An Alternative to Evolution: pt 2 (Introduction)

by David Turell , Wednesday, July 04, 2018, 17:35 (2113 days ago) @ dhw

TONY: 5 There is no known natural process for increasing biological information.

dhw: Yes there is: endosymbiosis. But in any case, how do you define increasing biological information? If an organism is able to adapt its body to new information coming from the environment, how can it do so without adding biological information? Millions of bacteria may be killed by new antibiotics, but somehow eventually they find a biological way to counter the threat. Why does this not count as increasing biological information? And how can we know the limitations of cells to restructure themselves in the face of environmental change?

DAVID: Endosymbiosis does not increase biologic information. The info already pre-exists in the symbiotic organism. It is simply added to its host.

dhw: As I understand it – but I’m open to correction – the “symbiotic organism” is a merger between two organisms, the one living inside the other, which exchange biological information, each to the other’s benefit (in those cases where the merger is beneficial to both parties). If one set of biological information is “added” to another, doesn’t that mean an increase?

The amount of total information used in life does not change, but the two symbiotic organisms add to each other, as you state.