Subject: guidance

To: Robert Curry

From: Michael Hardy

Date: 2/16/95

>RC> When the "guidance" is indistinguishable from natural selection, why consider that "guidance" at all? <<<<

MH> Is it indistinguishable? <<<<

RC> Given no distinctions, it is indeed indistinguishable. You have not provided any distinctions - though you are invited now to provide even a single distinction based on fact (not make-believe, please) that shows evolution being guided in some way other than natural selection. Have at it. <<<<

Short answer: DNA.

DNA carries information as complex as that in a book. In every case which we can observe, things which have order and complexity also have an intelligent creator. When you find round pebbles in a stream, you know the water rounded them. Not so an arrowhead. Snowflakes have a beauty and symmetry, but they also are formed by natural processes. Not so a snowman. In the western deserts, the wind has sculpted the sand and rock into various intriguing shapes. It's all natural. Not so the faces on Mt. Rushmore. To say that random interactions of chemicals could have produced the complex, specific information carried in DNA is like saying it is your computer, rather than you, that creates your posts here. "In DNA's language there are precise symbols or letters (nucleotides) grouped into words (codons). These words are alsoa rranged in a particular sequence to form sentences (genes) or complete thoughts. The analogy can go on with paragraphs (operons), chapters (chromosomes) and volumes (genomes).

"By simply applying the same basic criteria to living systems, we find that the evidence of intelligent design is impressive. Since we are dealing with a historical question concerning the origin of the complex arrangements, it may be possible to construct a complicated mechanistic scenario to account for it apart from intelligence. This would not prove that intelligence was not used, nor would it prove intelligence unnecessary, for any mechanistic theory will have a low probability. All that can be said is that it *may* have happened that way. Ultimately the choice will be made based on personal preference." Dr. Lane Lester, (Ph.D. in genetics from Perdue.) in "The Natural Limits To Biological Change." Origin: Di's Online Cafe - Mobile, AL (334) 661-8945

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