Seems all's not well OOL science's RNA world front.

Prominent Retraction Vindicates Stephen Meyer and Signature in the Cell
David Klinghoffer | @d_klinghoffer

Ann Gauger struck the right note here yesterday with the news of a major retraction of a 2016 paper by Nobel laureate Jack Szostak, of Harvard Medical School, in Nature Chemistry. He and his postdoc Tivoli Olsen, who showed that his results couldn’t be duplicated, deserve kudos for candor and self-correction.

Of interest, too, is that the retraction serves to vindicate an argument Stephen Meyer made back in 2009 with  Signature in the Cell. See, especially, Chapter 14 (“The RNA World”) which discusses Szostak’s work. The 2016 paper, obviously, isn’t covered by Meyer there. But at the time, criticism suggested that Szostak and others were fast closing in on a solution to the origin-of-life problem with the “principle of RNA self-replication,” touted by Szostak in, for example, a 2009 Scientific American article. Following the publication of Meyer’s book, Szostak himself criticized “anti-evolution ID” for science “denial.” He observed, “this kind of denial is a dangerous thing; denial of reality is extremely bad for the future of our country (and our world).”

So we’ve heard. Yet his own preferred solution to life’s origin, “non-enzymatic replication of RNA,” exists on what appears to be an ever-receding horizon. Szostak and his colleagues wrote:

The non-enzymatic replication of RNA is thought to have been a critical process required for the origin of life. One unsolved difficulty with non-enzymatic RNA replication is that template-directed copying of RNA results in a double-stranded product. After strand separation, rapid strand reannealing outcompetes slow non-enzymatic template copying, which renders multiple rounds of RNA replication impossible. Here we show that oligoarginine peptides slow the annealing of complementary oligoribonucleotides by up to several thousand-fold; however, short primers and activated monomers can still bind to template strands, and template-directed primer extension can still occur, all within a phase-separated condensed state, or coacervate. Furthermore, we show that within this phase, partial template copying occurs even in the presence of full-length complementary strands. This method to enable further rounds of replication suggests one mechanism by which short non-coded peptides could have enhanced early cellular fitness, and potentially explains how longer coded peptides, that is, proteins, came to prominence in modern biology.

That’s the result that has now been retracted.

Meyer wrote in Signature in the Cell, following an analysis of Szostak’s research:

As I have investigated various models that combined chance and necessity, I have noted an increasing sense of futility and frustration arising amongst scientists who work on the origin of life. As I surveyed the literature, it became clear that this frustration had been building for many years.

…

I began to reflect on the failure of these simulations to explain the DNA enigma apart from the guidance of intelligent scientists. I wondered if they hadn’t inadvertently provided evidence for a radically different approach to the problem of biological information. This lead me back to where I had stated — to the idea of intelligent design and to a consideration of the scientific case in its favor.

That is exactly what happened with the retraction story. Szostak by his own admission was “incredibly excited” by the outcome of his work. But as Retraction Watch puts it, “the team had misinterpreted the initial data.” It was “definitely embarrassing,” as Szostak concedes. “In retrospect, we were totally blinded by our belief.” Again, as Dr. Gauger notes, his honesty is to be praised.

But what is that about being “blinded” by “belief”? I hear an echo of his remarks on intelligent design and its peril, in which he added the comment, “I think that belief systems based on faith are inherently dangerous, as they leave the believer susceptible to manipulation when skepticism and inquiry are discouraged.”

As he now admits, though, it was his own team that was led astray by “belief.”

Meanwhile in the origin-of-life community, the sense of what Meyer called “futility and frustration” persists. And Signature in the Cell remains the preeminent guide for explaining OOL scientists’ perplexity, while proposing an alternative approach. One wishes, as Brian Miller says today, that they would put aside materialist bias, embrace genuine “skepticism and inquiry,” and seriously consider that alternative.

Are Zionism and liberal democracy reconcilable?:Pros and Cons.

Earth,a privileged planet after all?

Maybe Life in the Cosmos Is Rare After All
By Paul Davies

When I was a student in the 1960s almost all scientists believed we are alone in the universe. The search for intelligent life beyond Earth was ridiculed; one might as well have professed an interest in looking for fairies. The focus of skepticism concerned the origin of life, which was widely assumed to have been a chemical fluke of such incredibly low probability it would never have happened twice. “The origin of life appears at the moment to be almost a miracle,” was the way Francis Crick described it, “so many are the conditions which would have had to have been satisfied to get it going.” Jacques Monod concurred; in his 1976 book Chance and Necessity he wrote, “Man knows at last that he is alone in the indifferent immensity of the universe, whence which he has emerged by chance.”
Today the pendulum has swung decisively the other way. Many distinguished scientists proclaim that the universe is teeming with life, at least some of it intelligent. The biologist Christian de Duve went so far as to call life “a cosmic imperative.” Yet the science has hardly changed. We are almost as much in the dark today about the pathway from non-life to life as Darwin was when he wrote, “It is mere rubbish thinking at present of the origin of life; one might as well think of the origin of matter.”
There is no doubt that SETI – the search for extraterrestrial intelligence – has received a huge fillip from the recent discovery of hundreds of extra-solar planets. Astronomers think there could be billions of earthlike planets in our galaxy alone. Clearly there is no lack of habitable real estate out there. But habitable implies inhabited only if life actually arises.
I am often asked how likely it is that we will find intelligent life beyond Earth. The question is meaningless. Because we don’t know the process that transformed a mish-mash of chemicals into a living cell, with all its staggering complexity, it is impossible to calculate the probability that it will happen. You can’t estimate the odds of an unknown process. Astrobiologists, however, seem more preoccupied with the chances that microbial life will eventually evolve intelligence. Although biologists can’t do the math on that either, at least they understand the process; it is Darwinian evolution. But this is to put the cart before the horse. The biggest uncertainty surrounds the first step—getting the microbes in the first place.
Carl Sagan once remarked that the origin of life can’t be that hard or it would not have popped up so quickly once Earth became hospitable. It’s true that we can trace the presence of life on Earth back 3.5 billion years. But Sagan’s argument ignores the fact that we are a product of the very terrestrial biology being studied. Unless life on Earth had started quickly, humans would not have evolved before the sun became too hot and fried our planet to a crisp. Because of this unavoidable selection bias, we can’t draw any statistical significance from a sample of one.
Another common argument is that the universe is so vast there just has to be life out there somewhere. But what does that statement mean? If we restrict attention to the observable universe there are probably 1023 planets. Yes, that’s a big number. But it is dwarfed by the odds against forming even simple organic molecules by random chance alone. If the pathway from chemistry to biology is long and complicated, it may well be that less than one in a trillion trillion planets ever spawns life.
Affirmations that life is widespread are founded on a tacit assumption that biology is not the upshot of random chemical reactions, but the product of some sort of directional self-organization that favors the living state over others—a sort of life principle at work in nature. There may be such a principle, but if so we have found no evidence for it yet.
Maybe we don’t need to look far. If life really does pop up readily, as Sagan suggested, then it should have started many times on our home planet. If there were multiple origins of life on Earth, the microbial descendants of another genesis could be all around us, forming a sort of shadow biosphere. Nobody has seriously looked under our noses for life as we do not know it. It would take the discovery of just a single “alien” microbe to settle the matter.

