniel’s] people.” (Da 12:1) Michael’s ‘standing up’ was to be associated with “a time of distress such as has not been made to occur since there came to be a nation until that time.” (Da 12:1) In Daniel’s prophecy, ‘standing up’ frequently refers to the action of a king, either taking up his royal power or acting effectively in his capacity as king. (Da 11:2-4, 7, 16b, 20, 21) This supports the conclusion that Michael is Jesus Christ, since Jesus is Jehovah’s appointed King, commissioned to destroy all the nations at Har–Magedon.—Re 11:15; 16:14-16.

The book of Revelation (12:7, 10, 12) specifically mentions Michael in connection with the establishment of God’s Kingdom and links this event with trouble for the earth: “And war broke out in heaven: Michael and his angels battled with the dragon, and the dragon and its angels battled. And I heard a loud voice in heaven say: ‘Now have come to pass the salvation and the power and the kingdom of our God and the authority of his Christ, because the accuser of our brothers has been hurled down . . . On this account be glad, you heavens and you who reside in them! Woe for the earth and for the sea.’” Jesus Christ is later depicted as leading the heavenly armies in war against the nations of the earth. (Re 19:11-16) This would mean a period of distress for them, which would logically be included in the “time of distress” that is associated with Michael’s standing up. (Da 12:1) Since the Son of God is to fight the nations, it is only reasonable that he was the one who with his angels earlier battled against the superhuman dragon, Satan the Devil, and his angels.

In his prehuman existence Jesus was called “the Word.” (Joh 1:1) He also had the personal name Michael. By retaining the name Jesus after his resurrection (Ac 9:5), “the Word” shows that he is identical with the Son of God on earth. His resuming his heavenly name Michael and his title (or name) “The Word of God” (Re 19:13) ties him in with his prehuman existence. The very name Michael, asking as it does, “Who Is Like God?” points to the fact that Jehovah God is without like, or equal, and that Michael his archangel is his great Champion or Vindicator.

A reproduction of Matthew Henry's commentary on Daniel 12:1

Jesus Christ shall appear his church’s patron and protector: At that time, when the persecution is at the hottest, Michael shall stand up, Dan. 12:1. The angel had told Daniel what a firm friend Michael was to the church, Dan. 10:21. He all along showed this friendship in the upper world; the angels knew it; but now Michael shall stand up in his providence, and work deliverance for the Jews, when he sees that their power is gone, Deut. 32:3. 6. Christ is that great prince, for he is the prince of the kings of the earth, Rev. 1:5. And, if he stand up for his church, who can be against it? But this is not all: At that time (that is, soon after) Michael shall stand up for the working out of our eternal salvation; the Son of God shall be incarnate, shall be manifested to destroy the works of the devil. Christ stood for the children of our people when he was made sin and a curse for them, stood in their stead as a sacrifice, bore the cure for them, to bear it from them. He stands for them in the intercession he ever lives to make within the veil, stands up for them, and stands their friend. And after the destruction of antichrist, of whom Antiochus was a type, Christ shall stand at the latter day upon the earth, shall appear for the complete redemption of all his.

 Matthew Henry's commentary on the identity of Michael at revelation12:7.

The parties—Michael and his angels on one side, and the dragon and his angels on the other: Christ, the great Angel of the covenant, and his faithful followers; and Satan and all his instruments. This latter party would be much superior in number and outward strength to the other; but the strength of the church lies in having the Lord Jesus for the captain of their salvation.

 

 

A Freudian slip?

Researcher Almost Admits, then Quickly Retracts, that "Intelligent Design" Is Needed to Explore Origin of Life

Casey Luskin July 1, 2015 6:11 AM | 

Here is a video of a lecture, delivered last year at Case Western University, by University of Akron origin-of-life researcher Nita Sahai. Her subject is "The Origins of Life: From Geochemistry to Biochemistry." She starts by making a comment that I agree with: "One of the most fundamental and profound questions that all human societies have asked from prehistory until now is where did we come from." She then gives a highly competent presentation of various issues in the origin of life, including a nice discussion of the "chicken and egg" problem of "which came first: replication or metabolism?"

