AVIDA | The Institute for Creation Research

AVIDA

Evolutionists using evolution-based computer programs to prove evolution

It has long been known by Darwinists and non-Darwinists alike that neither the fossil record nor empirical laboratory research has proven or even supported the philosophy of macroevolution (the particles-to-people idea). For example, since 1988 evolutionary researcher Richard Lenski has worked with the common bacterium Escherichia coli (E. coli) in an effort to authenticate evolution. Only trivial changes have been observed after many bacterial generations. Yes, the bacteria have changed slightly, but they stubbornly remain E. coli. Real vertical change—macroevolution—has yet to be empirically validated.

In an effort to somehow justify their contention that no Creator was involved in their origin, secular scientists have turned to the computer revolution for help. Enter Avida—a software platform using digital creatures to test Darwin’s idea of evolution by natural selection. This is accomplished using computer programs (digital creatures) that supposedly self-replicate and “evolve.” What biology will not reveal, the Caltech and Michigan State University project will! The project uses 200 computers to observe the birth and death of thousands of generations of digital creatures based on an evolutionary program. The self-replicating code determines how these non-organic creatures of cyberspace use resources and reproduce. But even though it has taken over ten years of development, the researchers are no closer to describing the origin of any living creature in the earth’s ecosystem. Indeed, these strings of codes are not alive; they are not even carbon-based (organic).

Artificial Intelligence Requires Intelligent Creators

It cannot be lost on the various Michigan State and Caltech researchers that the computers are made by intelligent engineers and are painstakingly programmed by goal-directed programmers. Nothing in the program production was left to chance. Evolutionists are proceeding in a specific direction: to prove evolution. Should anyone be surprised when they were to finally reach that goal? If a computer program requires someone to write it, then the infinitely more complex DNA code requires “a huge intelligence” (Abate 2001).

Preprogrammed Darwinism vs. God’s “Clearly Seen” Creation

Creation scientists see several bugs in this evolutionary Avida program. A cosmic explosion supposedly formed our universe and planet over billions of years, after which organic life sprang into existence over the next few millions of years. Avida does not address how any of this occurred. Avida begins with sophisticated organic life, taking for granted that life evolved from non-life. That’s a suppositional leap of Olympic proportions.

Avida is an extraordinarily simple artificial world, composed of creatures programmed by Darwinists to evolve in a certain direction. Indeed, the program was stacked in favor of evolution using unrealistic parameters such as low mutation rates and very high selection pressure and fertility rates.

The program has been formulated to describe how evolution works, and yet it has so far failed, even with outside intelligent interference. For example, these digital organisms were rewarded when they acted in a manner a researcher found appropriate; thus, their evolution was influenced in a specific direction.

The fossil record, experimentation with living organisms, and now evolution-friendly computer programs all fail to corroborate macroevolution. How long before the secular scientist will consider The Alternative?

Citations

Abate, Tom. 2001. Human genome map has scientists talking about the divine: Surprisingly low number of genes raises big questions. SFGate.com, February 19, 2001, http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/chronicle/archive/2001/02/19/BU141026.DTL&type=printable

The Latest
NEWS
Garments for the King
“All thy garments smell of myrrh, and aloes, and cassia, out of the ivory palaces, whereby they have made thee glad.” (Psalm 45:8) One...

NEWS
Bold Claim, Hidden Design: What Salterella Reveals About Early...
What if a fossil no bigger than a grain of rice showed engineering so precise that it still puzzles scientists? That is the intrigue surrounding Salterella,...

CREATION PODCAST
Black Holes are BREAKING the Big Bang! | The Creation Podcast:...
Space is full of some of the strangest and most breath-taking objects in existence. Among them, black holes sit right at the top of the list. They're...

NEWS
Where Did Most of Earth's Species Come From?
Evolutionary naturalism is locked into seeing the entire living world as having evolved from a single common ancestor many millions of years ago.1...

NEWS
A Molecular Snowmobile
People following—or actively involved in—creation science are no doubt aware of the incredible molecular motor called the flagellum,1,2...

NEWS
Rhino Fossil Requires the "Impossible" from Conventional...
A recent study published in Nature Ecology & Evolution claims that the “impossible” actually happened—not just once, but three...

NEWS
December 2025 ICR Wallpaper
"Come now, and let us reason together," Says the LORD, "Though your sins are like scarlet, They shall be as white as snow; Though they...

NEWS
The Bipedal Two-Step of Human Evolution
The supposed evolution of bipedalism continues to be a major obstacle in the narrative that humans evolved from apelike ancestors.1,2 For...

CREATION PODCAST
The James Webb Space Telescope vs The Big Bang | The Creation...
When you look into the night sky, you’re seeing light that has traveled incredible distances to reach you. For centuries, astronomers have used telescopes...

CREATION PODCAST
Dr. Randy Guliuzza | From Learning to Leadership | The Creation...
For more than 50 years, the Institute for Creation Research has continued its mission to show how scientific evidence confirms the truth of Scripture....