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Programming of Life
"This is currently the best book covering the relationship between genome and computer architectures." - JOHNATHAN BARTLETT, Author / Publisher / Speaker / Director of Technology ----- This book highlights the informational aspects of life that are generally overlooked or ignored in chemical and biological evolutionary scenarios. Each cell of an organism has millions of interacting computers reading and processing digital information, using digital programs and digital codes to communicate and translate information. Life is an intersection of physical science and information science. Both domains are critical for any life to exist, and each must be investigated using that domain's principles. Yet most scientists have been attempting to use physical science to explain life's information domain, a practice which has no scientific justification. -- As you can tell by the preceding words this research is a fascinating approach to the question of the origin of life. - (PUBLISHER) ----- "Programming of Life is an excellent freshman level review of the formal programming, coding/decoding, integration, organization, Prescriptive Information (PI), memory, regulation and control required for a physical object to find itself 'alive.' DONALD E. JOHNSON is uniquely qualified to unpackage the strong parallels between everyday cybernetic design and engineering and the workings of the cell. I highly recommend this book." -DAVID L. ABEL, Director, The Gene Emergence Project Department of ProtoBioCybernetics and ProtoBioSemiotics The Origin of Life Science Foundation, Inc. ----- (ABOUT THE AUTHOR: ) DR. DON JOHNSON has earned Ph.D.s in both Computer & Information Sciences from the University of Minnesota and in Chemistry from Michigan State University. He was a senior research scientist for 10 years in pharmaceutical and medical / scientific instrument fields, served as president and technical expert in an independent computer consulting firm for many years, and taught for 20 years in universities in Wisconsin, Minnesota, California, and Europe. He now maintains scienceintegrity.net to expose unsubstantiated claims in science and has made presentations on most continents.
136 pages, Paperback
First published September 20, 2010
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About the author
Donald E. Johnson
16 books3 followersDonald E. Johnson holds two Ph.D.s, one in Chemistry from Michigan State University and another in Computer & Information Sciences from the University of Minnesota.
- Senior research scientist for 10 years in pharmaceutical and medical/scientific instrument fields.
- Served as president and technical expert in an independent computer consulting firm for many years.
- Taught 20 years in universities in Wisconsin, Minnesota, California, and Europe.
- Senior research scientist for 10 years in pharmaceutical and medical/scientific instrument fields.
- Served as president and technical expert in an independent computer consulting firm for many years.
- Taught 20 years in universities in Wisconsin, Minnesota, California, and Europe.
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
August 18, 2014
If you are an Information Technology professional, you NEED to read this book.
"Programming of Life" by Donald E. Johnson (paperback or video) came to my attention fairly recently. The prospect of a case for God's existence being made from my area of training (computer science) especially caught my attention. The fact that the author is formally trained in both information science and biochemistry seemed to give him a unique set of credentials to authoritatively compare the code in DNA to computer programming code. The book is short at only 127 pages (included appendixes) and is divided into nine chapters.
Being a student of computer science (and information science, to some extent by implication) this book directly addressed my realm of formal training. That made it quite an exciting read. Johnson laid out his case succinctly. He did limit the scope of the book to being critical of naturalistic explanations and did not provide a positive case for God or a designer. While this may be seen as a disadvantage of the book, that makes it ideal to place in the hands of a naturalist because it removes the temptation to avoid the scientific critiques in the book and focus on other arguments or complaints about the conclusion. Of course, throughout the book the positive case for a designer is implied, but it is never explicitly concluded. The apologist could easily discern and articulate this positive case if the skeptic came to accept the critiques offered in the book.
Because of the information/computer science perspective of Programming of Life, I recommend it for any apologist who may need to provide a case for God's existence to someone trained in these disciplines. I also highly recommend it to anyone in the information technology field- If you accept the current naturalistic theories for origins of life and species, this book will scientifically challenge your conclusions; if you accept design as the only explanation for the origin of life and/or species this book will provide you with a powerful scientific argument to bolster your confidence in your conclusion and to articulate it to your skeptical peers.
Still not convinced to get this book? The full chapter-by-chapter review may be found here: http://lukenixblog.blogspot.com/2014/...
"Programming of Life" by Donald E. Johnson (paperback or video) came to my attention fairly recently. The prospect of a case for God's existence being made from my area of training (computer science) especially caught my attention. The fact that the author is formally trained in both information science and biochemistry seemed to give him a unique set of credentials to authoritatively compare the code in DNA to computer programming code. The book is short at only 127 pages (included appendixes) and is divided into nine chapters.
Being a student of computer science (and information science, to some extent by implication) this book directly addressed my realm of formal training. That made it quite an exciting read. Johnson laid out his case succinctly. He did limit the scope of the book to being critical of naturalistic explanations and did not provide a positive case for God or a designer. While this may be seen as a disadvantage of the book, that makes it ideal to place in the hands of a naturalist because it removes the temptation to avoid the scientific critiques in the book and focus on other arguments or complaints about the conclusion. Of course, throughout the book the positive case for a designer is implied, but it is never explicitly concluded. The apologist could easily discern and articulate this positive case if the skeptic came to accept the critiques offered in the book.
Because of the information/computer science perspective of Programming of Life, I recommend it for any apologist who may need to provide a case for God's existence to someone trained in these disciplines. I also highly recommend it to anyone in the information technology field- If you accept the current naturalistic theories for origins of life and species, this book will scientifically challenge your conclusions; if you accept design as the only explanation for the origin of life and/or species this book will provide you with a powerful scientific argument to bolster your confidence in your conclusion and to articulate it to your skeptical peers.
Still not convinced to get this book? The full chapter-by-chapter review may be found here: http://lukenixblog.blogspot.com/2014/...
March 17, 2018
A brilliant, well written, and somewhat technical treatise on the origins of life and that entities of life are reservoirs of information similar to a computer program but infinitely more complex. The presence of information suggests an intelligence behind the formation of life forms. Loved it!
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews