Re: religion and the brain

From: Paul Bramscher (brams006_nospam_at_tc.umn.edu)
Date: 10/19/04 

Date: Tue, 19 Oct 2004 16:26:54 -0500

Phil Sherrod wrote:

> On 18-Oct-2004, Paul Bramscher <brams006_nospam@tc.umn.edu> wrote:
>
>
>>Molecules, organic or otherwise, only form under correct environmental
>>and phase conditions. And it might that the DNA/RNA coding schema needs
>>a number of prerequisite things to occur which are not self-evident via
>>reduction of the end result. In other words, the answer to the origin
>>of DNA might actually be in a different molecule or set of processes
>>external to it. But once begun, it no longer relied on the initial
>>mechanism.
>
>
> Didn't you say earlier that you don't accept anything that can't be
> demonstrated? As I recall, you won't even accept a mathematical proof of QM
> because it is not empirical. How does that jive with the hand-waving you
> presented above?

This offers fertile ground for experimentation. Search for molecules
and processes that exhibit this property and design experiments around
them, as researchers are currently doing at the amino acid and other
levels. Where's the magic between an amino acid and a chain of
nucleotides? Aside from a scaling problem, I see no need to explain DNA
by virtue of the supernatural.

Unlike QM, they need not harken to God/uncertainty/singularity (none of
which offer empirical/experimental investigations).

I have no faith in this explanation whatsoever. I do, however, know
that the explanation offers many testable hypotheses. And that it will
likely require hunting outside of DNA proper to find DNA's necessary
environmental conditions to explain its emergence.

The non-scientific method would be to write it off as God's Creation,
and halt any further progress, except as explains scripture. As was
done with Evolution, a non-earth centered universe, and who knows how
many other scientific advancements which have been made in spite of the
Church's explanatory monopoly. Sometimes at great personal risk.

Relevant Pages

  • Re: Results of the Great Evolutionist/ID Debate Thread
    ... that the primary function of these molecules is ... intentions of the intelligent agents they are looking for signals from. ... The blueprints are known as the DNA code. ... universe create life by an evolutionary mechanism indistinguishable ...
    (talk.origins)
  • Re: Honest Creationists Argument wanted
    ... chance of abiogenesis is zero, so the argument pretty much falls apart. ... But now, we observe life. ... some people will mention how the DNA ... "The RNA world hypothesis suggests that relatively short RNA molecules ...
    (talk.origins)
  • Re: News: Telepathic Genes Recognize Similarities In Each Other
    ... similarities in each other from a distance, without any proteins or other ... biological molecules aiding the process, ... This new study shows that genes -- which are parts of double-stranded DNA ...
    (sci.bio.evolution)
  • Re: The Cosmological Argument
    ... I offered DNA as a possible instance of design both because of its ... child in the act of making a sandcastle. ... That's because you won't quantify the designedness of DNA. ... just another molecule and nature makes molecules all the time. ...
    (talk.origins)
  • Re: OT: interest in UFOlogy
    ... All life works on the same basic biochemistry, and some molecules have ... species, found in plants, animals, and many unicellular organisms. ... identical molecule (amino acid for amino acid) within their ... genes preserved in its DNA. ...
    (rec.arts.mystery)