Opinion

The endless permutations, combinations

man has since times immemorial tried to decipher, one by one, all the so-called mysteries of the world.

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At a recent programme Nobel laureate Sydney Brenner, gave an interesting insight into the human genome. He said that if it were to be compiled in books it would fill 200 volumes of 1,000 pages each. That is, all of the coding sequence of our DNA (Deoxyribonucleic acid), the building block of life, containing three billion chemical pairs. Is not coding something that computer programmers keep talking about? That the blueprint for an organism’s life could be stored in a DNA is itself awe-inspiring and that man could crack it is more so.

For that matter, man has since times immemorial tried to decipher, one by one, all the so-called mysteries of the world. That very ability has given him the supremacy over the affairs of the earth. He has even constantly tried to probe the outer world. He learnt early that the key for systematic functioning of things lay in programming (also known as coding), which is perhaps the reason why he could manoeuvre so many things in the world.

In fact, mathematics itself is an interplay of countless programmed functions.

For example, a geometrical circle is a programme of points that are equidistant from a given fixed point.

Last but not the least, languages that have been spoken and written in for ages are nothing but codes to indicate countless things in the world, governed by a set of systematic rules called grammar.

Man found out that ‘programmes’ contained even in the most minute of structures like DNA and chromosome could direct the development, maintenance and reproduction of a complex organism like the human being.

Likewise, isn’t it fascinating that programming can help send a probe from earth to the moon when it isn’t uncommon to struggle finding addresses in our cities? If programming codes have to be written for the functioning of a mere mobile phone that can be found with almost everyone, then what about the countless functions that happen every second in the universe or the creation of the universe itself. It must surely have been the handiwork of the ultimate genius whose knowledge is eternal and boundless (remember theologians believe that the universe is infinite).

That reminds us what our scriptures say about God, that he is the personification of the ultimate knowledge and is the supreme being. After all, didn’t he as the ultimate teacher tell everything that mankind ought to know, in The Song Celestial? We are familiar about genetic codes for living beings. But what about the lifeless things or inanimate objects? Is there some code written in what could be called Earth’s DNA with regard to say the occurrence of the seasons? It could be that the Earth’s ‘DNA’ is responsible for all its geographical diversity.

In short, the creator must have used some complex programming code that is unfathomable for humans, to create this beautiful universe.

Let’s not forget that it is composed of just five basic elements — earth (solid matter), fire (energy), water, space and air. A mind-boggling number of permutations and combinations of these elements must have gone into the creation of the universe. Indeed, He has the key to the happening of everything.

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