Human albumin, evidence of design
Dr. Howard Glicksman
http://www.arn.org/docs/glicksman/eyw_1410.htm
Human albumin, with its 585 amino acids bonded together in a specific order, and its absolute necessity for maintaining the effectiveness of the circulation so that the cells in the tissues can get what they need to live, is a good example of how much faith one must have in Neo-Darwinism to believe what evolutionary biologists claim about how life came into being. The cardiovascular system of vertebrates required the simultaneous development of several different innovative parts, each of which were needed to work properly. Not only,
(1) the heart and the different blood vessels, such as
(2) the arteries and
(3) the arterioles,
(4) the capillaries,
(5) the venules and
(6) the great veins but as noted above, the
(7) blood and all of its different blood cells including the plasma protein, especially
( 8 ) albumin.
Dr. Michael Behe has called a system where the absence of any one part renders it useless as being irreducibly complex. The system our body uses to maintain the effectiveness of the circulation so that there is enough blood flow to the tissues to provide our cells with what they need to live, grow and work properly is irreducibly complex.
But if a system is irreducibly complex does that automatically make it capable of supporting life? If you think about it you’ll realize that there’s one more piece of the puzzle that’s needed, a piece that goes beyond irreducible complexity, to enable the circulatory system to keep us alive within the laws of nature. As noted above, when dealing with the forces of nature, real numbers have real consequences. The same applies to the body and how it survives in a world consisting of physical and chemical laws.
When it comes to having an effective circulation there must be enough blood in it and the heart must pump the blood with enough pressure, the blood vessels must be able to maintain that pressure and provide a clear path for the blood to flow through and the capillaries must be able to allow the exchange of enough water and other chemicals between the blood and the cells. But this article has shown that this, in and of itself, is still not enough. For, without having the innovation of enough plasma protein, especially albumin, the laws of nature, like hydrostatic pressure, can quickly force most of the water out of the blood and into the interstitial fluid. Clinical experience shows that when the body has extremely low blood levels of albumin this severely compromises the blood volume, lowers the blood pressure to critical levels and severely diminishes blood flow to the tissues resulting in inadequate perfusion of the cells and death.
When it comes to the serum level of albumin, not just any number will do. It has to be the right number (3.5-5.5 units) so that there is enough osmotic pressure pulling enough water across the capillary wall from the interstitial fluid back into the circulation. And depending on how far below the normal range the serum level of albumin goes, the more water will tend to stay inside the interstitial fluid and the less blood pressure and effective blood flow there will be in the body. In fact, a serum albumin below 2.0 units usually makes the body very weak and tired and not even able to stand up to gravity. And a level below 1.0 unit is considered to be incompatible with life.
Now, remember, medical science does not really understand how the body controls its production of albumin from the liver. However, if each liver cell produces the same amount of albumin, it is logical to assume that the total amount of albumin in the body is directly related to how many properly working liver cells there are: i.e. the size of the liver. This would explain why when someone has liver disease, and less properly working liver cells, their albumin level usually drops below the normal range. But what if our prehistoric hominid ancestors had had smaller livers or ones that were programmed to produce a lot less albumin so that their serum level was under 1.0 unit. Then, all clinical experience tells us that they could never have survived or reproduced.
Real numbers have real consequences when it comes to dealing with the laws of nature. Not just any amount of albumin will do. It has to be the right amount. Just because a system is irreducibly complex does not automatically mean that it will be able to function well enough to allow for life. Besides being irreducibly complex, systems that allow for life must also have a “natural survival capacity”. By this I mean that each system must give the organism the capacity to survive by taking into account the laws of nature. This usually involves having a knowledge of what is needed to keep the organism alive within the laws of nature and then being able to do what needs to be done through some sort of innovation. The system in a healthy well-fed body that uses the innovation of producing enough albumin to ensure the effectiveness of the circulation so that each of our cells can get what they need to live, grow and work properly seems to know what the serum albumin level should be and keeps it there naturally. The same can be said for the many other control systems in the body, each of which is necessary for survival.
