Are You Smarter Than Dirt?

By Apologist Don Crouse

Introduction

Are you smarter than dirt? My guess is that most of us think we are. Well hold on to your mortarboards, boys and girls, because dirt is a lot smarter than you think. There is one area where dirt has challenged and confounded the collective intellect of mankind for millennia. And I've been trying to figure out a way to talk about this topic for years. Well, I'm not getting any younger and dirt isn't getting any smarter, so I thought it's time to give dirt the opportunity to show us how stupid we really are compared to its basic elemental abilities. You see, dirt has done something that no human has ever done. Dirt has created life from, well, dirt! People can't do that. Sure it had a little help from water, but I can't believe we're still not as smart as mud. However, based on all the science I've looked at, that seems to be the case. So let's take a quick look at life and see if you're smarter than dirt.

I've been an evolutionist for a good portion of my life. But several years back I started to look at the evidence for my beliefs and found out I was totally messed up. Most of you already knew that. But let me clarify. First, when we talk about the creation of life from non-living matter we're not even talking about evolution. We're talking about abiogenesis. So I was messed up from the very beginning.

If you've been reading my prior articles, you're probably familiar with the term abiogenesis. If not, you're in for a real treat, because I'm going to give you the definition, again. Abiogenesis is the technical term for spontaneous generation.[4] I hope that was helpful. The technical definition of that technical term is a little more informative. It goes something like this: abiogenesis is the creation of life from non-living materials. [5] As mentioned in a prior piece, that idea was disproved by Francesco Redi in the mid 1600's when he discovered that all life comes from other life. [6] Except, apparently, the first time. That was different. Now we just have to figure out how dirt did it. That, however, has proven to be an impossible task. The scientific community can't prove their assumption; but they don't have to. We believe what they tell us without question–because they're smarter than us. But are they smarter than dirt?

DNA: The Holy Grail

According to all the science taught in schools today, Francesco Redi's experiments have no relevance in the creation of the first living organism. Alright, let's say I go with that theory for the time being. How does that get us to where we are today?

Today there are millions of different species of living organisms, with people at the top of the intellectual pyramid of life. [7] Let's look at the science of life to see what it tells us about how it all happened. Do you want it naked or with its pants on? The naked truth can be difficult for most of us to handle, so let's just keep the pants on for now. I'm going to try and keep things simple, but that will tend to make you think life is simple. It's not! Even the simplest living organism is far more complex than anything people have ever created. It's insanely complex… mind blowingly complex… unimaginably complex. You get the idea. So when scientists attempt to discover how life could have happened spontaneously, they do so in small, somewhat manageable, increments. Then they combine their collective results to postulate the origins of life. But any discussion of life is pointless without the inclusion of one molecule. DNA. That's short for deoxyribonucleic acid. And that's why we call it DNA. It's the Holy Grail of life and the reason we exist. So why all the hullabaloo? Well, consider this: DNA is responsible for the creation of every living organism, and every functioning aspect of those organisms. All the information to make a person is located in your DNA. It's miraculous! Granted, that's not the first thing I was thinking when I was changing my kid’s diapers, but it's true. Think about it. A sperm and an egg cell come together and within the DNA of those two cells there is all the information necessary to build a human being!

DNA contains the information to make all the proteins that organisms need to survive, as well as information that regulates the behavior of those proteins. In addition, DNA is able to reproduce itself and to create other organisms similar to itself. [8] Your DNA was responsible for the creation of your arms, legs, head, hands, feet, torso and all the organs associated with those body parts. It made your eyes and your brain… some better than others. It replicates your skin and red blood cells. It fights infections and heals injuries. It regulates your temperature and heart rate. Anything you or your body does is the result of the genetic information stored in your DNA. And it does everything without any conscious input from you. How many of you got up this morning and said, "Hey, I'm feeling a little anemic… better make more red blood cells." Your body does that for you… and without you needing to do much more than provide it with food, water and oxygen. Miraculous!

