Hooray for Kentucky - University replicates multicellular evolution in a Test Tube

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Comment by Elyse on June 29, 2011 at 7:40am

That is probably one of the better responses.

Should I tell you now that I'm slightly ashamed of this family member's response?  She is a well respected DEAN at a university (though, admittedly, probably not a university that most people have heard of if you don't live in her state), in the Engineering department.  And she's telling me that it makes more sense to her that an invisible, omnipotent being that lives in the clouds makes more sense than natural law.  It makes me scared for the future.

Comment by ryan cameron on June 29, 2011 at 7:27am

My response might be "Science is based on evidence and observation, and that approach has brought us new knowledge we didnt have before.  Just closing our eyes and saying "god did it" shuts off the process of discovery - and this is proven in history when it was simply forbidden to question the concept of "the hand of the creator" we stopped learning effectively.  Reality (as opposed to religious faith) has shown us time and again that the more we question, the more we look, the more we discover.  Dismissing new discoveries like this as "hand of god" instead of probing deeper for a non-god invoking answer is how we grow our knowledge.

Comment by Elyse on June 28, 2011 at 4:43pm

So, I posted this news article on my facebook page, and a distant relative who loves her Jesus commented, "You realize that by believing that this happened by chance, just randomly, takes as much faith as believing there is a God behind it, orchestrating it... Just food for thought..."

I replied with, " This is showing that it's not random chance. They took a colony of single-celled organisms, subjected it to hardship that they felt would simulate "primordial soup", and watched to see what happened, and lo and behold, the natural selection theory prevailed. They watched as heavy single-celled organisms survived at first (heavy most likely due to the fact that they were about to split into two daughter cells), then they watched as the cells seemed to "learn" that retaining the daughter cells, rather than fully splitting, was beneficial, starting the process to becoming multi-cellular organisms. They even watched as division of labor started to occur. It had to have been the most exciting time of their life up to this point.

There is no "chance" here. This was the very exact display of evolution that scientists have been predicting. The only leap of faith that I am taking is that this work is done ethically and honestly. If it has, then scientists will replicate this work and this will confirm one more piece of evolutionary theory.

If believing in a god is necessary to answer the questions that scientists haven't answered yet, then fine, whatever. I'd much prefer sitting there wondering how it works, and then marveling when someone figures out the answer. That's far more awe-inspiring than anything else."

And assumed that would be it, because she doesn't really like confrontation.  But she replied with something that is admittedly above my education level, so I am coming here to ask those smarter than me what is an appropriate reply.  Her response was, "I agree with you, Elyse, in how awe inspiring it is! And I even trust that the scientists were ethical in doing it. I just think that something that amazing wouldn't happen randomly in nature because of the laws of thermodynamics. For something that complex to occur, I believe it shows the hand of a creator putting it into motion! Does that mean I believe in Creator-induced evolution? Haha, maybe!"

What, exactly, would make one think that the laws of thermodynamics prevents this from happening outside of a laboratory?  It may have taken more than a few months initially, but that shouldn't affect anything. 

 

Comment by Elyse on June 28, 2011 at 12:39pm

What I'd give to sit in that laboratory and watch first hand...