Brexit?:Pros and cons.

Buying out the competition?

Helpful Survey of the Best ID Literature Illuminates Distortions of the Evolution Debate
David Klinghoffer

Marvin Olasky of World Magazine has a very helpful survey of recent literature challenging Darwinism and offering alternatives, including a variety of books from authors arguing for intelligent design -- most recently Doug Axe's Undeniable. "Axe," he summarizes, "shows how Darwinists who want us to suppress our intuition avoid looking at the gaping hole in their theory."

Olasky does a great job in presenting a comprehensive picture of the books that are out there. He also includes creationist works in his omnibus review, none of which I've read so I leave it to others to judge their merits.

He offers two additional notes as well that I found illuminating. Regarding the evolution debate and how it is distorted by Darwin advocates:

On one side sits a science Goliath, using evidence for proven evolution (animals getting bigger or changing color) to sell the unproven doctrine of macroevolution (one kind of animal turning into another). On the other side roam Davids skeptical about such claims. Prestigious groups like the American Association for the Advancement of Science attack them for exposing what the AAAS dubs "so-called 'flaws' in the theory of evolution or 'disagreements' within the scientific community."

The debate seems even more uneven this summer, as the scientific establishment turns up the heat. One example: Fueled by $9 million from the Templeton Foundation, the AAAS this summer is inviting seminary professors to "faculty enrichment retreats" at historic seaside inns and mountain lodges. For example, from July 18 to 21 "evangelical/conservative Protestant" professors will have "positive dialogue" on evolution at the Timberline Lodge in Oregon, where they can enjoy "deluxe accommodations. ... Ranger-led walk on Mt. Hood (easy trail). Guided stargazing and astronomy tour. Stellar dining.... Hot tub...."

Well, July 18-21 is just days away, isn't it. The historic Timberline Lodge looks great (pictured above; it's one of those wonderful old WPA projects). It's just down the road in the gorgeous Mount Hood National Forest. I would like to think seminary faculty members cannot have their views swayed by such blandishments, even the "Stellar dining" and "Hot tub." But note the insult from the American Association for the Advancement of Science. The AAAS evidently thinks those religious scholars can be bought off with luxuries. Otherwise why offer them? That is scandalous, quite honestly.

Olasky goes on:

Meanwhile, judging from press coverage, the only significant response from "evolution deniers" is a 510-foot-long replica of Noah's Ark to be unveiled in Williamstown, Ky., on July 7. The popular Wonkette website earlier this year complained about this product of a purportedly "meth-addled creationist lame brain ... literal interpretation of the Noah's Ark Bible." Americans would never know from the press generally that a great intellectual ferment among creationists and intelligent design proponents is under way, one that is producing many challenging books.

Yes. At least as far as ID goes, evolutionary apologists carefully conceal the "great intellectual ferment" from view.

Stuff like the Ark Park is the perfect dodge for Darwinists who want to avoid a real debate about substantive issues of science and faith. Indeed, this month, Dr. Axe's book is out, as you know, which is in part a shot across the bow directed at "Science Guy" Bill Nye. Both Mr. Nye and Dr. Axe have written books called Undeniable -- borrowing the title was a witty move of authorial appropriation on Axe's part. Axe, as you know already, presents a serious yet accessible argument that our near universal intuition about Darwinism -- that it can't explain biological innovations, while intelligence can -- has scientific merit.

And as Axe's book was headed to the marketplace of ideas, what do you think Bill Nye was doing? Do I have to tell you? Can't you guess? Yes, accompanied by much hoopla and trailed by a video camera crew for an upcoming documentary, he was visiting the Ark Park.

On the God is love hence God is three argument

Darwinism as secular myth.

Marcel-Paul Schützenberger:
The Miracles of Darwinism

Marcel-Paul Schützenberger

Introduction

Until his death, the mathematician and doctor of medicine Marcel-Paul Schützenberger (1920-1996) was Professor of the Faculty of Sciences at the University of Paris and a member of the Academy of Sciences. [See "From the Editors" for additional biographical information.] In 1966, Schützenberger participated in the Wistar Symposium on mathematical objections to neo-Darwinism. His arguments were subtle and often misunderstood by biologists. Darwin's theory, he observed, and the interpretation of biological systems as formal objects, were at odds insofar as randomness is known to degrade meaning in formal contexts. But Schützenberger also argued that Darwin's theory logically required some active principle of coordination between the typographic space of the informational macromolecules (DNA and RNA) and the organic space of living creatures themselves -- which Darwin's theory does not provide. In this January 1996 interview with the French science monthly La Recherche, here published in English for the first time, he pursued these themes anew, finding inspiration for his ideas both in the mathematical ideas that he had pioneered and in the speculative tradition of French biological thought that stretched from Georges Cuvier to Lucien Cuenot. M.P. Schützenberger was a man of universal curiosity and great wit; throughout his life, he was both joyful and unafraid. The culture that he so brilliantly represented disappears with him, of course. It was his finest invention and it now belongs to the inventory of remembered things.