In addition to doing all those wonderful things your DNA must also be able to reproduce itself. This process is no small accomplish-ment, and very complex. And the speed at which it happens is amazingly fast. The cellular machinery that carries out this process has moving parts that rotate as fast as a jet engine! [9]

The biggest problem in science is finding a way dirt could have created something as uber-complex as DNA. It's not that DNA is spectacularly complex at the component level… that is, the small molecules that join together to form our DNA. They are called nucleotides, and as far as molecules go they are pretty simple. But they combine in enormously long strands to make very long molecules of DNA. Some of these DNA molecules are over 200 million nucleotides long! [10] And it's that length that makes DNA so complex. Thus far we're not remotely close to postulating how DNA could have arisen spontaneously. There isn't even a theoretical method or model that has been put forth… because the complexity is too difficult for scientists to develop a feasible method or model that could explain how DNA could have been created spontaneously from its basic, inorganic, atomic parts. So scientists do one experiment to try and solve one aspect of the DNA puzzle, and then they do another one to try and figure out another aspect of the problem. But I'm talking in a lot of generalities, when I'd really like to focus on specifics, so you can start to understand why the problem is so difficult… and I'd like to do that in a way that an average person (somebody like me) can understand it. So I'd like to take some important scientific discoveries, with all their intimidating terminology, and distill them down to some very basic terminology and ideas even I can grasp. How hard could it be? I just have to be as smart as dirt.

When thinking about how to tackle the idea of abiogenesis I asked myself, "Self, how would dirt approach this problem?" Well, dirt would do it the same way I would… without thinking. In case you hadn't noticed, dirt doesn't do a lot of planning. Everything is pretty much by happenstance. I don't know what that is, but I'm pretty sure that's how dirt would approach things. Okay, I looked it up. “Happenstance: coincidence.”[11] It was just happenstance that dirt was able to make DNA. I don't know what a coincidence is either. Okay, I looked that up too. “Coincidence: a remarkable concurrence of events or circumstances without apparent causal connection.” [12] It was a series of coincidences that led to the creation of Trudy's DNA from dirt . I like that definition. And I think it's pretty accurate how dirt would have done things. No thought; just the culmination of random occurrences with no causal connection.

The next thing I thought about was, "If all these really smart scientists haven't figured out how dirt did it, how am I going to do that?" What if I do what they do, and just try something small. What if I just try to make something easy, like one protein… a protein all life needs to survive. Forget trying to figure out how dirt made DNA and just try to figure out how it made something much smaller. Like ATP synthase.

ATP Synthase Okay, don't freak because I'm using a scientific term. ATP synthase is just a molecule. Well, not 'just' a molecule. It's a really important molecule and it looks and acts like a small machine. [13] But it's still a molecule. Don't be afraid. It won't hurt you.

By definition (my definition), every living organism needs to make metabolic energy to survive. No metabolism, no life. ATP synthase is a critical component in that process. Even the simplest life forms use ATP synthase to create metabolic energy. [14] Animals, plants, bacteria and archaea all need some form of ATP synthase. Fortunately for all us life forms, the instructions on how to make ATP synthase are on our DNA.

The production of ATP synthase is a fairly complex process, even in the simplest bacteria… and that process is essentially the same in humans as it is in those simple bacteria. [15] This was a surprising discovery. Why? Well, I'm glad you asked. When scientists started studying the origins of life, they initially thought the biological functions in very simple, primitive organisms would be rather simple and rudimentary. They weren’t. That meant that the process that gave rise to simple organisms, like bacteria, was much more complicated than they had thought. Of course the biological functions of life in humans are quite a bit more complex than those of a bacterium, but all life is mind-numbingly complex.