Offering more criticisms of the RNA world hypothesis, she admits that RNA self-replication has never been achieved, nor has monomer polymerization to yield RNA enzymes. Dr. Sahai seems to like the model that minerals led to the origin of life -- something like the infamous "on the backs of crystals" model that Michael Ruse prefers.

Towards the end of the video (around 48:30) she lists some of the different types of molecules that would need to be coordinated to form life, including (as she puts it), "four nucleotides, twenty amino acids, ... a few lipids ..., several clays and other minerals." She then calls the task of getting just the right components to form life in a lab experiment "a combinatorial nightmare" and says "we need to use intelligent -- not intelligent design," at which point she is looks a tad bit embarrassed and is immediately and abruptly interrupted by another professor who wants to rescue her and help her find better wording. He tells her to say "careful selection," so she then settles on the wording: "We need to carefully select which nucleotides to start with, which amino acids and minerals..."

But if you look up the etymology of the word "intelligence" then we find that it comes from the Latin word intellegentia which has the roots "inter" (meaning "between") and "legō" (meaning "choose, pick out, read") which together translate literally, as "the act of choosing between." The meaning of "intelligent design" might just as well be rendered as "to carefully choose or select."

So we have here an origin-of-life researcher admitting the "combinatorial nightmare" faced by researchers trying to model the origin of life in the lab, and then admitting that "intelligent design" -- I mean "careful selecting" -- is needed to do this.

But if this is such a nightmare for smart researchers like Nita Sahai working in the lab, what makes us think that blind and unguided processes can do the job? The answer, classically, is time. Yet during her talk, Sahai admits that life arose "very early" in earth's history. The combinatorial nightmare and the lack of time to solve it via undirected chemical reactions is perhaps the biggest problem facing origin-of-life theorists.

A line in the sand XV

Tolerance vs. Pride? Spat on by parade-goers, Catholic priest has this message

Editor's note: The following column originally appeared on ToddStarnes.com.

There were g-strings galore at Gay Pride celebrations across the fruited plain as scantily-clad celebrants took to the streets to herald the Supreme Court’s decision to redefine marriage.Supporters of LGBTQI and A marriages waved rainbow-colored flags from San Francisco to New York City.

Unfortunately – the festivities in the Big Apple turned ugly.

Instead of responding with anger Father Jonathan responded with grace.

Father Jonathan Morris – was walking near Broadway — wearing his cleric’s collar – when he stumbled up the Gay Pride Parade.

Father Jonathan, who is also a Fox News contributor, tweeted what happened:

“Two men walked by and spat on me,” he wrote. 

Related Image

They spit on a priest!

What kind of a person hurls their sputum at a priest? What kind of a human being does that?

But instead of responding with anger Father Jonathan responded with grace.

“The two men who spat on me are probably very good man (sic) caught up in excitement and past resentment,” he wrote. “Most in that parade would not do that.”

He dismissed their act of ugliness as simply being caught up in the moment.

“Oh well, I deserve worse,” he wrote.

In a way it’s a modern-day parable – those who preach tolerance are the least tolerant of all.

But Father Jonathan demonstrated that he not only preaches tolerance – he practices it.

A lesson for us all.

To continue reading more from Todd on ToddStarnes.com, click here.

Todd Starnes is host of Fox News & Commentary, heard on hundreds of radio stations. His latest book is "God Less America: Real Stories From the Front Lines of the Attack on Traditional Values." Follow Todd on Twitter@ToddStarnes and find him on Facebook. 

Darwinian apologists attempt to spin straw into gold again.

Wishful Thinking: Chimps Know Right from Wrong

Wesley J. Smith June 29, 2015 4:54 AM 

Here is another yearning attempt by the scientific community to elevate the capacities of animals to approach those of human beings. Last time, it waschimps can cook, but don't. This time, it is chimps that supposedly have now been shown to know the difference between right and wrong!

