The Limitations of Natural Causes

by Mike Van Schoiack | Apr 8, 2018 | Uncategorized

The Limitations of Natural Causes

Materialist contention that life is the result of Natural Causes is based on the premise that Natural Causes account for everything that exists. The assertion being made here is that his is not true; Natural Causes are capable of creating only a small fraction of the possible states of matter/energy that are theoretically possible based on the laws of physics. There are three reason provided here that rebuke this assertion: life is a process that requires logical functionality to work, which Natural Causes are incapable of, The Second Law of Thermodynamics, and logical analysis.

Life is a Process That Requires Logical Functionality

The fact that life is a process is not disputed. The common definition of a process is “a series of actions taken to actions taken to achieve an end.” Based on this definition, life is a process at all levels. All life, taken together is a process because life depends upon life – there is a food chain with recycling. Each organism has hundreds of processes that control the temperature, digestion, respiration, etc.. The same can be said about each cell with processes like repairing or replacing proteins, cell division, etc..

There are two types of processes, natural processes and intelligent processes. Natural processes are those that occur as a result of free energy resulting from naturally caused events and result in atoms, molecules, planets, suns, and galaxies. On earth, they account for weather, erosion, rivers, terrain features, caves, etc.. The “end” achieved is without any intelligent influence save the possibility of an intelligent cause of the laws of physics.

The other type of process is an intelligent process that involves logical actions defined here as Intelligent Work. Such a process requires the functionality of sensing conditions, called state variables by engineers, the ability to process the information, i.e., to determine action to take based on the state variables, and actuators, the means to apply the needed energy, in the form, time profile t place and orientation specified. Specified power must be provided for the sensing means, logic functionality, signaling means, and the actuator. This means that free energy, unless it is captured and converted to specified energy by machines, e.g., windmills, solar cells, will not suffice.

Processes require logical functionality because the work they must perform is contingent upon conditions.

Where Did The Information Come From?

Steve Meyer documents the requirement for massive amounts of information to suddenly appear to account for the Cambrian Explosion in his book Darwin’s Doubt. Materialist have come to acknowledge this fact despite the insanely low improbability, but insist that it must have happened because life does exist, and to think otherwise is unscientific.

Free Energy

In physics and chemistry, free energy refers to amount of internal energy available in a system available to do work. Normally this is a temperature gradient in the system. The higher temperature matter, has heat energy available or “free” to do work, But the energy source could be something different such as a impinging photon or some other particle. Whatever the form, free energy is energy resulting from natural causes that is available at some point in a system to do work. This energy is unable to perform specified work because it is the result of natural events and will not be guaranteed to be the right form, right amount and profile, right time, direction, etc.

Another reality is that free energy disperses from its source. This is caused by the bulk properties (e.g. thermal conductivity) that result from the naturally caused equilibrium states (e.g., atoms and molecules). This means that if there is a requirement to provide a given amount of energy at some given point, the energy source would have to located at the exact point needed, and have to be the right amount, at the right time to achieve the required end, otherwise it would impact the adjoining matter. Natural causes have no method of delivering specified energy. This is especially true in a cell because the cell is an enclosed space. The other problem in a cell is that there are thousands of different types of molecules (specified complexity), many with weak bonds, a necessary condition for functional proteins. Heat, the most common source of free energy will impact all of the cell bonds causing many unwanted reactions for each desired action. The only source of energy that would impact a singular point within a cell¹ would be a impinging particle, which, to do the required Intelligent Work, would have to impart the right amount of energy, at the right time, at the right place having evaded all of the intervening matter to get there.

These problems are overcome in cells by the Intelligent Work performed by the molecular machines in the cell, delivering ATP molecule(s) to the place needed and “firing” it (or them) at the needed point in time. An analogy in the macro world that we can relate to would be a hand drill that powered instead of batteries, fire crackers.

Life Is A Process

by Mike Van Schoiack | Apr 8, 2018 | ID Topic

Life Is A Process

Life is a Process

The video showing the building of a protein molecule resembles a robotic assembly line in a factory. These are examples of process control system designed to build a product. The company I founded, Vehicle Monitor Corporation (VMC), designs and builds systems that orchestrate the work that takes place at vehicle assembly line stations. This work is a process whereby at each workstation, value is added by completing one of the assembly line processes. A typical example is adding a part, testing to verify proper function with no damage, and measuring and documenting the work done.

