Natural selection in itself is not a scientific principle, as it is based on circular reasoning. By natural selection, less fit organisms are eliminated and fitter organisms survive to propagate the species. Organisms thus survive the process because they are fitter, and one concludes that they are fitter because they survive.
The process operates by elimination not addition. In order for the fitter to survive, there must have been a less fit that did not survive. Natural selection does not create features, adaptations, or even life, it merely selects for the feature that provides greater survival value. The features themselves must still come into existence by random chance processes. Moreover, because the mechanism of natural selection operates by eliminating the less fit, it must eventually lead to less and less diversity unless the random chance "creation" of features outstrips natural selection in pace. This is an extremely unlikely scenario.
The question therefore arises, how can a mechanism that creates less and less, create more and more diversity? After all, this is what the evolutionary paradigm requires, in order for more and more complex diverse life forms to have evolved form a simple ancestor. If natural selection is to take the place of God, then it is a god of elimination. Platnick (1977) already wondered, if there is any difference in the noted evolutionist Ernst Mayr's concept of "an all-powerful natural selection" and that of an all-powerful Creator. (Mayr, Ernst. 1976. Evolution and The Diversity of Life. Harvard University Press, Belknap Press, Cambridge.) (Platnick, N.I. 1977. Review of Evolution and the Diversity of Life. Systematic Zoology 224-228)
A look at the palaeontological record will reveal a far greater diversity of life in the past than in the present. Moreover, as environmental pressures increase, more and more species are becoming extinct. Natural selection appears to be doing a good job at eliminating life forms and if given a little bit more time, might complete the job in the not so distant future. Thus, if variation did not come about by natural selection, the question arises, where did it come from?
Before discussing this vital question, there is a further issue regarding natural selection that needs to be discussed, and that is the level at which natural selection operates. Natural selection operates at the level of the phenotype and not the level of the genotype. This is a cardinal rule in evolution. Processes that produce changes in the genes occur by chance through mutation and only once the gene has been transcribed and produced the phenotype can natural selection come into play. Mathematical models show that the probability is zero for selection operating at the level of the phenotype to bring about changes when random mutations are performed at the level of the genotype. (M. Schuetzenberger. 1967. Algorithms and neo-Darwinian theory. In Paul S. Moorhead and Martin M. Kaplan, ed. Mathematical challenges to the neo-Darwinian interpretation of evolution, p. 73. The Wistar Institute Symposium Monograph No. 5. )
Let us consider this by means of a simple analogy. If I have in my possession a book with detailed instructions on how to build a number of model aeroplanes, how do I know which one flies best? I build the aeroplanes , test fly them and select the one that flies best. The book with instructions is the genotype and the actual aeroplane is the phenotype.
Genotype Phenotype
Selection can only take place once the aeroplane has been built and can be tested. Of course, for selection to take place, there have to be at least two variants or else there is nothing to choose from.
Selection cannot take place at the level of the book (the genotype) as this only constitutes letters of the alphabet in a particular sequence which only become meaningful once they have been translated into the aeroplane. A number of questions now arise:
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If the book remained closed on the shelf would I know which aeroplane flies best?
- How are the instructions translated into the product - the aeroplane?
- Who wrote the book?
Let us start with the last question. The book is the genotype, so it came into existence by chance and the variants on the original (more than one aeroplane) by chance through mutations. This might sound ridiculous, but is precisely what the theory of evolution proposes. Only the genotype of even the simplest organisms is far more detailed and complex than our book. To believe this thus requires a great deal of faith.
Turning to the first question, the answer to this is obviously no. A mechanism must thus exist to unravel the instructions in the book. This requires that the book be opened (the equivalent of enzyme systems that unravel the DNA molecules so that transcription can commence). Does this tell me which aeroplane flies best? No, they are still not built at this stage. Where did the mechanism to unravel the DNA molecules (open the book) come from? As natural selection will only come into play at the level of the phenotype (the aeroplanes) once again our only solution must be by chance. Given the complexity of these systems, once again it cannot be under-emphasized that this requires a great deal of faith.
Finally, we turn to the second question, how are the aeroplanes finally built? The answer obviously is, by an intelligent human or by robot assembly mechanisms designed by an intelligent human. In the case of the cell, the complex "robot assembly line" is the complex transcription process using RNA and ribosomes to construct proteins. The proteins are the equivalent of our aeroplanes, so how did the assembly process come into existence that was to build the final product (the phenotype)? The answer must once again be chance. DNA and RNA are like letters of the alphabet, their validity cannot be tested until translated. To believe that these mechanisms come about by chance random processes requires more than faith - it requires extraordinary faith. Indeed, the handiwork of an intelligent designer is written all over it. This also requires faith, but faith of a different kind.
by Professor Walter J. Veith Phd.