Except, they don't. Here's what the experiment on 17 zoo animals discovered. From the story in the Daily Mail:

The clips showed chimps either performing a neutral activity such as walking or cracking nuts, aggressive adult chimps, a small colobus monkey being hunted and killed by chimps and an infant chimpanzee being killed by its own kind.

How did they react?

The chimpanzees looked far longer at infanticide scenes than at control videos showing nut cracking, hunting a colobus monkey, or displays and aggression among adult males.'

Did you get that, they looked longer! But how did the chimps respond otherwise?

However, the researchers also found while the chimps watched the infanticide scenes for longer, there was only limited evidence they became agitated or reacted to them.

Well, whatever.

From this, an ephemeral web of moral agency is weaved.

Dr Rudolf von Rohr said this perhaps suggest while chimpanzees can distinguish between right and wrong they will only respond emotionally to digressions within their own social group. She said: 'We propose that chimpanzees as uninvolved bystanders may detect norm violations but may restrict emotional reactions to such situations to in-group contexts.'

Please. Infanticide is a common thing in the animal world. It isn't right or wrong, as animals haven't a clue about the concept.

In fact, the researchers are superimposing their own anti-infanticide moral views on the morally clueless chimps.

Morality -- views that are determined through rational, emotional, philosophical, or religious analysis and societal or cultural persuasion -- is a strictly human concept in the known universe. Moreover, to state the obvious, not all societies share the same concepts of right and wrong. Rome permitted infanticide, as did Nazi Germany, and today, the Dutch, while ISIS murders babies.

Unlike animals, we craft mores -- not as a matter of instinct -- but rather, as a natural function of our human natures.

So let's recap: Chimps looked longer at a screaming infant being killed than they did at other images -- and weren't even upset. And from that we are to infer moral agency.

More like wishful thinking, I would say.

Also out of Africa(but not in a good way)

General News of Sunday, 28 June 2015

Africa lost $1 trillion in 28 years

Africa has lost $1 trillion through Illicit Financial Flows (IFFs) over a 28-year period. The loss was recorded between 1980 and 2008.

The continent is reported to be losing $50 billion annually through the illegal activities of rich individuals and multinational companies in the extractive sector mostly in oil, gas and mining.

According to the African Union/Economic Commission for Africa High Level Panel (HLP) on IFFs from Africa report, the multiplier effect of these challenges were loss of jobs, income, decent education, healthcare facilities, infrastructure and other basic needs of Africans.

“Some of the effects of illicit financial outflows are the draining of foreign exchange reserves, reduced tax collection, cancelling out of investment inflows and a worsening of poverty. Such outflows which also undermine the rule of law, stifle trade and worsen macroeconomic conditions are facilitated by some 60 international tax havens and secrecy jurisdictions that enable the creating and operating of millions of disguised corporations, anonymous trust accounts, and fake charitable foundations. Other techniques used include money laundering and transfer pricing,” the report noted.

It is at the backdrop of these glitches that a campaign to battle illicit financial flows from Africa has been launched in Nairobi with a call on African governments to collaborate to stop the annual $50 billion financial loss.

Stop the Bleeding

An interim working group (IWG) of Africa IFF Campaign platform comprising - six pan-African organisations namely Tax Justice Network-Africa (TJN-A), Third World Network-Africa (TWN-Af), Africa Forum and Network on Debt and Development (AFRODAD), the African Women’s Development and Communication Network (FEMNET), the African Regional Organisation of the International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC-Africa) and Trust Africa supported and joined by the Global Alliance for Tax Justice (GATJ), met at the Uhuru Park in Nairobi, Kenya to launch the campaign.

Dubbed “Stop the Bleeding” Africa IFF Campaign, individuals from all walks of life joined in the movement, which is aimed at preventing IFFs from Africa in order to promote development.

