Origin of Life: whole cell (Introduction)

by dhw, Sunday, September 22, 2013, 19:07 (3868 days ago) @ David Turell

DAVID: A working cell is more than the sum of its parts. "A functioning cell must be entirely correct at once, in all its complexity," said Huck. "We are now closer to building a synthetic cell than anyone ever before us." [David's bold]-I'm reminded of my own conclusion to the "brief guide": some folk believe "that if they ever can consciously and deliberately design such an organism, it will prove that they themselves were not designed."-http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2013/07/130702100115.htm-DAVID: Why would organic molecules decide to play together without some kind of guidance?-I repeat my answer: "Perhaps because they are possessed of an independent, intelligent decision-making mechanism, which may or may not have been invented by your God."-DAVID: The initial cell was very complex. There is no other simple way life started:-http://invivoveritasest.blogspot.com/2013/07/a-minimum-cell-model-and-origin-of-life_4....-In your post under "Cambrian Explosion" you wrote: "Cells described in the article can evolve." Unfortunately, unless I've missed something, this is one vital area not covered. The article deals specifically with self-replication, and the enormous problem that such complexity poses for Origin of Life theories, but not with evolution. -What I found particularly interesting was the component the author calls the "Construction Planner", which "is responsible to use the information in its construction plan to coordinate the activities of various component types in the cell and to coordinate the overall progress of the cloning and the division phases of the cell replication." It is this CP which issues instructions to all the other components. If changes are to take place, i.e. the innovations which have driven evolution from single cells to humans, they would have to be the result of instructions issued by the CP. When cells combine, the CP in each of them would have to exchange information with other CPs to ensure a smooth fusion, and accordingly it would have to change the instructions given to its own set of components. I would suggest that the author's CP is what I would call the "intelligence".