Page 78 - Why Do You Deceive Yourself ?

76 WHY DO YOU DECEIVE YOURSELF?

The conditions required for the formation of a cell are too great in
quantity to be explained away by coincidences. The probability of pro-
teins, the building blocks of a cell, being synthesized coincidentally, is
1 in 10 950 for an average protein made up of 500 amino acids. In math-
50
ematics, a probability smaller than 1 over 10 is considered to be im-
possible in practical terms.
The DNA molecule, which is located in the nucleus of a cell and
which stores genetic information, is an incredible databank. If the in-
formation coded in DNA were written down, it would make a giant li-
brary consisting of an estimated 900 volumes of encyclopedias consist-
ing of 500 pages each.
A very interesting dilemma emerges at this point: DNA can repli-
cate itself only with the help of some specialized proteins (enzymes).
However, the synthesis of these enzymes can be realized only by the
information coded in DNA. As they both depend on each other, they
have to exist at the same time for replication. This brings the scenario
that life originated by itself to a deadlock. Prof. Leslie Orgel, an evolu-
tionist of repute from the University of San Diego, California, con-
fesses this fact in the September 1994 issue of the Scientific American

magazine:
It is extremely improbable that proteins and nucleic acids, both of which
are structurally complex, arose spontaneously in the same place at the
same time. Yet it also seems impossible to have one without the other. And
so, at first glance, one might have to conclude that life could never, in fact,
have originated by chemical means. 6
No doubt, if it is impossible for life to have originated from natu-
ral causes, then it has to be accepted that life was "created" in a super-
natural way. This fact explicitly invalidates the theory of evolution,