New Post: ESSAY 5: Evolution; No War between the Church and Science

Hello all, "Essay 5: No War between the Church and Evolution," is up.   It explores the position of the Catholic Church on evolution, refutes arguments by Creationists that we can't believe in evolution, common descent (not the neo-Darwinian model for evolution occurs), because it conflicts with a literal interpretation of the Creation account given in Genesis 1. 

Also the evidence for evolution, common descent, is outlined and various models--theories--for how evolution occurs are discussed.

Reflections on Intelligent Design-- Good, Bad or Indifferent Science?

Free RNA strand, from Univ. of Chicago at Illinois

"If evolution really works, how come mothers only have two hands?” 
― Milton Berle

 "Intelligent Design is a remarkably uncreative theory that abandons the search for understanding at the very point where it is most needed. If Intelligent Design is really a science, then the burden is on its scientists to discover the mechanisms used by the Intelligent Designer."  Michael Shermer, Why Darwin Matters: The Case Against Intelligent Design

 “That the universe was formed by a fortuitous concourse of atoms, I will no more believe than that the accidental jumbling of the alphabet would fall into a most ingenious treatise of philosophy." Jonathan Swift

It is really quite amazing by what margins competent but conservative scientists and engineers can miss the mark, when they start with the preconceived idea that what they are investigating is impossible. When this happens, the most well-informed men become blinded by their prejudices and are unable to see what lies directly ahead of them." Arthur C. Clarke, 1963

INTRODUCTION

I try to learn from blog comments that disagree with my preconceptions.  One such (on my post  The Theology of Water--Is Design Intelligent?) said that Stephen Meyers' book, The Signature in the Cell,  showed that the Intelligent Design hypothesis was good science, a position with which I did not agree.*   Although as a Catholic I believe in an intelligent Creator,  I do not consider an article of faith like that could be dealt with by scientific methods.   After reading The Signature in the Cell I've modified this stance--somewhat.

WHAT IS SCIENCE?

In the past, Fr. Stanley Jaki's and Pierre Duhem's descriptions of science have been my guideposts:

"...[a] laboratory [is] a place where one works ...to make observations or measurement which are accurate so that accurate predictions can be made on their basis.   Science, in that sense, is synonymous with measurements, which are accurate because they can be expressed in numbers."  Fr. Stanley Jaki, The Limits of a Limitless Science

"Therefore, if the aim of physical theories is to explain experimental laws, theoretical physics is not an autonomous science; it is subordinate to metaphysics..." Pierre Duhem, The Aim and Structure of Physical Theory.

Pierre Duhem's limitation on physics is based on the following:

• physics cannot by itself  explain why physics works;
• a scientist must assume that some rational order exists if his/her work is to be meaningful.   

Fr. Jaki's requirement for quantitative predictions  based on replicated experiments would place much of biology and geology, among other disciplines, into a non-science basket.   Therefore I and others have found this latter limitation to be not altogether satisfactory.

Fortunately, there is another perspective on science, that of "historical science", which Meyers describes in some detail in his book.   Historical science infers from present data what past events might be.    The data may be quantitative, as in cosmology and some parts of molecular biology, or qualitative, as in geology and paleontology.   Historical science uses  "Inference to the Best Explanation"(IBE) ,  or more concisely "abduction", a method which has been criticized by some philosophers of science**.   Nevertheless, it is the only approach possible in those sciences for which replicated laboratory experiments are not feasible.

An everyday example (given by Meyers) of  "Inference to the Best Explanation" (IBE) follows:   You look out your window and see the driveway is wet;  the following three explanations occur to you--it has rained; the sprinkler has been on and set so as to wet the driveway; your car has been washed.   You notice that neither your street nor the grass is wet; thus the rain and sprinkler explanation is eliminated;  accordingly  the remaining one, your car has been washed, must be correct.   Confirmatory evidence for this last would be a pail of water by your car.

INTELLIGENT DESIGN ASSUMPTIONS

"The Signature in the Cell" is particularly concerned with the application of two  principles for understanding the beginning of life, the formation of cells and their critical constituents--proteins, DNA and RNA:

• "specified information" ("specified complexity") is manifested in biology and molecular biology;
• such specified information can be brought about only by an intelligence, a designer;  it can not occur by chance or by the working of physico-chemical laws (e.g. chemical affinities).

