Sunday, February 9, 2014

Molecule to Man Evolution

David Christian in a TED talk video titled "The History of the World in 18 minutes", narrates a complete history of the universe, from the Big Bang to the Internet, a presentation of how a "Molecule to Man Evolution" may occur in a naturalistic way, without divine intervention., in 17 minutes 37 seconds.

He said that in a universe ruled by the second law of thermodynamics, complexity can created but with great difficulty. He then listed about ten threshold moments called "Goldilocks conditions" (not too hot, not too cold, just right) for the creation of complexity.

I will be satisfied that a "Molecule to Man Evolution" may occur in a naturalistic way if someone can show me convincingly how the following four thresholds are overcome. Two of which relates to the overall infrastructure (particles to universe) and two relating to life (molecules to cells):

Threshold 1: Something from Nothing (Origin)
In the beginning, there was absolutely nothing. No time, no space, no laws of the universe. Can we prove this? Then the big bang occurred. How?

Threshold 2: Formation of Structure (Structure)
From the initial big bang, how is the current structure of the universe formed, from the elementary particles of the quantum field theory to atoms to molecules to planets and stars. I know astronomers have been scanning the skies and looking at stars, galaxies and other structures in what they believed to be various states of their formation, but how sure are they of these theories?

Threshold 3: Living Things From Non-living Things (Origin)
Now we bring our focus from the skies around us to our earth. Where did life come from? How did the non-living things produce the living things? How did molecules form DNA in a natural (read: without God) way? How did random chemical events on earth resulted in a self-replicating molecule? Do we know the conditions and process that give rise to life? Can we reproduce them in a laboratory? Do the scientist expect us to accept what we are told by faith, like what God expect us to do?

Threshold 4: Single cell to multi-cellular living things (Structure)
How did unicellular organisms became multi-cellular organisms via the natural process?

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