Origins

What Evolution Cannot Explain

Evolution proponents say that evolution is an elegant theory which can explain everything. Having believed in evolution from the seventh grade until I was 24, I agreed, but I now have a few questions. I believe that evolution cannot adequately explain the following:

The origin of life
The film “Expelled; No Intelligence Allowed” (praised by many, criticized by a few) included clips of scientists admitting that they do not know how the first life came to be. They still believe that it did; one proposes (in the film and in a scientific article) that the first “self-reproducing molecule” (DNA) may have developed on the back of a crystal, and this then led to life. No one would believe that plastic and glue models of DNA developed on the back of a crystal – why would anyone believe that DNA itself could? After all, DNA is billions of times more complex than any model of DNA.

The origin of the first living cell
The cell requires a minimum of 250 proteins, acting together with the chemically-matched DNA molecule. Sir Fred Hoyle has calculated the probability of getting one protein by natural development. That probability was 1 chance on 10 to the 40,000th power. That is one billionth of one billionth of one trillionth, of one … well, that rounds off neatly to no chance at all. Probability theory says that it could not happen even once, anywhere in the universe, even if there were trillions of years to work with. The probability is so small that he (as an atheist) said that “life on this earth must have come from some vast intelligence, and that intelligence may, for want of a better word, be called god”.

The origin of appetite
We all have appetites, but where did they come from? Each cell needs food, and will die if it does not get it, on time. The appetite for food is believed to have arisen in the first simple cell, and all later cells had it as well. But how does the cell know that it needs food? When it is out of a nutrient, there is a mechanism that senses the lack. How did that mechanism arise?

The origin of sexual reproduction
With appetites in place, and cells desperately eating everything they can get their cell walls around, why would they voluntarily give up part of themselves and give it to someone else? And if they wanted to, how would they? The process of sexually reproducing DNA rearranges the DNA – although this process does not add information to the genetic code, the information about how to rearrange the DNA has to be built into the DNA.
There is no information about where this information came from, and no adequate theory for how or why it arose.
And then the receiving organism – the “female” has to have the mechanism to accept the “male” donation, and use it to make a new organism. It has to do this without consuming the donated material. Yet, the appetites make it want to consume this material, which is ideally suited to it as a food source.
So, there needs to be a mechanism for rearranging the DNA; another mechanism for sending it out of the “male”; another mechanism for accepting it into the “female”; another to prevent the female from consuming the donation; another mechanism for the female to rearrange her DNA; another mechanism for combing the donations from each; and yet another mechanism for splitting the new organism from the female. That is seven mechanisms, in two different organisms, at the same time and within the same drop of water.
And there are no theories to explain any of this.

The origin of multi-cellular life
How do cells know to stick together, and not eat the nearby cells?

The origin of specialized cells
How do some cells produce enzymes they don’t need, to supply them to cells which do not produce them?

The origin of organs
A more extreme version of the above problem.

The origin of “self”
Cells recognize similar nearby cells as belong to the same organism. The don’t eat them, and often cooperate with them. Why? And, how?
Now explain that for multi-cellular organisms.
And now explain that for microbes (don’t eat your young)

The origin of symbiosis
How can small, tasty fish and shrimp swim into the mouths of predators, and clean off the parasites, without being eaten?

The origin of DNA
Three billion, 500 million molecule pairs, all arranged as a ladder, twisted in three dimensions. The probability of this is less than 2 chances in 10 to the 842 power. It cannot have evolved even once, anywhere in the universe, even given 20 billion years.

The origin of proteins

The origin of programmed cell death (apoptosis)

The origin of species

The origin of

So, what can evolution explain? Evolution can explain the retention of the features above: natural selection removes defectives from the gene pool, so only organisms with these features remain.

Oh, by the way, according to Wikipedia, “Edward Blyth wrote three articles on variation, discussing the effects of artificial selection and describing the process of natural selection as restoring organisms in the wild to their archetype (rather than forming new species). These articles were published in The Magazine of Natural History between 1835 and 1837.[3][4]“ As a creationist, he was arguing for natural selection as causing speciation, but preserving the original created kind. Thus, natural selection is equally applicable to evolution and creation models.

Speciation, as observed, splits kinds into new groups, but does not create anything new. Natural selection does not provide evidence for upward evolution. And the theory of evolution cannot explain the origin of anything.