By professor emeritus Kjell J. Tveter
In the book Plato’s Revenge the research of dr. Sternberg is introduced. Sternberg holds two PhDs in biology—one in molecular genetics and the other in mathematical biology—and has been an active researcher for many years, affiliated with various institutions in the United States. His findings are so revolutionary that I want to make readers aware of his conclusions. His research is based on biology, mathematics, and philosophy.
The Greek philosopher Plato distinguished between the physical world, which we can all see and experience, and a hidden world that we cannot observe with our senses, which constitutes a world of ideas. In this world of ideas, there are unchanging forms and concepts that we can only access through reason. Beyond and outside our world of physical objects exists a realm of mental or intellectual concepts that shape or inform these physical objects. A chair is a concept or idea that is unchanging. Even though chairs differ, all people recognize a chair when they see one. According to Plato, these forms constitute the first principle of reality. In this world of ideas, we find the blueprint or archetype of all objects. Plato thus assumed a transcendental—or supernatural—reality. This Platonic idea forms the foundation for both our reality and our understanding.
Aristotle, a student of Plato, introduced purpose—or teleology—as a causal factor in life. Sternberg finds that his research results align with and are compatible with both Plato’s forms and Aristotle’s purpose.
The common understanding is that genes are parts of DNA—that is, genes are perceived as material physical objects. However, Sternberg claims that genes have no physical location. A fertilized egg cell is called a zygote. Sternberg says that the information found in the zygote is not sufficient to create a new organism. For a zygote to produce offspring, it must receive external information. Sternberg asserts that this additional information must come from outside the zygote and that it is immaterial—that is, non-physical. He claims that the genome is immaterial. The gene is not a particle but a process that handles information on many levels, which we cannot currently describe with our existing knowledge.
What happens in even a single cell surpasses what is physically possible. If one were to create a record—a kind of map—of all the reactions that occur in every single cell originating from a zygote to a fully developed organism, the amount of data would far exceed what even the most powerful computer could calculate. Life’s processes are dynamic and constantly changing. In biological processes, there is a continuous flow of RNA and proteins. The nanomachines that perform the necessary tasks are continuously reorganized. Components are added and removed at a furious pace. All of this is governed by overarching information. Constant decisions must be made for things to proceed correctly. The number of potential configurations is hyper-astronomical. One could compare it to an orchestra where musicians come and go continuously, always ensuring the correct music is played. Or a library where the content of books is constantly being rewritten, material removed, and new material added. Another example: if you leave a room full of robots, close the door, and then re-enter, you would find that the robots have been replaced with new ones performing entirely different tasks. And all these changes happen at lightning speed. This means that existing life requires a continuous supply of new information, which must have an immaterial source.
One example of complexity: the tiger prawn has in its genome a region with 266,000 base pairs (RNA letters), which can code for 21 million different proteins. This requires a higher-level information system to ensure the correct proteins are formed, which we can all understand.
Sternberg concludes that biological processes are governed by cognition. Cognition involves the ability to process information, solve problems, make correct choices, and exhibit creative behavior. Cognition originates from life’s control center, which is immaterial.
Scientists Seymour Garte, Perry Marshall, and Stuart Kauffman show in an article that natural processes cannot explain fetal development and that biology is governed by cognition. While the prevailing view in biology claims that chemicals lead to codes that produce cognition, they argue the opposite: cognition produces the codes necessary to generate chemical compounds.
These results and this new insight into biology are in full collision with an evolutionary and naturalistic understanding. Modern research shows that life is unimaginably complex. All life processes must proceed correctly to avoid disease, deformities, and death. The naturalistic worldview based on blind chance and the laws of nature cannot explain the complexity of life. Quantum physicist Werner Hesselberg said that modern physics has shown that the smallest units of matter are not physical objects in the usual sense, but are forms and ideas that can only be unambiguously expressed in mathematical language. Sternberg shows that the same applies to the language of life.