Given what we know about how life actually works and how easily it dies when it doesn’t have enough albumin in the plasma, it is evident that for an effective circulation to have been present within living organisms that could reproduce would have required the development of several other simultaneous and interrelated innovations. What those innovations were and exactly how these intermediate organisms were able to control their blood volume in these intermediate phases may never be known. This is because further changes which may have come about have since gone by the wayside of evolution and we can only see what is present now. This is one way to explain how having enough albumin in the blood may have evolved without having to seriously consider the cardiovascular physiology of the now extinct intermediate organisms. But this is not Science, where every aspect of the reverse engineering needed to come up with a plausible explanation for life should be explored before a theory is proclaimed to the public. No, this is just faux science and wishful thinking. It’s also how evolutionary biologists have been able to convince themselves, and others, of the supposed irrelevance or even impossibility of irreducible complexity. Some scientists have argued that the positions of intelligent design and irreducible complexity are arguments from ignorance which lack enough imagination. I would submit that the concerns put forth above are based, not on ignorance, but on what we actually do know about how life actually works and how easily it dies. But I wholeheartedly agree that based on current evolutionary theory in the face of the incredible complexity of life that the scientists involved do indeed have very good imaginations. Alas, we who believe that the design seen in nature is real, and not an illusion, are forced to limit our imaginings to what is already known about what it takes for life to survive within the laws of nature. Case in point is the innovation of having enough albumin in the blood to provide enough osmotic pressure to counter the filtering effects of hydrostatic pressure within the capillaries to maintain an effective circulation.
The laws of nature have put up many obstacles to prevent life from existing. Just as a car can die from not having enough gas for energy, or oil for seizing parts, or anti-freeze for engine overheating, so too, all physicians know that there are many different pathways to death. And each of these pathways shows that when the laws of nature are not resisted well enough by some sort of innovation, they bring death, not life. So, if you really want to begin to understand how life came into existence, you first have to understand how easily it can become non-existent. Did life really come about solely by random chemicals coming together by chance and the laws of nature to form cells, then simple organisms, and then complex ones like us? In other words, without “a mind at work” to make it happen? Do you think that the ability for the human liver to be able to make the right amount of albumin just happened by chance and the laws of nature alone? No, when it comes to the origin of life it seems to me that Science still has a lot of explaining to do. Meanwhile, as we wait for evolutionary biologists to admit the deficiencies within their theories our children and the whole world continue to be misled!
Dr. Howard Glicksman
http://www.arn.org/docs/glicksman/eyw_1410.htm
Human albumin, with its 585 amino acids bonded together in a specific order, and its absolute necessity for maintaining the effectiveness of the circulation so that the cells in the tissues can get what they need to live, is a good example of how much faith one must have in Neo-Darwinism to believe what evolutionary biologists claim about how life came into being. The cardiovascular system of vertebrates required the simultaneous development of several different innovative parts, each of which were needed to work properly. Not only,
(1) the heart and the different blood vessels, such as
(2) the arteries and
(3) the arterioles,
(4) the capillaries,
(5) the venules and
(6) the great veins but as noted above, the
(7) blood and all of its different blood cells including the plasma protein, especially
( 8 ) albumin.
Dr. Michael Behe has called a system where the absence of any one part renders it useless as being irreducibly complex. The system our body uses to maintain the effectiveness of the circulation so that there is enough blood flow to the tissues to provide our cells with what they need to live, grow and work properly is irreducibly complex.
But if a system is irreducibly complex does that automatically make it capable of supporting life? If you think about it you’ll realize that there’s one more piece of the puzzle that’s needed, a piece that goes beyond irreducible complexity, to enable the circulatory system to keep us alive within the laws of nature. As noted above, when dealing with the forces of nature, real numbers have real consequences. The same applies to the body and how it survives in a world consisting of physical and chemical laws.
When it comes to having an effective circulation there must be enough blood in it and the heart must pump the blood with enough pressure, the blood vessels must be able to maintain that pressure and provide a clear path for the blood to flow through and the capillaries must be able to allow the exchange of enough water and other chemicals between the blood and the cells. But this article has shown that this, in and of itself, is still not enough. For, without having the innovation of enough plasma protein, especially albumin, the laws of nature, like hydrostatic pressure, can quickly force most of the water out of the blood and into the interstitial fluid. Clinical experience shows that when the body has extremely low blood levels of albumin this severely compromises the blood volume, lowers the blood pressure to critical levels and severely diminishes blood flow to the tissues resulting in inadequate perfusion of the cells and death.