So let's make some ATP synthase! The easy way. Bacteria style. How hard can it be? Dirt did it… and we're all smarter than dirt, right? First, think of DNA as a library that contains all the blueprints for life. When you need to make something you go to the DNA library and checkout a copy of the blueprint of what you want to make. We call these "blueprints" genes. Today we're going to go to our DNA library and get a copy of the ATP synthase gene. This is called transcribing the DNA, and, of course, it's a complex process.[16] A rather large protein called RNA polymerase (ribonucleic acid polymerase, for long) is used to make the gene copy, with the help of some other molecules. But before those molecules can make a copy of that gene, the starting point for the ATP synthase gene on the DNA must be located. Since your DNA has about 20,000 different protein blueprints on it, along with other stuff, it could be difficult to find the specific blueprint you're looking for. But your DNA takes care of that problem, by using another complex process, that tells the RNA polymerase which gene to transcribe and the location of that gene on the DNA.[17] Once the starting point is located a copy of the gene is transcribed. That copy is something called mRNA, which is short for messenger RNA, which is short for messenger ribonucleic acid, which is why we call it mRNA. The process for making the mRNA is almost unbelievable. As the RNA polymerase moves down the DNA, it unzips the DNA double helix and reads what's on one of the strands. It also zips up the DNA once it's done, because none of us want to walk around with our DNA unzipped. While it's doing that, it's also building an mRNA molecule that is an exact copy of the ATP synthase "blueprint". And just to make sure it's an exact copy, RNA polymerase has built in safety features, such as proofreading and correction capabilities. [18] Pretty sweet, huh? Your DNA has built-in spellchecking!

Okay, now we have an exact copy of the ATP synthase gene, in the form of an mRNA molecule. Now what? If you're a simple bacterium (and I'm hoping you're more evolved than that), the mRNA floats around your cell until it combines with a two-part structure called a ribosome. [19] Are you kidding me? Another thing? I know, this is why most of you hated biology… but I did tell you, life is complex.

Moving along, let's continue making our ATP synthase. We lost some people at the ribosome, so that's where we'll pick things up. Once an mRNA has been created it can be used to make a protein by a molecular machine called (you guessed it) a ribosome. You can think of the ribosome as a miniature assembly plant that has two subunits. One is big. One is little. The little unit grabs the mRNA and the big unit builds the protein by reading the information on the mRNA. This is called translation.[20] Of course it's not as simple as what I just told you… but by now, nobody really cares. At this point I'm just hoping you'll stay around for the spectacular ending. It's really good. But there's still some information you need to understand the ending.

Now it just so happens that the simplest known form of ATP synthase comes from a real simple bacterium called Carsonella ruddii. I'm just going to call him "Rudi." Rudi is a no frills kinda bacterium, and he's about as basic as life gets. Single-celled, never been married, has a couple thousand kids, but just 182 genes. That's the fewest genes of any known, self-sustaining organism. [21] Rudi's not too bright, but I hear his lawyer is a slim mold. So I'll probably be hearing from him. Don't care. Rudi still needs energy. So several of those measly 182 genes are used to make ATP synthase. That doesn't mean Rudi's ATP synthase is easy to make. In fact Rudi's ATP synthase is a rather complex molecule. His 'no frills' form of ATP synthase still needs 5 genes to make his ATP synthase.[22] So? Well, now's the part where I show you how smart dirt is.

Discarding all the time, effort and planning dirt put into developing the whole DNA-mRNA-ribosome-protein thing, we are left with one obvious fact… Rudi needs ATP synthase. And according to the rules of the game, that particular protein was created randomly by dirt. Therefore, dirt would have needed to create the DNA blueprint for ATP synthase at some point in time. Now, I did leave out a couple things when describing the whole DNA-mRNA-ribosome-protein process. Namely, the language used by dirt to make the DNA. Don't worry, it's real easy. Even I can understand it. Come on! How hard could it be? It was created by dirt! The language of dirt is only five letters, and only four of those five letters are used to construct DNA. I told you it was easy. The letters stand for the molecules that form the DNA, but today, because I don't want you to be intimidated by dirt's intellectual prowess, we're just going to use the letters.

