Our sense organs 45

It is obvious from even this small number of facts
about ”biological computers“ that, next to the
comparatively simple computers of our own
technology, they are masterpieces of miniaturisation,
complexity, and design perfection.
All cells in our body carry the same information,
regardless of their locality (e. g. kidney, liver, or
arm). But different cell types access and process
different sections of the available information. As
in the case of physical computers, the original
information is not transferred to the CPUs.
Copies are made and transported. In a computer
the read/write head is positioned at the beginning
of an application program on the hard disk
to copy it. But in a cell several reading heads
begin at different locations to make copies
simultaneously, so that the various pieces of
information required for a certain type of cell are
read from all the “hard disks” at the same time. A
biological computer performs two kinds of “computations”:
It provides the information for protein
synthesis as described above, and it replicates
itself by means of cell division.
The Genome Project: Scientists from all over the
world instigated an ambitious project, intended
to run 15 years, to chart the human genetic code
and decipher it letter by letter (this is known as
sequencing). The Human Genome Organisation
was founded for this purpose and boasts about
1,000 members in 50 different countries. The
project officially began on 1st October 1990. The
effort required to determine the letter sequence
of human DNA was originally estimated as being
thousands of man-years. We have already got
some idea of the enormous amount of information
contained in the entire sequence. Our genes
contain the complete human construction plan.
There, in code, we find instructions about how
our eyes, ears or heart and all the physiological
details of our bodies are formed, as well as all
our abilities.
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By the end of the year 2000 there was already
much media euphoria about the complete
sequencing of the human genome (the entire
genetic information of human beings). Headlines
such as “Life’s blueprint deciphered”, and variations
on the same theme, were abundant. Associated
with this, we were given a picture of a
brave new world, in which all would now be possible:
synthetic genes against AIDS would be prophylactically
inserted into bloodlines. Alzheimer’s
patients would receive transplants of genetically
manipulated brain cells; cancer cells would, following
the introduction of new genetic material,
simply consume themselves; and gene-vaccinated
transplant organs would no longer be rejected
by the recipients.
Reports like this are extremely impressive but are
unfortunately not quite true. What is the real
status of the research? At the end of 2001, only
90 % of the letters of the genome have been
deciphered. The remaining 10 % has not yet been
deciphered with the required accuracy. It was
presumed that 100,000 genes were distributed
among the 23 chromosomes. Now it is thought
to be more in the region of 30,000 to 40,000.
What have we gained if, as is hoped, we have the
complete succession of ACGT letters for the
human genome by 2003? Will we then possess
the programme for life? Will we know how our
creator coded our brains, for example? Not in the
slightest! What we will have is comparable to the
complete text of the Bible without commas and
full stops, in a language which we do not understand.
It is therefore like a book that no-one can
interpret. The actual work of translating the text
(the semantics) won’t even have begun. It is
unclear whether we will ever be able to decipher
the genome. The Egyptian hieroglyphics were
finally decoded because the Rosetta stone was
found with a text in Greek, demotic and hieroglyphics.
After a long period of research, the
hieroglyphics were finally deciphered on the
basis of the Greek text. There is no such stone
available to us for the human genome.
However, there is one very important thing we do
know: nowhere is the information so densely
stored as in the DNA molecule. As information is
a mental not a material quantity, we deduce that
this information cannot have developed within
the material. An intelligent creator has to be
behind it.