Biological complexity: phase separation (Introduction)

by dhw, Friday, November 11, 2022, 12:35 (533 days ago) @ David Turell

QUOTE: How do the right proteins organize themselves in a sea of fluid swarming with millions of molecules? Do they bump into each other by chance, or does the cell actively organize its fluid space to bring the correct partners together?
[…]
DAVID: Of course, a science article cannot allow God to put His toe in. Those molecules somehow know exactly what to do in the soup.

dhw: Yes, they do. And I don’t know why a theist shouldn’t accept the possibility that his all-powerful God, who has endowed humans with the intelligence to organize their own forms of cooperation etc., might endow micro-organisms with the intelligence to organize THEIR forms of cooperation.

DAVID: Evidence of intelligent actions takes us to their DNA and related factors, all of which I think was coded by God.

dhw: I’m not sure whether “coded” means that 3.8 billion years ago your God gave precise instructions for every form of cooperation, or that he pops in to change the code whenever it’s necessary, or that he gave organisms the ability to design their own ways to cooperate. Perhaps you could be a little more precise?

DAVID: I wish I could be precise. God doesn't tell me how to think. I believe God puts all the information into DNA and other levels of the genome when He evolved them. There had to be specific information from Dod when God started life and when He evolved new steps. I cannot know how much information started life, but it was obviously huge, with smaller amounts needed with further steps. Precise enough?

I think so. It would mean basic powers such as reproduction and flexibility were there from the start, but your God dabbled to create every innovation, lifestyle, strategy, natural wonder etc., including all those that had nothing to do with his one and only purpose.

dhw: Two tiny tales for you:
One day, Pete Opossum spied a dead opossum in the distance. A predator approached the dead body, took one look, said “Yuk!” and walked away. The next day, Pete saw a predator before it saw him. There was no escape route. It meant certain death, unless...maybe you can guess the rest.
One day God, who has the whole world (even universe) to watch over, spotted Pete Opossum and a predator in the wilds of North America. As for some unknown reason Pete’s individual survival was crucial to God’s plan for all humans and their ecosystems, he whispered in fluent Opossumese: “Lie down, Pete, and pretend you’re dead.” And Pete did lie down, and thus he was saved.
I wonder which of these tales tickles your fancy.

DAVID: You are a great author!

dhw: Thank you. Which of the two tales do you think is more likely?

DAVID: Second one but it wasn't whispering but information in opossum's DNA from God.

So in keeping with your comment above, 3.8 billion years ago your God planted information in the DNA of the very first cells, not only for the design of the opossum, but also for its play-dead strategy. Alternatively, when he dabbled to design our friend Pete, he included an automatic play-dead programme to switch itself on when needed. Or he spotted Pete in trouble, and popped in to plant the play-dead “information” in his DNA. (A whisper would surely have been quicker and simpler than that! ) . Nah, come on. What’s so unbelievable about the first tale?