On the subject of information and data...
Nature is No Random Number Generator
If we take an honest and objective look at the world around us, does it really appear to be the result of random occurrences that simply had enough time to sort themselves out? Is there not a difference between patterns and designs? Do causal mechanisms adequately explain what we physically observe in nature?
Science defines a causal mechanism as a sequence of events or conditions, governed by
lawlike regularities, leading from the explanans to the explanandum.
So who or what made up the laws that govern these causal mechanisms? How can there be laws without a lawmaker?
One of the most widespread and readily observable designs in nature is Fibonacci numbers. They appear everywhere in nature, from the leaf arrangement in plants, to the pattern of the florets of a flower, the bracts of a pine-cone, the scales of a pineapple, even in hurricanes. They are nature's numbering system. Fibonacci numbers are found in honey bee family trees, shell spirals, petals on flowers, seed heads and in leaf and limb arrangements, to name a few.
Fibonacci numbers are actually a mathematical series. The first twelve numbers in the series are as follows:
0, 1, 1, 2, 3, 5, 8, 13, 21, 34, 55, 89, 144,
where every number in the series is the sum of the two numbers that precede it.
Johannes Kepler, the German mathematician and astronomer, observed that the ratio of consecutive Fibonacci numbers converges. He wrote that "as 5 is to 8 so is 8 to 13, practically, and as 8 is to 13, so is 13 to 21 almost", and concluded that the limit approaches the golden ratio
View attachment 38929 , where
View attachment 38930
which has the unique property among positive numbers of its inverse being exactly one less than itself, so that
View attachment 38928
Interestingly, it was the very same Johannes Kepler, the Astronomer Royal in Prague, who in 1603 computed that in the year 7 B.C. there was a conjunction of Jupiter (the king of the planets) and Saturn (thought to be the protector of Israel) in the Constellation of Pisces (the Sign of the Messiah), that was first visible at daybreak on the 12th of April 7 B.C. The Passover in 7 B.C. was on Monday April 13th which commenced at sunset on the 12th.
The earth-shattering significance of this conjunction – Messiah; King; Protector of Israel; Passover – was the cosmic event described in the second chapter of the book of Matthew, in the Bible, that marked the actual birth-date of Jesus and the promise of the golden age to come.
Golden Rule Reminders Everywhere
If we look to the stars we find that spiral galaxies, including our own Milky Way, also conform to Fibonacci numbers and the golden ratio.
We are literally surrounded with evidence that life on this planet and out in the universe is
extremely ordered and strictly adheres to a meticulous set of laws. In fact the more we observe and study our natural surroundings, the clearer it becomes that NOTHING is random. If we revisit Pascal's Triangle we will notice that even it contains Fibonacci numbers.
View attachment 38931
Fibonacci numbers in the diagonals of Pascal's Triangle
And the Fibonacci numbers don't stop with the macroscopic world; they are part of the microscopic world as well.
The DNA molecule, the program for all life, is also based on the golden ratio, represented as
View attachment 38927 (phi). It measures 34 angstroms long by 21 angstroms wide for each full cycle of its double helix spiral. DNA in the cell appears as a double-stranded helix referred to as B-DNA. This form of DNA has two grooves in its spirals, with a ratio of phi in the proportion of the major groove to the minor groove, or roughly 21 angstroms to 13 angstroms. The DNA cross-section is likewise based on phi, as the cross-section of the DNA double helix forms a decagon5.
A decagon is basically two concentric pentagons, with one rotated by 36 degrees from the other, so each spiral of the double helix must trace out the shape of a pentagon. The ratio of the diagonal of a pentagon to its side is phi to 1. So, no matter which way you look at it, the fundamental building blocks of life are constructed using the golden ratio!
Could it be with so many reminders of the golden ratio and golden numbers in our surroundings and in every cell of every living organism on the planet that someone is trying to send us a message to follow the golden rule? The golden rule, which is a restatement of the Second Great Commandment (
Mark 12:31), says we should do unto others as we would have them do unto us.
Strict adherence to this simple rule would end all oppression, injustice and war on this planet.
DNA – Design NOT Accident
The Human Genome Project (HGP) is likely the single largest international science project in the history of mankind. It formally began in 1989 and initially sought to identify and map the 20,000-25,000 genes in human DNA and the sequences of the 3 billion chemical pairs that make up human DNA. The project goals were reportedly met in 2003, although additional sequences in areas like the central regions and ends of each chromosome, where the DNA sequences are highly repetitive, are still being mapped as the technology becomes available to do so.
