From Hugh Kolb
The problem with Paul Davies’s wish to find messages from extraterrestrials in our genetic code is that ET’s cells will have evolved in an entirely separate galaxy (7 August, p 30). Even if the principles are the same, the exact coding details and even the molecules involved could be different. This would make it difficult or impossible for them to inject messages into our code.
Jacques Monod said in his book Chance and Necessity that the randomness of the genetic code is proof of the non-existence of God. If Davies can find messages in our genome it is not ET that is responsible, rather the original designer and first cause, in person.
Aboyne, Aberdeenshire, UK
