Many of the arguments in this book are from the talkorigins website, which is dedicated to defending the naturalistic, evolutionary worldview. The most important topic in origins is explaining the structural organization of life: chemical level -> cellular level -> tissue level -> organ level -> system level -> organismal level. This will be the focus of this review.
The author, Mark Isaak, does little more than mention the eleven body systems found in vertebrates (fish, birds, reptiles, amphibians and mammals). “In all specific instances of this claim, there are ways for the organs and organ systems to evolve gradually”. (pg 69)
This is a complete nonsense. Isaak doesn’t even mention most vertebrate body systems, let alone give a detailed explanation of how any of these systems supposedly evolved. Isaak also fails to even mention critical organs such as the heart, lungs, kidneys, liver, stomach etc, which are essential for life. Isaak claims that with evolution, “parts change gradually” (pg 69). The science of anatomy, physiology and pathophysiology show that this claim is false because all eleven human body systems are required for survival and could not have evolved gradually, as described below.
Cardiovascular system – death will occur if this system is not functioning because no oxygen/carbon dioxide exchange can occur for cellular metabolism. This system will not function without the respiratory, renal, nervous, digestive, muscular, skeletal and lymphatic systems.
Respiratory system – death will occur if this system is not functioning because there will be no ventilation, perfusion and diffusion of oxygen and carbon dioxide. This system will not function without the cardiovascular, lymphatic, muscular, nervous and skeletal muscular systems.
Renal system – required for regulation of blood ionic composition, blood pH, blood volume, hormones, excretion of wastes and foreign substances. Death will occur if blood pH is less than 6.8 or is greater than 8.0. This system will not function without the CV system.
Nervous system – the autonomic division of the nervous system regulates the heart, lungs, blood vessels, smooth muscle, body temperature, etc. These nerves precisely connect the control region of the brain to the organ being regulated, similar to the precise wiring of an electronics circuit board. Death will result if innervation of the respiratory system is not working, for starters. This system will not function without the CV system.
Digestive system – the four-layered GIT tract is required to supply nutrients to the blood. The liver is required for the synthesis of plasma proteins. The digestive system has its own nervous system, the enteric nervous system, which is innervated from the sympathetic and parasympathetic divisions of the autonomic nervous system. This system will not function without the CV, lymphatic, nervous and muscular systems.
Muscular system – cardiac muscle is required for the heart, smooth muscle is required for control of blood vessels, bronchioles, etc. This system will not function without the CV system.
Skeletal system – required for the synthesis of erythrocyte and leukocyte blood cells. The thoracic cavity formed by the skeletal muscular system is required for the respiratory system. This system will not function without the CV and lymphatic systems.
Lymphatic system – essential for providing adaptive immunity required for survival and also for draining interstitial fluid back into the CV system. This system will not function without the digestive and CV systems.
Integumentary system – essential for first line defence against infection. This system will not function without the CV system.
Reproductive systems – without functioning male and female reproductive systems, humans would not survive. The male and female reproductive systems will not function without the endocrine, nervous, integumentary and CV systems.
Endocrine system –synthesizes insulin required for cell metabolism. Produces FSH and LH hormones required for the male and female reproductive systems. Thyroid hormones are needed to regulate body temperature and are essential during fetal development. This system will not function without the CV and nervous systems.
“Males and females most emphatically would not evolve independently. Sex, by definition, depends on males and females acting together. As sex evolved, there would be some incompatibilities causing sterility (just as there are today), but these would affect individuals, not whole populations, and the genes that cause such incompatibility would rapidly be selected against.” (pg 69-70)
This does not even attempt to explain the origin of meiotic sexual reproduction. Instead, it starts off with functioning male and female reproductive systems and does not provide an explanation.
