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Asyncritus
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HALLMARKS OF INTELLIGENCE 1
To my mind, one of the biggest hallmarks of intelligence is ingenuity. An idiot cannot display ingenuity, and a genius displays it abundantly.
Here is one such display, without which, mammalian life (and possibly others) would shortly become extinct.
The Digestive System
Oddly enough, it comes from the digestive system, an unlikely place, you might say. You’re probably right, but here it is.
The Pancreas
Have a look at the diagram:
http://www.patient.co.uk/showdoc/21692457/
The pancreas produces enzymes which pass into the small intestine and complete the processes of digestion which began in the mouth with ptyalin (salivary amylase), continues in the stomach with the production of hydrochloric acid, pepsin and rennin another two remarkable enzymes which can function in highly acid conditions.
The pepsin breaks down proteins into smaller chunks called polypeptides and smaller ones still, called peptides.
Proteins----->polypeptides----->peptides
The final stage of the digestion of proteins occurs in the small intestine, where the peptides are split up into amino-acids which are small enough to pass through the wall of the gut into the blood stream. Anything bigger won't go through.
Peptides ----trypsin--->amino-acids
And here’s the ingenuity.
One of the enzymes which the pancreas produces is not an enzyme, but an enzyme precursor which by itself cannot digest the protein. It’s called trypsinogen. The ‘-ogen’ piece of the name means that it will ‘gen’-erate trypsin later on.
The trypsinogen passes into a tube called the ‘pancreatic duct’ into the small intestine (see the diagram above), where it meets up with another substance called ‘enterokinase’ which remarkably enough, ACTIVATES the trypsinogen, and turns it into trypsin, which can digest the peptides and change them into amino-acids.
So to simplify it, here’s a diagram:
Pancreas----->trypsinogen----> into duct----> into small intestine
In the small intestine:
Trypsinogen + enterokinase -----> trypsin (which digests the peptides and polypeptides.)
A very serious problem has been solved most ingeniously in this arrangement.
You can see the pancreatic duct in the diagram above. It's made of protein.
Therefore, if the pancreas had produced trypsin itself, it would have digested the tube on the way to the intestine. Serious injury, and inability to digest and absorb protein would have resulted.
Extinction would have followed very shortly.
However, the Creator foresaw the problem, and solved it most ingeniously.
He made sure that the trypsin could NOT become active UNTIL it reached the small intestine. He made sure that when it DID get there, there WAS an activator (an enzyme too!) present to kick start its action.
And finally for the purposes of this article, He made sure that the walls of the small intestine could resist the action of trypsin.
We won’t even bother to belabour the incredible complexity of the enzymes’ biochemistry.
Suffice it to say that here is ingenuity par excelsis.
Can mindless processes produce ingenuity?
I doubt it somehow.
Evolution chaps?
To my mind, one of the biggest hallmarks of intelligence is ingenuity. An idiot cannot display ingenuity, and a genius displays it abundantly.
Here is one such display, without which, mammalian life (and possibly others) would shortly become extinct.
The Digestive System
Oddly enough, it comes from the digestive system, an unlikely place, you might say. You’re probably right, but here it is.
The Pancreas
Have a look at the diagram:
http://www.patient.co.uk/showdoc/21692457/
The pancreas produces enzymes which pass into the small intestine and complete the processes of digestion which began in the mouth with ptyalin (salivary amylase), continues in the stomach with the production of hydrochloric acid, pepsin and rennin another two remarkable enzymes which can function in highly acid conditions.
The pepsin breaks down proteins into smaller chunks called polypeptides and smaller ones still, called peptides.
Proteins----->polypeptides----->peptides
The final stage of the digestion of proteins occurs in the small intestine, where the peptides are split up into amino-acids which are small enough to pass through the wall of the gut into the blood stream. Anything bigger won't go through.
Peptides ----trypsin--->amino-acids
And here’s the ingenuity.
One of the enzymes which the pancreas produces is not an enzyme, but an enzyme precursor which by itself cannot digest the protein. It’s called trypsinogen. The ‘-ogen’ piece of the name means that it will ‘gen’-erate trypsin later on.
The trypsinogen passes into a tube called the ‘pancreatic duct’ into the small intestine (see the diagram above), where it meets up with another substance called ‘enterokinase’ which remarkably enough, ACTIVATES the trypsinogen, and turns it into trypsin, which can digest the peptides and change them into amino-acids.
So to simplify it, here’s a diagram:
Pancreas----->trypsinogen----> into duct----> into small intestine
In the small intestine:
Trypsinogen + enterokinase -----> trypsin (which digests the peptides and polypeptides.)
A very serious problem has been solved most ingeniously in this arrangement.
You can see the pancreatic duct in the diagram above. It's made of protein.
Therefore, if the pancreas had produced trypsin itself, it would have digested the tube on the way to the intestine. Serious injury, and inability to digest and absorb protein would have resulted.
Extinction would have followed very shortly.
However, the Creator foresaw the problem, and solved it most ingeniously.
He made sure that the trypsin could NOT become active UNTIL it reached the small intestine. He made sure that when it DID get there, there WAS an activator (an enzyme too!) present to kick start its action.
And finally for the purposes of this article, He made sure that the walls of the small intestine could resist the action of trypsin.
We won’t even bother to belabour the incredible complexity of the enzymes’ biochemistry.
Suffice it to say that here is ingenuity par excelsis.
Can mindless processes produce ingenuity?
I doubt it somehow.
Evolution chaps?
