Fire

Campfire, Author Dirk Beyer (Reuse Permission GNU Free Documentation License, CC BY-SA 2.5), (CC BY-SA 3.0 Unported)

The following is based on a program with the British biochemist Michael Denton titled “Fire Maker” by the Discovery Institute Center for Science and Culture https://www.discovery.org/b/fire-maker/ (7/18/16).

Mankind’s mastery of fire led, over the centuries, to metallurgy and the production of tools, weapons, and ultimately modern technology – everything from the printing press, steam turbine, and combustion engine, to the phone, TV, and computer chip.

Earth is the only known planet designed both to support fire and a creature capable of harnessing fire’s power.  A multitude of carefully calibrated conditions had to be met before this could happen.

1. Our planet had to have an atmosphere capable of sustaining both combustion and respiration.  This required Nitrogen and Oxygen in precise proportions, at precise pressures.
2. Our planet had to be rocky and just the right size. Larger planets like the gas giants retain their primeval atmosphere, inclusive of Hydrogen and Helium, because of their strong gravity.  Smaller planets allow Oxygen molecules to float off into space because of their weak gravity.
3. The right fuel had to be available to generate fire with sufficient heat to work metals. Iron smelting, for instance, requires temperatures in excess of 2100 degrees Fahrenheit.  Burning grass or branches alone would not provide this.  Coal and/or charcoal were necessary, and their existence was dependent on the presence of large woody plants.  In turn, those were only made possible by the presence of Lignans which strengthen cell walls (allowing plants to grow taller), and slow the breakdown of organic material (enriching the soil).
4. A living being of just the right body size and design was needed to make and regulate fire. An android body shape and dexterous hands like man’s were necessary.
5. Muscles of the right strength, fast conducting nerves, and nerves of the right diameter like man’s were, also, necessary.
6. Finally, nature had to be seeded with elements and compounds having properties that could be unleashed by fire. Metals like iron and copper exist in abundance on earth, and can be obtained from ore without great difficulty.  Not all planets meet this criterion.

“All this life upon our earth has led up to and culminated in that of man.”

–Alfred Russel Wallace

The naturalist and explorer Alfred Russel Wallace developed the Theory of Evolution by natural selection independently of Charles Darwin [1][2].  His findings were later included in Darwin’s work The Origin of Species. 

However, in The World of Life – A Manifestation of Creative Power, Directive Mind, and Purpose, Wallace concluded that the materials necessary to our technologic development seemed to have been prepared for us beforehand.

Wallace argued that science, itself, was dependent on natural capacities built into the elements and compounds of which our world is composed.  These enable us to study the world around us, and appreciate its overwhelming complexity.

For Wallace, this pointed to a cause beyond physical nature, an all pervasive Mind.

“For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even His eternal power and Godhead…” (Rom. 1: 20).

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[1]  Wikipedia, “Alfred Russel Wallace”, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alfred_Russel_Wallace.

[2]  Sciencing, “Alfred Russel Wallace:  Biography, Theory of Evolution & Facts” by Bert Markgraf, 8/30/22, https://www.sciencing.com/alfred-russel-wallace-biography-theory-of-evolution-facts-13719062/.

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