{"id":66042,"date":"2018-10-06T18:56:25","date_gmt":"2018-10-07T00:56:25","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/admin.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/?p=66042"},"modified":"2018-10-06T19:55:12","modified_gmt":"2018-10-07T01:55:12","slug":"directed-evolution-and-the-2018-nobel-prize-in-chemistry","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/2018\/10\/directed-evolution-and-the-2018-nobel-prize-in-chemistry.html","title":{"rendered":"“Directed Evolution” and the 2018 Nobel Prize in Chemistry"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"Caltech<\/a>
The California Institute of Technology, or Caltech \u2014 shown here in an aerial photo \u2014 was just on the edge of what I, as a young boy, perceived and thought of as my \u201cneighborhood,\u201d just barely reachable by bicycle and often passed by car with my Mother. \u00a0(Wikimedia Commons public domain)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

A few days ago, Frances Arnold (of the California Institute of Technology, or Caltech), Gregory Winter (of the University of Cambridge, in the United Kingdom), and George Smith (of the University of Missouri at Columbia) were announced as the winners of the Nobel Prize in Chemistry for 2018. \u00a0For what it\u2019s worth, Dr. Arnold is only the fifth woman to receive a Chemistry Nobel since the prize was established in 1901.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

Here are a trio of pieces about their award that might help to explain why they won it and what they did to merit the honor:<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cSpeeding up evolution to create useful proteins wins the chemistry Nobel: A trio of researchers pioneered techniques that led to useful drugs and biofuels\u201d<\/a><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201c3 scientists sped up evolution in a lab. Their work just won a Nobel Prize. \u00a0\u00a0The 2018 Nobel Prize in chemistry goes to the pioneers of \u201cdirected evolution.\u201d\u201d<\/a><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cLive blog: directed evolution takes chemistry Nobel prize\u201d<\/a><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

I find the idea of \u201cdirected evolution\u201d (one of the phrases that are very commonly used to describe the work that won the 2018 Chemistry Nobel) intriguing \u2014 not least because it demonstrates how an intelligent agent not only could but, right now, on Earth, can<\/em> purposefully intervene in evolution, directing it toward a desired end and using completely natural means to do so.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

Of course, ordinary humans have been intervening in evolution for a very long time in much cruder ways (e.g., by means of selective breeding) in order to create fatter cows, faster horses, hardier wheat, and prize-winning roses. \u00a0But this new type of \u201cunnatural selection\u201d is far more subtle than that.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

If early twenty-first century humans can do this sort of thing, what might a deity<\/em> be able to do?<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

***<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

I can\u2019t help but think, in this context, of \u201cClarke\u2019s three laws,\u201d which originated with the great British science fiction writer\u00a0Arthur C. Clarke (1917-2008). \u00a0Here\u2019s a common version of them, of which the third is the most directly relevant to my comments here:<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

    \n
  1. <\/span>\u00a0When a distinguished but elderly scientist states that something is possible, he is almost certainly right. When he states that something is impossible, he is very probably wrong.<\/span><\/strong><\/li>\n
  2. <\/span>\u00a0The only way of discovering the limits of the possible is to venture a little way past them into the impossible.<\/span><\/strong><\/li>\n
  3. <\/span>\u00a0Any sufficiently advanced\u00a0technology\u00a0is indistinguishable from\u00a0magic.<\/span><\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    \u00a0<\/p>\n

    My recent debate opponent, Dr. Michael Shermer<\/a>, has come up with a variant of the third \u201claw\u201d that\u2019s perhaps even more apropos<\/em>:<\/p>\n

    \u00a0<\/p>\n

    Any sufficiently advanced extraterrestrial intelligence is indistinguishable from God.<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

    \u00a0<\/p>\n

    Posted from Park City, Utah<\/p>\n

    \u00a0<\/p>\n

    \u00a0<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    \u00a0 \u00a0 A few days ago, Frances Arnold (of the California Institute of Technology, or Caltech), Gregory Winter (of the University of Cambridge, in the United Kingdom), and George Smith (of the University of Missouri at Columbia) were announced as the winners of the Nobel Prize in Chemistry for 2018. \u00a0For what it\u2019s worth, Dr. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1019,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-66042","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\n"Directed Evolution" and the 2018 Nobel Prize in Chemistry<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"    A few days ago, Frances Arnold (of the California Institute of Technology, or Caltech), Gregory Winter (of the University of Cambridge, in\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, 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