Genetic Entropy and The Mystery of the Genome by John Sanford

I just finished read an interesting, although somewhat technical, book by Dr. John Sanford. He begins by defining the "primary axiom" of biological evolution this way: Life is life because random mutations at the molecular level are filtered through a reproductive sieve acting on the level of the whole organism (page 5). To summarize even further, life comes about because of random mutations filtered through natural selection. Upon that axiom the whole house of evolution stands. Sanford says the axiom is basically uncritically accepted by all evolutionary biologists and population geneticists.

The thesis of the book is that the primary axiom is not true. In the first place, on its surface it doesn't seem plausible because of the massive complexity of the genome and the amount of information it encodes in any living creature. In the second place, the genome of, say, human beings, is degrading over time. This is "entropy" in the genetic makeup. In the third place, the primary axiom cannot create new genetic information within the timescale suggested by evolutionists. Therefore, Sanford writes on p. 139,

We have reviewed compelling evidence that, even when ignoring deleterious mutations, mutation/selection cannot create a single gene within the human evolutionary timescale. When deleterious mutations are factored back in, we see that mutation/selection cannot create a single gene, ever. This is overwhelming evidence against the Primary Axiom. In my opinion this constitutes what is essentially a formal proof that the Primary Axiom is false.

He concludes this way on p. 150:

What is the mystery of the genome? Its very existence is its mystery. Information and complexity which surpass human understanding are programmed into a space smaller than an invisible spec of dust. Mutation/selection cannot even begin to explain this. It should be very clear that our genome could not have arisen spontaneously.

Michael Behe wrote an interesting blurb on the back cover: "In Genetic Entropy, Cornell University researcher John Sanford lifts the rug to see what evolutionary theory has swept under it. He shows that, not only does Darwinism not have answers for how information got into the genome, it doesn't even have answers for how it could remain there."

Scott Buchanan has written a rebuttal and Sanford responds.

The book is Dr. John C. Sanford, Genetic Entropy & The Mystery of the Genome, FMS Publications, 2008, 226 pages including glossary and index. Multiple editions are available.