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and so on. Unlike an electric motor a photon motor is, as far as can
be found, 100% efficient. (A photon is an elementary particle of
light. Light here though is not just visible light that you and I can see
but goes beyond into X Rays, Gamma Rays and even into
microwaves, radio waves, in fact anything electromagnetic including
the electricity in your home.) The beauty of a photon is that in the
presence of matter it can convert itself into energy. Hence the
matter around the base of the stator absorbs the photon and the
electromagnetic field created spins the rotor.
Now this incredible motor is used in, of all things, an e-coli bacteria,
and e-coli are bacteria that live in our stomachs to help us digest
food.
So what am I saying?
That there is, inside our stomachs, bacteria that are able to move
because they have complex motors to drive their tails.
And the point of this?
Those motors, as with our far, far bigger human built electric
motors, will not work if one single part is missing. We have
something here that has irreducible complexity. In other words we
have here a machine of various parts that must all be together at
the right size in the right order at the right time for the motor to
work; a complex mechanism that cannot be reduced by one single
part without making it useless. This is what irreducible complexity
means.
So what?
Well how did the e-coli get its photon motor?
The common theory is that it evolved. How?
Evolution is based on a mutation occurring in a critter that makes it
superior to its contemporaries. It can then survive better and with
ongoing further mutations in future generations eventually become
Designer Life
The more we learn the more we find the old beliefs may be right.
Life forms are so intricate and interdependent that the concept of
them coming into existence by chance seems more and more
bizarre. Modern technology is advancing fast. The ability for us to
see into the structure of cells has allowed us to see, not a simple
mechanism at the core of life as expected by Darwin but irreducible
complexity on a scale that makes modern supercomputers seem
like Lego blocks. And even looking out instead of in we find space
research shows, not a universe full of possible life forms, but a
universe so dangerous that only a unique combination of a whole
range of factors will allow any complex life to exist. The only likely
place that fits the bill for complex life in the universe is our planet
Of course such a state of affairs is causing serious discussions
(arguments) because much of our current way of looking at life is
based on the supposition that we, and all life, happened by chance,
and that the same chances that allowed life here would allow life
elsewhere, if not in our solar system then certainly in our galaxy and
throughout the universe. The evidence now seems to be saying no,
we, and all life, is carefully designed. Not only that but, the planet
we live on has been designed to allow us to live on it.
If it is correct, that design permeates everything, then the
conclusion has to be that somewhere there is a Designer.
Obviously if everything has been designed then there must be a
But is this true? What are the sorts of things being discovered that
indicate design?
One classic case is the photon motor. To look at it is to recognise
the basic structure of an electric motor with stator, rotor, bearings
be found, 100% efficient. (A photon is an elementary particle of
light. Light here though is not just visible light that you and I can see
but goes beyond into X Rays, Gamma Rays and even into
microwaves, radio waves, in fact anything electromagnetic including
the electricity in your home.) The beauty of a photon is that in the
presence of matter it can convert itself into energy. Hence the
matter around the base of the stator absorbs the photon and the
electromagnetic field created spins the rotor.
Now this incredible motor is used in, of all things, an e-coli bacteria,
and e-coli are bacteria that live in our stomachs to help us digest
food.
So what am I saying?
That there is, inside our stomachs, bacteria that are able to move
because they have complex motors to drive their tails.
And the point of this?
Those motors, as with our far, far bigger human built electric
motors, will not work if one single part is missing. We have
something here that has irreducible complexity. In other words we
have here a machine of various parts that must all be together at
the right size in the right order at the right time for the motor to
work; a complex mechanism that cannot be reduced by one single
part without making it useless. This is what irreducible complexity
means.
So what?
Well how did the e-coli get its photon motor?
The common theory is that it evolved. How?
Evolution is based on a mutation occurring in a critter that makes it
superior to its contemporaries. It can then survive better and with
ongoing further mutations in future generations eventually become
a new type of critter. But we already know that the photon motor is
made up of a variety of specific parts. None of those parts on their
own or even with another couple of parts will make a working motor.
In other words none of the parts, not even two or three of them
together give the host critter one iota of an advantage. All the parts
have to be there. It cannot evolve; it has to be there complete to be
an advantage.
