A MUST-SEE lecture based on Dr. Stephen C. Meyer’s book “Signature in the Cell“.

You can get an MP3 of the lecture here. (30 MB)

I highly recommend watching the lecture, and looking at the slides. The quality of the video and the content is first class. There is some Q&A (9 minutes) at the end of the lecture.

Topics:

intelligent design is concerned with measuring the information-creating capabilities of natural forces like mutation and selection

Darwinists think that random mutations and natural selection can explain the origin and diversification of living systems

Darwinian mechanisms are capable of explaining small-scale adaptive changes within types of organisms

but there is skepticism, even among naturalists, that Darwinian mechanisms can explain the origin of animal designs

even if you concede that Darwinism can account for all of the basic animal body plans, there is still the problem of life’s origin

can Darwinian mechanisms explain the origin of the first life? Is there a good naturalistic hypothesis to explain it?

there are at least two places in the history of life where new information is needed: origin of life, and Cambrian explosion

overview of the structure of DNA and protein synthesis (he has helpful pictures and he uses the snap lock blocks, too)

the DNA molecule is composed of a sequence of bases that code for proteins, and the sequence is carefully selected to have biological function

meaningful sequences of things like computer code, English sentences, etc. require an adequate cause

it is very hard to arrive at a meaningful sequence of a non-trivial length by randomly picking symbols/letters

although any random sequence of letters is improbable, the vast majority of sequences are gibberish/non-compiling code

similarly, most random sequences of amino acids are lab-proven (Doug Axe’s work) to be non-functional gibberish

the research showing this was conducted at Cambridge University and published in the Journal of Molecular Biology

so, random mutation cannot explain the origin of the first living cell

however, even natural selection coupled with random mutation cannot explain the first living cell

there must already be replication in order for mutation and selection to work, so they can’t explain the first replicator

but the origin of life is the origin of the first replicator – there is no replication prior to the first replicator

the information in the first replicator cannot be explained by law, such as by chemical bonding affinities

the amino acids are attached like magnetic letters on a refrigerator

the magnetic force sticks the letters ON the fridge, but they don’t determine the specific sequence of the letters

if laws did determine the sequence of letters, then the sequences would be repetitive

the three materialist explanations – chance alone, chance and law, law alone – are not adequate to explain the effect

the best explanation is that an intelligent cause is responsible for the biological explanation in the first replicator

we know that intelligent causes can produce functional sequences of information, e.g. – English, Java code

the structure and design of DNA matches up nicely with the design patterns used by software engineers (like WK!)

There are some very good tips in this lecture so that you will be able to explain intelligent design to others in simple ways, using everyday household items and children’s toys to symbolize the amino acids, proteins, sugar phosphate backbones, etc.

Proteins are constructed from a sequence of amino acids:

Proteins sticking onto the double helix structure of DNA:

I highly, highly recommend this lecture. You will be delighted and you will learn something.

Here is an article that gives a general overview of how intelligent design challenges. If you want to read something more detailed about the material that he is covering in the lecture above related to the origin of life, there is a pretty good article here.

There is a good breakdown of some of the slides with helpful flow charts here on Uncommon Descent.

Positive arguments for Christian theism