There is no evolutionary explanation for the male reproductive system. The process of spermatogenesis involves the following sequence: spermatogonium > primary spermatocyte > secondary spermatocyte > early spermatid > late spermatid > spermatozoon. The male reproductive system is under neural control, with the erection being controlled by the parasympathetic division of the autonomic nervous system, and emission and ejaculation being controlled by the sympathetic division of the autonomic nervous system. Endocrine control of the male reproductive system occurs with hypothalamus and the anterior pituitary gonadotropic hormones: FSH and LH. The blood-testis barrier is required to prevent an immune response against spermatogenic cell's surface antigens. The epididymis, ductus deferens, seminal vesicles, prostate and bulbourethral glands, and the tecticles, penis and scrotum are required for a functioning male reproductive system.
There is no evolutionary explanation for the female reproductive system either. The process of oogenesis involves the following sequence: oogonium > primary oocyte > secondary oocyte > ovum. Endocrine control of the ovarian and uterine cycles is controlled by the GnRH secreted by the hypothalamus and the anterior pituitary hormones: FSH and LH. The vagina, labia major and minor, clitoris, ovary, uterus, uterine tubes are required for a functioning female reproductive system. With evolutionary theory, there are no forward looking plans, so genetic mutations over time must have independently produced functioning male and female reproductive systems; a commitment to naturalism forces an evolutionist to believe in such an absurdity.
Isaak's attempt to show that birds are related to reptiles (pge 122) fails. The lungs of birds function in a totally different way to other vertebrates, including reptiles. In non-bird vertebrates, the air is drawn into the lungs by the bronchial tree and terminates in the alveoli. The system is bidirectional with air then exiting up the bronchial tree. However with birds the major bronchi break down into tiny tubes which exist throughout the lung tissue. These bronchi then join up together again forming a circulatory system so there is a unidirectional flow of air during both inspiration and expiration. There is absolutely no evolutionary explanation for the totally unique bird lung, as the respiratory system of vertebrates is critical for life and even slight malfunctions will result in death.
The trillions of cells in vertebrates have tens of thousands of functional proteins, molecular machines that perform functions critical to the cell and the organism as a whole. The process of protein synthesis, ie DNA -> mRNA -> protein via RNA polymerase, ribosomes and chaperonins, etc is not even mentioned by Isaak. The ribosome is a two-part molecular machine that is comprised of fifty proteins and over one million atoms that translates the codons in the mRNA to amino acids in a protein. Evolutionists have no explanation as to how the transcription process of RNA polymerase and the translation process of the ribosome, which is absolutely critical for all cells, supposedly evolved. Ribosomes also synthesize proteins to make other ribosomes. This is a viscous circle that evolutionists are totally helpless to explain. Isaak conveniently ignores this argument, which can be found in numerous creationist and intelligent design books. If you cannot explain the origin of protein synthesis from DNA then you simply cannot explain life.
Isaak says: “Abiogenesis is a fact. Regardless of how you imagine it happened…it is a fact that there once was no life on earth and that now there is. Thus, even if evolution needs abiogenesis, it has it.” (pg 51).
This is nothing but circular reasoning. Comments like this reveal how exceptionally feeble the evolutionist’s case for abiogenesis is.
Isaak puts forward some suggestions for the origin of life (pge 45): panspermia, proteinoid microspheres, clay crystals, emerging hypercyles, the iron-sulfur world, polymerization.
None of these proposed models for the origin of life are credible, as they contain no information content, no energy utilizing system, no enzymes, no nucleic acid, no genetic code and no replication system.
About clay crystals, Isaak claims:
“Though they do not have a metabolism or respond to the environment, these crystals carry information and reproduce. Again, there is no known mechanism for moving from clay to DNA.” (pg 45)
Crystals are periodic structures, which means that they can only carry simple, repetitive information, unlike DNA which is an aperiodic structure and can carry complex information. It is total nonsense to claim that crystals reproduce similar to bacteria cells, which duplicate their DNA during binary fission.
Isaak claims that life may have arisen from “Emerging hypercycles” in successive stages:
“Complexity theory suggests that the self-organization is not improbable. This view of abiogenesis is the current front-runner” (pg 45)
Hypercycles are little more than speculative constructs that were proposed in the 1970’s by Manfred Eigen. Even if some construct like this did exist, it would still be confronted by the same problem of explaining the origin of the genetic code. In 1995, Scientific American had an article titled “From Complexity to Perplexity ” which debunked “Complexity Theory”.