The second of these principles was expressed in the quotation by Jonathan Swift above.

As an example of "specified information",   consider the phrase "cat in the hat".    This conveys information (for Dr. Seuss fans--a book title and an image).   If one was to draw characters out of a large bag containing the appropriate proportion of spaces, t's, c's,  etc., the probability of getting them in the order "cat in the hat" would infinitesimally small...for all practical purposes, zero***.   Accordingly, if you saw that phrase on a table next to a large bag of characters, you'd assume that a Dr. Seuss fan had arranged them.

Another way of putting the second principle is that specified information is conserved.   Although this seems reasonable at first glance, there is no proof of such that I can find.   If an inverse relation between Shannon information and entropy is made (the greater the information content, the lower the entropy), there is no application of the Second Law that would apply to conservation of information:   The Second Law says that in an isolated system entropy increases (by irreversible processes) or stays constant (for a system at equilibrium) and for open systems sets no general conditions.     So we'll have to accept the second principle as possible, but not proven--a hypothesis.

SPECIFIED INFORMATION MANIFESTED IN MOLECULAR BIOLOGY****

Meyers discusses how proteins, DNA and RNA are biomolecules encoding specified information.    He argues convincingly that this encoding can not proceed from chance or by natural law.   The probabilities of the sequences occurring by chance are too small, and this view agrees with that of a number of other scientists, not all of whom support intelligent design.

According to Meyers, specified information does not proceed from chemical or physical principals--chemical affinities and attraction, for example, yielding protein folding shapes or sequence order of bases in DNA or RNA.    Were such operative, they might yield order (as, for example, gravity and coriolis forces yield whirlpool shapes in water going down a drain).   However,  such order could not provide for the variety of base sequences needed to encode for the synthesis of many different proteins, nor for the different conformations involved in folding of proteins that yields enzymatic activity.

An important criterion for a theory to be "scientific" is that it can make testable predictions, predictions that can be falsified.   Meyers makes 12 such predictions. The problem with many of the predictions is that they propose  results that may be found with sufficient research, but if they aren't, it won't signify falsification of the prediction.  For example.

"Investigation of the logic of regulatory and information-processing systems in cells will reveal the use of design strategies and logic that mirrors...those used in systems designed by engineers.  Cell biologists will find regulatory systems that function in accord with a logic that can be expressed as algorithms." Stephen Meyer, The Signature in the Cell, Appendix A.

If such results are obtained, it will strengthen the Intelligent Design hypothesis, but it will not necessarily confirm it.

Several predictions propose that positive results from origins of life computer simulations or laboratory work to show spontaneous self-organization require information input.   For example

“Informational accounting will reveal that any improvements in replicase function in ribozymes are the result of active information supplied by ribozyme engineers.” ibid.

I'm not sure how one would show the above, but the fact that it couldn't be shown does not amount to an adequate test of the prediction.  And again, finding such results would strengthen ID, but not confirm it.

The only prediction amongst those listed that might  be falsified--and even here, if the contrary isn't shown, it won't necessarily show the prediction to be true--is the following:

“ No undirected process will demonstrate the capacity to generate 500 bits of new information starting from a nonbiological source." ibid.

CRITICISMS OF INTELLIGENT DESIGN

The first criticism is given in the quote by Michael Shermer.    Although proponents of Intelligent Design argue that information is put into cell components, they suggest no mechanism as to how this might occur.   Another opponent of the neo-Darwinian thesis, the philosopher Thomas Nagel, has proposed in his book, Mind and Cosmos, that teleology should be considered as a general operating principle in nature.   Although this requirement--purpose as a part of nature--just names, rather than explains the issue, it is a starting point.  And it puts it in such a way that Intelligent Design might proceed from fundamental principles.   Paul Davies puts it very well: 

“...the hypothesis of an intelligent designer applied to the laws of nature is far superior than the designer ...who violates the laws of nature from time to time by working miracles in evolutionary history. Design-by-laws is incomparably more intelligent than design-by-miracles.[emphasis added]” Paul Davies,  The Cosmic Jackpot: Why our universe is just right for life." p.200)

The second criticism is that the fundamental assumption of conservation of specified information or specified complexity is assumed.  Although this seems at first like a reasonable assumption, it is necessary that it be justified  from first principles, outside of the realm of biology,  if Intelligent Design is to be considered science.

