The evidence suggests that the interactive system
of biological Life we find on planet Earth originated here some 3.8
billion years ago. THE 5th OPTION asks the interesting (and provocative)
questions that mainstream scientists tend to ignore - such as:
What, exactly, is this phenomenon we call "biological life"? What,
exactly, is it doing here on our planet? How did it get here?
This is how an engineering mentality approaches the
origin-of-life issues - from the "top down". Could this intricately
intelligent evolving system we call "life" really have self-generated
out of random lifeless chemical elements from scratch, as mainstream science
(the 2nd Option) would have us believe? Don't count on it! THE 5th OPTION explores
that possibility and concludes that the odds of it happening all by itself -without
outside help - are virtually zero; the system of life on our planet was designed
and implanted on our planet some 3.8 billion years ago purposefully and in order
to accomplish specific goals. THE 5th OPTION engages in the novel process of
reverse engineering the system of life in order to try to understand what possible
practical use the phenomenon is “good for” in order to comprehend
what, indeed, it might be doing. Bryant Shiller, an engineer, puts himself "in
the shoes of a would-be designer of the system of life" and asks the provocative
question: "What would I - the hypothetical designer of the interactive system
of life on planet Earth - have had in mind to have designed this planet wide
system in this particular way? After all, system designers always have choices
among various design alternatives and ultimately choose those that best serve
the purpose-specific "design intent". This design intent
is ultimately revealed.
The author deals with these kinds of questions within
his "5th Option" origin-of-life model entitled the Rational
Design Hypothesis (RDH) - not to be confused with Intelligent Design.
The RDH homes in on the defining life-system attributes that lead
unfailingly to:
1] The undeniable existence of biological evolution as the built-in “adaptive
sub-system” of the life-system design. With the introduction of a novel “Quantum
Theory of Evolution”, the author demonstrates how the system of biological
life controls from within the two major mechanisms that direct evolution – that
allows the system to both anticipate as well as channel the directions evolution
can take. In the process, solutions are offered for: the enigmatic spotty fossil
record (you can’t find the missing fossils because they do not and need
not exist); the mystery of the evolution of complex organs - those endowed with
(according to Michael Behe) irreducible complexity; Stephen J Gould’s
puzzling punctuated evolution.
2] A generic definition of the life phenomenon in terms of the laws
of thermodynamics.
3] A generic definition of intelligence as a quality that both is
qualitatively the antithesis of, and quantitatively the reciprocal
of, the randomness that is at the heart of the inanimate world.
4] Life portrayed as an intelligent system based on a “primary design platform
(PdP)” that is immune from evolution and that epitomizes the basic building
block of biology – the biological cell - as the product of
nanotechnology.
5] the genetic code endowed with an ingenious intelligence scheme
upon which all biological activity depends – a scheme that must have predated the
origin of life itself. A novel statistical analysis of all possible single nucleotide
basepair mutations (576 to be exact) reveals the true nature of the genetic code
as an efficient “non-random evolution filter”.
6] the possible inclusion of a self-limiting feature within the life
system design that would serve to target specifically any evolved
species capable of advanced technology. This has important consequences
that could threaten the future survival of the human species. The
unexpected conclusions are nothing short of spectacular!
Extraordinarily, the Rational Design Hypotheses is scientifically credible
and relevant for one important reason: it is testable. Shiller defines
where to find the evidence of design and how to access it. What does
the RDH model have to say about the would-be designer? The origin of
the designer question is ultimately considered in depth and dealt with.
What are the unexpected consequences for human survival? The RDH model
deals with these issues and much more. The results are eye opening
and alarming! You will walk away from this exercise with a totally
new appreciation of the significance and meaning of life, and the essential
part you play in it.