A few times Isaak mentions simple, self-replicating molecules (pg 44, 46) as an explanation as to how abiogenesis may have started. However these simple molecules are synthesized in the laboratory, carry very little information, don’t have the functionality to sustain an organism, and the step from simple molecules to the genetic code with DNA and protein synthesis is not explained.
Isaak attempts to answer creationists as to why abiogenesis is not observed today (pg 46). He claims that there was little or no oxygen in the atmosphere in the past, and additionally there were no scavengers around to eat any complex molecules when abiogenesis supposedly occurred. This is a total copout. Experiments could easily be conducted today where there is no oxygen and no scavengers, and abiogenesis would still not occur.
Isaac claims “If complex organic molecules were so fragile, life itself would be impossible.” (pg 47)
About one million DNA base pairs are damaged in a cell each day. DNA is highly reactive, but life is possible. One of the reasons is that DNA repair enzymes exist in bacteria cells and eukaryotic cells.
For protein targeting, Isaak claims: “Certainly, other simple systems that could serve as precursors to vesicular transport should be possible.” (pg 63)
Notice the vague words such as “simple”, “could” and “should” used here. However, no evolutionary explanation for protein targeting is even attempted.
“Many of the proteins involved in transport in eukaryote cells have molecular “ancestors” in bacteria. These molecules, the ABC transporters, serve in a much simpler system.” (pg 63)
Once again, no evolutionary explanation is attempted. The problem is merely passed from eukaryotic cells to bacteria cells.
“You can see order come and go in nature in many different ways. A few examples are snowflakes and other frost crystals, cloud formations, dust devils, ripples in sand dunes, and eddies and whirlpools in streams. See how many other examples you can find.” (pg 192)
None of these examples are relevant to the origin of life. With crystallization, the matter crystallizing goes to a lower energy level, a more probable state and they are simple repetitive structure with no functionality. However with DNA and proteins, the amino acid bonds and nucleotide bonds are at a high energy, less probable state. This evolutionary argument was thoroughly refuted over forty years ago. Dust devils and whirlpools are also simple, temporary ordered structures that have no functionality.
“...plants around my house are left to themselves every spring, and every spring they produce order locally by turning carbon from the air into plant tissue.” (pg 192)
What is described here is plant photosynthesis. The process of “producing order” is the normal functioning of plants, it does not occur by itself and irrelevant to origins.
“Drying mud, left to itself produces orderly cracks.” (pge 192)
The “orderly cracks” produced by drying mud have no complexity, no chemical bonds, no plan and purpose and are totally irrelevant to the discussion of origins.
“The second law allows local decreases in entropy offset by increases elsewhere.” (pge 193)
Of course the second law allows a local decrease in entropy. Plants and animals, cars, aircraft, computers, buildings, etc all represent a local decrease in entropy. The crucial point is that these local reductions in entropy are never observed to form naturally. Furthermore, over time these local reductions in entropy will be transformed into the less complex, non-functioning, lower energy state until they do not function at all. Entropy also applies to the transmission of information. Information becomes garbled and errors are introduced with DNA copying and copying of computer software. Information is also lost when photocopies are made with an analogue photocopy machine. Information does not arise naturally and this includes genetic information. No evidence is provided to show that there is a tendency for matter to self-organize at the chemical level, the cellular level, the tissue level, the organ level or the body system level.
“Clouds form complex orderly patterns.” (pge 193)
Similar to the argument above on “orderly cracks” in drying mud, cloud formations are totally irrelevant to the origin of life.
“An increase in organized complexity is not the same as a decrease in entropy. The second law applies only to entropy; it says nothing at all about organized complexity as such.” (pge 193)
Matter in a high energy, complex state that has functionality, such as the human kidney, does represent a local decrease in entropy. Over time functioning kidneys are transformed to the non-functioning, lower energy state until they have no functionality at all. Isaak is merely trying to muddy the waters here because he simply cannot answer creationists on the second law of thermodynamics.
