may interact in a continuum from parasitism to mutualism, interpretations lack the detailed explanations required for how two or more autonomous organisms can enter intimate relationships in intricately complex ways. B. Engineering-based biological research and application Ironically, just as engineers reproduce manufactured products by reverse engineering and carefully studying their construction and composition, geneticists perform reverse genetics on model organisms to produce a new phenotype. They begin by identifying a gene of interest and bombard certain parts with radiation. This disrupts genetic programming through mutation and causes deleterious effects on symbiotic relationships (Roy et al. 2020). With the model organism protocol, details of these affected relationships are being elucidated and findings are the inspiration for algorithms that are solving engineering and computer problems. Symbiosis applications include, but are not limited to, increased engineering/computer optimization for pollution emissions, electrical power flow, energy efficient building design, and wireless communication (Abdullahi et al. 2020). Symbiosis researchers hope that their findings will help biologists genetically engineer other organisms that did not have certain abilities previously, to enter functional relationships with other organisms in agricultural and natural communities (de Vries and de Vries 2018). Though there are ethics concerns, genetically engineered relationships would allow organisms to accomplish important nutrient fixation for improving costs, productivity, and sustainability of agricultural practices and improved ecosystem management around the world. This approach is consistent with engineering design, biomimetics, and a supreme Designer behind it all. Hennigan et al. (2022) hypothesize that at least three engineering-based principles will be the core of interpreting symbiotic observations. Intentionality (teleology) is where a search for purpose, and/ or invisible characteristics of God (e.g., beauty, relationship, unity, diversity) will drive biological system research; Internalistic where biological processes and mechanisms enabling interrelationships and continuous adaptability are innate to organisms and not environmental processes; and Individualistic where individual organisms with abilities to identify self from non-self are seen as discreet, interrelated components in the broader ecosystem. This model postulates that the ecosystem is better understood by accounting for the individual roles each organism has and how they interact through operations that are regulated by their highly engineered interface systems. Researchers emphasize that to understand an interface is to understand how autonomous entities can form intimate alliances and cooperate with one another by communicating in a way that information and product exchanges occur in specific ways (Clark and Petrini 2012). Hennigan et al. (2022) outline the following design elements required for an interface. Authentication is a highly regulated and extremely selective process designed to recognize self from non-self. Protocols are rules established by the interface designer to regulate the relationship. Physical attachment often precedes control but there are other interactions that do not require attachment. The Common Medium is a physical condition external to two or more entities. Common media include light, electrical impulses, water, soil, air, and/or various biochemicals. These intricate systems seem to operate in an irreducibly complex and interdependent way (Zuill 2007). Removal of any one of these design elements causes an interface system to effectively cease functioning altogether. Corruption of any element causes a system malfunction. The removal of interface elements and/or system malfunctions may explain how some commensal and parasitic relationships have developed since the Fall. These can also explain how long-term relationships, with the same creatures, can transition from mutualistic to commensal to parasitic, as several phenomena can affect interface elements. The only known origin of interface systems is the mind. When observing long-term associations, it could look like one species is directly controlling the other, but they are not. Each organism has an interface system, but these systems only directly control the organism to which it belongs. For example, in mutualisms such as nitrogen fixing bacteria and plant roots, several harmonious outcomes are observed. One outcome includes bacteria producing usable nitrogen for the plant and in return, the plant providing carbohydrates for bacteria. Bacteria and plants each have their own identifiable protocols, but the broader interface that enables these protocols to harmonize is not seen. If we searched for where the information underlying specified bacteria/plant harmonization resides, it would not be found within either but comes from the mind of the Designer. We find that explanation more plausible than the conventional (and mystical) assertion that plants and bacteria co-evolved together. But how do we understand system malfunctions, parasitic suffering, and death if a good God created life and relationship? C. Biblical life and death Within a biblical worldview, it is important to incorporate concepts of how life and death are defined and how death and suffering fit into a world designed by a good God (Hennigan et al. 2022; Ingle 2015; Wise 2018). The book of Genesis suggests that life and consciousness have characteristics that are not measurable using scientific methodologies. This is consistent with the Author and Creator of life in the cosmos, who is also Spirit, not being physical or measurable (Wise 2018). The scientific implications of life and consciousness being immaterial are profound. What this means is that we can scientifically study the operation of biological functions such as metabolism, adaptation, and organism interactions, and that the operation of these functions are best explained by engineering principles. Yet, consciousness and life itself are not reducible to, derived from, or explained by either biological functions or engineering principles. In addition, Scripture suggests that soul-life found in animals and humans is a different kind of life than other biological taxa (e.g., plants as a food source for humans and animals with soul-life) and that the death brought about by the curse is death of animals and humans (Genesis 1:29-30; Romans 5:12-21; Kennard 2008; Wise 2018). Wise (2019) suggests that biblical death may not only refer to separation, but also cessation of created function and purpose. These concepts are important to discuss and explore in young-age creationism, especially when it comes to describing parasite/parasitoid relations that can cause death and suffering and whether parasites of taxa other than animals and humans were part of God’s original and good design (Blaschke 2018; Ingle 2015). More discussion and agreement are needed among young age creationists. HENNIGAN, GULIUZZA, INGLE, and LANSDELL Interface systems model in key global symbiotic relationships 2023 ICC 230
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