This Article: (8 Pages)
- 1. Honey Bees challenge Evolution
- 2. Bees are Irreducibly Complex
- 3. Non-Reducible Interdependence
- 4. Arguments for Intelligent Design
- 5. Intelligent Design Supports a... Creator's Existence
- 6. Design and Nature: by a qualified... Architect
- 7. The Golden Ratio in Plants
- 8. The Golden Ratio an argument for... design in nature
8) The Golden Ratio an argument for design in nature
The following can be reasoned. Neither a rose bush or a mollusk would die if they did not exhibit self-similarity, therefore, the characteristic is not related directly to function, but is rather one of efficiency of form. The rose need not even have petals at all. There is no reason for a plant to make an efficient form if it is not a matter of survival. A galaxy may take on another form, it does not 'need' to be a spiral. This form does not seem directly related to characteristics of the stars, as it requires scientific explanation for its form.
If an event does not come from necessity, it still seems logical that something caused it. Though we have no idea what the cause of the phenomena of self-similarity is, we could examine the effect or what benefit the phenomena is. The greatest benefit, or effect, of this phenomena is on humans, who admire efficiency and beauty and study the patterns. If a cause could be deduced from an effect, we could conclude that the universe and plants grew this way because humans love efficiency and beauty. But plants and the universe in all accounts, including the creation account of the Bible, come before the arrival of humans. A neat relationship between cause and effect, however, is fulfilled if there is an intelligent designer of the universe who has a need to see and appreciate efficiency and beauty. If the plants, mollusks and stars are self-similar because their function is to be beautiful we have a logical cause for the phenomena of self-similarity.
The beauty that humans see in the efficient self-similarity of nature speaks of design. It takes the ingenuity of the world's best mathematicians and designers to achieve perfect 'self-similarity' for objects humans make. The plant and mollusk pattern of growth tends to want to achieve self-similarity. The most logical conclusion is that they are 'programmed' or designed to do this by a designer.
It is therefore with interest we note the scriptures say:
Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow; they toil not, neither do they spin: And yet I say unto you, That even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. Wherefore, if God so clothe the grass of the field, which to day is, and to morrow is cast into the oven, shall he not much more you...? (Mat 6:28-30 KJV)
References:
Livio, Mario (2002) The Golden Ratio, Headline Book Publishing, London. Livio is head of Science division of the Hubble Space Telescope Science Institute.
Turan, M. 1990. Vernacular Architecture. Aldershot Avebury.
Show All
