Scientific creationism vs. Bill Nye: does science make sense on all levels?
What is science? There are two types of science. Empirical science is knowledge of an event or thing that we witness through our senses. You know the moon exists. You can see it! You know the chair exists because you can see it or feel its support.
The other type of science is forensic science. Forensic science is not direct knowledge but indirect knowledge of something. You did not witness the death of the person nor did you see how they died, but through careful collection and analysis of evidence you are able to determine how the death happened. is produced.
The scientific method is used every day in forensic medicine to determine whether an event at a crime scene was an accident or an intentional act. Mathematical probability is a scientific argument and is frequently used to determine many scientific research questions.
The scientific method cannot be used to prove events that happened outside of human observation. No one has observed the origin of the universe, either by chance or design (so science can’t prove either), but scientific evidence, via mathematical probability, can be used to substantiate the origin of the universe, whether by chance or design.
Some things don’t need to be experienced or scientifically proven. In law, there is a saying called prima facie evidence. It means “evidence that speaks for itself”. Of course, in the complexities of society and human relations, prima facie evidence is not always what it seems.
An example of true prima facie evidence would be the discovery of an elaborate sandcastle on the beach. You don’t need to experiment to know that it was built on purpose and not by the forces of wind and water.
If you discover a letter or a romantic message written in the sand, you do not need to experiment to know that it was designed and not because a random stick carried by the wind sketched it. the. You naturally assume that an intelligent, rational being is responsible for it.
Mathematicians have declared that any event with a probability of 10 to the 50th power or more is impossible, even within the entire time frame of billions of years commonly assumed to be the age of the universe.
The probability that an average protein molecule arises by chance is 10 to the 65th power. It is a single protein molecule! Even the simplest cell is made up of millions of them.
The late, great British scientist Sir Frederick Hoyle calculated that the odds of the simplest cell forming by chance are 10 to the 40,000 power! What size does this represent? Consider that the number of atoms in the entire known universe is only 10 to the power of 23.
It has been shown that amino acids can exist by chance, but it has never been shown that these basic building blocks can come together in sequence by chance to form protein molecules.
An amazing fact is that there are left-handed and right-handed amino acids. In life, all protein molecules must be made up of left-handed amino acids and be in the correct sequence. If a right-handed amino acid gets into the mix, the protein won’t work.
DNA, the genetic code, is also made up of various small molecules (nucleic acids) that must be assembled in a specific order for DNA to work. Nucleic acids are composed of left and right sugar molecules.
For the DNA molecule to work, the different nucleic acids must not only be in a specific order, but they must also contain only right-handed sugar molecules. If a nucleic acid containing a left-handed sugar molecule gets into the mix, the DNA won’t work.
Information, in any form, is positive evidence of an intelligent origin. That’s what DNA (the genetic code) is, information. Even Carl Sagan said that sequential radio signals from space would be evidence of an intelligent origin.
What about the sequence of molecules in the genetic code? The sequence of molecules in DNA, which makes it a code, is powerful prima facie evidence of an intelligent origin and cause.
What about “junk DNA”? It’s not junk! Recent research published in scientific journals such as Nature and RNA has revealed that “non-coding” segments of DNA are essential for regulating gene expression (i.e. when, where and how genes are expressed in the body).
Explaining how an airplane works does not mean that no one made the airplane. Explaining how life or the universe works doesn’t mean there wasn’t a creator behind them. Science and natural laws simply explain how the order in the universe works and operates, but simple undirected natural laws can never explain the ultimate origin of that order.
Once you have a complete, living cell, the genetic code and biological mechanisms exist to direct the formation of other cells, but how could life or the cell have arisen naturally if no directing code or mechanism existed? existed in nature?
Time does not come to the aid of chance. For every good crash, there will be thousands of bad ones, with the net result, over time, being deleterious and not beneficial. A partially evolved cell (an oxymoron) that is not protected by a fully functional cell membrane would disintegrate in the open environment long before it could evolve into a complete, living cell.
Real science shows that it is not rational to believe that we are here by chance, even as part of evolution over billions of years. True science shows that the universe is not eternal and could not have arisen out of nothing through natural processes.
