Life, Liberty & the Pursuit of Happiness

Reflecting on the likelihood that all the parts of a yeast cell came together randomly, astrophysicist Sir Fred Hoyle described the work of a colleague who determined that a yeast cell has about the same number of parts (around six million) and degree of complexity as a Boeing 747.

Many people believe that a yeast cell came together on a random basis. However, we all know that a Boeing 747 came together as a result of deep scientific planning and assembly by humans working as a highly integrated team.

By contrast, a yeast cell came together in no such way. Therefore, if human ingenuity was not the reason, could it have been randomness?

After reflecting on this conundrum, one might come to a similar analogy as Hoyle, who stated that a conclusion of randomness would be “comparable to the chance that a tornado sweeping through a junkyard might assemble a Boeing 747 from the materials therein.”

No Way, Jose!