To sum up,  I do believe in an intelligent Creator--indeed, an omniscient one who orders all for ultimate good--but that belief is an article of faith, not of science. I am glad that I read "Signature in the Cell", because I found a new perspective on what constitutes science, "Historical Science".   But there is still much that proponents of Intelligent Design must do in order that it qualifies as a testable scientific theory.

NOTES

*I should note that some 15 years ago when I first read Michael Behe's book, Darwin's Black Box, I thought that Intelligent Design revealed a whole new realm of science, manifesting biology as the handiwork of the Creator.

**See, for example, works by Bas van Fraassen or Nancy Cartwright.

***The phrase has 14 characters:  3 spaces, 3 t's,  2 a's,  2 h's, 1 c, 1 e, 1 i, 1 n.  By combinatorial algebra, there  are14!/[ 3!3!2!2!] =  605,404,800 possible combinations of these 14 characters.   If one uses rules such as 1) no initial space; 2) no final space; 3) no two like characters next to each other, 4) t followed by space, h, a, e or i...etc.  the number of possible combinations can be reduced, but it will still be very large.  Thus the probability of getting "cat in the hat" by randomly drawing letters from a large bag filled with the appropriate proportion of characters will be very small.

****Although I have published nmr papers dealing with biochemistry and molecular biology, I am not expert in these topics.    Accordingly what Meyers says in these areas I'll assume to be true.

The Theology of Water--Is Design Intelligent?

"The water that I shall give him will become in him a fountain of living water, welling up into eternal life. This is a new kind of water, a living, leaping water, welling up for those who are worthy. But why did Christ call the grace of the Spirit water? Because all things are dependent on water; plants and animals have their origin in water. Water comes down from heaven as rain, and although it is always the same in itself, it produces many different effects, one in the palm tree, another in the vine, and so on throughout the whole of creation. It does not come down, now as one thing, now as another, but while remaining essentially the same, it adapts itself to the needs of every creature that receives it."  

Quoted in the "Office of Readings" (Monday, Week 7 of Easter),  from a catechetical instruction by St. Cyril of Jerusalem.

Atomic structure of ice; O's represent oxygen atoms;
H's represent hydrogen atoms;  blue lines represent
chemical bonds;  red lines, hydrogen bonds.

The title of this post, "The Theology of Water", is taken from a short story by Hilbert Schenck in a collection of science-fiction stories with a religious theme, "Perpetual Light", which I read several months ago.   
In this story, after fruitless searches in the rest of the solar system, some middle-aged astronaut scientists explore Titan,  the largest moon of Saturn, to find life.     Titan is unique amongst solar system satellites in having an atmosphere, albeit a very cold one.
  
The scientists don't find life in any form, but they do find a strange type of water:  freezing and melting points much lower than "earth" water, but still with the unusual feature of solid water (ice) lighter than liquid at the freezing point, and with other differences in the thermodynamic properties.  The different properties are in fact those that would be suitable for life on this cold world, if life existed.   In testing the Titan water, the scientists turn it into earth-type water and realize that they are the life for which water is intended.

I dispute the essential scientific point of this story, that water at comparable temperatures and pressures would be different on Titan than on earth.    The properties of ice-- its relatively high melting point (compared to what one might expect doing a Periodic table comparison), it being lighter than liquid water--and the unusual thermodynamic properties of water can be  traced ultimately to fundamental bonding properties, specifically to the properties of the hydrogen bond  (see the illustration above), which in turn can be explained (in principle) by fundamental physics--quantum mechanics and electrostatics. 
  
Nevertheless, in telling the story, Schenck makes this important point: the properties of water  are tightly linked to the properties of the planet earth in order to provide an environment suitable for life (that is to say, carbon-based life as we know it).    Here are those properties (and I quote from the story--all temperatures are in degrees Centigrade--0 degrees Centigrade is the normal freezing point of water):
1)  liquid water has a maximum density at 4 degrees.   If it didn't (if the maximum density was at the freezing temperature), the cold water would sink to the bottom of the ocean and earth's  average surface temperature would be more than 20 degrees lower;
2) if the vapor pressure or the unusually high heat of vaporization of water is changed, either too much or not enough cloud would exist, which, in either case, would be a meteorological disaster;
3) if the density of ice is greater than that of liquid water at the freezing point (for most substances the density of the solid is greater than that of the melt), the ice would sink to the bottom of the oceans and the oceans would be perpetually frozen at the bottom, leading to massive winds at the surface;
4) if the high specific heat of liquid water is reduced, the temperature stabilizing effect of the ocean is lowered, and more storms and lower average temperature results;
5) the properties of water are optimized for the tilt of the earth's axis (23.5 degrees from the vertical)--if it were 0 degrees tilt, the temperature stabilizing effect would be too large, with complete cloud cover and ice-caps down to 40 degrees latitude
6) in the story, the properties of water are set for a mean earth temperature that is optimum for metabolism at 98.6 degrees Fahrenheit (and guess to what temperature that corresponds?)

