The Evolutionary Origins of Genetic Information
No Thumbnail Available
Links to Files
Permanent Link
Collections
Author/Creator
Author/Creator ORCID
Date
2011-12
Department
Program
Citation of Original Publication
“The Origins of Genetic Information" Freeland S. Perspectives in Science and Christian Faith, 63(4): 240-254
Rights
This item is likely protected under Title 17 of the U.S. Copyright Law. Unless on a Creative Commons license, for uses protected by Copyright Law, contact the copyright holder or the author.
Abstract
Any living branch of science achieves progress by testing new ideas. The results
of these tests determine whether each new idea is accepted as a change to what
we thought we knew, is dismissed as incorrect, or simply stagnates, owing to a lack of
clear evidence. For evolutionary theory, one such proposition is that some features
of genetic information cannot evolve through natural processes unless we allow a role
for an intelligent designer. This proposition claims testability by defining information
in a way that is usually reserved for human creations, such as computer program ming code. The argument is that since we know that intelligent beings create computer
code, then perhaps similar features found within genetic information indicate a similar
origin. However, many biologists perceive that they are able to understand exactly
where life’s genetic information comes from (the local environment) by thinking in
terms of more fundamental and well-established definitions of information that do not
involve intelligent design.
Current science does not have a detailed, widely accepted description for how a genetic
information system evolved in the first place. Intelligent design (ID) proponents
suggest that this is a key weakness of existing evolutionary theory, consistent with
the need for an intelligent designer. I describe the progress that mainstream science
has made toward understanding the origin of genetic information ever since the
molecular basis of genetic information was first understood, encouraging readers to
reach their own conclusions.