The factories that VMC serves are very similar to the protein synthesis illustrated in Steve Meyer’s video from a functionality point of view. Transcribing the DNA to mRNA and the transport of this mRNA to the ribosome is analogous to the delivery of the custom-specific details to the factory workstation with the arrival of the vehicle. The translation process that occurs in the ribosome is analogous to the value add that occurs at a factory workstation. Both need the delivery of right piece parts Just-In-Time,² Transporting the protein molecule from the ribosome to the chaperone is analogous to a vehicle being moved from one work station to the next. The folding of the protein in the chaperone is analogous to the vehicle getting its adjustments and tune-up at the last workstation, both leaving out the back door.

A process is defined as “a systematic series of actions directed to some end”. Watching this video shows the ribosome in action leaving no doubt that the protein synthesis meets this definition. As with the factory, the protein synthesis involves work performed at specified places. The activity at each workstation involves many individual actions. such as, picking a specified piece, placing the piece at a specified location, and bonding it into place. Each of these actions is purpose driven work, which if not executed properly, will result in failure. Both examples need the parts to be delivered to each work station, and the product must be transported from one work station to the next. Both involve specific instructions for each product that comes down the production line.

Much detail was missing in the video that is obvious to an engineer who has had to make complex systems work. The nucleotide and amino acid molecules just “fly into place”. In reality, these molecules must be pre-assembled, staged, delivered at the correct time and position without the expenditure of excess energy that will damage the machines, polymer or surrounding molecules.

The fact that life is a process is not disputed. My wife’s college circa 1960 biology textbook³ defines life as a”..a process, or rather a series of interacting processes which are always associated with, and take place in, a complex organization of materials.” What is missing in this definition is the distinction between a natural process and an intelligent process. This same book has no direct mention of molecular machines, making it obvious that much has been learned in the last 50 years.⁴

The world of biology at that time recognized that there are molecular machines⁵ working in the cell performing tasks such as building proteins by the ribosome machine.

“The ribosome is an “RNA machine” that “involves more than 300 proteins and RNAs” to form a complex where messenger RNA is translated into protein, thereby playing a crucial role in protein synthesis in the cell. Craig Venter, a leader in genomics and the Human Genome Project, has called the ribosome “an incredibly beautiful complex entity” which requires a “minimum for the ribosome about 53 proteins and 3 polynucleotides,” leading some evolutionist biologists to fear that it may be irreducibly complex.”⁶

In addition to processes that occur on an “as needed” basis, like replacing a protein that has fallen to equilibrium and is no longer functional, there are “life cycle” processes that take place as shown in figure 2. Processes are typically bottom-up, top-down with layered individual smaller processes that are steps or supporting actions required to accomplish the overall process.

It seems obvious that biology is not just about chemistry, it is also about machines working in life processes. Life in every cell that has ever existed, in every life form that has ever lived on earth, and all of the interactions among life forms, is what this engineer thinks of as The Life Process. It is a hierarchy of processes over time, within cells and within life forms.

Paper: On The Limits Of Natural Causes

by Mike Van Schoiack | Apr 2, 2018 | Intelligent Design

Paper: On The Limits Of Natural Causes

The concepts underlying the Intelligent Design section of this site are contained in this paper entitled “On the Limits of Natural Causes” in a published paper format.

Here is the abstract:

Abstract

The debate surrounding the origins of first life focus on disproving the materialist doctrine that all that exists can be explained by matter, energy, space, time and the laws of physics and that there is a chemical pathway to first life. The Intelligent Design (ID) argument is that life is very complex, requiring high degrees of specified information, design, with vast coherence, making the probability of natural causes finding a viable life solution orders of magnitude longer than the age of the universe.

This paper posits another, more powerful ID argument based on three premises: 1) that outcomes of natural processes, defined as processes that follow the laws of physics with no intelligence involved, are limited due to logical constraints, 2) life is an intelligent process which requires machinery to function , and 3) machines require embedded intelligent functionality which is beyond the reach of natural causes.

The rationale behind these premises is explained in this paper, and a simple means of falsifying them posited. The necessity to consider not only the design of life but the actual building, starting and operation of life is invoked by the arguments presented here. The research for this paper lead to findings that have significance:

They show that there is intelligence embedded in life meaning that life itself is not just science, it is science plus logic (intelligence) which is in the realm of philosophy,
They move the ID argument natural causes created life from being insanely improbable to impossible,
They provide the basis for definitive, coherent definitions of life, science, engineering and philosophy,
They provide methods to falsify the idea that there is a chemical pathway to first life, and that natural causes can create machines.

