Mehran Banaei
Atheists propose that complex life is self-created just the same way a sand dune is self-created. The dune is said to be an example of a non-designed marvelous and symmetric creation, totally based on random chance. Elements such as complexity, mathematical order, harmony and beauty are fortuitously there without any intelligent agent being involved. The other common example provided is that of driftwood, untouched by human hands, washed away to the shore and randomly piled up together. These examples are presented to assert that inanimate objects collectively, with no external guidance, demonstrate three qualities: self-designed, self-organization and then self-creation. The conclusion aimed for is that, the universe was created in the same fashion without a conscious Designer.
Does this assertion hold water? For the sake of argument, the creation of a sand dune or driftwood, even if it happens to be totally self-created, its creation is not independent of the universe which hosts it. It is “self-created” in a well-ordered created universe of cause and effect. There are no sand dunes in the state of “Nothingness”. There would be no sand dune without the universe of matter and energy.
Furthermore, atheists as always overlook that, if we were to take away the laws of physics that act as various parameters, i.e. gravity, wind, lack of rain, size, weight, shapes of sands and existence of a natural barrier, then we would not have sand dunes forming at all, with or without beautiful patterns. The pre-existing physical laws of nature mold the rules of movement for each grain of sand which systematically pileup on top of each other.
The sign of intelligence involved appears undeniable when it was discovered that dunes use turbulence as a buffer to prevent collisions. Obviously, a pile of sands has no intelligence of its own to act in such an insightful way. Their movement is well-orchestrated. The dunes are like a circus, constantly moving from one location to another. But never move around randomly. The movement and formation of dunes are location-specific, both continentally and locally. Why there is no sand dune formation in the middle of a deciduous forest or a wetland? These skeptics always ignore that we live in a universe of cause and effect, where nothing happens haphazardly, even a grain of sand abides by the laws of physics, where purpose and interconnectivity apply to every component of organic and inorganic systems. The creation of a dune is no different than the creation of the whole web of life. To have a phenomenon of self-organization, atheists need to invoke new laws of physics and create a different universe, which even then the role of the First Cause is not eliminated. The atheist argument could make sense, if and only if one skips the vital question of where did the constructal law and the prerequisite conditions, which govern the evolving patterns in the living organisms and inanimate systems come from, and why they are there in the first place.
Far from being a random production, the creation of sand dunes is not without a purpose and foresight. Sand dunes are important in protecting the land against potential ravages by storm waves from the sea. In addition, dunes provide habitats for many specialized plants and animals like sandfish which cannot live anywhere else. Likewise, driftwood plays an important role in sustaining and reshaping the ecosystems. In the earth’s diverse web of life, each inanimate system is imperatively connected to the sustenance of countless organic systems.
Furthermore, there is the usual double-standard in atheists’ stand. Why is it that we conclusively deduce that sandcastles or the sand patterns in small sand jars sold in gift shops have a designer and creator, but the more complex dunes in Sahara are products of a blind chance? How could a blind process, devoid of intelligence, in and of itself, designs fabulous artworks, engineering wonders and mathematical precision, that staggers the human imagination, is left unexplained
While natural selection is generally credited with the emergence of order and complexity in all living systems, the same courtesy cannot be extended to any non-living systems. Inanimate processes and structures in nature do not mutate, have no mind, have no survival instinct or are self-conscious. Needless to say, that which is mindless cannot be self-organizing. Attributes like: self-designed, self-organization, self-creation, self-maintenance, self-regulating and self-repair cannot justifiably be applied to a fine-tuned collective interactions and deserve the full thrust of rational abnegation. The out of nowhere, popped-in out of the blue, law-abiding, crash-free autopilot processes being reified as possessing the attributes of intellect exist only in the befuddled human mind, not out there in reality; hence in this sense, “self-organization” is a phantom and non-existent.
Mehran Banaei 