---

Q: What is your definition of Darwinism?

S: The most current, of course, a position generically embodied, for example, by Richard Dawkins. The essential idea is well-known. Evolution, Darwinists argue, is explained by the double action of chance mutations and natural selection. The general doctrine embodies two mutually contradictory schools -- gradualists, on the one hand, saltationists, on the other. Gradualists insist that evolution proceeds by means of small successive changes; saltationists that it proceeds by jumps. Richard Dawkins has come to champion radical gradualism; Stephen Jay Gould, a no less radical version of saltationism.

Q: You are known as a mathematician rather than a specialist in evolutionary biology...

S: Biology is, of course, not my specialty. The participation of mathemeticians in the overall assessment of evolutionary thought has been encouraged by the biologists themselves, if only because they presented such an irresistible target. Richard Dawkins, for example, has been fatally attracted to arguments that would appear to hinge on concepts drawn from mathematics and from the computer sciences, the technical stuff imposed on innocent readers with all of his comic authority. Mathematicians are, in any case, epistemological zealots. It is normal for them to bring their critical scruples to the foundations of other disciplines. And finally, it is worth observing that the great turbid wave of cybernetics has carried mathematicians from their normal mid-ocean haunts to the far shores of evolutionary biology. There up ahead, Rene Thom and Ilya Prigogine may be observed paddling sedately toward dry land, members of the Santa Fe Institute thrashing in their wake. Stuart Kauffman is among them. An interesting case, a physician half in love with mathematical logic, burdened now and forever by having received a Papal Kiss from Murray Gell-Mann. This ecumenical movement has endeavored to apply the concepts of mathematics to the fundamental problems of evolution -- the interpretation of functional complexity, for example.

Q: What do you mean by functional complexity?

S: It is impossible to grasp the phenomenon of life without that concept, the two words each expressing a crucial and essential idea. The laboratory biologists' normal and unforced vernacular is almost always couched in functional terms: the function of an eye, the function of an enzyme, or a ribosome, or the fruit fly's antennae -- their function; the concept by which such language is animated is one perfectly adapted to reality. Physiologists see this better than anyone else. Within their world, everything is a matter of function, the various systems that they study -- circulatory, digestive, excretory, and the like -- all characterized in simple, ineliminable functional terms. At the level of molecular biology, functionality may seem to pose certain conceptual problems, perhaps because the very notion of an organ has disappeared when biological relationships are specified in biochemical terms; but appearances are misleading, certain functions remaining even in the absence of an organ or organ systems. Complexity is also a crucial concept. Even among unicellular organisms, the mechanisms involved in the separation and fusion of chromosomes during mitosis and meiosis are processes of unbelieveable complexity and subtlety. Organisms present themselves to us as a complex ensemble of functional interrelationships. If one is going to explain their evolution, one must at the same time explain their functionality and their complexity.

Q: What is it that makes functional complexity so difficult to comprehend?

S: The evolution of living creatures appears to require an essential ingredient, a specific form of organization. Whatever it is, it lies beyond anything that our present knowledge of physics or chemistry might suggest; it is a property upon which formal logic sheds absolutely no light. Whether gradualists or saltationists, Darwinians have too simple a conception of biology, rather like a locksmith improbably convinced that his handful of keys will open any lock. Darwinians, for example, tend to think of the gene rather as if it were the expression of a simple command: do this, get that done, drop that side chain. Walter Gehring's work on the regulatory genes controlling the development of the insect eye reflects this conception. The relevant genes may well function this way, but the story on this level is surely incomplete, and Darwinian theory is not apt to fill in the pieces.

Q: You claim that biologists think of a gene as a command. Could you be more specific?

S: Schematically, a gene is like a unit of information. It has simple binary properties. When active, it is an elementary information-theoretic unit, the cascade of gene instructions resembling the cascade involved in specifying a recipe. Now let us return to the example of the eye. Darwinists imagine that it requires what? A thousand or two thousand genes to assemble an eye, the specification of the organ thus requiring one or two thousand units of information? This is absurd! Suppose that a European firm proposes to manufacture an entirely new household appliance in a Southeast Asian factory. And suppose that for commercial reasons, the firm does not wish to communicate to the factory any details of the appliance's function -- how it works, what purposes it will serve. With only a few thousand bits of information, the factory is not going to proceed very far or very fast. A few thousand bits of information, after all, yields only a single paragraph of text. The appliance in question is bound to be vastly simpler than the eye; charged with its manufacture, the factory will yet need to know the significance of the operations to which they have committed themselves in engaging their machinery. This can be achieved only if they already have some sense of the object's nature before they undertake to manufacture it. A considerable body of knowledge, held in common between the European firm and its Asian factory, is necessary before manufacturing instructions may be executed.

Q: Would you argue that the genome does not contain the requisite information for explaining organisms?

S:Not according to the understanding of the genome we now possess. The biological properties invoked by biologists are in this respect quite insufficient; while biologists may understand that a gene triggers the production of a particular protein, that knowledge -- that kind of knowledge -- does not allow them to comprehend how one or two thousand genes suffice to direct the course of embryonic development.

Q: You are going to be accused of preformationism...

S: And of many other crimes. My position is nevertheless strictly a rational one. I've formulated a problem that appears significant to me: how is it that with so few elementary instructions, the materials of life can fabricate objects that are so marvelously complicated and efficient? This property with which they are endowed -- just what is its nature? Nothing within our actual knowledge of physics and chemistry allows us intellectually to grasp it. If one starts from an evolutionary point of view, it must be acknowledged that in one manner or another, the earliest fish contained the capacity, and the appropriate neural wiring, to bring into existence organs which they did not possess or even need, but which would be the common property of their successors when they left the water for the firm ground, or for the air.

Q: You assert that, in fact, Darwinism doesn't explain much.