It’s all rather like a mouse trap. A mouse trap has six parts, the
baseplate, the spring, the bar, the bait holder, the trigger, and the
release arm. It would not work if one of those were missing. But the
key point is that if one part were missing it would not catch fewer
mice, it would not catch any at all!
Having part of a mouse trap then is not an evolutionary advantage.
A mousetrap cannot evolve by gradually producing beneficial
changes, it is all or nothing. It has to be designed and carefully
made to actually work.
And that’s the point. The idea of a working electric motor suddenly
just being in the cupboard is preposterous. There has to be a
designer, one who knew what the power supply voltage would be,
the sort of use the motor would be put to, what speed it would need
to turn at and so on.
The photon motor in an e-coli bacteria is exactly the right size and
power. It turns at over 100,000 revs per minute (rpm) and can
reverse to 100,000 rpm in the other direction in a quarter of a turn.
And just to complete the picture of how complex this all is the motor
is water cooled and the tail carries a sensing device …… Irreducible
Complexity!
Earlier I mentioned that the universe is a very hostile place for life
as we know it. A whole lot of factors must be in place for any life,
but especially complex life to exist, and our universe seems totally
alien in its ability to supply even just a few of those factors in any
one place at any one time.
For example it is generally, though not completely agreed that
complex life can only exist where there is liquid water. Our world is
within a narrow band where liquid water can exist. If it were much
further from the sun then all water would freeze and life would fail, a
bit closer and all the water would be evaporated and again all life
Plants are an absolute necessity not only as food but for the part
they play in regulating the earth’s temperature and the balancing of
our atmosphere gases. Plants need light, not just any
electromagnetic light but a specific spectrum. The only stars to
produce this in the correct balance are G2 Main Sequence Dwarf
would die.
stars, our sun is one of this special type of star.
But not all the sun sends our way is good for us. The radiation from
the sun would kill life in a few minutes but our planet has a spinning
iron core that creates a magnetic shield to deflect the most
dangerous types of radiation. Not many planets have this.
And then we have a moon so situated as to create tidal movements
on earth, not enough to leave large areas dry and then swamped,
but enough to create a self cleaning and regeneration process.
Our atmosphere allows sunlight through, the surfaces of many other
planets never see sunlight or starlight. The atmosphere on Jupiter
or Venus would kill us in seconds but here we have a balanced
range of gases necessary for life as we know it.
There are lots more requirements best explained in the book
Privileged Planet but one of the arguments used against these new
discoveries is that life on other planets could be very different to
that on ours.
That is true, but it is also true that the rules of science that control
our world control the universe. There is no ability of a hunk of iron
or a piece of silicon suddenly becoming an animate object.
Zinc, iron, helium are not life forms nor can they be. No elements is,
or can be a life form, they are just things; atoms with a specific
number of protons, neutrons and electrons. If we think of an atom
as a very, very small sun with planets spinning around it then each
sun will me made up of protons and neutrons and the planet would
What is life?
be called an electron.
For example hydrogen has one proton, one neutron and one
electron. Hydrogen is just the name we give to atoms of that sort.
Helium has two of each, and so it goes on. Oxygen has eight
protons, eight neutrons and eight electrons. But all of these are
elements, the simplest structures of every physical thing. If two
hydrogen atoms and one oxygen atom join together then we have
one, not atom, but molecule of water. Molecules are where two or
more atoms join together. Some molecules are like strings of
connected atoms, others are clumps, while others can be in rings.
The thing is they just are. They don’t do anything except grow older
and eventually break apart and break down.
Certainly life forms have these elements in them. For example our
bone are calcium and over 70% of our bodies is water, a mixture of
hydrogen and oxygen. But that doesn’t make calcium, hydrogen
and oxygen a life form.
The human body contains oxygen, carbon, hydrogen, nitrogen,
calcium, phosphorus, potassium, sulphur and 52 other elements
including gold, silver, uranium, tin, zinc, arsenic, and chlorine.
Although that is what a human body is made of no one would
expect to gather all those elements in one place and produce a live
human being.
