In his book Darwin’s Black Box, biochemist Michael Behe writes that in order to understand the barriers to evolution, we have to “bite the bullet of complexity.” On a classic episode of ID the Future, Dr. Jonathan McLatchie is back to help us do just that. In the latest installment of an ongoing series, I talk with him about the remarkable properties of carbon and other non-metal atoms.
Nature doesn’t owe us a life-friendly environment. As McLatchie notes, there are far more ways the universe could have developed that are non-conducive to life than there are life-friendly ways. And yet, here we are, able to live in and study the universe around us. “On the assumption of atheism or naturalism,” says McLatchie, “it’s wildly surprising that we would experience a world such as ours, inhabited by conscious embodied moral agents that can engage in moral decision-making as we do.” But on the assumption of design in living things, it’s not surprising in the least.
In this conversation, Dr. McLatchie unpacks the singular properties of the remarkable atom carbon that allow for complex biochemistry to exist on Earth. He also discusses other non-metal atoms and how they literally allow for the shape of life. And have you heard of the Goldilocks Zone at the cellular level that optimizes organic bonds? Learn how carbon and other non-metal atoms are stunningly fit to accommodate advanced life, and why that’s not an accident. Download the podcast or listen to it here.