S: It seems to me that the union of chance mutation and selection has a certain descriptive value; in no case does the description count as an explanation. Darwinism relates ecological data to the  relative abundance of species and environments. In any case, the descriptive value of Darwinian models is pretty limited. Besides, as saltationists have indicated, the gradualist thesis seems completely demented in light of the growth of paleontological knowledge. The miracles of saltationism, on the other hand, cannot discharge the mystery I have described.

Q: Let's return to natural selection. Isn't it the case that despite everything the idea has a certain explanatory value?

S: No one could possibly deny the general thesis that stability is a necessary condition for existence -- the real content of the doctrine of natural selection. The outstanding application of this general principle is Berthollet's laws in elementary chemistry. In a desert, the species that die rapidly are those that require water the most; yet that does not explain the appearance among the survivors of those structures whose particular features permits them to resist aridity. The thesis of natural selection is not very powerful. Except for certain artificial cases, we are yet unable to predict whether this or that species or this or that variety will be favored or not as the result of changes in the environment. What we can do is establish after the fact the effects of natural selection -- to show, for, example that certain birds are disposed to eat this species of snails less often than other species, perhaps because their shell is not as visible. That's ecology: very interesting. To put it another way, natural selection is a weak instrument of proof because the phenomena subsumed by natural selection are obvious and yet they establish nothing from the point of view of the theory.

Q: Isn't the significant explanatory feature of Darwinian theory the connection established between chance mutations and natural selection?

S:With the discovery of coding, we have come to understand that a gene is like a word composed in the DNA alphabet; such words form the genomic text. It is that word that tells the cell to make this or that protein. Either a given protein is structural, or a protein itself works in combination with other signals given by the genome to fabricate yet another protein. All the experimental results we know fall within this scheme. The following scenario then becomes standard. A gene undergoes a mutation, one that may facilitate the reproduction of those individuals carrying it; over time, and with respect to a specific environment, mutants come to be statistically favored, replacing individuals lacking the requisite mutation. Evolution could not be an accumulation of such typographical errors. Population geneticists can study the speed with which a favorable mutation propagates itself under these circumstances. They do this with a lot of skill, but these are academic exercises if only because none of the parameters that they use can be empirically determined. In addition, there are the obstacles I have already mentioned. We know the number of genes in an organism. There are about one hundred thousand for a higher vertebrate. This we know fairly well. But this seems grossly insufficient to explain the incredible quantity of information needed to accomplish evolution within a given line of species.

Q: A concrete example?

S: Darwinists say that horses, which were once mammals as large as rabbits, increased their size to escape more quickly from predators. Within the gradualist model, one might isolate a specific trait -- increase in body size -- and consider it to be the result of a series of typographic changes. The explanatory effect achieved is rhetorical, imposed entirely by trick of insisting that what counts for a herbivore is the speed of its flight when faced by a predator. Now this may even be partially true, but there are no biological grounds that permit us to determine that this is in fact the decisive consideration. After all, increase in body size may well have a negative effect. Darwinists seem to me to have preserved a mechanic vision of evolution, one that prompts them to observe merely a linear succession of causes and effects. The idea that causes may interact with one another is now standard in mathematical physics; it is a point that has had difficulty in penetrating the carapace of biological thought. In fact, within the quasi-totality of observable phenomena, local changes interact in a dramatic fashion; after all, there is hardly an issue of La Recherche that does not contain an allusion to the Butterfly Effect. Information theory is precisely the domain that sharpens our intuitions about these phenomena. A typographical change in a computer program does not change it just a little. It wipes the program out, purely and simply. It is the same with a telephone number. If I intend to call a correspondent by telephone, it doesn't much matter if I am fooled by one, two, three or eight figures in his number.

Q: You accept the idea that biological mutations genuinely have the character of typographical errors?

S: Yes, in the sense that one base is a template for another, one codon for another, but at the level of biochemical activity, one is no longer able properly to speak of typography. There is an entire grammar for the formation of proteins in three dimensions, one that we understand poorly. We do not have at our disposal physical or chemical rules permitting us to construct a mapping from typographical mutations or modifications to biologically effective structures. To return to the example of the eye: a few thousand genes are needed for its fabrication, but each in isolation signifies nothing. What is significant is the combination of their interactions. These cascading interactions, with their feedback loops, express an organization whose complexity we do not know how to analyze (See Figure 1). It is possible we may be able to do so in the future, but there is no doubt that we are unable to do so now. Gehring has recently discovered a segment of DNA which is both involved in the development of the vertebrate eye and which can induce the development of an eye in the wing of a butterfly. His work comprises a demonstration of something utterly astonishing, but not an explanation.

Q:But Dawkins, for example, believes in the possibility of a cumulative process.

S: Dawkins believes in an effect that he calls "the cumulative selection of beneficial mutations." To support his thesis, he resorts to a metaphor introduced by the mathematician Emile Borel -- that of a monkey typing by chance and in the end producing a work of literature. It is a metaphor, I regret to say, embraced by Francis Crick, the co-discoverer of the double helix. Dawkins has his computer write a series of thirty letters, these corresponding to the number of letters in a verse by Shakespeare. He then proceeds to simulate the Darwinian mechanism of chance mutations and selection. His imaginary monkey types and retypes the same letters, the computer successively choosing the phrase that most resembles the target verse. By means of cumulative selection, the monkey reaches its target in forty or sixty generations.

Q: But you don't believe that a monkey typing on a typewriter, even aided by a computer...

S:This demonstration is a trompe-l'oeil, and what is more, Dawkins doesn't describe precisely how it proceeds. At the beginning of the exercise, randomly generated phrases appear rapidly to approach the target; the closer the approach, the more the process begins to slow. It is the action of mutations in the wrong direction that pulls things backward. In fact, a simple argument shows that unless the numerical parameters are chosen deliberately, the progression begins to bog down completely.

Q:You would say that the model of cumulative selection, imagined by Dawkins, is out of touch with palpable biological  realities?

S: Exactly. Dawkins's model lays entirely to the side the triple problems of complexity, functionality, and their interaction.

