Addresses of All Authors
Randy J. Guliuzza Institute for Creation Research 1806 Royal Lane, Dallas, TX 75229
Phil B. Gaskil 35538 S.E. Snuffin Rd Estacada, OR 97023
Author's Biography
Randy Guliuzza is the National Representative for the Institute for Creation Research and represents it in scientific debates and lectures at secular forums. His research involves organisms’ innate systems enabling them to self-adjust to changing environments to “fill the earth.” He has a B.S. in engineering from South Dakota School of Mines and Technology, a B.A. in theology from Moody Bible Institute, an M.D. from the University of Minnesota, and a Masters in Public Health from Harvard University. He is a registered Professional Engineer and is Board Certified in Aerospace Medicine. He is the author of numerous articles and books.
Phil Gaskill is a Technical Researcher/Writer for Cramer Fish Sciences in Gresham, Oregon. He was previously a systems engineer and technical writer in the information technology industry. Phil has a B.A. in History from Lawrence University, where he studied history and physics while pursuing his interest in the history of science. He gave his first creation science presentation at the Second International Conference on Creationism in Pittsburgh in 1990, shortly after graduating from high school. He has published in both creation and secular peer-reviewed journals, and speaks regularly on Genesis, Evolution, and related evidence at churches and in other venues.
Proposal
We offer a new framework for understanding biological adaptability based on interpreting the findings of 342 journal articles and 67 online reports related to adaptation, bioengineering, and design in view of the assumption that biological functions are most accurately explained by engineering principles. We hypothesize that organisms actively and continuously track environmental variables and respond by self-adjusting to changing environments—utilizing the engineering principles constraining how human-designed objects self-adjust to changes—which results in adaptation. We termed this hypothesis Continuous Environmental Tracking (CET). CET is an engineering-based, organism-focused characterization of adaptation. CET expects to find that organisms adapt via systems with elements analogous to those within human-engineered tracking systems, namely: input sensors, internal logic mechanisms to select suitable responses, and actuators to execute responses. We derived the hypothesis by reinterpreting findings and formalizing biological adaptability within a framework of engineering design, considering: (1) objectives, (2) constraints, (3) variables, and (4) the biological systems related to the previous three. The literature does identify internal mechanisms with elements analogous to engineered systems using sensors coupled to complex logic mechanisms producing highly “targeted” self-adjustments suitable to changes. Adaptive mechanisms were characterized as regulated, rapid, repeatable, and sometimes, reversible. Adaptation happened largely through regulated gene expression and not gene inheritance, per se. These observations, consistent with CET, contrast starkly with the evolutionary framework’s randomness of tiny, accidental “hit-and-miss” phenotypes fractioned out to lucky survivors of deadly challenges. Evolutionists now divide over their framework’s need of modification, and a trend among some seeks to infuse more engineering into biology. This disarray affords a rare, transient opportunity for engineering advocates to frame the issue. CET may fundamentally change how we perceive organisms; from passive modeling clay shaped over time by the vicissitudes of nature, to active, problem-solving creatures that continuously track environmental changes to better fit existing niches or fill new ones.
Disciplines
Biology
Keywords
Rapid adaptation, specific adaptive mechanism, tracking systems, epigenetics, sensor, engineering principles, systems biology, intelligent design, evolutionary synthesis
DOI
https://doi.org/10.15385/jpicc.2018.8.1.17
Print Reference
Pages 158-184
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Recommended Citation
Guliuzza, R.J., and P.B. Gaskill. 2018. Continuous environmental tracking: An engineering framework to understand adaptation and diversification. In Proceedings of the Eighth International Conference on Creationism, ed. J.H. Whitmore, pp. 158–184. Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania: Creation Science Fellowship.