The information found in a molecule of DNA or in a protein can only be associated with a
probability for evolution when natural selection is excluded. Because of natural
selection, it is not possible to relate the information found in the combination of the
last door to a probability of evolution. The trapped scientist examples do an excellent
job of explaining why this is true (compare figure 2.2 to figure 2.5). The last door in
both figures has the same combination, yet one is opened easily and the other remains
closed.
A probability can be associated with each individual door opening
because by definition natural selection is not active before the molecular knowledge
exists. Obviously, the door with the largest step in knowledge will determine whether or
not the scientist escapes. This is always the door with the most unknown words ( it is
seldom the door with the longest combination). In most cases, the odds associated with the
evolution of knowledge will depend entirely on a single door, and this is usually the
first door because this is the door that creates the initial knowledge (refer to figure 1
on page 6 and figure 2.7). All doors after the initial door only need to optimize the
existing knowledge. Thus, these steps are generally much smaller. Figure 2.7 illustrate
this concept.
Information in Biological Systems:
Life does not use words like cat, dog and computer. The words that life uses are chemicals
called amino acids. Amino acids are the building blocks of proteins. Proteins implement
the molecular knowledge that enables life to live. DNA merely contains the information
needed to build proteins. Proteins do all of the work.
The trapped scientist example uses 20 words because there are 20 amino
acids used by life to build proteins. Each word corresponds to an amino acid. So if the 20
words in these examples are replaced with the names of the 20 amino acids, then the
examples will more accurately model the evolution of a protein. In this example, the
combination of the doors is composed of the following words: serine, arginine, proline,
leucine, valine, isoleucine, alanine, glycine, cysteine, lysine, tryptophan, tyrosine,
methionine, glutamate, aspartate, asparagine, glutamine, hystidine, threonine, and
phenylalanine. These are the names of the 20 amino acids that are found in proteins. Each
amino acid is represented with a three letter abbreviation: ser, arg, pro, leu, val, ile,
ala, gly, cys, lys, trp, tyr, met, glu, asp, asn, gln, his, thr, and phe. The blocks in
the basket now have these abbreviations painted on them. Nothing else has changed.
Suppose for the protein under consideration to have any function, 27 of
the 30 amino acids must be correct. This corresponds to a combination for the first door
as follows:
met-phe-his-*-lys-pro-ser-*-val-ala-lys-trp-asp-asp-phe-met-gln-his-lys-cys-his-thr-*-gln-lys-pro-pro-ala-ala-gln.
Once this protein is created by chance, natural selection takes over, preserving and
optimizing the sequence. The asterisks are eventually changed to the correct amino acids
as shown on the last door in figure 2.8. The process of asterisk replacement optimizes the
protein.
Since the protein exists, the scientist should be able to break the combination. So does
he find the combination to the first door by chance? Given 50 billion years with 100
million tries a year, the probability of the scientist opening the first door is only 1 in
27,000 trillion. He does not open the door.
Figure 2.8: Using Amino Acids for Words
Reference:
1) Dembski, Intelligent Design, InterVarsity Press, 1999.
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