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Meyer on “Nested Coding”: Another Successful Design Prediction

“Overlapping codes are demonstrably present in our DNA,” Evolution News noted here recently. “Proponents of intelligent design have long identified overlapping genes as a signature of design.” Yes, but not just a signature, as Stephen Meyer says in an interview with a Polish ID group, the En Arche Foundation (starting at 4:36):

Overlapping genes, or “nested coding,” was anticipated by microbiologist Siegfried Scherer, as Meyer points out. Why? Because human coders layer codes on top of codes, for various reasons including improved storage. Therefore a designing agent, operating behind the veil of biology, would likely do so as well. And so it is.

That is a successful prediction, alongside another Meyer discusses: that the “junk DNA” thesis, championed by Darwinists, would turn out to be largely mythical. It also, in itself, poses a knotty problem for unguided evolution. Says Meyer, “This would be very difficult to explain by random mutation and natural selection because if you randomly mutate one message you are going to invariably destroy the other one if it’s layered on top.” Intelligent action, with the benefit of foresight, could solve the problem. But an unintelligent process could not.

David Klinghoffer

Senior Fellow and Editor, Evolution News
David Klinghoffer is a Senior Fellow at Discovery Institute and the editor of Evolution News & Science Today, the daily voice of Discovery Institute’s Center for Science & Culture, reporting on intelligent design, evolution, and the intersection of science and culture. Klinghoffer is also the author of six books, a former senior editor and literary editor at National Review magazine, and has written for the Los Angeles Times, New York Times, Wall Street Journal, Washington Post, Seattle Times, Commentary, and other publications. Born in Santa Monica, California, he graduated from Brown University in 1987 with an A.B. magna cum laude in comparative literature and religious studies. David lives near Seattle, Washington, with his wife and children.

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codersDarwinistsDNAEn Arche Foundationforesightintelligent designJunk DNAnatural selectionnested codingoverlapping genesPolandpredictionsrandom mutationSiegfried SchererStephen Meyerunguided evolution