Speakers at the launch voiced their frustrations and urged Africans and African governments to collaborate to bring an end to the plundering of Africa’s wealth. The Chairperson of the Pan-African MPs Network on IFFs and Tax, Ms Khanyisile Litchfield Tshabalala; the Chairperson of the International Trade Union Confederation Africa, Mr Joel Odigie, and the Head of US-Africa Network, Dr Anyango Reggy, gave brief speeches calling for an end to IFFs.

They were unanimous in stating that Africa was not a poor continent and, therefore, deserved better.

Dr Reggy disclosed that the United States of America (USA) was also a victim of IFFs with a loss of $100 billion annually.

The March

A five-kilometre walk through major streets in Nairobi was organised after the launch.

More than 80 individuals joined the coalition in the march aimed at drumming home the need for concerted efforts to protect the African purse and resources. The procession attracted Kenyan citizens who came out of their offices to catch a glimpse of the march.

Motorists had to give way to the procession, which was under tight security. The procession began at the Uhuru Park and was rounded off at the same park. The organisers said the march would be replicated in other African countries. They also disclosed that the campaign would be sustained until Africa got what it truly deserved.

Meanwhile, a training programme on tax and IFFs organised by the Tax Justice Network – Africa (TJNA) for selected African journalists has ended in Nairobi, Kenya.

Background

Illicit financial flows out of Africa have become a matter of major concern because of the scale and negative impact of such flows on Africa’s development and governance agenda.

The amount lost by Africa through IFFs is approximately double the official development assistance (ODA) that Africa receives and, indeed, the estimate may well be short of reality as accurate data does not exist for all transactions and for all African countries, the HLP report has noted.

Preliminary evidence showed that taking prompt action to curtail illicit financial outflows from Africa would go a long way to provide a major source of funds for development programmes on the continent.

“One of the keys to achieving success is the adoption of laws, regulations and policies that encourage transparent financial transactions,” said the report.

The thinking planet?

Earth's Biosphere Is Awash in Information

Evolution News & Views 

Visualize an exoplanet far away: dynamic, comfortable, yet lifeless. It has water, plate tectonics, volcanoes, an atmosphere and all the ingredients for life -- but no life. What would be the primary factor distinguishing it from Earth? A new paper in PLOS Biology suggests that its chief drawback, all things being equal, would be a lack of complex specified information.

In this remarkable paper, Landenmark, Forgan, and Cockell of the United Kingdom Centre for Astrobiology at the University of Edinburgh attempt "An Estimate of the Total DNA of the Biosphere." The results are staggering:

Modern whole-organism genome analysis, in combination with biomass estimates, allows us to estimate a lower bound on the total information content in the biosphere: 5.3 × 10³¹ (±3.6 × 10³¹) megabases (Mb) of DNA. Given conservative estimates regarding DNA transcription rates, this information content suggestsbiosphere processing speeds exceeding yottaNOPS values (10²⁴Nucleotide Operations Per Second). Although prokaryotes evolved at least 3 billion years before plants and animals, we find that the information content of prokaryotes is similar to plants and animals at the present day. This information-based approachoffers a new way to quantify anthropogenic and natural processesin the biosphere and its information diversity over time.

As a side note, they never explain their odd distinction between "natural" and "anthropomorphic" (are humans not natural?). Their last sentence just says, "This approach may help us understand the changing complexity of the biosphere over time and to predict in new ways, both anthropogenic and natural, future changes in the biosphere." Apparently even typical astrobiologists have an intuitive sense of human exceptionalism.

But returning to the topic of interest, let's ponder the scale of this information content and processing speed. A yottaNOPS is a lotta ops! Each prefix multiplies the prior one by a thousand: kilo, mega, giga, tera, peta, exa, zetta, yotta. A "yottabase" doesn't even come close to the raw information content of DNA they estimate: 10³¹ megabases. That's the same as 10³⁷ bases, but a yottabase is only 10²⁴ bases (a trillion trillion bases). This means that the information content of the biosphere is 50 x 10¹³ yottabases (500 trillion yottabases). They estimate that living computers perform a yottaNOPS, or 10²⁴ nucleotide operations per second, on this information.

