Guest Post by Freed Radical
Pardon the diversion from fake pandemics, poopy pants presidents, and the destruction of America, but you have to see this. Most readers here are quite inquisitive and analytical, some to a fault, and if I have a fault it’s that as well. Group hug. Anyway, occasionally I am struck by a phenomenon in nature and just have to pause, let my hands drop to my sides, slacken my jaw, and stare in wonder. This is one of those times.
When we were in school, we studied cells in biology class. What’s in ‘em? Well, there is the nucleus, the cell wall, golgi, and some other hard to pronounce things all floating in a little drop of snot, and as an indirect result football happens on Sunday afternoon. Go Johnny U! We took the test, regurgitated the snot diagram, got our B- and headed out into the real world to make our mark.
Today, biologists have much more knowledge about what’s going on inside the cell. Through actual examination, and inference, they have determined much of the internal structure, and how things work on a molecular scale. They have created some amazing animations showing what is going on, and even if they are only 10% correct, it’s still mind blowing.
Please take a look at this short video about mitochondria, which are the energy producing machines inside the cell. Take particular note of the rotating machinery.
All those complex blobs are proteins, which are long molecules, chains of atoms. These consist of smaller molecules, amino acids, and the specific combination and ordering of the amino acids determines the structure and function of the protein. Did you also catch how the mitochondria has two cell walls, with interesting activity between them?
But the proteins mostly do not exist as long molecules in our bodies. They fold up into compact units, with structures that have specific goals and functions. How they fold is an interesting question, not completely understood, and to satisfy your inner geek do a search for “protein folding.” Plan for a few hours of amazement.
What blows my animated socks off is how the proteins form multi-section machines, with moving parts. The soup-of-snot model of the human cell we were taught is simply false. Other video animations show incredibly complex, sequentially operating devices within the cell. This video shows how DNA is replicated through a spinning gizmo, with the complication that the double strand of DNA is not paired 1:1, but one strand is reversed end to end. To replicate the double strand, the protein machine can easily copy the forward half of the strand, but has to loop the reverse half in sections, repeatedly copying it in small pieces.
These videos stimulate centers in my brain that are oft dormant, what with the destruction of American and all. Here are some examples.
When I see a beautiful painting, I ask who painted it.
When I see a cool computer program, I ask who wrote it.
When I see a graceful wood scuplture, I ask who carved it.
When I see a colorful work in pottery, I ask who formed it.
When I hear a beautiful piece of music, I ask who wrote it and who performed it.
When I see an engineering marvel, I ask who designed it.
When I observe these intricate machines inside the cell, I ask who designed and created them.
It is not my intention to ignite yet another theological commentary firestorm. But, heavens to murgatroyd, what am I to make of these structures, and these molecular machines? Is all this really the result of lightning hitting a pool of ooze in a parking lot in Fresno a billion years ago? So one protein starts to spin and the ultimate result is Oprah, Atlas Shrugged, and nice crispy bacon?
The amount of organization among inanimate atoms in our own cells is mysteriously stunning, particularly in light of Murphy’s Law, which as a corollary of thermodynamics applies in every domain, particularly automotive. Such purposeful intricacy must demand spikes of entropy elsewhere in the cosmos. And if I can increase entropy exponentially on our discussion forum by enticing theologians to slug it out with physicists, what can result but even more wondrous molecular biology? (Please, it was nothing, really.)
Folks, there’s something much, much larger than any of us happening in this little universe. Much larger than our current pool of petty potty tyrants. And if there is something much larger happening in the physical realm, shouldn’t we suspect that there is something much larger happening in the spiritual realm?
Release the theologians. Physicists need their protein.
Evolution… 🤣
Stunning, really! Excellent post!
I don’t know about evolution, but origin of life is where the really funny fairy tales are offered by the biologists. Crick, of DNA fame maintained that life had to have been seeded on earth. If you except the big bang theory, and i don’t know of a better explanation of the origin of the universe, from a thermodynamic perspective, which breaks down to purely statistical probabilities, no living cell ever emerged from inanimate matter. Not in this universe or any like it, nor could it. The entire life and (heat) death of such a universe is far too infinitesimal in time, space and matter for it to happen. You couldn’t write enough zeros past the decimal point in a thousand lifetimes.
Why is that?
So it was seeded, but it had to have been started on another barren empty rock floating in space at another time?
How does that change the origin story at all?
People are, if anything, poor imitations of the original Creator, whoever, or whatever that may be. but Creation itself is a reality and we can only guess at it.
I’d rather just marvel in awe.
God’s miracle, life, us.
Beauty is everywhere, behold and be thankful.
Thanks for posting.
Many astrophysicists will try to explain these processes as entirely the result of the interaction of chemicals according to the laws of physics. It has always bothered me that none of them can explain who or what created the laws of physics; or what existed before the big bang. Every language has a word or words to help fill that gap. In English the word is ‘faith.’
