Re: Examples of natural selection generating CSI

From: Paul Nelson (pnelson2@ix.netcom.com)
Date: Thu Sep 28 2000 - 12:51:04 EDT

  • Next message: Wesley R. Elsberry: "CSI stuff"

    Hi Richard,

    You asked:

    > Paul, do you have any examples of calculations demonstrating the existence
    > of CSI in nature? I have been asking Dembski to cite such a calculation,
    but
    > he has so far been unable to do so.

    Try Siegfried Scherer, "Basic Functional States in the Evolution of
    Light-driven
    Cyclic Electron Transport," _Journal of Theoretical Biology_ 104 (1983):
    289-299. The section, "Estimation of Probabilities," pp. 295-296, should
    be of interest.

    If you read German, Scherer's monograph, _Entstehung der Photosynthese:
    Grenzen molekularer Evolution bei Bakterien?_ (Berlin: Pascal Verlag, 1996),
    updates the 1983 paper in considerable detail.

    You might also take a look at a 1992 paper by the Swiss biochemist Peter
    Rust, "How Has Life and Its Diversity Been Produced?" _Perspectives on
    Science & Christian Faith_ 44 (June 1992):80-94, especially the sections
    "Microevolutionary Mechanisms" (pp. 82-83) and "Semantic Information"
    (pp. 84-86).

    Neither Scherer nor Rust uses the terminology "CSI," but as you'll see from
    reading their arguments, the fit with Dembski's reasoning is fairly close.

    Paul Nelson
    Senior Fellow
    The Discovery Institute
    www.discovery.org/crsc



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