More from the other side: the origin of life

[Student post submitted by Sukh Kang]

Taken aback from the discussion we had in class about how to this day, after so much biological evidence, both on the micro and the macro level, there are people who still believe that evolution is a myth, and it simply does not exist! While searching for an interesting evolutionary article to write about, I came across this brief video clip, which argues that the organisms in this world did not descend from one common ancestor, but were rather created by an intelligent being for a purpose, and that there is a design to the universe! (Continues below...)

This video clip starts off by quoting Charles Darwin, the father of evolution, “The universe is precisely the properties we should expect. If there is at the bottom no design, no purpose, nothing but blind pitiless indifferences.” This is followed by a commentary from the general public on how they feel about evolution. After that begins the argument that Evolution simply did not occur and that there is far too much diversity and variation in organisms to tie them all back to one common ancestor.

What is interesting about this video is that most of the people or the speakers arguing against evolution are scientists, including a molecular biologist, a biochemist, and a microbiologist. To think that these people who have deeply studied biology and still don’t believe in evolution makes a great case for the con side. Other speakers include scientific Philosophers, a science author as well as an astronomer.

Some of the interesting points from the video include the Microbiologist mentioning that the more we get to learn about biology and life, the more problems Darwinism has. Another main point was that there is not the slightest chance of chemical evolutionary origin for even the simplest of cells in out bodies. The third main biological argument made is that the discovery of information bearing properties of DNA and RNA fundamentally challenges all of the existing materialistic theories to the origin of life. There is a mention that the theories of evolution and others alike will not be able to survive the biology of the 21st century, because they’re inconsistent.

The video was really catchy and made some bold claims to void the theory of evolution which was first presented by Charles Darwin. While it is very persuasive and has strong references, none of them really explain what the problem is with the Darwinian Theory and why it is becoming outdated in the 21st century. It is their personal educational experiences mixed with their beliefs and their assumptions. While it is in no way challenging to the accepted theory of evolution, I thought it was still very interesting to hear the other side, and contribute to the topic brought up in class today!