God Cells – Perry Marshall, Engineer, Author of Evolution 2.0 – Underestimating Nature: The Ideological Divide in Scientific Cellular Theory

Perry Marshall, noted science author of Evolution 2.0, and electrical engineer by trade, leads us on an interesting journey through the science and theory of life itself.

Marshall states that we are only just beginning to grasp the natural genetic engineering that is literally going on all around us daily. He explains how traditional theories quite often offer that occasional positive changes or mutations have the power to populate the earth with diverse life forms; however, this isn't accurate. According to Marshall, cells are actually re-engineering themselves all the time. Many traditional evolutionary theorists push forward their theories of randomness, that nature is stupid and purposeless, but Perry Marshall affirms that their theories are often rooted in an atheist agenda and are simply not true. According to Marshall, cells, plants, and animals are capable of evolving via their own innate intelligence.

Marshall expounds upon classifications of genes, such as select genes that adjust to their environment. In fact, a cell can seek out another cell or cells that may offer the specific DNA that cell needs in order to build structures to advance its growth, or protect it from an intruding outside organism. Essentially, nature is exponentially more sophisticated than we are taught.

But as we consider that nature itself may be intelligent, it brings to mind thoughts of where does this intelligence come from, and naturally this leads to a discussion of God. And the science author provides an interesting discussion on the relationship between science and God as he delves into historic regimes and their political doctrine. Lenin, Stalin, and Mao, for example, at the core of their dogma was the absence of God, and Marshall states that this was a necessary element of their rise to power. For dictators such as these could never have risen to power or maintained their power if forced to contend with religious scholars and people of faith in general. As such, religion was eradicated, churches were burned, and lives were destroyed in order for these despots to grab hold of the power they sought. Ultimately, as Marshall states, people who believe in God will never allow the government to even approach the power of God. And this is why regimes such as those mentioned, and others, seek to build their power upon a foundation of which faith is not a structural component.

Error detection and error correction, cells have the capability for this and more. As Marshall states, evolution is essentially a software engineering problem, and when forced to deal with a stressful situation cells can innovate and actually reprogram themselves. And these cells, which function in the same way, control our immune systems and physiology. A cell in distress will seek out a partner, pull what it needs from that partner cell, and then reproduce daughter cells that solve the problem. In terms of efficiency, one bacterium can perform more programming in twelve minutes than a team of software engineers could perform in twelve weeks.

With the push to advance AI and machine learning reaching a fevered pitch, Marshall states that we could perhaps benefit from simply studying cells. Biomimicry, which is the design and production of materials, systems, and elements patterned after biological organisms and their internal processes, is an accelerating field, as scientists have learned that the best ideas often come from nature.

As an engineer, Marshall believes that true understanding cannot come until you can actually build it. With that in mind he relates the example of the creation of life, in that theories exist that arbitrary entities simply banged around against each other and then randomly created a cell. However, Marshall affirms that until they can produce an environment that can demonstrably create a cell on its own, that their theories of random creation of life simply are stories they've fashioned, and are not in any way based in scientific evidence whatsoever.

The engineer discusses some of the various problems and impediments that could arise with gene editing in the coming years and how researchers' preconceptions can greatly impact advances. As Marshall imparts, in the long run, evolutionists underestimate the power of nature and creationists actually underestimate the power of God.