Q: You are a mathematician. Suppose that you try, despite your reservations, to formalize the concept of functional complexity...

S: I would appeal to a notion banned by the scientific community, but one understood perfectly by everyone else -- that of a goal. As a computer scientist, I could express this in the following way. One constructs a space within which one of the coordinates serves in effect as the thread of Ariane, guiding the trajectory toward the goal. Once the space is constructed, the system evolves in a mechanical way toward its goal. But look, the construction of the relevant space cannot proceed until a preliminary analysis has been carried out, one in which the set of all possible trajectories is assessed, this together with an estimation of their average distance from the specified goal. The preliminary analysis is beyond the reach of empirical study. It presupposes -- the same word that seems to recur in theoretical biology -- that the biologist (or computer scientist) know the totality of the situation, the properties of the ensemble of trajectories. In terms of mathematical logic, the nature of this space is entirely enigmatic. Nonetheless, it is important to remember that the conceptual problems we face, life has entirely solved; the systems embodied in living creatures are entirely successful in reaching their goals. The trick involved in Dawkin's somewhat sheepish example proceeds via the surreptitious introduction of a relevant space. His computer program calculates from a random phrase to a target, a calculation corresponding to nothing in biological reality. The function that he employs flatters the imagination, however, because it has that property of apparent simplicity that elicits naïve approval. In biological reality, the space of even the simplest function has a complexity that defies understanding, and indeed, defies any and all calculations.

Q: Even when they dissent from Darwin, the saltationists are more moderate: they don't pretend to hold the key that would permit them to explain evolution...

S: Before we discuss the saltationists, however, I must say a word about the Japanese biologist Mooto Kimura. He has shown that the majority of mutations are neutral, without any selective effect. For Darwinians upholding the central Darwinian thesis, this is embarrassing... The saltationist view, revived by Stephen Jay Gould, in the end represents an idea due to Richard Goldschmidt. In 1940 or so, he postulated the existence of very intense mutations, no doubt involving hundreds of genes, and taking place rapidly, in less than one thousand generations, thus below the threshold of resolution of paleontology. Curiously enough, Gould does not seem concerned to preserve the union of chance mutations and selection. The saltationists run afoul of two types of criticism. On the one hand, the functionality of their supposed macromutations is inexplicable within the framework of molecular biology. On the other hand, Gould ignores in silence the great trends in biology, such as the increasing complexity of the nervous system. He imagines that the success of new, more sophisticated species, such as the mammals, is a contingent phenomenon. He is not in a position to offer an account of the essential movement of evolution, or at the least, an account of its main trajectories. The saltationists are thus reduced to invoking two types of miracles: macromutations, and the great trajectories of evolution.

Q: In what sense are you employing the word 'miracle'?

S:A miracle is an event that should appear impossible to a Darwinian in view of its ultra-cosmological improbability within the framework of his own theory. Now speaking of macromutations, let me observe that to generate a proper elephant, it will not suffice suddenly to endow it with a full-grown trunk. As the trunk is being organized, a different but complementary system -- the cerebellum -- must be modified in order to establish a place for the ensemble of wiring that the elephant will require to use his trunk. These macromutations must be coordinated by a system of genes in embryogenesis. If one considers the history of evolution, we must postulate thousands of miracles; miracles, in fact, without end. No more than the gradualists, the saltationists are unable to provide an account of those miracles. The second category of miracles are directional, offering instruction to the great evolutionary progressions and trends -- the elaboration of the nervous system, of course, but the internalization of the reproductive process as well, and the appearance of bone, the emergence of ears, the enrichment of various functional relationships, and so on. Each is a series of miracles, whose accumulation has the effect of increasing the complexity and efficiency of various organisms. From this point of view, the notion of bricolage [tinkering], introduced by Francois Jacob, involves a fine turn of phrase, but one concealing an utter absence of explanation.

Q: The appearance of human beings -- is that a miracle, in the sense you mean?

S: Naturally. And here it does seem that there are voices among contemporary biologists -- I mean voices other than mine -- who might cast doubt on the Darwinian paradigm that has dominated discussion for the past twenty years. Gradualists and saltationists alike are completely incapable of giving a convincing explanation of the quasi-simultaneous emergence of a number of biological systems that distinguish human beings from the higher primates: bipedalism, with the concomitant modification of the pelvis, and, without a doubt, the cerebellum, a much more dexterous hand, with fingerprints conferring an especially fine tactile sense; the modifications of the pharynx which permits phonation; the modification of the central nervous system, notably at the level of the temporal lobes, permitting the specific recognition of speech. From the point of view of embryogenesis, these anatomical systems are completely different from one another. Each modification constitutes a gift, a bequest from a primate family to its descendants. It is astonishing that these gifts should have developed simultaneously. Some biologists speak of a predisposition of the genome. Can anyone actually recover the predisposition, supposing that it actually existed? Was it present in the first of the fish? The reality is that we are confronted with total conceptual bankruptcy.

Q:You mentioned the Santa Fe school earlier in our discussion. Do appeals to such notions as chaos...

S:I should have alluded to a succession of highly competent people who have discovered a number of poetic but essentially hollow forms of expression. I am referring here to the noisy crowd collected under the rubric of cybernetics; and beyond, there lie the dissipative structures of Prigogine, or the systems of Varela, or, moving to the present, Stuart Kauffman's edge of chaos -- an organized form of inanity that is certain soon to make its way to France. The Santa Fe school takes complexity to apply to absolutely everything. They draw their representative examples from certain chemical reactions, the pattern of the sea coast, atmosphere turbulence, or the structure of a chain of mountains. The complexity of these structures is certainly considerable, but in comparison with the living world, they exhibit in every case an impoverished form of organization, one that is strictly non-functional. No algorithm allows us to understand the complexity of living creatures, this despite these examples, which owe their initial plausibility to the assumption that the physico-chemical world exhibits functional properties that in reality it does not possess.

Q: Should one take your position as a statement of resignation, an appeal to have greater modesty, or something else altogether?