Our biochemistry crucially involves the chemistry of water and hydrogen bonding.   The structure and reactions of proteins, enzymes, and DNA is critically dependent on hydrogen bonding, internally and to other biochemical molecules.    This blog isn't an appropriate context for even an abbreviated biochemistry lesson, but here are some web sites  about biochemistry and about the role of hydrogen bonding in DNA and proteins that will give some simple ideas to start.   

Biologists interested in alien life have considered biochemistries other than carbon-based/H2O.  (See the Wikipedia article on hypothetical types of biochemistry .)   Of these, one based on ammonia, NH3, seems most likely.    However the hydrogen bonds between ammonia molecules are only half as strong as those between water molecules.   Also, the temperature range for liquid ammonia is much lower than that for water, -78 to -33 degrees, so chemical reactions would proceed much more slowly, possibly too slowly for life-sustaining reactions.

So, the chemistry of hydrogen-bonding is one of those "finely-tuned" realities of nature that enable human life to exist.  We recall the Anthropic Principle, used to explain the fine-tuning of physical constants and cosmological facts (among which are the age of the universe and the unlikely existence of a large moon for our planet) that enables the existence of intelligent, carbon-based life.   I have not invoked the improbability of such fine-tuning, because probability, as a quantitative measure, is not properly applied to a single entity, and there is but one universe--we can know no other despite the speculations of metaphysical cosmologists.

How then do we justify the unlikelihood of such fine tuning, cosmological, physical and chemical?    And when I use the term unlikelihood, I'm not referring to the improbability of picking one white ball out of a bag of a zillion black balls.    Rather, I'm saying that we can think of all sorts of other universes, with different physical constants and laws, for which our type of life would not be possible.    Indeed, it is hard to imagine how any of the operative laws/constants might be nudged just a little bit and still allow for our kind of life.

Such fine tuning for hydrogen-bonding physics and chemistry should not, I believe, be tossed as another ingredient into the Intelligent Design" (ID) stew.     As I understand  ID, its principal tenet is opposing the Darwinian model for evolution (common descent).   Proponents of ID argue that gradual changes in form or biochemistry that might enhance survival (the cornerstone of the Darwinian survival-of-the-fittest program) are not sufficient to achieve the drastic differences in morphology and the "irreducible complexity" of various biochemical schemes.   

To my mind this is a "God of the gaps" type argument--to attribute that which we don't understand to specific divine intervention.   Moreover, a God who frames fundamental physics so that variety and complexity grows "naturally" from a unified beginning is much more to be admired and worshiped than a God who assembles, Leggo-like,  all the objects of a Young Earth (including evidence for a 4.5 billion year old earth and a 14 billion year old universe).    Paul Davies puts it very well:

“...the hypothesis of an intelligent designer applied to the laws of nature is far superior than the designer ...who violates the laws of nature from time to time by working miracles in evolutionary history. Design-by-laws is incomparably more intelligent than design-by-miracles.[emphasis added]”  (The Cosmic Jackpot: Why our universe is just right for life." p.200)

"Design-by-laws" (in Davies' felicitous phrase) is just how the anthropic principle can be interpreted.    Since a  full discussion of the anthropic principle would require a much lengthier blog, I'll defer that.   But I would like to end with one further comment.    This is a blog entitled "Reflections of a Catholic Scientist".    And, as a Catholic scientist, my God is much more than a creator, a demiurge who designed the universe engine and pressed the starter button.    My God is a Trinity,  a personal God, who intervenes from time to time in history, who sustains the laws of physics that make the universe-engine chug along, and who came to us in the person of His son, verified by historical revelation.