Theistic evolution vs. Darwinism: design evidence (Introduction)

by David Turell , Thursday, January 30, 2025, 17:11 (8 hours, 43 minutes ago) @ David Turell

From dhw who does not understand Darwinism depends totally on chance mutations, nothing organized for design:

"Two existing protein fragments fused to create something new. The first cells fused into different communities which eventually evolved into every new organ and organism. Yes, yes, the whole of life can be called evidence for design,"

An answer:

https://www.livescience.com/chemistry/asteroid-bennu-contains-the-seeds-of-life-osiris-...

"Scientists have discovered the essential building blocks to life on a sample from a distant asteroid.

"The sample, which the OSIRIS-REx spacecraft collected from the asteroid Bennu and returned to Earth in 2023, contains all five nucleobases — the "letters" that make up DNA and RNA — alongside mineral compounds, all of which have never previously been seen on extraterrestrial rocks.

"The minerals are rich in carbon, sulfur, phosphorus, fluorine and sodium, making them resemble those left in the crusts of dried lake beds on Earth — except they date to the birth of the solar system 4.6 billion years ago. These elements, alongside the five nucleobases that make up DNA and RNA, are the basic building blocks for life on our planet. (my bold)

***

"'We now know from Bennu that the raw ingredients of life were combining in really interesting and complex ways on Bennu's parent body," study co-lead author Tim McCoy, curator of meteorites at the Smithsonian's National Museum of Natural History, said in a statement. "We have discovered that next step on a pathway to life."

"Bennu is a potentially hazardous asteroid that has a 1-in-2,700 chance of striking Earth in the year 2182 — the highest odds of any known space object. But scientists are more interested in what's trapped on the space rock: As a carbon-rich asteroid, it likely contains many of the primordial molecules present when life first emerged on Earth." (my bold)

Comment: if I were a designer setting up the alphabet for my code controls of life, I would have them available from the beginning in the terrestrial substances. I am not attacking Darwin's degree of theism. I don't care what he believed theistically. He believed chance mutations drove evolution, seasoned by natural selection. And that mess made our brain! No way!