No Dirty Language Okay, four letters make up the entire language of DNA. Those letters are A, C, T and G.[23] Those letters are used to spell only words that are three letters long. [24] No more. No less. Just three letter words. That's probably good, because we don't want DNA using a lot of four letter words. Using four letters to spell three letter words allows us to spell 64 words total. Mathematically that means we have 4 to the third power possibilities. Or, 4 x 4 x 4 = 64. I know that's right because one of my professors in college told me it was (see footnote 18). These three letter words are called codons, because each codon is a "code on" the DNA for an amino acid. It's all coming together now. Well, there are actually a couple exceptions, but we're going to ignore those exceptions. With ignorance, we end up with about 62 words that are a code for specific amino acids.

Whoa! You just snuck another thing in on us… without even asking. What's the deal with amino acids, zoology boy? I was hoping you wouldn't notice. Amino acids are the building blocks of proteins… so you just connect a few of those babies together and you get a protein. Any flavor you like. There are millions of different types of proteins, all made from 20 amino acids. [25] Can we move on now?

Some of the words on your DNA are redundant. For example, the letters ATT, ATC and ATA on your DNA, or anybody's DNA for that matter, are all code for the amino acid isoleucine (see footnote 19) That codon is the same for carrots, parrots or our buddy, Rudi. All living organisms use the same codons to make isoleucine. However, RNA polymerase doesn't like the letter "T", so it substitutes it with the letter "U" in the mRNA copy of the DNA. [26] That means the isoleucine code on the mRNA molecule actually reads AUU, AUC and AUA. When a ribosome reads the AUU, AUC or AUA codons on the mRNA it plugs isoleucine into the chain of molecules it's putting together.

The Point Finally! We've come to the point. Cue Rudi. Rudi has roughly 4555 amino acids packed into his bacterial ATP synthase molecule; and he knows how to use 'em.[27] In addition, at some point in time, dirt had to construct 1448 codons to make just one of several genes (the ATP synthase alpha chain gene) that form the ATP synthase in Rudi. And each of those codons is three letters long (see footnote 22). So that's 1448 x 3, which equals 4344 letters dirt had to correctly order on Rudi's DNA to make the ATP synthase alpha chain . Piece of cake. I love cake.

Now we'll do some math. I hate math… unless there's cake involved. If I get this right, somebody send me cake… and FedEx it. I hate stale cake. Anyway, there are a few variables to consider here… like the percentages of the amino acids that are used in Rudi's genome and how many variables there are for each codon used to code for those amino acids. That's a very rudimentary way of saying that of those 4344 letters on Rudi's DNA, roughly 67% of them must be a specific letter, placed in specific spot, in a continuous strand of 4344 letters. [28] If that doesn't happen the mRNA transcribed from the DNA will not tell the ribosome how to make ATP synthase. That means that in order for us to deter-mine the probability of dirt randomly putting together the correct sequence of letters on a strand of DNA, it had to sequentially choose the correct letter, out of the four possible, roughly 2911 times (4344 x 67% = 2911). That's a probability of 1 chance in 4 to the 2911 power tries… and 4 to the 2911 power is a really big number. I can't do that math. So I’m going to use thekeisan Online Calculator I found on line, to crunch that number.[29] Using thekeisan Online Calculator, when I raise 4 to the 2911 power, I get roughly 4 x 10 to the 1752 power. So that means I have one chance in 4 x 10 to the 1752 power tries of getting my desired strand of DNA. Numerically that can be written as 1 chance in 4 x 10¹⁷⁵² tries. So that means dirt has one chance in 4 x 10¹⁷⁵² tries of getting the blueprint for ATP synthase correct. That's a pretty slim chance. In fact, in our universe, or any others you find, it's an impossible chance. 4 x 10¹⁷⁵² is an unimaginably big number. Literally. We have no concept of anything that large. There is nothing that large. There are only about 10⁸⁰ atoms in the entire universe! [30] Some smart guy from MIT, named Seth Lloyd, has calculated that the visible universe has only computed about 10¹²⁰ operations during its existence. [31] Huh? What the pickles are you talking about? Well, I'm talking about Seth Lloyd. [32] And he's wicked smart! Seth thinks the universe is a large computer… who am I to argue - he's got the PhD and a pile of money they pay him to come up with this stuff. So he did a little math and came up with a number that would accurately determine all the events that have happened in the universe over the entirety of its existence. If you had that computer, you'd be able to do crazy donkey stuff; like plot the location of every electron in the universe at any given nano second in time. So you could just ask the universal computer, "Hey, where was electron 1,488,660,175,431,232,639,459 on January 1, 2001, at 12:56:12 and 14 nano seconds PM, Greenwich Mean Time, and it could tell you! If he's correct (and he does have that PhD and a pile of money), that means that no event with a probability greater than a 1 in 10¹²⁰ chance can occur. Obviously 4 x 10¹⁷⁵² is vastly larger than 10 ¹²⁰. So if dirt only had a 1 in 4 x 10¹⁷⁵² chance of randomly ordering the letter sequence for just one of the genes needed to make ATP synthase on DNA (and feel free to check the dreaded math), dirt couldn't have done it randomly–which means dirt is either a lot smarter than we give it credit for, or it didn't make ATP synthase. Yet here we all sit, working our ATP synthase like a beaver with a broken dam.