S: Speaking ironically, I might say that all we can hear at the present time is the great anthropic hymnal, with even a number of mathematically sophisticated scholars keeping time as the great hymn is intoned by tapping their feet. The rest of us should, of course, practice a certain suspension of judgment.

The transfiguration:The Watchtower Society's commentary.

TRANSFIGURATION

A miraculous event witnessed by Peter, James, and John, in which Jesus’ “face shone as the sun, and his outer garments became brilliant as the light.” (Mt 17:1-9; Mr 9:2-10; Lu 9:28-36) Mark says that on this occasion Jesus’ outer garments became “far whiter than any clothes cleaner on earth could whiten them,” and Luke states that “the appearance of his face became different.” The transfiguration occurred on a mountain sometime after Passover of 32 C.E., quite a while before Jesus’ final trip to Jerusalem.

Just before the transfiguration, Jesus and his disciples were in the region of Caesarea Philippi, the present-day village of Banyas. (Mr 8:27) It is unlikely that Christ and the apostles departed from this vicinity or region when going to the “lofty mountain.” (Mr 9:2) Mount Tabor has been viewed as the traditional site from about the fourth century C.E., but lying about 70 km (40 mi) SSW of Caesarea Philippi, it seems an improbable location.—⁠See TABOR No. 1.

Mount Hermon, on the other hand, is only about 25 km (15 mi) NE of Caesarea Philippi. It rises to a height of 2,814 m (9,232 ft) above sea level and would therefore be “a lofty mountain.” (Mt 17:1) Hence, the transfiguration may have taken place on some spur of Mount Hermon. This is the view of many modern scholars, though the Bible’s silence on the matter leaves the exact location uncertain.

The transfiguration probably took place at night, for the apostles “were weighed down with sleep.” (Lu 9:32) At night the event would be more vivid, and they did spend the night on the mountain, for it was not until the next day that they descended. (Lu 9:37) Just how long the transfiguration lasted, however, the Bible does not say.

Prior to ascending the mountain, Christ had asked all of his disciples: “Who are men saying that I am?” whereupon Peter replied: “You are the Christ.” At that Jesus told them that he would die and be resurrected (Mr 8:27-31), though he also promised that some of his disciples would “not taste death at all” until they had first seen “the Son of man coming in his kingdom,” or “the kingdom of God already come in power.” (Mt 16:28; Mr 9:1) This promise was fulfilled “six days later” (or “eight” according to Luke, who apparently includes the day of the promise and that of the fulfillment) when Peter, James, and John accompanied Jesus into “a lofty mountain” (Mt 17:1; Mr 9:2; Lu 9:28) where, while praying, Jesus was transfigured before them.

During Jesus’ transfiguration, Moses and Elijah also appeared “with glory.” (Lu 9:30, 31; Mt 17:3; Mr 9:4) They talked about Christ’s “departure [a form of the Greek word eʹxo·dos] that he was destined to fulfill at Jerusalem.” (Lu 9:31) This eʹxo·dos, exodus or departure, evidently involved both Christ’s death and his subsequent resurrection to spirit life.

Some critics have endeavored to class the transfiguration as simply a dream. However, Peter, James, and John would not logically all have had exactly the same dream. Jesus himself called what took place a “vision” (Mt 17:9), but not a mere illusion. Christ was actually there, though Moses and Elijah, who were dead, were not literally present. They were represented in vision. The Greek word used for “vision” at Matthew 17:9 is hoʹra·ma, also rendered “sight.” (Ac 7:31) It does not imply unreality, as though the observers were laboring under a delusion. Nor were they insensible to what occurred, for they were fully awake when witnessing the transfiguration. With their literal eyes and ears they actually saw and heard what took place at that time.—Lu 9:32.

As Moses and Elijah were being separated from Jesus, Peter, “not realizing what he was saying,” suggested the erecting of three tents, one each for Jesus, Moses, and Elijah. (Lu 9:33) But as the apostle spoke, a cloud formed (Lu 9:34), evidently (as at the tent of meeting in the wilderness) symbolizing Jehovah’s presence there on the mountain of the transfiguration. (Ex 40:34-38) From out of the cloud there came Jehovah’s voice, saying: “This is my Son, the one that has been chosen. Listen to him.” (Lu 9:35) Years later, with reference to the transfiguration, Peter identified the heavenly voice as that of “God the Father.” (2Pe 1:17, 18) Whereas in the past God had spoken through prophets, he now indicated that he would do so through his Son.—Ga 3:24; Heb 1:1-3.

The apostle Peter viewed the transfiguration as a marvelous confirmation of the prophetic word, and by having been an eyewitness of Christ’s magnificence, he was able to acquaint his readers “with the power and presence of our Lord Jesus Christ.” (2Pe 1:16, 19) The apostle had experienced the fulfillment of Christ’s promise that some of his followers would “not taste death at all until first they see the kingdom of God already come in power.” (Mr 9:1) The apostle John may also have alluded to the transfiguration at John 1:14.

Jesus told his three apostles: “Tell the vision to no one until the Son of man is raised up from the dead.” (Mt 17:9) They did refrain from then reporting what they saw to anyone, apparently even to the other apostles. (Lu 9:36) While descending the mountain, the three apostles discussed among themselves what Jesus meant by “this rising from the dead.” (Mr 9:10) One current Jewish religious teaching was that Elijah must appear before the resurrection of the dead that would inaugurate the Messiah’s reign. So, the apostles inquired: “Why, then, do the scribes say that Elijah must come first?” Jesus assured them that Elijah had come, and they perceived that he spoke of John the Baptizer.—Mt 17:10-13.


The transfiguration, it seems, served to fortify Christ for his sufferings and death, while it also comforted his followers and strengthened their faith. It showed that Jesus had God’s approval, and it was a foreview of his future glory and Kingdom power. It presaged the presence of Christ, when his kingly authority would be complete.

Reading list for the committed iconoclast.