When it comes to the serum level of albumin, not just any number will do. It has to be the right number (3.5-5.5 units) so that there is enough osmotic pressure pulling enough water across the capillary wall from the interstitial fluid back into the circulation. And depending on how far below the normal range the serum level of albumin goes, the more water will tend to stay inside the interstitial fluid and the less blood pressure and effective blood flow there will be in the body. In fact, a serum albumin below 2.0 units usually makes the body very weak and tired and not even able to stand up to gravity. And a level below 1.0 unit is considered to be incompatible with life.
Now, remember, medical science does not really understand how the body controls its production of albumin from the liver. However, if each liver cell produces the same amount of albumin, it is logical to assume that the total amount of albumin in the body is directly related to how many properly working liver cells there are: i.e. the size of the liver. This would explain why when someone has liver disease, and less properly working liver cells, their albumin level usually drops below the normal range. But what if our prehistoric hominid ancestors had had smaller livers or ones that were programmed to produce a lot less albumin so that their serum level was under 1.0 unit. Then, all clinical experience tells us that they could never have survived or reproduced.
Real numbers have real consequences when it comes to dealing with the laws of nature. Not just any amount of albumin will do. It has to be the right amount. Just because a system is irreducibly complex does not automatically mean that it will be able to function well enough to allow for life. Besides being irreducibly complex, systems that allow for life must also have a “natural survival capacity”. By this I mean that each system must give the organism the capacity to survive by taking into account the laws of nature. This usually involves having a knowledge of what is needed to keep the organism alive within the laws of nature and then being able to do what needs to be done through some sort of innovation. The system in a healthy well-fed body that uses the innovation of producing enough albumin to ensure the effectiveness of the circulation so that each of our cells can get what they need to live, grow and work properly seems to know what the serum albumin level should be and keeps it there naturally. The same can be said for the many other control systems in the body, each of which is necessary for survival.
Given what we know about how life actually works and how easily it dies when it doesn’t have enough albumin in the plasma, it is evident that for an effective circulation to have been present within living organisms that could reproduce would have required the development of several other simultaneous and interrelated innovations. What those innovations were and exactly how these intermediate organisms were able to control their blood volume in these intermediate phases may never be known. This is because further changes which may have come about have since gone by the wayside of evolution and we can only see what is present now. This is one way to explain how having enough albumin in the blood may have evolved without having to seriously consider the cardiovascular physiology of the now extinct intermediate organisms. But this is not Science, where every aspect of the reverse engineering needed to come up with a plausible explanation for life should be explored before a theory is proclaimed to the public. No, this is just faux science and wishful thinking. It’s also how evolutionary biologists have been able to convince themselves, and others, of the supposed irrelevance or even impossibility of irreducible complexity. Some scientists have argued that the positions of intelligent design and irreducible complexity are arguments from ignorance which lack enough imagination. I would submit that the concerns put forth above are based, not on ignorance, but on what we actually do know about how life actually works and how easily it dies. But I wholeheartedly agree that based on current evolutionary theory in the face of the incredible complexity of life that the scientists involved do indeed have very good imaginations. Alas, we who believe that the design seen in nature is real, and not an illusion, are forced to limit our imaginings to what is already known about what it takes for life to survive within the laws of nature. Case in point is the innovation of having enough albumin in the blood to provide enough osmotic pressure to counter the filtering effects of hydrostatic pressure within the capillaries to maintain an effective circulation.
The laws of nature have put up many obstacles to prevent life from existing. Just as a car can die from not having enough gas for energy, or oil for seizing parts, or anti-freeze for engine overheating, so too, all physicians know that there are many different pathways to death. And each of these pathways shows that when the laws of nature are not resisted well enough by some sort of innovation, they bring death, not life. So, if you really want to begin to understand how life came into existence, you first have to understand how easily it can become non-existent. Did life really come about solely by random chemicals coming together by chance and the laws of nature to form cells, then simple organisms, and then complex ones like us? In other words, without “a mind at work” to make it happen? Do you think that the ability for the human liver to be able to make the right amount of albumin just happened by chance and the laws of nature alone? No, when it comes to the origin of life it seems to me that Science still has a lot of explaining to do. Meanwhile, as we wait for evolutionary biologists to admit the deficiencies within their theories our children and the whole world continue to be misled!
