Page 116 - Character Types of the Unbelievers

CHARACTER-TYPES OF THE UNBELIEVERS
living organisms deemed to be the simplest have outstandingly
complex structures. The cell of a living thing is more complex than all
of our man-made technological products. Today, even in the most
developed laboratories of the world, a living cell cannot be produced

by bringing organic chemicals together.
The conditions required for the formation of a cell are too great
in quantity to be explained away by coincidences. The probability of
proteins, the building blocks of a cell, being synthesized coinci-
dentally, is 1 in 10 950 for an average protein made up of 500 amino
acids. In mathematics, a probability smaller than 1 over 10 50 is con-
sidered to be impossible in practical terms.

The DNA molecule, which is located in the nucleus of a cell and
which stores genetic information, is a magnificent databank. If the in-
formation coded in DNA were written down, it would make a giant
library consisting of an estimated 900 volumes of encyclopedias con-
sisting of 500 pages each.
A very interesting dilemma emerges at this point: DNA can
replicate itself only with the help of some specialized proteins (en-
zymes). 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 evolutionist of repute from the University of San Diego,
California, confesses 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

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