The recent news about two scientists who have decided to work for synthesizing
a new type of bacteria has attracted great attention in the media. J.
Craig Venter, a well-known gene scientist and Hamilton O. Smith, a Nobel
laureate, are behind the plan. What they are trying to do is:
... to create a single-celled, partially
man-made organism with the minimum number of genes necessary to sustain
life. If the experiment works, the microscopic man-made cell will begin
feeding and dividing to create a population of cells unlike any previously
known to exist. 1
Some people are inclined to see this "creation of life" in
the laboratory as an evidence for the theory of evolution. Nothing can
be further than the truth. In fact, if these scientists, or others, manage
to synthesize a life form, they will be confirming the basic argument
for creation - the argument that life is only possible through intelligent
design.
To realize this, one needs to recall what the two theories about origins,
namely evolution and creation, mean:
1) The Darwinistic theory of evolution argues that life on Earth is the
product of natural laws and blind chance. The theory denies the existence
of any intelligent and guided process in the origin of life.
2) Creation argues that life on Earth is not the product of natural laws
and blind chance - they don't have such power. A conscious creator must
have designed life.
If there can be any experimental or observational evidence for evolution,
this should be the emergence of life from non-living matted through a
non-designed process. In other words, scientists should observe that,
out of inanimate matter, a living organism should arise by itself. Such
an observation has never been made and, in fact, the history of the 20th
century science shows that this is literally impossible.
The gap between life and nonlife is so huge that it can only be filled
with the presence of an intelligent designer. Like the fact that the gap
between a piece of rock and a statue by Michelangelo can only be filled
by intelligent act of sculpture - not by natural causes like rain, wind
or earthquake.
So, what will happen when scientists - if they really can - synthesize
a new microbe species by a meticulous work? The answer is obvious: They
will confirm the intelligent design theory by experimentally showing that
life can come about only through very specified and complex information.
In fact, what Craig Venter and Hamilton Smith are trying to do is much
simpler than what evolution requires to have happened by chance. They
are not trying to build proteins from amino acids or genes from nucleic
acids; they will simply use the pre-existing proteins and genes of a living
cell. They are not starting from the building blocks that can be found
in nature; but they are starting from the already built complex macromolecules
that could never have been synthesized from those building blocks through
natural processes. In others words, they are not trying to build a house
from bricks; they are just trying to make a little change in the structure
of an already existing house. An MSNBC report reads:
IN A NUTSHELL, what Venter and Smith propose
to do is create a very simple microbe. Some viruses have only 400 or 500
genes. Venter and Smith are going to remove the genes from one such tiny
bug, synthesize a new set of genes, drop them into the bug and see if
the new instructions will bring the microbe to life. 2
Even this easy job - when compared to the origin of life itself - requires
a great deal of information and design. This project is based on the scientific
information which modern science accumulated throughout the past centuries,
plus the advanced level of technology that we have reached. Despite these,
it is still such a complex job that the project is funded with a $3 million,
and three-year grant from the Energy Department.
Thus the search for artificial life, like other scientific developments
of our day, confirm the fact that life on Earth is not the product of
blind natural causes. All life, including ourselves, is the artifact of
the Creator, who has the power and wisdom to create everything that exists.
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