Can inorganic matter produce a living cell by random chance? I. H. Cohen, author of Darwin Was Wrong,* cited mathematical odds in a Xeroxed “Explanation” review sent to book readers. Edited excerpts from his review follow, with emphasis added. - WLJ, Editor

By:  I. L. Cohen

Darwin's basis for the beginning of life and its subsequent proliferation, rests on the concept of haphazard encounters of molecules, which resulted in the formation of the cell.

Haphazardness is a state of events that can be evaluated scientifically. Now that we know certain aspects of the DNA and its functioning attributes, we can apply the most scientific of all scientific tools: mathematics.

Probability theorems indicate a very simple result: the probability of 84 molecules to line up in a predetermined sequence within a DNA spiral is 2.08 x 10^-51. Mathematicians agree among themselves that such a magnitude of a figure translates into a virtual zero probability.

Mind you, this figure reflects only the haphazard meeting of equal amounts of C,T,G,A, molecules to form a predetermined sequence. It does not represent the probability of a chance production of an entire cell. If we could calculate it, we would obtain an absolutely astronomical figure, which, in turn, would mean an utter improbability for life having started as a chance meeting of molecules.

Such a calculation would have to incorporate the haphazardness of a meeting of C,T,G,A, molecules with molecules of phosphate, ribose, hydrogen, uracil, twenty specific amino acids, as well as a ready infrastructure composed of mitochondrias, ribosomes, vacuoles, Golgi complexes, lysomes plus about 40 other components of the cell---all of it taking place in a sterile environment that did not contain admixtures of other unwanted chemicals, such as sulphur, helium, boron, aluminum, etc....

Mathematics tells us that 84 rungs on a DNA spiral is already the limit of the probable (and even then, we would be extending it the benefit of the doubt). Imagine if we had to evaluate the probabilities of a cell with 5,375 nucleotides (bacterial virus Ø x l74)?

Furthermore, stop and think what this figure of 2.08 x 10^-51 represents. It means that if we "threw" into the air 84 specific molecules 4.80 x 10⁵⁰ times, there would be 1 chance that a given predetermined sequence would ensue. But that also means that somebody, or some farce, had to be present to throw 4.80 x 10⁵⁰ times these molecules!! This implies that there should have been a system within (or outside) the cell that was constantly "throwing" molecules together, hoping that some of these might unite and end up in a survivable sequence---provided (and it is a very farfetched "provided") all other different molecules of phosphate, ribose, hydrogen, uracil, 20 amino acids, etc…. were precisely ready to act and react at that very split second!

Science has not yet discovered a force that has access to a collection of certain specific molecules, readily on hand, and is constantly throwing them against each other so as to create new cells with a new and different sequence in their DNA. 

A great many probability calculations can be generated.  It has been estimated that the smallest possible self replicating species would contain 124 separate protein chains, each made of 400 AA-molecules (H. J.Morowitz, 1967).

For example:

What is the probability of forming one protein chain of 400 links (all L-type) from a mixture of 50/50% D- and L- forms?  1 in 10¹¹⁴. 

If written out it would result in a number that reads: 1 followed by 114 zeros!!  Mind you, this calculation does not even take into account a proper predetermined sequencing of codons.  Any further examples would become a case of killing a dead horse over and over again.

It is important to realize the following: There are about 300+ different amino acid molecules (AA) to be .bound in nature.  Of these, only 20 specific ones found their way into the cell. Each AA comes in two varieties: a) with a left spiral construction (L), and b) with a right spiral construction (D).  Very few are unidirectional.  Chemically they react in exactly the same way; structurally they differ. When found in nature, each AA is always a mixture of 50/50% L- and D- forms. When we produce amino acid in the laboratory, we again obtain a 50/50 mixture.

However, the amino acids found in the cell are all L-form only! No D-form ever made it into the insides of the cell.

Since in its natural form Aas are always found in a specific mixture ratio, it means that there must have been a forceful intrusion, applied from the outside, so as to separate the two forms from one another and allow only one variety to be present in the cell.

Such a result can only be the effect of a predetermining, purposeful action of a sophisticated genetic engineer, since, in its natural stage, AAs do not separate into their two components but are always mixed together in a 50/50 proportion.

At the risk of being redundant, but to clearly understand the magnitude of our impossible expectations, let us list, in an approximate way, the various components that had to be on hand, the very moment the first cell started to "live."

OUTSIDE MEMBRANE AND CELL WALL:
(See DeDuve, Blueprint for a Cell - 1991)

1-phospholipids                     
2-glycolipids
3-sulfolipids
4-hydrophobic hydrocarbon chains
5-various membrane protein chains
6-murein
7-D-amino acid: molecules

INSIDE THE CELL:

8-hydrogen
9-thymine
10-adenine
11-cytosine
12-guanine
13-uracil
14-deoxyribose
15-phosphate
16-L-alanine
17-L-asparagine
18-L-aspartic acid
19-L-cysteine
20-L-glutamine
21-L-glutamic acid
22-L-histidine
23-L-isoleusine
24-L-leusine
25-L-lysine
26-L-methionine
27-L-phenylalanine
28-L-proline
29-L-serine
30-L-arginine.
31-glycine
32-L-threonine
33-L-tryptophan
34-L-tyrosine
35-L-valine
36-Ready-formed enzyme chains (catalytic agents)

The above represent a few of the ingredients found in a cell, which, it is roughly guesstimated, number about 10-20 million molecules per cell! We must not forget that there are over 40 different organelles within the cell, for it to function properly. 

This all means that, at the very beginning, about 10-20 million molecules got together; arranged for some of them to combine in order to create a membrane; produced dozens of organelles within that enclosure; selected and allowed only 20 amino acid molecules to enter the enclosure (out of about 300 amino acid molecules found in nature); sifted through that racemic mixture of 50/50% L- and D- varieties (left-handed and right-handed molecules); separated and extracted all the D- types which were then thrown out of the cell; and then started to align themselves under very precise and complex rules and regulations so as to create the various interactions resulting in "life" and its automatic procreation.

A calculation of the probabilities for 10-20 million items meeting haphazardly would be a waste of time---the result is self-evident. To expect that all these specific molecules met accidentally 3.5 billion years ago, taxes the imagination of the most optimistically inclined person.

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