DNA is a Natural Language
The sequence of base pairs in DNA is a language with its own natural alphabet. The DNA sequences code for different proteins. Many possible DNA code sequences, however, specify proteins that cannot be made. The possibility of formation therefore puts a strong limit on allowed variations.
The DNA of a given species is like a written message, about the length of an encyclopedia. The message is broken up into words, sentences, paragraphs, etc. The human genome, that is, the complete specification for people, is now on display on the Internet. When we finally obtain the complete genomes of a great number of species, we can start subtracting to find the differences. At that point we are certain to discover a characteristic of all successful codes. All the words used regularly will be widely spaced in the table of all possible DNA words. Words that are never used will separate them. This is necessary to defend the message from noise. Replication is defended from transcription errors because most simple errors wouldn’t make sense, that is, they wouldn’t code for constructible proteins. How did the same safeguard, wide spacing, appear in the natural DNA language before there were any brains to see the advantages?
If there were such a thing as macro mutations, then one species could of course make a long jump to become another species. But macro mutations would involve coordinated changes in many genes at once. Macro mutations are therefore extremely improbable.
Supposedly a journey of a thousand miles begins with one step and keeps on in the same way. But this proverb presupposes a smooth, continuous road between start and destination. What if there are occasional chasms about five feet wide and the traveler is a prisoner with leg irons that limit him to short steps?
The “primordial alphabet soup” model shows that there is a soft but insurmountable barrier between structural adaptability and the origin of a new species. The barrier to unlimited complexity is the combination of a tight restriction on the size of permitted changes, and the wide spacing between constructible DNA “words” or specifications. The species are sparsely dispersed in an even huger hyperspace.
The DNA of a given species is like a written message, about the length of an encyclopedia. The message is broken up into words, sentences, paragraphs, etc. The human genome, that is, the complete specification for people, is now on display on the Internet. When we finally obtain the complete genomes of a great number of species, we can start subtracting to find the differences. At that point we are certain to discover a characteristic of all successful codes. All the words used regularly will be widely spaced in the table of all possible DNA words. Words that are never used will separate them. This is necessary to defend the message from noise. Replication is defended from transcription errors because most simple errors wouldn’t make sense, that is, they wouldn’t code for constructible proteins. How did the same safeguard, wide spacing, appear in the natural DNA language before there were any brains to see the advantages?
If there were such a thing as macro mutations, then one species could of course make a long jump to become another species. But macro mutations would involve coordinated changes in many genes at once. Macro mutations are therefore extremely improbable.
Supposedly a journey of a thousand miles begins with one step and keeps on in the same way. But this proverb presupposes a smooth, continuous road between start and destination. What if there are occasional chasms about five feet wide and the traveler is a prisoner with leg irons that limit him to short steps?
The “primordial alphabet soup” model shows that there is a soft but insurmountable barrier between structural adaptability and the origin of a new species. The barrier to unlimited complexity is the combination of a tight restriction on the size of permitted changes, and the wide spacing between constructible DNA “words” or specifications. The species are sparsely dispersed in an even huger hyperspace.