Your Body Has Backup Systems for Everything—Here's Why - FAS2613

SPEAKER A When you sprint, your muscles burn oxygen faster than your blood can deliver it. So how do they survive? Enter the Cori cycle, a backup system where your liver converts lactic acid from glycolysis back into glucose to keep muscles fueled. Meanwhile, the Circle of Willis creates a backup blood supply route to your brain in case one artery gets blocked. Your body has redundant systems backup plans, and fail-safes. This isn't survival of the fittest. This is engineering for survival. Welcome to Faith and Science. I'm Kaysie Vokurka, and joining me to discuss this topic is Dr. John Ashton. Welcome to the program, Dr. John. SPEAKER B Hi, Kaysie. SPEAKER A Dr. John has written a book, The Big Argument: Does God Exist? And in today's program, we'll be drawing on some insights from this book, uh, particularly from chapter 5, which is all about the human body. So we just mentioned about the Cori cycle, which is a backup energy system for your muscles. Why would evolution create a backup system before the primary system ever failed? SPEAKER B Yes, that's a very interesting question. And it's a question that evolutionists still don't have an answer for. It's quite fascinating, the history of the Cori cycle, of course, that Frank Shewan refers to in that chapter in the book. Was the work of a lot of research by a couple of biochemists by the surname Cori. And to work out how the muscles were able to get their energy under these anaerobic conditions. And the muscles were obviously starved of oxygen. And it's also quite fascinating that when you look at a number of these, look them up on for example, do a search on the internet for the evolutionary pathways for these cycles, they haven't been worked out. The scientists really don't know how these amazing systems evolved. And there's so many of them in the body. You know, you've just, in the introduction, you referred to two there, the Cori cycle and the circle of Willis. So the Cori cycle, of course, is a backup system that enables the muscles to obtain oxygen under quite stressful conditions. And— but it involves a whole lot of new biochemical pathways. And they require, you know, specific enzymes such as lactate dehydrogenase. Now it's all right, you know, to say, okay, requires specific enzyme, but that enzyme has to be made. And that enzyme has to be made via a genetic code to allow for the assemble of the particular amino acids and components to be assembled to make that enzyme and to make— set it up in a system where it is being made at just the right concentration to work as well. So these systems are quite fascinating in that, yeah, they are backup systems. So normally breathing normally, Our muscles are running on processes that utilize oxygen, the full presence of oxygen there to obtain energy. Just like normally we burn, you know, you think of burning fuel to provide energy, you know, you burn coal or wood or whatever provides heat energy. So the same way our body can burn glucose, but under these conditions, what do we do for energy if there isn't oxygen there? So this is a specific system that is set up for under those conditions. And this is a real challenge for evolutionists to say, well, why should such a system be in place? And let's face it, organisms would die quite quickly as soon as a stressful situation arose if that system wasn't already there in place. SPEAKER A Yeah, it's like a person would be fleeing from a predator and drop dead 'cause their muscles couldn't burn anymore. SPEAKER B That's right. They couldn't get any energy. SPEAKER A Yeah, exactly. SPEAKER B Or they, yeah, they drop down and they get eaten. SPEAKER A Yeah, exactly. That would be the end of that evolutionary phase right there. SPEAKER B Yeah. And so it's quite an interesting thing. The same with the circle of Willis and the number of blood supplies to the brain that enable, if one is blocked, the brain will still function because of the other blood supply systems that have been set up there. So why? And again, the evolution of— this is a real puzzle to evolutionists to explain why should this occur? What type of selection processes could, you know, occur there? The other thing is, of course, though, that that design system and the way those arteries are arranged, the valving systems, all these sort of things, they're quite complex system. Involved all came about as a result, according to evolutionary theory, in mutations in the genetic code. But this is totally unreasonable because massive amount of mutations required. You've gotta, you know, produce mutations that are going to produce amino acid patterns and profiles that are gonna produce those structures that construct those particular arteries in those particular— in that particular framework to provide the blood in that system and join it all up and make it all work with the valving system and so forth in place. And I think, you know, for blind random mutations to create the codes to make those structures that happen to all be in the right place, all in the right connections, or with regulated blood flow, all this sort of thing. And the backup systems involved in the control systems, it's just so complex, but it reeks of specific, highly intelligent engineering designed there to preserve the organism. It's— yeah, it just can't arise. And this is a major reason why. And this is just one example out of thousands of examples When we look at the human body and the way it's made, the point of the fact we are a created being, you know, we are created. There's an amazing mind that has engineered us and has controlled natural systems to create us. SPEAKER A Yeah, it makes me think of like NASA making those rockets that go into space and the shuttles and things and all of the backup engineering that they build into that. I mean, this is highly intelligent people who are creating these things so that it's fail-safe and can take, you know, man into space and back down safely, you know, that kind of thing. SPEAKER B That's exactly right. SPEAKER A And yeah, I mean, you mentioned about the different systems, backup systems in the human body. So what— are there other backup systems? Just some examples of some other backup redundancy kind of