Brian Miller: Thoughts on ID and Good Theological Questions

I was asked about my views on common ancestry and whether I believed cells just popped into existence. The questions can be summarized into what would I expect to see if I traveled back in time to watch the appearance of life. The answer is that I do not know. I am open to many possibilities. In terms of origin of life my scientific sensibilities would lean toward the most parsimonious infusion of information into the system as possible. In other words, I would expect that everyday physical processes would be allowed to act as much as possible, and infusions of information would be a strategic points.

In the case of OOL, the formation of a cell would have to be in dramatic jumps since each stage represents increasing the free energy of the system. And, nature would push back toward equilibrium more forcefully as the system moved away from it. Imagine pushing a bolder up a hill. If one stopped pushing, it would immediately roll back down the hill. The same is true in any OOL scenario. At any stage, if the next miraculous set of conditions and chemical modifications did not take place, the entire system would move back toward simple, low-energy molecules.

You have highlighted why I believe an ID perspective is essential for the advancement of biology. Materialist scientists have constantly fallen into the imperfection-of-the-gaps fallacy:

In the case of the importance of proton gradients, Nick Lane explained their advantage of accessing energy from reactions in fractional proportions.

But one glaring problem with aerobic respiration is that it doesn’t balance. Exactly how much ATP is produced per oxygen molecule consumed? The amount varies, but it’s somewhere around 2.5 ATP molecules. That works out to 28–38 ATPs per glucose — again, a variable number, and never an integer (Silverstein 2005). Aerobic respiration is not stoichiometric, so it’s really not chemistry. And that’s why the long search for a high-energy chemical intermediate (a molecule able to transfer the energy from the oxidation of glucose to form ATP) was doomed to failure.

In place of such an intermediate, Mitchell proposed a proton gradient across a membrane: the proton motive force (Mitchell 1961). It works much like a hydroelectric dam. The energy released by the oxidation of food (via a series of steps) is used to pump protons across a membrane — the dam — creating, in effect, a proton reservoir on one side of the membrane. The flow of protons through amazing protein turbines embedded in this membrane powers the synthesis of ATP in much the same way that the flow of water through mechanized turbines generates electricity. This explains why respiration is not stoichiometric: a gradient, by its very nature, is composed of gradations.

Speaking theologically, can the claim that living systems look poorly designed possibly fit within any traditional theistic framework? Does not such a claim imply that a Creator played no meaningful part in Creation, but we are simply an accident of nature?

In addition, the positive evidence for design has constantly increased as biology and technology have advanced. The correspondence of the two keeps increasing, and engineering presupposes direct intelligent agency. Imagine a spaceship crashed on earth. What approach would yield more useful insights, assuming the vessel was purely a product of natural processes or the product of advanced engineering. A minimally complex cell looks more much more like a spaceship than a glob of tar.

Moreover, a self-replicating autonomous system demands exacting constraints. It is combining a machine, its manufacturing facility, and its operator into a single entity. It demonstrates teleology (purpose) at a level beyond human engineering since it possesses closure to efficient causation. If you really wish to learn how deep the rabbit hole goes, study Rosen’s work on life:
http://panmere.com/?p=22

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