HURDLE NUMBER 20. THE “BEST OF ALL POSSIBLE CODES” HURDLE.
The following quotes are from the book Life Ascending – The Ten Great Inventions of Evolution, by Nick Lane (Biochemist, and Provost’s Venture Research Fellow in The Department of Genetics, Evolution, and Environment at University College, London), published by Profile Books, 2010:-
Page 45:- “(Francis ) Crick (Molecular biologist, and co-discoverer of the structure of DNA) declared the - - - (DNA) code to be a “frozen accident” - - - - It was frozen, he said, because ANY INFRINGEMENTS - - - unfreezing the code - - - WOULD HAVE SERIOUS CONSEQUENCES - - - - - ANY ALTERATION IN THE CODE ITSELF WOULD INDUCE A CATASTROPHIC CHANGE IN ABSOLUTELY EVERYTHING - - -” (My capitals.)
Pages 48 to 49:- The author quotes a study by “two English biologists, Laurence Hurst and Stephen Freeland” (Laurence Daniel Hurst (born 1965) FMedSci FRS is a Professor of Evolutionary Genetics in the Department of Biology and Biochemistry at the University of Bath.) - - - “The pair compared the genetic code with millions of random computer generated codes - - - Which code, they wondered, could resist - - - - point mutations best, either by retaining exactly the same amino acid, or by substituting a similar one? They found that the real genetic code is startlingly resistant to change - - - In fact, Hurst and Freeman DECLARED THE GENETIC CODE TO BE BETTER THAN A MILLION ALTERNATIVE RANDOMLY GENERATED CODES. - - - - THE CODE IS ONE IN A MILLION - - - The code must have evolved - - - but HOW DOES IT CHANGE WITHOUT CAUSING MAYHEM, you may ask with Crick.” (My capitals.)
(My comment:- According to Francis Crick, the genetic code of life cannot evolve from one format to a different format without creating biological mayhem. In that case, the present genetic code must have come into being “in one fell swoop”. For any (highly sophisticate) genetic code to come into being unassisted seems implausible; but for THE BEST OF ALL POSSIBLE GENETIC CODES, ie:- for a “ONE IN A MILLION” GENETIC CODE to come into being unassisted infinitely compounds the improbability.)