Life is far more complex than that. It only uses the physical body to
live in, but the body itself isn’t life. When one gets past the age of
say 45 or older you the person still think and feel as an eighteen
year old, albeit with years of experience, but the body doesn’t
operate as an eighteen year old. Try playing soccer or basketball
with an eighteen year old and you’ll see just how much you have
slowed down.
And living things reproduce themselves, molecules, even atoms
don’t do that, they just follow the laws of Thermodynamics and
break down according to their half lives.
It might be nice to think of other complex forms of life out there in
the vast empty space that is the universe but the reality is that there
is no sign of any such physical life out there; spiritual yes, physical
We are alone; unless there is a God.
And it is the pervading interconnectedness, the complexities of a
database operated replenishing system in every cell, and our
location in the universe that points to a designer; God Himself.
Although that is what a human body is made of no one would
expect to gather all those elements in one place and produce a live
human being.
Life is far more complex than that. It only uses the physical body to
live in, but the body itself isn’t life. When one gets past the age of
say 45 or older you the person still think and feel as an eighteen
year old, albeit with years of experience, but the body doesn’t
operate as an eighteen year old. Try playing soccer or basketball
with an eighteen year old and you’ll see just how much you have
slowed down.
And living things reproduce themselves, molecules, even atoms
don’t do that, they just follow the laws of Thermodynamics and
break down according to their half lives.
It might be nice to think of other complex forms of life out there in
the vast empty space that is the universe but the reality is that there
is no sign of any such physical life out there; spiritual yes, physical
We are alone; unless there is a God.
And it is the pervading interconnectedness, the complexities of a
database operated replenishing system in every cell, and our
location in the universe that points to a designer; God Himself.
Although that is what a human body is made of no one would
expect to gather all those elements in one place and produce a live
human being.
Life is far more complex than that. It only uses the physical body to
live in, but the body itself isn’t life. When one gets past the age of
say 45 or older you the person still think and feel as an eighteen
year old, albeit with years of experience, but the body doesn’t
operate as an eighteen year old. Try playing soccer or basketball
with an eighteen year old and you’ll see just how much you have
slowed down.
And living things reproduce themselves, molecules, even atoms
don’t do that, they just follow the laws of Thermodynamics and
break down according to their half lives.
It might be nice to think of other complex forms of life out there in
the vast empty space that is the universe but the reality is that there
is no sign of any such physical life out there; spiritual yes, physical
We are alone; unless there is a God.
And it is the pervading interconnectedness, the complexities of a
database operated replenishing system in every cell, and our
location in the universe that points to a designer; God Himself.
no.
Although that is what a human body is made of no one would
expect to gather all those elements in one place and produce a live
human being.
Life is far more complex than that. It only uses the physical body to
live in, but the body itself isn’t life. When one gets past the age of
say 45 or older you the person still think and feel as an eighteen
year old, albeit with years of experience, but the body doesn’t
operate as an eighteen year old. Try playing soccer or basketball
with an eighteen year old and you’ll see just how much you have
slowed down.
And living things reproduce themselves, molecules, even atoms
don’t do that, they just follow the laws of Thermodynamics and
break down according to their half lives.
It might be nice to think of other complex forms of life out there in
the vast empty space that is the universe but the reality is that there
is no sign of any such physical life out there; spiritual yes, physical
We are alone; unless there is a God.
And it is the pervading interconnectedness, the complexities of a
database operated replenishing system in every cell, and our
location in the universe that points to a designer; God Himself.
no.
Although that is what a human body is made of no one would
expect to gather all those elements in one place and produce a live
human being.
Life is far more complex than that. It only uses the physical body to
live in, but the body itself isn’t life. When one gets past the age of
say 45 or older you the person still think and feel as an eighteen
year old, albeit with years of experience, but the body doesn’t
operate as an eighteen year old. Try playing soccer or basketball
with an eighteen year old and you’ll see just how much you have
slowed down.
And living things reproduce themselves, molecules, even atoms
don’t do that, they just follow the laws of Thermodynamics and
break down according to their half lives.
It might be nice to think of other complex forms of life out there in
the vast empty space that is the universe but the reality is that there
is no sign of any such physical life out there; spiritual yes, physical
We are alone; unless there is a God.
And it is the pervading interconnectedness, the complexities of a
database operated replenishing system in every cell, and our
location in the universe that points to a designer; God Himself.
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