Advancements in genetics and molecular biology suggest cells have the ability to receive, process, store and act on information created within the cell and information received from sources which are external to the cell. This is analogous to a computing network which uses information to make decisions that control growth, movement, differentiation, and response. Think of it as natural genetic engineering. Decisions are made for a purpose and then carried out by the cell’s internal biology.
Darwin assumed all genetic change was accidental and random. But recent work suggests the functions of the genome are not static. Instead, cellular change is affected by the cell’s external environment, mutation depends on internal biochemical processes which can be altered by the cell, and active cell response can drive rapid evolutionary changes in a cell’s DNA. Thus while Darwin’s accidental and random genetic change cannot explain the rather abrupt events we see in DNA and fossil records, a cell’s ability to acquire, store, process and transmit information does encourage rapid adaptive change. Information may come from the disruption of an expected internal function, the external environment, or external intelligence.
Statistically, random mutations are unlikely to produce the desired result within the desired time-frame. But if the biological functions of the cell are actively directed by acquired information, then the cell (and hence the biological host) is more likely to achieve a successful mutation. By receiving, storing, processing, creating and transmitting information, active organisms are able to adapt to changes in their external environment and shape their own evolution.
However, where does all this information come from? If it does not originally reside in a cell’s DNA, who or what is the source?
Ron
Summa 21
Let us unite our perception of the physical with our experience of the spiritual.
.