If that were true they would have easily replicated the process.
Every element necessary for life already exists on this planet, lest there would be no life here, n’est-ce pas? Every temperature and condition required for that first life out of nothing moment can be achieved in a laboratory.
And yet they can’t do it. Something so simple it started on it’s own with absolutely no outside influence or design and all the greatest minds in the world coupled with the perfection of SCIENCE! and all we’ve got is a theory?
Right.
And that’s all this stuff GOD created works !
Let’s go to WUHAN and make it better by FUCKING EVERYTHING UP 🙉🙈🙊💉😴
Heavens to murgatroyd!!! Exit, Stage Right!!!
However, I don’t recall Snagglepuss having a tape recorder up his nose.
Well, you might not recall — but the shadow knows!
“When I see a beautiful painting, I ask who painted it.”
And if you ask the one who painted it who painted it s/he might respond, if she’s in touch with having been touched, that “who” doesn’t apply, that the thing “done by” was actually channeled through the one whose signature’s on the piece.
Turning to experts, other “adults in the room” ~ theophysicists ~ to “explain” {& “represent” “responsibility” – so the children don’t have to} ~ narrate faery stories ~ is problem, not solution.
People pretending answers, then slappin’ on words, & sellin’ ‘em for pretend emoluments. See the intro to Black’s bit today, ‘bout Coders Ur, Hammurabi. “4,000+ years later & they still haven’t figured it out” cuz that bit o’ code is set to infinite loop & all too finite loopys just don’t have the time to break the rhyme…but if you got the “money” honey, they got time for that. Pulp fiction alright. That same old stuff.
I was raised Roman Catholic, and while no longer ascribe to organized religion, I always had a default belief in God. Or so I thought. It was only when studying the workings of the human lung back in 2004 that I suddenly realized that the complexity and beauty of it could NEVER have been random.
And then the lung of a bird is an even better design…
Who said they were [entirely] random?
They were trial and error, with powerful feedback loops.
Do you also believe in the false dichotomy of Pascal’s Wager?
As a former science teacher, I cannot but help look at the world as intelligently designed. This was not an accident.
i taught physics, chemistry, and biology for 35 years (recently retired). I agree, it MUST be intelligently designed; no random processes like trial and error with feedback loops coupld possibly explain the complexity. But the even bigger challenge is for those who insist there is nothing outside of nature to explain the LANGUAGE we see in DNA and protein synthesis. Language with no Intelligence? That is absurd. And when one is discussing the astonishingly complex system of coding and transmission in DNA —> RNA —> protein …. YIKES! And to then end up with a 3 dimensional structure that is shape specific in order to be able to perform the machinelike function of each protein? I was teaching my classes almost 40 years ago that despite the best minds using the best computers to solve the problem of protein folding, we still had not figured out how to create a single protein (now finally accomplished this year!) Every protein we previously tried to make would never fold properly, despite enormous efforts and money being thrown at the problem. But it all happened by trial and error? Not in an infinitely long period of time. Only the willfully ignorant cannot see this.
You said it so much better than I could. Thank you.
Consciousness looking into a mirror. There’s a whole and complete scientific world for the science perspective to observe and claim ultimate reality and another whole and complete world from any other perspective you can imagine to do the same, and then let the power struggle begin.
My people build solar systems.
Who are your people?
“While Jesus was still speaking to the crowds, His mother and brothers stood outside, wanting to speak to Him. Someone told Him, “Look, Your mother and brothers are standing outside, wanting to speak to You. But Jesus replied, “Who is My mother, and who are My brothers?” Pointing to His disciples, He said, “Here are My mother and My brothers. For whoever does the will of My Father in heaven is My brother and sister and mother.”
I should have said ‘our’.
And yet everyone believes he or she has enough information/insight to come to a conclusion. “Can’t be this so it must be that.”
If you got out of bed this am it means you were still alive at that point in time.
I have to go lie down as with all this shit going on in my body I am exhausted.
You know what’s amazing?
CGI.
They’ve come so far with it that we can look into cells, or out into deep space and it’s only been around for what, 25 years?
Imagine if we had come that far with something like, oh I don’t know, microscopes. You know, so we could actually see these things instead of some artist’s interpretation of what we’re told takes place inside a cell, or a satellite telescope that would give us an actual picture of the Big Blue Marble floating in space rather than a CGI compilation created by NASA’s art department.
Not that any of these artist’s renditions aren’t exactly as they claim to be.
We’re told that many rovers have wandered about on mars doing this and that and sending the info back.
How dificult would it be to put a rover on the moon with a decent webcam on it pointed at earth?
Any takers?
Life is beautiful and amazing.
We (and everything else) are fearfully and wonderfully made.