“Arrangements such as the words on this page are not prohibited by any laws of physics. If they were, they could not exist for you to be reading them now.” (pg 194)
Of course the arrangement of letters on a page are not prohibited by the laws of physics. The arrangement of letters on such a page are sequenced by an intelligent agent, and the sequence of letters only has meaning with an existing language convention.
“A lack of an energy conversion system would not only invalidate evolution; it would invalidate life itself.” (pge 194)
This is nonsense. Life exists because a pre-existing energy conversion mechanism exists in the machinery of the cell.
“…and complex organisms arise from simple seeds and embryos.” (pg 194)
Seeds and embryos have coded instructions that are decoded by the machinery of the cell of plants and animals to allow development via cell division. All of the complexity of the organism exists in the seed and the fertilized egg to start with, there is no increase in complexity here.
Isaak has a brief quote from Nobel Prize winner Ilya Prigogine (pge 194) about non-equilibrium dissipative structures. However Prigogine wrote: “It is very tempting to speculate that prebiotic evolution corresponds essentially to a succession of instabilities leading to an increasing level of complexity” (Self-Organization in Non-equilibrium Systems: From Dissipative Structures to Order Through Fluctuations, 1977, pg 12). Although it may be “very tempting to speculate” this research has yielded nothing relevant to origins and fails to distinguish between order and complexity.
“Its overriding logical error, however, is that is an argument from ignorance.” (pge 195)
No, this statement is in error here because it is made in the context of evolution being true to start with, which is the logical fallacy known as circular reasoning.
“Information is not meaning and does not, per se, imply any special structure or function.” (pge 195)
Once again, the author is mistaken here. Information implies meaning and his claim that information does not imply any special structure or function is total nonsense.
“If a new arrangement occurs, whether spontaneously or from the outside, new information is assembled in the process.” (pge 195)
Information is not generated by new random arrangements. A nucleotide sequences on DNA, or binary data in a computer program only represents information in the context of the pre-existing language convention of the cell or the machine instruction set of the microprocessor of a computer. If random changes are made to the binary machine instructions of a computer program, errors will be introduced quickly and the program will crash. Likewise, randomly changing nucleotide sequences in DNA will result in harmful mutations, disease, birth defects and death.
“Even if the arrangement consists of shattering a glass into tiny pieces, that means assembling new information.” (pge 195)
Is Isaak claiming that the arrangement of the small pieces of shattered glass is somehow is analogous to the information on the coded instruction on DNA that code for life? The arrangement of small pieces of shattered glass does not specify anything and does not contain any coded instructions such as DNA has.
“In abiogenesis, it is observed that complex molecules easily form spontaneously due to little more than basic chemistry and energy from the sun or from the earth’s interior.” (pge 195)
Isaak fails to mention anything about this ‘basic chemistry’. The work required in assembling simple biomonomers into complex linear polymers with a specified sequence as is found in proteins and DNA requires chemical work plus thermal entropy work plus configurational entropy work. The probability of constructing a simple protein with only one hundred amino acids is zero.
Numerous times in attempting to refute creationist’s arguments, Isaak begins with something like: “This is an example of argument from incredulity”. This is really an admission that there is no evolutionary explanation. Also, this type of statement is made in the context of evolution being true to start with, which is the logical fallacy known as circular reasoning.
Evolutionist Franklin Harold states: "...but we must concede that there are presently no detailed Darwinian accounts of the evolution of any biochemical or cellular system, only a variety of wishful speculations." (Franklin M. Harold, The way of the cell: molecules, organisms and the order of life, Oxford University Press, New York, p. 205, 2001). Isaak does nothing to refute this devastating admission by Harold.
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mcewin
A good primer for rebuttal of creationist claptrap
Reviewed in Canada 🇨🇦 on August 16, 2009Heinz-Albert Kiehne
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