You can pick yourself off the floor now.

This is a profound indication of the priority of information to life. It's not just the rocks, water, and elements that characterize Earth, but the astonishing amount of information and information processing that goes on all around us. That's why we have fish, birds, insects, bacteria, mammals, and people.

But how does a scientific materialist account for this incredible computing power? Let's see what the three astrobiologists do with it. First, they keenly recognize the similarity of DNA processing to computer processing:

Biodiversity and habitat loss is recognised as a global issue. In response, substantial research effort has been invested in genome sequencing and the preservation of vulnerable species and habitats. However, despite these remarkable advances, to our knowledge, there is still no estimate of the total information content of the biosphere. Using available DNA sequencing and genome data, combined with large-scale surveys of biomass, we present an alternative way of quantifying and understanding biodiversity. This is accomplished by adopting an information view of biodiversity, in which the total amount of information in the biosphere is represented by the available amount of DNA (Fig 1). In this way, the biosphere can be visualised as a large, parallel supercomputer, with the information storage represented by the total amount of DNA and the processing power symbolised by transcription rates. In analogy with the Internet, all organisms on Earth are individual containers of information connected through interactions and biogeochemical cycles in a large, global, bottom-up network. By combining data on genome size, spatial diversity, and mass from different prokaryotes, eukaryotes, and the viruses, we estimate the total biomass for each group and then derive a first-order, lower-bound approximation for the total DNA content of each group.

Figure 1 in their paper, reproduced above, illustrates their main point, summarized by the caption: "Storing the total amount of information encoded in DNA in the biosphere, 5.3 × 10³¹ megabases (Mb), would require approximately 10²¹ supercomputers with the average storage capacity of the world's four most powerful supercomputers."

How much land surface would be required for 10²¹ supercomputers (a "zetta-computer")? The Titan supercomputer takes up 404 m² of space. If we assume just 100 m² for each supercomputer, we would still need 10²³ square meters to hold them all. Universe Today estimates the total surface of Earth (including the oceans) at 510 million km², which equates to 5.1 x 10¹⁴ m². That's 9 orders of magnitude short of the zetta-computer footprint, meaning we would need a billion Earths to have enough space for all the computers needed to match the equivalent computing power life performs on DNA!

That calculation included the ocean surface for comparison, since much life is in the ocean. Although life occupies multiple levels in the ocean, land, and air, the biosphere represents a very thin veneer of the Earth's overall volume. It's certainly unreasonable to expect every square meter of a planet's surface to contain computers; where would the power come from? It only requires one planet -- not a billion -- to hold all the DNA processors, because life is so miniaturized and efficient, using energy from the sun.

The implications of this "information-based view of the biosphere" are not lost on the astrobiologists. They dismiss Gaia but leave a door open for intelligent design:

We note that the approach that we propose here (and the analogy of supercomputers) does not necessarily imply a global, Gaia-like superorganism. We merely observe that ultimately all organisms interact with each other and the environment. Thus, theinformation being processed in the biosphere is interlinked in a large mass of organisms, however one chooses to conceptualise this. It does not have to be considered as a single, self-regulating organism. The manner in which the total information in the biosphere is processed, and the degree to which it is coordinated and interlinked in feedback processes, is another matter, but one that could be investigated using an information-based approach.

The rest of the paper discusses how the researchers arrived at their numbers and how the values might have varied over time. (They estimated that the information content in prokaryotes, the simplest organisms, is similar to that of higher organisms -- within two orders of magnitude, which they found surprising.) They also include caveats about assumptions and uncertainties in their measurements and offer suggestions for answering future questions. The whole paper is very interesting.

But the damage is done. Even if their estimates need to be revised by a terabase or two some day, they have made it clear that our biosphere is awash in information. Though clearly evolutionists, they have presented a significant challenge to scientific materialism to account for all this processing power. Simultaneously, they demonstrate the fruitfulness of an information-based approach to the investigation of life.

Might we suggest they take a look at Being as Communion by William Dembski in their spare time.