But even with just what is presently known, the results of this project are astonishing. We have already discovered that DNA is by far the most efficient means of storing data known to man. In just one gram of DNA, which when dry would occupy a volume of approximately one cubic centimeter, it would be possible to store approximately one trillion CDs worth of information6 (or the equivalent of 250 billion DVDs).
To help put this into perspective, consider that a stack of 250 billion DVDs would stretch more than 3/4 of the way to the moon. And all of that information could be stored in a single gram of DNA the size of a sugar cube.
Put another way, the DNA information is so densely organized that a single teaspoonful could carry the instructions for building the entire population of planet Earth...hundreds of times over. We may think we have done well packing information densely onto chips, computer hard drives and DVDs, etc. but all of these devices store information on the surface only. DNA stores information in three dimensions and is by far the densest information storage mechanism known to man. And DNA also has the ability to self-replicate, fix errors, read and copy itself through a process known as transcription.
If we were to travel inside the cell to witness the transcription process, what we would see is a molecular machine first unwinding a section of the DNA helix to expose the genetic instructions needed to assemble a specific protein molecule. That step would be followed by another machine making copies of these encoding instructions to form the single strand molecule we refer to as messenger RNA.
Once the transcription process has been completed, the slender RNA strand carries the genetic information through the nuclear pore complex, which is the gatekeeper for traffic in and out of the cell nucleus, and is directed to a two-part molecular factory called a ribosome. After attaching itself securely, the decoding process of translation begins.
Inside the ribosome, a molecular assembly line builds a specifically sequenced chain of amino acids. These amino acids are transported from other parts of the cell and then linked into chains often hundreds of units long. Their sequential arrangement determines the type of protein manufactured.
When the chain is finished, it is relocated from the ribosome to a barrel-shaped machine that helps fold it into the precise shape critical to its function. After the chain is folded into a protein, it is then released and shepherded to the exact location where it is needed. And all of this is going on inside every living cell, of every living creature, all of the time.
In every respect this is an absolutely amazing design and process and it is going on at a cellular level with molecular machines that we haven't even begun to understand. Thinking that causal mechanisms could explain this process in the absence of any observable or testable evidence isn't reasonable or scientific at all. Logically speaking this could only be a super-intelligent design and manufacturing process.
The Super-Intelligently Designed Language of Life
In addition to being the densest and by far the most efficient means of information storage in the known universe, the genetic code in DNA is also a language.
Perry Marshall, an electrical engineer and specialist in communication systems, has made some important connections between information theory and DNA, which itself is a digital communication system7. In fact many digital communication methods that are commonplace in the information technology field have been adapted and applied to genetics research and the Human Genome Project.
The first step in understanding the significance of DNA being a language is to define the difference between a pattern and a design.
Patterns are created from matter and energy only. While patterns frequently occur in nature, not all patterns have designs. Also, with patterns there is never an exact copy. Snowflakes are an example of a naturally occurring pattern.
Conversely, all designs do have patterns and all designs require a language. Music would be an example of a design, where the notes on paper symbolically represent the music that is heard by actually playing the notes.
A language symbolically represents something other than itself. The DNA molecule represents more than itself; it represents the design information and assembly instructions for an entire living organism. Every language has 4 things: alphabet, grammar, meaning and intent. Information CANNOT be created without intent and there are no examples of this ever happening.
All languages also have error correction and redundancy, just as DNA does. In fact, the functions of DNA Nucleotide, Codons, Genes, Operons and Regulons have very recognizable counterparts in the English language.
DNA Language
Nucleotide (A, T, C, G) Characters
Codons Letters
Genes Words
Operons Sentences
Regulons Paragraphs
So is DNA just a naturally occurring pattern, or is it a design? An essential distinction between patterns and designs is language, and DNA meets all of the criteria for being a language. There are no examples of patterns ever turning into designs so any argument that DNA began as a pattern and then later organized itself into a design is baseless no matter how much time is involved. The following conditions establish that DNA is not just a pattern but is indeed a language:
- DNA is an encoding/decoding mechanism/system that stores and transmits the messages of the living organism.
- the DNA molecule represents more than itself; it represents an entire living organism
- DNA has alphabet, syntax, semantics, pragmatics (or more simply stated alphabet, grammar, meaning and intent)
- DNA can be copied and even stored in other media with no loss of information
ALL information
BEGINS with language (please see
John 1:1) and does
NOT occur naturally. Information is neither matter nor energy and neither matter nor energy can produce information. Since we know that information
CANNOT be created without intent, and that intention/will is the property of a conscious mind, there is only one logical conclusion that can be drawn:-
The very sophisticated language of DNA was designed by a Super-Intelligent Mind.