A Satire with a Serious Intent that has
Science-Theoretical Implications

It is a general belief that Darwin has explained the
"Origin of Species" , with the meaning of this phrase
taken literally, so that it has developed into a Corner
stone in the world picture of modern man.
Here it works as the scientific Explanation of the
origin of life.

This Darwinist explanation rests on two half-hidden
corner stones:

1. That blind chance can work as a creator and organizer
of structure and order, so that complicated organisms
jump out of a formless mess of amino acids, dissolved
in salt water.

2. That the gaps in this hap hazard design can be
compensated for by the number of years -- e. g. some
millions or billions -- that the process of development
has taken, from the creation of the amoebae to the
development of mankind.

To sum up: The belief in the Darwinist explanation
comprises both points 1 and 2 above. Thus the
combination of chance with sufficiently long time will
explain the generation of living organisms -- no matter
how complicated they are.

In the present article I am trying to show the following:

1. That Darwin´s model does not explain the creation of
living organisms out of amino acids etc, i. e. to give the
answer to the question: how come that there appeared
living beings out of a solution of chemicals in the water
of warm seas?

2. I am trying to do this by way of a science theoretical
analysis which shows which significant errors in
reasoning, that are bringing people to believe that
Darwin´s theory gives the explanation of the "Origin
of Species".

3. I will also give a combined existential and
psychodynamic theory sketch, intended to explain
why a majority (?) of people still are accepting Darwin´s
theory, without seeing any gaps in its reasoning and proofs.
When confronted with my criticism such people often
say that they "cannot really see what is the problem".

What is required here is a logic of timing in the
perspective we apply on the development, from --
let us say -- the amino acids -- and to the living
organisms: "when did what happen? , and in which
time order?"
The process I am speaking about is the start of that
Generative Development which resulted in the global
echo-systems with all its forms of plants and animals,
co-working in complex interactions.
Here it is not enough to point at DNA, together with
the genes, as an explanation, because:

(1) The mere mass of DNA alone cannot explain the
formation and development of structure and system
of living organisms, i. e.,how are the molecules put together?

(2) The genes are components within living organisms,
where they work, not a factor existing before and outside
the organisms.

(3) Many of the living beings have had a continued
development with an accompanying increase of complexity
of their structure, together with an appearance of
functionalities of a higher level. Look at the development
of perceptual systems, nervous systems, and, finally,
the "mind systems" which may be of a different kind
from the biological systems, i. e., they have qualities
that are "emergent" or not reducible to processes of
lower levels, like physiological and biochemical.

(4) All living beings have the capacity to reproduce
themselves, so that the species have been surviving for
thousands and even millions of years.

The Darwinist theory presupposes that coincidental
variation of neutral factors -- i. e. molecules --
comprises the formation of organized forms -- i. e.
systems with patterns, regulations and co-working
interactions. Human beings are complex systems
of systems with all its part functionally co-working --
and with the the whole system functions as a unit,
that is, as an individual which takes its course in
the world.

Now it is time to introduce a figure, showing some
of the steps in the development of organisms.

A. In order to get a number of molecules together
forming a cell it is required that there is something,
here called a "cellular paradigm" containing the
blueprint of the cell, and a force moving the molecules
into their due places in the structure.

B. In order to make a number of cells together forming
an organism it is required that there is something,
here called a "organismic paradigm", and a force
moving the cells to their appropriate places according
to the paradigmatic blueprint of the organism as a system.
In both the cases of A and B there is required steering
and regulating forces, forming ordered systems.
In addition it is also required that the formative factors
are building special kinds of well-functioning forms,
e. g. that the heart is beating and the kidneys
are filtering, and that the tissues formed by the cells
are fulfilling the requirements of the organs it is building.

The question of the origin of life is not only a problem
for the biological sciences but also a factor for the
human being and his/her conception of its presence
and place in life -- the fundamental existential question.
If everything is "just a coincidence" then there is nothing
to reflect on.
Then human beings are something that merely happens to
exist as a product of a dice-throwing universe,
or the (im?)probable outcome of about 10⁷ variations
of a great number of reactive molecules.
Doesn´t that look like a Thought Virus?

Johan Lindström

articles