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May 25, 2014

U-Robot: What Does the Human Body Have to Say about God’s Existence?

U-Robot: What Does the Human Body Have to Say about God’s Existence?

Passage: Psalms 139:13-14

Series: God is NOT Dead!

Category: Christian Apologetics

Keywords: genome, dna, cell, evidence, design, robot, human body, inverted pendulum

Summary:

This message examines the evidence for God as designer in both the human genome and the human body mechanics.

Detail:

Genetic Entropy 

By Andrew Repsold

Evolution:   RANDOM MUTATIONS + NATURAL SELECTION

His struggle with the theory and then…

“I became convinced that the Axiom could be shown to be wrong to any reasonable and open-minded individual.”

We observe that the human genome is degenerating.

p. 5-9 Red wagon on analogy …the evolution of transportation technologies.

-read paragraph

-notice how this will result in information being lost

-Natural selection…our judge…note: selection based on the whole organism. Never selection based on “good instructions” only “good wagons”.

  1. Does the human genome contain information?
  • Amount: how much
  • kind: complex
  • Data compression

“The complex nature of the genome can only be appreciated when we begin to grasp how much information it contains.”

-red wagon…………substantial volume

-modern automobile…………..substantial library

-jet fighter…………….extremely large library

-space shuttle…………..enormous library

“Yet the specified complexity of even the simplest form of life - a bacterium - is arguably as great as that of the space shuttle…” p. 2    Now in this light, try to absorb the fact that the jump in complexity form a bacterium up to a human being is arguably as great as the jump from the little red wagon up to the space shuttle! There is simply no human technology that can even begin to serve as a adequate analogy for the complexity of a human life. Yet the genome is the instruction manual encoding all that information – as needed for life!

-first dimension of this “book of life”: a linear sequence of 4 types of extremely small molecules called nucleotides.  DNA (image)

Not just symbolically shown as letters, they are very literally the letters of our instruction manual.

Small clusters/motifs = words

those clusters (words) combined particular ways = Genes (chapters)

genes combined = chromosomes (volumes)

which combined form the whole genome (whole library)

How long?:     a complete human GENOME consists of two sets of 3 billion nucleotides.

Attctgttccgaagatcagttac…

“as marvelous as all this linear information is, it must only be the first dimension of complexity within the genome. …it actually embodies multiple linear codes, which overlap” each other. P. 3

COMPLEX:

  • Overlapping sections of good evidence that linear DNA can fold into two- and three-dimensional structures (as do proteins and RNAs) which encode still higher levels of information.
  • There is abundant evidence that most DNA sequences are poly-functional, and therefore are poly-constrained. P.132 (Trifonov (1989)

-          Most human coding sequences encode for two different RNAs, read in opposite directions

-          Based upon alternate mRNA splicing, different proteins are encoded.

-          Protein encoding and internal transcriptional promoters.

-          Protein coding region and a protein – binding region.

-          Word content (regional GC content)

-          Some sequences encode for different proteins depending on where translation is initiated and where reading frame begins

DATA COMPRESSION:

Ex. ABLE WAS I ERE I SAW ELBA

SATOR AREPO TENET OPERA ROTAS

poly-constrained DNA p. 131-133   “However, a poly-constrained message is fascinating in that it cannot be improved – it can only degenerate”.

“The bottom line is this: the genome’s set of instruction is not a simple, static, linear array of letters; but is dynamic, self-regulating, and multi-dimensional. There is no human information system that can even begin to compare to it. …p4

Did you catch that?!?!?

No human information system begins to compare to the complexity of the human genome.

NOT computer languages or human/animal languages etc.

With ZERO intelligence involved?!?!?

Where did all this information come from, and how can it possibly be maintained? This is the mystery of the genome ?!?!?!?!? p. 4

Explain his concerns regarding simply maintaining this information…

Are random mutations good?   Ever?!

Daily observation:

Birth defects

Mental disabilities

Cancer

Even AGING, due to accumulation of mutations within our body cells.

“Can we say mutations are good? Nearly all health policies are aimed at reducing or minimizing mutation. Most personal health regimes are aimed at reducing mutations, to reduce risk of cancer and other degenerative diseases. How can anyone see mutation as good?      Yet according to the Primary Axiom, mutations are good because they create the variation and diversity which allows selection and evolution to occur, creating the information needed for life” p. 16

-Designed vs. random variation

p. 17 “Yet I am still not convinced there is a single, crystal-clear example of a known mutation which unambiguously created information”.

There are certainly many mutations which have been described as “beneficial” or “desirable” but these changes still represent a breakdown of information, not the creation of a new functional feature. “ . p. 17

  1. Chromosomal mutations for antibiotic resistances in bacteria: cell functions are routinely lost.
  2. Hairless Chihuahua dog: a useful adaptation in extreme heat but still a degeneration of information.