Link to this paper.

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Biology’s Path to the Future

by Mike Van Schoiack | Mar 31, 2018 | Uncategorized

Biology’s Path to the Future

Biology Today – Headed Down the Wrong Path?

It would have been logical to assume chemistry governed biology before the realization that molecular machines built proteins, DNA, RNA and physical structures within the cell. But enzymes are still called catalysts, and catalysts are called chemicals that speed up a chemical reaction.

Chemical reactions are a different paradigm compared to molecular machines. Machines require embedded intelligence and continual energy consumption while running. Chemical reactions can occur without intelligence and its energy requirement. Could the materialist ideology that permeates the field of biology be the reason it views life through a chemical lens sans engineering?

Biologists have made great progress nevertheless. The ability to observe and measure what is actually happening in the cell was (and still is) very limited due to the microscopic size, 3-D, non-homogeneous envirnoment. Non-biological chemists do chemistry in bulk quantities which has limited use in biology due to its dependency upon highly specified complex, dynamic arrangements of matter/energy. These qualities makes reverse engineering life next to impossible.

The failure of biology to accept life being engineered results in wasted resources, time, energy and lives.

Life Needs to be Reverse Engineered

It is this engineer’s opinion that reverse engineering life is possibly the most significant advancement that mankind should now be pursuing. The benefits of having a detailed understanding of life are obvious, especially in the field of medicine. We could be better stewards of the world. It will help us adapt to changing conditions and to space travel. This may be the reason we exist!

Here are some thoughts about how this project might be organized.

Give the Project a Name

This project would be mankind’s biggest undertaking to date, far bigger than the human genome and ENCODE projects, and even bigger and more challenging than putting a man on the moon, Hubble and the Hadron Collider. An exaggeration? Life is far more complex than anything mankind has encountered, and we do not have means to directly observe the life process in detail. A project of this importance deserves a great name.

Define Goals

Defining the goals is the obvious start of any project. Here are a few straw-man ideas.

Explicitly Define the Knowledge to be Pursued, and the Form it is Documented

The main, high-level goal is to have complete, “know all there is to know” knowledge of life. This should also include understanding the functionality in terms of what each entity is doing, how it is doing it, why it is doing it, and how the process actions relate to each other. There needs to be a top-down (coherency of all functionalities) as well as a bottom-up understanding.

The proposal here is to think of life as a process with thousands of process tasks, to identify each of these tasks, diagram how these tasks relate to each other (linkage notation system) and identify the inputs, signaling means, the logic processing means, and the actuator means of each task.

And there should be a method of cataloging and referencing supporting information such as books, papers, studies, videos, educational materials, medical links, etc.⁷

A possibility would be a cross between a Wikipedia format with a biology Dewey Decimal system.

Form a Standards Committee Consisting of Qualified Engineers and Biologists

The first task would be to assemble highly qualified people to design the process to be followed and organize the effort. Thousands of contributors will very quickly become involved once standards have been established. This group could morph into the role of on-going maintenance and management.

Develop Research Tools and Methods

The development of methods and tools for doing research would be a needed parallel effort. Because of the theoretical limitations of observing molecules, computer simulation can become a method of analyzing molecular machine function. For example, it seems that the natural folding of a protein has been successfully modeled, and it seems that this method could be expanded to simulate molecular machine operation. Again, forming a group to study and promote such efforts, and to provide a database for best practices, tools and methods would be worthwhile.

Mechanism

by Mike Van Schoiack | Mar 31, 2018 | Definition

Mechanism

Cambridge Dictionary Definition

a part of a machine, or a set of parts that work together.
a. a way of doing something, esp. one that is planned or part of a systsem.

Brick’s Law Definition

Components, elements, or parts, and the associated energy and information flows enabling a machine, process, or system to achieve its intended result within this type of logical assembly.

Author’s Definition

a part of a machine, or a set of parts that work together.
a methodology including componenents, elements, parts and the associated energy and information flows enabling a machine, process or system that has demonstrated the ability to achieve its intended result.

Note: This definition is tweaked to include only proven methodologies.