Best Books of the Year — Discovery Institute Takes Honors in World Magazine’s “Origins” Category
David Klinghoffer | @d_klinghoffer

It’s hard to argue with World Magazine editor-in-chief Marvin Olasky’s assessment that debates about life’s origins form the “most significant worldview clash of our time outside those concerning theology itself.”

Yes, the science behind the design controversy clearly poses an ultimate question, from which — it’s surprising to say — many otherwise thoughtful people turn away, assuming that the experts have got it all figured out so intelligent laypeople can give their attention to other matters. Wrong!

Against that backdrop, it’s satisfying to see Discovery Institute-related books and authors nearly sweeping  World’s assessment of the best books of 2017  in the category of “Origins.” The top “best” book is Tom Bethell’s  Darwin’s House of Cards (Discovery Institute Press), while the “short list” also includes the beautiful monster, Theistic Evolution, with numerous Discovery contributors and editors;  Purpose & Desire, by our friend J. Scott Turner;  Zombie Science, by Jonathan Wells; and Four Views on Creation, Evolution, and Intelligent Design,in which Stephen Meyer goes (graciously) head-to-head with prominent representatives of other perspectives on origins.



On Tom Bethell’s book, which is also the subject of the short video Iconoclast (watch it above):

Darwin’s House of Cards (Discovery) by Tom Bethell is not the hurricane that will collapse the evolution empire, but it’s a gusty and gutsy look at a dogma edging beyond its sell-by date — and that makes it our Book of the Year for exploring the origins of the world and of life. Today’s progressives aren’t progressive: They are defending mid-19th-century scientific understanding. As Bethell writes: “Darwin and his contemporaries had no way of knowing just how complex a cell is. Today it is sometimes compared to a high-tech factory. But a cell is far more complex than that. For one thing, factories can’t replicate themselves.”

More:

This “science of the gaps” attempt to bulwark a crumbling structure gives Bethell plenty of opportunity to point out inanities. In chapter after chapter he reports the disappointments of those who put their trust in material things changing human nature or transcending it, as proselytizers for artificial intelligence (AI) propose. Bethell shows how Darwinists offer bait-and-switches — moths in England changing color, finches developing larger beaks — that depend on listeners not understanding the difference between microevolution (changes within kinds that happen all the time) and macroevolution, where a creature truly new and different emerges.


The overarching bait-and-switch may be the distinction some scientists make between methodological naturalism (MN) and philosophical naturalism (PN).

On Theistic Evolution, which is out this week:

This 962-page book edited by J.P. Moreland, Stephen Meyer, Christopher Shaw, Ann Gauger, and Wayne Grudem is a tremendous achievement. Its bulk and $60 list price will overawe typical readers, but it’s a must-read for pastors and professors taken in by the well-funded BioLogos campaign to sell macroevolution to Christians.

Correction: Theistic Evolution is still available on Amazon at a 24 percent discount, or $45.57, which is of course welcome and better than $60.


On Purpose & Desire:

Darwin’s House of Cards is a good gift for someone who already sees the weaknesses of macroevolution. Purpose & Desire is perfect for a Darwinist just starting to wonder whether he’s pledged allegiance to the modern version of the geocentric solar system: Hmm, the new data undermine it, but add an epicycle here, a few fixes there, and some tweaks on the fixes, maybe that will work. J. Scott Turner explains homeostasis, the incredible resiliency of living things seeking equilibrium, and raises questions about our essence with a measured tone that will entice scientific materialists to look in the mirror and wonder what they’re missing.

On Zombie Science:

Jonathan Wells has fun zinging Darwinists in Zombie Science. If you’ve fallen for tree-of-life charts, embryo drawings that make us start off looking like little animals, or lectures on how eyes slowly evolved and how “god” (if there was one) botched the job, you’ve fallen for zombie science. The same goes if you applauded science illuminati who waxed on about “junk DNA” and thought “vestigial organs” had no purpose.

On Four Views on Creation, Evolution, and Intelligent Design:

The format works, and the result is a lively discussion that shows the sharp differences among the various positions. Editor J.B. Stump works for BioLogos but played fair and hopes the book will be “a first step that leads to some in-person interaction” down the road.

Congratulations to our friends and colleagues! What I take away from this is that in the most significant intellectual battle going on in our culture at the moment (leaving religious questions aside, as Olasky notes), Discovery Institute and the intelligent design movement are leading the way and posing the most important challenges to the stale orthodoxy that still reigns in the media and academia. I knew that to be true already, but it’s good to hear it confirmed by an objective source.


It’s also a timely reminder to check out the new Discovery Institute Bookstore, where all these books and many more are conveniently gathered.  Find it here.

Water v. Darwin.

Water — One of the Oldest Design Arguments
Evolution News | @DiscoveryCSC

Today scientists marvel at the many associations among water chemistry, the environment, and life. The multiple anomalous properties of water conspire to make Earth exceptionally fit for life. (See, for example, here, as well as here, here, here, here,and more.)

The anomalies of water are not a recent revelation to science. They were already described in detail in 1913 by the Harvard chemist Lawrence J. Henderson in his classic work The Fitness of the Environment: An Inquiry into the Biological Significance of the Properties of Matter. By then, chemists had amassed sufficient data on the chemical elements and their compounds to show that water really does stand out from the crowd.

It was about a century prior to Henderson’s work that chemists first measured the thermal properties of water (specific and latent heats). While water’s anomalous expansion on freezing had been known for some time, it was only in 1806 that the Scottish chemist Thomas C. Hope first measured the temperature of its highest density to be 4 degrees C. In that era of rapid discoveries in chemistry, water’s weirdness was quickly being established.

It didn’t take long for mathematician and philosopher (and, later, opponent of Darwin’s theory of evolution) William Whewell to develop an argument for design based on these findings. He published his work in 1834 as part of the Bridgewater Treatise series on natural theology; it was titled Astronomy and General Physics Considered with Reference to Natural Theology. He listed multiple “offices” or functions of water, which convinced him of its design. Only three of these could be said to be true anomalies of water; the others are shared by liquids in general. Although this and earlier attempts to build a design argument on the properties of water were clumsy, the argument now had a solid core to build upon.

