Page 40 - The Origin of Life and the Universe - International Conference 2016

The Origin of Life and the Universe

Even if one component exists, it will the cell’s information-processing system.
still not function in the absence of the As Richard Lewontin notes, “No living
others. molecule (i.e., biomolecule) is self-pro-
In short, ducing. Only whole cells may contain
4 -4:9 99 68 5 8872 all the necessary machinery for self-
:2 7 12: 65 : :2 * 6 68 6 , reproduction... Not only is DNA incapable
1:886/9 :2 7 865(9 12: 65 of making copies of itself, aided or unai-
: :2 65 4 7/8 5 :
4 -4:9 99, with its per-
fect complex structure we see
today, but of which we understand
only a very small part.
Even if this protein did form spon-
taneously (which is in any case
impossible), it will still serve no
purpose. It will just wander around
alone and die.
5: :9 09 65 4 40 75
99 1:88 88 8 4 7/696
: 2 196 7 6 8 9 81:5,
75 :089 -6 4:0 4
4 91 : 75 : 4 2 :9 ,
09 *
The Cambridge University Pro-
fessor of Philosophy Stephen C.
Meyer describes this in his book
The Signature in the Cell:
Following the elucidation of the
structure and function of DNA
during the 1950s and early 1960s,
a radically new conception of life
began to emerge. Not only did molecular ded, but it is incapable of ‘making’ anyt-
biologists discover that DNA carried in- hing else... The proteins of the cell are
formation; they soon began to suspect made from other proteins, and without
that living organisms must contain that protein-forming machinery nothing
systems for processing genetic infor- can be made.” 1
mation. Just as the digital information
stored on a disc is useless without a 1- Stephen C. Meyer, The Signature in the Cell, Harper One, 2009,
p. 132-133
device for reading the disc, so too is
the information on DNA useless without