Irreducible complexity as a nexus for an interdisciplinary dialogue between machine logic, molecular biology and theology

Abstract

The claim that a principle known as Irreducible Complexity (IC) is empirically discoverable is investigated successively from the perspective of engineering, then molecular biology and finally theology, with the aim of evaluating the utility of IC for an interdisciplinary dialogue between all three. In the process, IC is subjected to the principle objections presented against it in the literature, leading to the conclusion that IC is sufficiently resistant to scientific criticism to be accepted as a true property of certain living systems. The ubiquity of machine descriptors in the professional literature of molecular biology is scrutinised in the context of the role of metaphor in science, as well as in the context of entailment models. A Biblical Theological approach to the Bible is harnessed to establish a framework for estimating the extent to which the story of Christ warrants expectation of first order design formalisms in nature, and whether that story within itself provides any homomorphic exemplification of IC. Additionally, key theological criticisms of IC are evaluated as well as criticisms of the Neo Darwinian revisioning of the Biblical account. The overall conclusion is that a true interdisciplinary dialogue where IC is the nexus holds theoretical as well as experimental promise.