User:Voxhumana/Question Evolution 1

1. How did life originate?
This first question is actually entirely irrelevant - Evolution does not claim to explain the origin of life, nor has it ever attempted to do so. CMI is here implying that the theory of evolution is false because it does not offer a complete explanation of abiogenesis (the technical term for "the Origin of Life"), which does not logically follow.

Biological evolution simply refers to "descent with modification," or the change of allele frequencies among a discrete population of organisms over time. Biological Evolution occurs when genetic mutations have either a positive or negative impact on the organism's fitness to survive in its environment leading to (usually subtle and usually imperceptable) changes in its morphology. When compiled over successive generations, cumulative genotypic changes manifest significant enough phenotypic differences between discrete populations of organisms that they can no longer interbreed, leading to speciation. This and similar explanations of biodiversity, such as genetic drift, are evolution's sole concerns, not the origin of life itself.

Science and Abiogenesis
The question of how life originated is presently unanswered because science is not sufficiently advanced, and the quote by Paul Davies used by CMI uses is perfectly truthful. However, the lack of an explanation for abiogenesis has nothing to do with the truth or falsity of the theory of evolution.

CMI seem to be trying to imply that evolution cannot be valid if a related field of study has unresolved issues. This is demonstrably false, as it would not be the first time in science when one scientific field has advanced while a related field has stalled. From the 1750s until the early 1900s enormous advances were made in the field of chemistry, despite there being no verified explanation at all as to why any of it actually worked as it did. The underlying mechanics of chemistry were not identified until the development of atomic physics in the early 20th century.

Furthermore, abiogenesis is an active area of research. What is definitely known so far is that "Life" itself is an ambiguous term. There is a continuum between non-life and life, and organisms such as viruses or prions occupy a place on that continuum which is difficult to define.

Current research paths for abiogenesis are focusing on autocatalytic and self assembling nucleobases (usually into RNA) that can easily emerge spontaneously in the lab. The building blocks upon which RNA and DNA operate to create peptides (polymers of amino acids) can also spontaneously emerge in the lab. Miller and Urey's famous 1953 paper discussed the spontaneous creation of 5 amino acids in a sealed flask under hypothesized conditions on the early Earth. Shortly after the paper was published, further analysis proved the presence of carboxylic and hydroxy acids, which are used biologically for long chain polymerization. The flask upon which they based the paper was analyzed using contemporary methods and determined to contain not just the initial 5 amino acids but 14 amino acids and 5 amines, which include the by-products of amino acid breakdown and signaling chemicals used for intercellular communication. Still later analysis of a flask that Miller and Urey did not analyze for their paper revealed the presence of 22 amino acids and 5 amines. This exciting research confirms without a doubt that complex, and autocatalyzing and self assembling chemicals and the chemicals upon which they operate can form spontaneously in the lab.

Proteins self-assembling
The commentary on the question provided by CMI states Even if every atom in the universe were an experiment with all the correct amino acids present for every possible molecular vibration in the supposed evolutionary age of the universe, not even one average-sized functional protein would form.

This may seem plausible at first glance, but it is an entirely unsubstantiated assertion, and one that is almost entirely contradicted by the available evidence.

Self-assembly is an intrinsic aspect of chemistry, else there would be no molecules of any kind. All molecules seek the lowest energy state, and if combining yields a lower energy state than being separate, two atoms or molecules will combine spontaneously. Even when this is not the case, in the presence of external energy sources and catalysts, atoms and molecules may still combine, as long as the overall energy state (ie. the total energy state of the sources and recipients combined) ends up lower. All of the organic molecules (amino acids, phosphates, lipids, etc) present in a cell have been demonstrated to spontaneously assemble, given the right conditions. Some have been discovered on meteors, indicating they can form in space. Even complex protein precursors such as polypeptides (strings of amino acids) have been demonstrated to spontaneously assemble in the right conditions.

So this is not a discussion of whether random atoms can combine to form a protein. This is a discussion of whether or not polypeptides (already demonstrated to spontaneously assemble from amino acids, which have been demonstrated to spontaneously assemble from molecules, which spontaneously assemble from individual atoms) can randomly assemble to form a protein. And while the answer is currently "no, this has not been demonstrated", it is nowhere near as unlikely as CMI are attempting to suggest. As current belief is that life emerged around 500 millions years after the earth was formed, this seems like plenty of time for a protein to spontaneously form.

So the claim is, even assuming the "supposed evolutionary age of the universe" (i.e. 13.8 billion years), functional proteins emerging from a primordial soup is so improbable that the only acceptable explanation is to assume a designer (goddidit). This is fundamentally an argument from ignorance premised on CMI's refusal or inability to honestly consider the evidence and likely explanations. It is also predicated on the logically unsound premise that highly improbable events do not occur, which is known to be false. Just because the odds of something occurring are too small for a creationist to conceive of they are not therefore zero. Improbable things happen all the time. People get struck by lightning. Someone will eventually win the lottery. Proteins are highly likely to form, given enough time.

Finally CMI picked the wrong target in choosing a protein as their case in point. A better target would have been a prokaryote (single-celled organisms such as bacteria), as this requires not only proteins, but the machinery to replicate them. However the same argument used for the evolution of a protein applies here - there are scientifically verified forces of self-organization at work, so it is not a truly "random" process as they are claiming. There is a huge amount of research being done on these early proto-life structures with some fascinating potential benefits (such as random chemistry being used to produce new drugs and vaccines). CMI's thought process of trying to calculate the odds of a prokaryotic-like organism spontaneously arising is a perfect example of how embracing creationist dogma would kill scientific progress and knowledge.

CMI's motive behind the question
This question was likely chosen as the first because it is undoubtedly the strongest argument against scientific thought that the Creationist has - science openly admits it does not have an accepted answer to this question. The fact that it is irrelevant to the stated intent to "Question Evolution" does not seem to matter, the objective here is to build distrust of science (and then presumably, send people running into the bosom of the church).

The problem creationists have with evolution is not that it challenges belief in God, because it doesn't. Their problem is that evolution (like so many other fields of science such as geology, astronomy and physics), challenges the accuracy and authority of a literal interpretation of the bible. Genesis makes some concrete claims about the abundance of life on this planet (both in terms of the creation story and of the Global Flood)As such, creationists believe that if evolution is true, their literal reading of Genesis is not, which according to their literalist dogma is correct. What is not correct is the belief that the theory of evolution necessarily supplants any need for a belief in a god. A lot of theists accept the theory of evolution and still maintain devoted religious lives. They're just not biblical literalists.

In any event, CMI gets abiogenesis wrong. The most fundamental mistake CMI makes is to define life based on what we observe in the complex organisms we see today. They then try and calculate the odds of this form of life arriving spontaneously. This is a classic "argument from incredulity". Early life would look vastly different than what we see today and likely did not involve protein synthesis at all. Do scientists know what this life actually looked like or how these complex mechanisms arose? No, but they're looking for answers rather than the enquiry ending with Genesis.