For those of you crying foul, and perhaps implying I'm not being fair with dirt, let me just point out a few omissions and considerations I've afforded dirt. First, dirt was not required to make all the genetic components Rudi uses to construct ATP synthase. For the sake of ease, and to prove a point, I only used one gene! There are at least 4 more genes listed for Rudi's ATP synthase on The National Center for Biotechnology Information website (Could be more, I just don't know what all the other genes do. See footnote 22) Second, dirt was not re-quired to make DNA, RNA polymerase, mRNA, ribosomes or any of the other molecules needed for the creation of life. That would be a lot more challenging than just making ATP synthase. Dirt was also not required to bring anything to life, or to reproduce that life.

Furthermore, in my example, dirt did not have to worry about contamination from outside sources or degradation of the molecules that were provided. Dirt was also given unlimited quantities of just the molecules that were required to perform the task at hand. In addition, dirt did not have to contend with something called chirality - which we’ll ignore, so you don’t have to contend with it either. Suffice it to say that chirality is just the property of some molecules to come in two different geometric forms. [33] You can think of those molecules as having either a right-handed form or left-handed form. Chiral molecules normally occur in a 50/50 mix of those two forms when made in a laboratory. However, in biological organisms almost every amino acid is left-handed. [34] Of course we don’t know how or why this happened. The point? Adding chirality into the equation just makes the odds worse for poor ol’ dirt. A lot worse!

Dirt was also given unlimited quantities of just the molecules that were required to perform the task at hand. No extra stuff to mess up the coding process. All dirt had to do was correctly construct the coding for one gene. And according to the math, there's no way even that dramatically simplified task could happen. Poor dirt. Unless… unless dirt isn't telling us something. Maybe there's some secret about dirt that will finally illuminate us and tell all the geologists, biologists, geneticists, astronomers and physicists, how it did it. But for now, dirt ain't talkin'.

Conclusion

So how did dirt do it? Well, that's for dirt to know, and for scientists to find out. But I will share this with you.

For the wisdom of this world is foolishness with God. For it is written, He taketh the wise in their own craftiness.

(1 Corinthians 3:19 KJV)

If there is no God, there are no options other than science. And some-times science has no answer. Then, the reality is, you believe something even less believable than the existence of a creator. But for those of you that believe in the power of dirt, we do have two things in common. First, we both believe we were created from dirt. And we both have faith. In fact, you have more faith than I do, because I think it's a lot harder to believe that dirt is responsible for your intelligence than an intelligent creator.

I'm not convinced that dirt has either the intellect or ability to create life. I just don't think dirt is smart enough.

Smarter than dirt,

Don

All original text © Don Crouse 2018

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