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irreducible means impossible to transform into
or restore to a desired or simpler condition
The Big Bang Theory
The Big Bang theory states that long ago there was nothing but
a vacuum fluxuation that scientist call a singularity - about the
size of a dime. Then
the singularity exploded and the universe was created - 10 to 15
billion years ago and the universe continues to expand from that
explosion. The hubble space telescope has proven this expansion.
The large amounts of energy in the explosion form protons which
then partially changed into quarks when then partially changed into
neutrons and protons. Eventually huge numbers of hydrogen, helium
and lithium nuclei formed. The proton "changing" left
a signature called cosmic microwave background.
Eventually
the universe will collapse back again into the singularity (the
big crunch) as gravity overcomes the explosive forces. And again
the whole process repeats.
The three major arguments for this event (according to USC Berkley)
are:
- Big Bang Nucleosynthesis
- Cosmic Microwave Background
- Hubble Expansion
Origin of Life
From the big bang, the earth was formed, and a puddle of ooze lay
there dormant...
"Oparin's theory envisioned a series of chemical reactions
that he thought would enable a complex cell to assemble itself gradually
and naturalistically from simple chemical precursors. Oparin believed
that simple gases such as ammonia (NH3), methane (CH4), water (H20),
carbon dioxide (CO2) and hydrogen (H2) would have rained down to
the early oceans and combined with metallic compounds extruded from
the core of the earth. With the aid of ultraviolet radiation from
the sun, the ensuing reactions would have produced energy-rich hydrocarbon
compounds. These in turn would have combined and recombined with
various other compounds to make amino acids, sugars, phosphates
and other "building blocks" of the complex molecules (such
as proteins) necessary to living cells. These constituents would
eventually arrange themselves into simple cell-like enclosures that
Oparin called coacervates. Oparin then proposed a kind of Darwinian
competition for survival among his coacervates. Those that developed
increasingly complex molecules and metabolic processes would have
survived and grown more complicated. Those that did not would have
dissolved.
Thus, cells would have become gradually more and more complex as
they competed for survival over billions of years. Like Darwin,
Oparin employed time, chance and natural selection to account for
the origin of complexity from initial simplicity. Moreover, nowhere
in his scenario did "mind" or "intelligent design"
or "a Creator" play any explanatory role. Indeed, for
Oparin, a committed Marxist, such notions were explicitly precluded
from scientific consideration. Matter interacting chemically with
other matter, if given enough time and the right conditions, could
produce life. Complex cells could be built from simple chemical
precursors without any guiding personal or intelligent agency."
The Theory of Irreducible-Complexity
When Darwin made his propositions, he did not know the degree
of complexity involved in life's molecular systems. Now, we know
that such systems are extremely intricate. Author
Michael Behe says that many of these systems show "irreducible-complexity."
That means that if any one of the many components is removed, then
the system breaks down. This goes against a basic idea of evolutionary
theory. This idea says that systems start out in a simple form,
and then, driven by natural selection, gradually get better and
better. In contrast, irreducible complexity says that the system
is useless until it reaches, or comes close to its final form. Thus,
natural selection could not drive evolution "from scratch."
A reasonable alternative is that intelligent design accounts
for complex biological systems.
Charles Colson: "The Darwinian theory states that all
living structures evolve in small, gradual steps from simpler structures
- feathers from scales, wings from forelegs, blossoms from leaves
and so on. But anything that is irreducibly complex cannot evolve
in gradual steps, and thus is very existence refutes the Darwinian
theory.
examples: eyes, feathers, bat wings, skeletal changes.
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