Instruction manual example:

Step 6. When you have completed the last step, go back and repeat step 3, until part B is 10.004 mm thick. Then wait, no less than 3h, before going to the next step.

3 possible impacts of mutations:

  1. Zero impact
  2. Very subtle effect on clarity or coherence.
  3. Dramatic (essentially) lethal effects.

d- possibly fine-tune or tweak the information but not add anything new.

The above illustrations are exactly what we observe in the genome.

“There are over 3 billion potential point mutation sites in the human genome. Only a small fraction of these, when mutated, will have a major effect…

Most are “nearly-neutral” as is the case with all language.

“Misspellings in life’s instruction manual will sometimes be very deleterious, but in the overwhelming majority of cases they will be only very slightly deleterious. P. 19

So what does real distribution of all mutations really look like?

The two graphs::::::

“One of the most astounding recent findings in the world of genetics is that the human mutation rate (just within our reproductive cells) is at least 100 nucleotide substitutions (misspellings) per person per generation.” P. 34 (Kondrashov, 2002)

Could Natural Selection select the positive ones, if there were ones???

p. 47   The Princess and the Nucleotide Paradox

-Health of each picture by analyzing the entire image quality.

-rust on a car versus big dents and bangs

-Textbooks by testing students after a year of studying (noise).

“On a practical level – it means that natural selection can never create, or even maintain, specific nucleotide sequences.” P. 55

NOTE! Genetic Selection still works on the genic level but fails at the genomic level.

Dr. Crow declining fitness graph… p. 65

Conclusion: p. 144   noah, p. 152

If the primary Axiom is wrong, then there is a surprising and very practical consequence. When subjected only to natural forces, the human genome must irrevocably degenerate over time. Such a sober realization should have more then just intellectual or historical significance. It should rightfully cause us to personally reconsider where we should rationally be placing our hope for the future.               -Vii Dr. J.C. Sanford, Genetic Entropy and the Mystery of the Human Genome

 

uRobot

Advanced Robotics in the Human Body

by Dr. Jarrod Carter

  • How would you define the ultimate robot?
  • What qualities or design features would it have?
  • Let’s explore some…
    • There are many ways to design a robot for mobility
      • Wheels
      • Tracks
      • Legs
        • Multi-pedal
        • Quardi-pedal
        • Bi-pedal
    • Legs provide distinct benefits over wheels or track

Mobile

  • A bi-pedal robot with manipulators on appendages is very advantageous
  • A bi-pedal robot presents a difficult design challenge…

BALANCE

 

  • Two things you take for granted every day…
    • Standing still without falling
    • Walking/running without falling
  • These are complex physical functions
  • When you stand you are an...

INVERTED PENDULUM

“The fact that we as humans are bipeds...creates a major challenge to our balance control system.  Because two-thirds of our body mass is located two-thirds of body height above the ground we are an inherently unstable system unless a control system is continuously acting.”

D A Winter, Gait and Posture. 1995

“Three major sensory systems are involved in balance and posture.  Vision…  The vestibular system is our ‘gyro’...  The somatosensory system is a multitude of sensors that sense the position and velocity of all body segments, their contact with external objects, and the orientation of gravity.”

D A Winter, Gait and Posture. 1995

“Inverted pendulum models can be used to explore how the CNS controls balance.  Especially in the kinetics of human movement we see the integrated control evident at each joint and in entire limbs.”

D A Winter, Gait and Posture. 1995

“The common denominator in the assessment of human balance and posture is the inverted pendulum model.  If we focus on appropriate versions of the model we can use it to… pinpoint the motor mechanisms that can defend against any perturbation.”

D A Winter, Gait and Posture. 1995

Robust

  • Did you know that the inspiration for the Eiffel Tower came from the structure of your leg bone (femur)?

“The inner structure and external form of human bone are closely adapted to the mechanical conditions existing at every point in the bone.”

“The inner architecture of normal bone is determined by definite and exact requirements of mathematical and mechanical laws to produce a maximum of strength with a minimum of material.”

Koch, Am. J. of Anatomy. 1917

Self-Repairing / Adaptive

  • How old do you think your body is?
  • Estimates indicate that “most of you” may be 10 years old or less
  • Did you know your body is in a constant state of repair and renewal?
  • Let’s consider your bones for a moment...

Psalm 139:13–14 (NASB95) — 13 For You formed my inward parts; You wove me in my mother’s womb. 14 I will give thanks to You, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made; Wonderful are Your works, And my soul knows it very well.

Romans 1:18–20 (NASB95) — 18 For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men who suppress the truth in unrighteousness, 19 because that which is known about God is evident within them; for God made it evident to them. 20 For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes, His eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly seen, being understood through what has been made, so that they are without excuse.