THE MINIMAL COMPLEXITY HURDLE.
Here is a quote from the book The Problems of Evolution by Mark Ridley (Junior Research Fellow of New College Oxford), published by Oxford University Press, 1985, page 35:-
“The case against natural selection (ie:- evolution) runs something like this:- Even the simplest self-sufficient, self-reproducing organisms, such as the simplest bacteria, contain many interacting parts - - - DNA - - - - 50 different proteins, a membrane, and other structures. They are all essential for the bacterium to live: IF YOU TOOK AWAY ANY OF THEM, IT WOULD DIE without reproducing. Natural selection could not then have built up bacteria from simpler forms of life - - - - the chance that molecules, combined at random would form something as well designed as a bacterium is impossibly small.” (My capitals.)
The next quote is from (militant atheist) Daniel Dennett, who is a very vigorous supporter of Darwinism. The quote is from the book Darwin’s Dangerous Idea by Daniel Dennett (Distinguished Professor of Arts and Sciences at Tufts University, Massachusetts, USA) published by Penguin Books, 1996, page 156:-
“A whole bacterium is much too complicated to happen into existence by cosmic accident. The DNA of a bacterium - - - - has around 4 million nucleotides (ie:- nucleotide bases) in it, almost all of them precisely in order. It is quite clear, moreover, that A BACTERIUM COULD NOT GET BY WITH MUCH LESS.” (My capitals.)
(My comment:- This is a startling admission from a militant atheist and enthusiastic Darwinian like Daniel Dennett!)
The next quote is from the book Evolution a Theory in Crisis by Michael Denton (molecular biologist – He was a senior research fellow in the Biochemistry Department at the University of Otago, Dunedin, New Zealand from 1990 to 2005), published by Adler and Adler, 1986, pages 269 to 270:-
Denton discusses the researches of Von Neumann into self replicating automata. (According to Wikipedia, Von Neumann was generally regarded as the foremost mathematician of his time and said to be "the last representative of the great mathematicians”) According to Von Neumann, the MINIMUM REQUIREMENT for a self replicating automaton is for the following components:-
(A). Information storage system.
(B). Information duplication system.
(C). Reading system. (ie:- reading information.)
(D). Energy system.
(E). Membrane system.
(F). Material handling and processing system.
Denton then comments (putting it rather well):- “Complex systems (ie:- life) cannot be approached gradually through functional intermediates because of the necessity of perfect co-adaptation of their components as a pre-condition of function.” (My capitals.)
Now for a further quote from the same book (by Michael Denton), pages 263 to 264:-
Denton tells us that American biochemist Harold Morowitz (who was a professor in the department of molecular biophysics and biochemistry at Yale from 1955 to 1987) “speculated as to what might be THE ABSOLUTE MINIMUM REQUIREMENT for a - - - -self replicating cell”. He concluded that such a cell would require in excess of 80 proteins. Denton then comments:-“The complexity of the simplest - - - - cell is so great that it is impossible to accept that such an object could have been thrown together - - - by some kind of freakish - - - event - - - - Such an occurrence would be indistinguishable from a miracle.” (My capitals.)
The next quote is from the book Full House by Stephen Jay Gould (Gould, a paleontologist, according to Wikipedia, spent most of his career teaching at Harvard University and working at the American Museum of Natural History in New York.) published by Three Rivers Press, NY, 1997, page 169:-
Gould introduces the concept of “The Left Wall”, which is “the minimal complexity of life under the conditions of spontaneous origin”
The next quote comes from another book by Stephen Jay Gould – Life’s Grandeur: The Spread of Excellence From Plato to Darwin, published by Jonathan Cape, London, 1996, page 170:-
“Bacteria lie right next to the left wall of minimum conceivable complexity.”
The next quote comes from the book Blueprint For a Cell: The Nature and Origin of Life by Christian de Duve, Professor Emeritus at The Rockefeller University, and President of the International Institute of Cellular and Molecular Pathology. Published by Neil Patterson Publishers 1991, page 132:-
“There exists an uncomfortably wide gap between, on the one side, what random prebiotic chemistry may reasonably be expected to deliver - - - - - and, on the other (side), the minimum set of self replicating, information-conserving molecules required to initiate the - - - - - evolutionary process.”
The next quote come from the book Time’s Arrow and Evolution by Harold F. Blum (Visiting Professor at Princeton University - Harold Blum was an assistant professor of animal biology at the University of Oregon, then an instructor of physiology at Harvard Medical School. He became an assistant professor, then associate professor, of physiology at the University of California at Berkeley.) published by Princeton University Press, third edition, 1998, page 171:-
“A number of major properties are essential to living systems - - - - the origin of any one of which from a “random” system is difficult enough to conceive, let alone the simultaneous origin of all”. Blum then goes on to list some of these “major properties – (complex polymer molecules, transport of energy, photosynthesis, the gene, the cell etc. - - - - )
The next quote comes from the book Seven Clues to The Origin of Life by A.G. Cairns Smith (Senior Lecturer in Chemistry at The University of Glasgow), published by Cambridge University Press, reprinted 1991, page 30.
“Any conceivable kind of organism would have to contain messages of some sort and equipment for reading and reprinting the messages. Any conceivable organism would thus seem to have to be packed with machinery, and as such NEEDS A MIRACLE FOR THE FIRST OF ITS KIND TO HAVE APPEARED – That’s the problem.” (My capitals.)
Here is a further quote from the same book (page 37):-
“We are faced with the seemingly unequivocal need for a fully working machine of incredible complexity: a machine that HAS TO BE COMPLEX - - - - TO WORK AT ALL.” (My capitals.)
Here is a quote from the book Genetic Takeover and The Mineral Origins of Life by A.G. Cairns Smith (Senior Lecturer in Chemistry at The University of Glasgow), published by Cambridge University Press, reprinted 1987, page 150.
Cairns Smith focuses on the basic problem of the origin of life. “If a number of independent considerations have to coincide for a given circumstance to arise, then the probability of that circumstance rapidly approaches zero as the number of considerations increases.”
(My comment:- Even the very simplest life form requires a number of complex features. The probability of each separate individual feature coming into being from a “primordial soup” is vanishingly small. The probability that ALL these individual features will all come into being all at once is the PRODUCT of the individual probabilities. For example, if the probability of Event A happening is 0.000,000,1 and the probability of Event B happening is 0.000,000,1 then the probability of BOTH Events A and B happening together is 0.000,000,1 x 0.000,000,1 = 0.000,000,000,000,1
In fact the probabilities that we are considering here are of the following much higher order of magnitude
EVENT A. probability is 0.000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,0001
EVENT B. probability is 0.000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,0001
EVENT C. probability is 0.000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,0001
EVENT D. probability is 0.000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,0001
EVENT E. probability is 0.000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,0001
EVENT F. probability is 0.000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,0001
The probability that ALL these “events” will all happen together is the PRODUCT of the individual probabilities.
0.000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,0000,000,00,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,00,000,000,000,000,000,000 - - - etc – etc – etc - 000,000,000,000,0001
The probability that the simplest viable reproducing biological organism can emerge from the prebiotic soup is a number with enough zeros to fill this whole book! In other words, it CANNOT happen – unassisted!