In 1853 Whewell developed an implication of the importance of water to life in his book Of the Plurality of Worlds: An Essay. In it he introduced a concept he termed the “temperate zone,” which is equivalent to the modern concept of the circumstellar habitable zone (CHZ). An Earth-like planet within the CHZ can maintain liquid water on its surface for lengthy periods of time. Today, the CHZ concept is central to astrobiology research.

Alfred Russel Wallace (of biological evolution fame) also recognized the centrality of liquid water for life. He took Whewell’s concept and refined and expanded it in his 1903 book, Man’s Place in the Universe: A Study of the Results of Scientific Research in Relation to the Unity or Plurality of Worlds. This work is significant both for its early presentation of anthropic arguments in addition to being a treatise on astrobiology. Although some of the science in his book is badly dated, many of his discussions sound remarkably modern. He would agree with NASA’s search-for-life maxim: follow the water.

The intervening century has only strengthened Henderson’s, Whewell’s and Wallace’s arguments regarding the remarkable connections between life and water. Evidence of Henderson’s continuing influence is the fact that the John Templeton Foundation sponsored a conference in October 2003 to mark the 90th anniversary of his work. It was titled, “Fitness of the Cosmos for Life: Biochemistry and Fine-Tuning.” Participants included astronomer Owen Gingerich, physicist Paul Davies, and biologist Harold Morowitz. Whether or not they agree with Henderson’s conclusions (and many do), many scientists still feel compelled to comment on them.

Not satisfied with the Templeton book, several scholars worked together to publish, in 2010, Water and Life: The Unique Properties of H2O; it is based on a meeting held in 2005. They include such notables in the science and faith dialogs as John Barrow and Simon Conway Morris. Michael Denton adds his name to this list of luminaries to ponder water in his latest book,  The Wonder of Water: Water’s Profound Fitness for Life in Earth and Mankind.

Predator to predator?

On homo politicus: The most evolved primate in the room.

Author Explains Why "Evolution" Has a Bone to Pick with Donald Trump
David Klinghoffer January 12, 2016 5:07 PM

Whoever said intelligent design advocates don't make falsifiable predictions? I've got one right here. I stumbled on a new book by History News Network editor Rick Shenkman, Political Animals: How Our Brain Gets in the Way of Smart Politics, that offers to reveal political insights based on evolutionary knowledge of human origins. Shenkman and his book are receiving respectful discussion in the media.

Now this is a little unfair to Mr. Shenkman since I have not read his book, but I have read some of the commentary. That said, take an educated guess. Does the perspective that arises from the evolutionary study of mankind correspond most closely to a) anarcho-syndicalism, b) royalism, c) conservatism, or d) a vaguely liberal mélange of conventional wisdom, common sense, and comfortable truisms? I predict (d).

And if the reviews are any guide, my prediction is spot on. It's a bit like the paleo diet, but in reverse and applied to the political scene. Shenkman explains that our instincts were formed in the Pleistocene, a far cry from the modern world, and evolutionary insight thus calls for resisting what comes most naturally: notably, appeals to unthinking emotions like fear, anger, and ethnocentrism.

In fact, I can hardly think of a message more aligned with religious, not evolutionary, thinking than to resist instinct. And it's hard to argue with a dose of calm reflection, whether in a political or any other context. Did we really need evolutionary psychology for the reminder?

"Evolution" has, we learn, a particular bone to pick with Donald Trump. Carlos Lozada writes in the Washington Post ("The book that best explains Donald Trump's appeal (and it's not 'The Art of the Deal')"):

"Political Animals" at times reads like a playbook for the Trump presidential campaign -- or, even more, a devastating explainer for why the Donald has dominated the Republican race so far.

Shenkman...delves into evolutionary psychology to illuminate why American voters so often misread their leaders, resist politicians who offer hard truths and succumb to facile arguments. It's not that voters are stupid or ignorant, though certainly some of us are one or the other, or both. Rather, he contends, it's that we're hard-wired for a different world and different politics.

Columnist Jerry Large in the Seattle Times ("Raw instinct often misleads us in political crises"):

I was just starting Shenkman's new book when Trump made his latest attention-getting declaration, saying he'd bar Muslims from entering the United States. America has some history with that kind of action, and it's not good. Trump says lots of things I'd think would send potential voters fleeing, yet he is the leading Republican presidential candidate.

Shenkman himself was interviewed by Politico Magazine ("Your Brain Is Hard-Wired to Love Trump"). He said:

Trump's supporters don't particularly care whether he's lying or not. Our brain doesn't really care -- I know that's appalling. Our default position is we simply want to be right.

This is why our brain rationalizes our actions even when they're at variance with our principles -- that's what cognitive dissonance is all about. So Trump supporters -- when they hear Donald Trump say thousands of Muslims celebrated 9/11, and that turns out to be a lie, that obviously creates a conflict. Our brain tries to get out of these types of conflict in any way it can. One of the standard ways is to discredit the messenger -- we say the mainstream media is full of it, for example.

Evolution News is a non-political source and expresses no preference for any candidate or party over another. But it's noteworthy that in an unpredictable season of jousting for presidential nominations, it was a safe bet that Mr. Shenkman (again, as mediated by the commentators) would offer evolution as a prop to the sort of viewpoint expressed on the editorial page of the New York Times.

But it's always been this way, going back to Darwin himself. "Evolution" has a long history of supporting ascendant ideologies, including sinister ones like racism and eugenics. (See, for example, The Biology of the Second Reich: Social Darwinism and the Origins of World War I.) In bioethicist Peter Singer's hands, it provides the scaffolding for a "Darwinian Left." Some political conservatives have argued the precise opposite. (See John West's book Darwin's Conservatives: The Misguided Quest.)


There is an idea or an attitude that seeks support, and "evolution" obliging provides it. What National Academy of Sciences member Philip Skell said of Darwinism and its supposed contribution to biology research seems to apply as well here: "I found that Darwin's theory had provided no discernible guidance, but was brought in, after the breakthroughs, as an interesting narrative gloss."