plans that are built into the human system? SPEAKER B Yes, of course. The, you know, just the fact that we have two eyes. You know, I have closed-angle glaucoma. And as a result of that, which is a genetic thing, I've lost, you know, part of the sight in one of my eyes. But I can still see quite clearly and read and so forth. We have two eyes, so I still have depth of field. So we have, you know, the fact that we have two eyes, you know, many people can drive just with one eye still. They get used to judging depth of field and distances and so forth. Using other, other senses. And, you know, two kidneys. SPEAKER A Yes. SPEAKER B You know, I was— I know a number of people that have lost kidneys, car accidents, cancer, different things, but they're still able to lead a healthy life because they, you know, have— because of the redundancy system there. There's, you know, so many examples that You know, we can think of, you know, two ears. Two lungs. Two lungs, yes. So again, we can get by. People can lose a leg, lose an arm, those sort of things. But also in the immune system too, we have a lot of components to the immune system. If one system isn't, you know, getting on top of the bugs, the infection or whatever, another system can click in. There's so many systems. Again, when we feel cold, We can have increased circulation. We can stimulate shivering mechanisms, these sort of things. There are a whole lot of mechanisms that seem to be backup, backup systems for us in so many ways. Again, this all reeks of design because they're all coordinated systems. You know, why should there be two kidneys, for example? And kidneys are a very important organism. And also often find, we find, for example, people can lose part of their liver, but the liver will still function because of the size of the liver, its structure, the way it, you know, is constructed in these sort of ways. People can still survive without a spleen, not as well, but, and that is because other backup systems begin kicking in and we are still, you know, able to function. SPEAKER A Yeah, I mean, even the brain can do that, can't it? You know, you have, when they've done like hemispherectomies and that kind of thing, the remaining hemisphere can take over some of the processes that the other one used to do. We've been able to see that happen now in surgery. SPEAKER B And also too, in the reproductive system, twin fallopian tubes, twin testes, these sort of things. SPEAKER A Yeah. SPEAKER B In case one is damaged. So all these things reek of design because particularly in a lot of these cases, you would only need one. To do the job and this sort of thing to function. So again, these redundant systems, they're extras that are in there, but they give us better survival. SPEAKER A So from your understanding, would natural selection tend to favour redundancy or more just pure efficiency? SPEAKER B Well, that's right. You would think that anything that isn't being necessarily used and conferring an advantage. In some cases, I guess, you know, evolutionists would argue, okay, well, if you've got two, then one is, you know, and you're more likely to survive a result of being bitten by an animal and losing one or something like that. Yeah. So there is an argument for that. But why in the first place? SPEAKER A Yes. Why do you have it? SPEAKER B Yeah, the mutations. And why are they balanced? How come you can have a mutation that sets up this symmetry? This is another thing, you know, trying to account for symmetry. If these things are produced by blind, random mutations, how can we allow for symmetry? And this is another thing in terms of aesthetics too, you know, the symmetry in that, you know, we're made so that, yeah, we look symmetrical, we look very pleasant, and this sort of thing. So there's a lot of aspects to this. If you have blind mutations, why would blind mutations produce symmetry? So there's a lot of, you know, things like this that come into the fact, no, this is design. This is something that was designed for aesthetics. And particularly when you look at even in the plant world, you know, the design of flower symmetry and those sort of things. The fact that you have so many plant designs follow the Fibonacci numbers, follow mathematical codes. The random mutation process isn't going to necessarily follow a mathematical code. And so these are all other questions, they're all other issues that come up to point the fact evolution doesn't work. Evolution can't be explaining the amazing structures that we see out in nature. Evolution can't explain the amazing complex biochemistry that is associated with so many of the processes that underpin the bodily functions that keep us alive. They're extremely complex. And when we break it down into all the little individual enzymes, the little valving systems and so forth, even the parts of DNA that, are involved in transporting pieces of information, pieces of code from the DNA nucleus into the ribosome and so forth. All these things have to be encoded for. They're all little machines that work to help build up a bigger machine that builds a bigger machine. All this reeks of design, amazing design. You know, so it's very difficult to set up a production line, you know, to perhaps just pack packets of food, for example, out in the paddock. You know, you've got to have a setup in a building where you've got an electricity supply, you've got a water supply, you've got pressure regulation of the water. All these sort of factors come in. And it's the same in the human body. We look at our human body, we look at the big systems, the heart, lungs, kidneys, and so forth. But they're all supported by minute systems that are all supported by biochemistry. All that biochemistry has to be encoded for. It's to— and all work. It all points to an amazingly designed system, impossible by random mutations, which evolution claimed happens. SPEAKER A Fascinating things to discuss. Thank you for sharing on that, those questions today, and look forward to the next session with you. Have you ever struggled with doubts about God's existence or known someone who has? What helped you through it? Share your thoughts and stories in the comments. Your journey could inspire someone else who's searching for answers.