by Bill Nugent
Article #148
Atheistic evolutionists are becoming increasingly aware of the awesome complexity of the information encoded in the DNA of single celled organisms such as bacteria. In order to maintain their atheistic views, evolutionists must find some way to demonstrate that blind chance can generate biochemical information. In this article we’ll take a look at an attempt to do this by computer that falls hopelessly short.
Oxford professor Richard Dawkins is perhaps the world’s foremost champion of evolution. His books not only defend evolution but promote atheism as a logical outflow of belief in evolution.
Dawkins has taken on the daunting challenge of trying to prove that information can arise from random processes without a guiding intelligence. Toward this end Dawkins developed a computer simulation of evolution that purports to show that the sentence “Methinks it is like a weasel” (from Shakespeare’s Hamlet) can arise from random shifting of a jumble of letters and spaces. This computer simulation is described in one of his books and has also been demonstrated on television.
The following is a quote about the computer simulation from the article Weasel Words by Dr. Werner Gitt and Dr. Carl Wieland available at answersingenesis.org. “His computer program starts with a random sequence of letters or spaces. It is then copied repeatedly, representing reproduction. Random copying errors are allowed, representing mutations. The computer program checks all the ‘daughter’ sentences, and selects that one which most resembles the target sequence, ‘Methinks it is like a weasel’. This is said to represent natural selection.
“Not surprisingly, within a few generations . . . the target sentence is reached. This is purported to show that real information can arise by the natural processes of mutation and selection, unaided by intelligence.”
The thing that really jumps out at you is the fact that the computer program checks all of the daughter sentences and selects the one that most resembles ‘Methinks it is like a weasel.’ This is intelligent selection! The computer is preprogrammed by an intelligent computer programmer to select the one randomly generated jumble that most resembles the desired sentence. It does this over and over until the exact desired sentence appears.
“Methinks it is like a weasel” is a very appropriate description. This is weasel science! This is sleight of hand to fool the layperson into thinking that DNA could have formed randomly in the primordial soup. Can you imagine carbon, nitrogen and oxygen atoms randomly colliding and forming amino acids which in turn randomly form a chain in the early ocean and then something checking to see if the DNA chain is correct?
Incidentally, origin of life scientist Walter L. Bradley, Ph. D. said that other chemicals in the early ocean would react more readily with amino acids than amino acids react with each other. (Interview in The Case for Faith by Lee Strobel, p. 138) So in reality no amino acid sequence of any significance would ever randomly develop.
It is obvious that no real information was generated by Dawkins’ computer game. The outcome or goal sentence was given in advance by the intelligent computer program designer. The checking mechanism to ensure the selection of that sentence was built into the computer program. Far from demonstrating that evolution is proved by computer, this program simply proves the necessity of an intelligent designer. The computer programmer is the intelligent designer who preprogrammed the information.
God is the intelligent designer who created all living things and programmed a vast array of biochemical information into the DNA of each species. We are accountable to God.
“O the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God” Romans 11:33.