The Miracle of Man: The Fine Tuning of Nature for Human Existence

by Michael Denton

For years, leading scientists and science popularizers have insisted humans are nothing special in the cosmic scheme of things. In this important and provocative new book, renowned biologist Michael Denton argues otherwise. According to Denton, the cosmos is stunningly fit not just for cellular life, not just for carbon-based animal life, and not even just for air-breathing animals, but especially for bipedal, land-roving, technology-pursuing creatures of our general physiological design. In short, the cosmos is specifically fit for creatures like us. Drawing on discoveries from a myriad of scientific fields, Denton masterfully documents how contemporary science has revived humanity’s special place in nature. “The human person as revealed by modern science is no contingent assemblage of elements, an irrelevant afterthought of cosmic evolution,” Denton writes. “Rather, our destiny was inscribed in the light of stars and the properties of atoms since the beginning. Now we know that all nature sings the song of man. Our seeming exile from nature is over. We now know what the medieval scholars only believed, that the underlying rationality of nature is indeed ‘manifest in human flesh.’ And with this revelation the... delusion of humankind’s irrelevance on the cosmic stage has been revoked.”

Genres: Biology

258 pages, Kindle Edition

Published May 10, 2022

About the author

Michael Denton holds an M.D. from Bristol University, as well as a Ph.D. in biochemistry from King’s College in London. A Senior Fellow at Discovery Institute's Center for Science and Culture, Denton has had a critical impact on the debate over Darwinian evolution.

Reviews

[Larry White · Rating 5 out of 5]

Unexpected Irony for the Materialist

Our society, especially (and incongruently) our scientific cultural elite, insists that the science is settled with respect to the random forces that are responsible for earthly life and all its complexities. Humankind is simply the happenstance result of a process that ultimately favors beneficial undirected changes. Only materialistic explanations are worthy of consideration. Supernatural explanations, regardless of the evidence, are rejected axiomatically. The unexpected Irony is that as scientific understanding progresses, the evidence appears more and more to be suggestive of purpose than randomness in human existence and nature. The eager acceptance of materialism, born in ignorance and unproven theory, has not been supported by empirical advances, but teleology increasingly has.

In his new book, “The Miracle of Man”, scientist Michael Deaton (an MD and PhD in biochemistry) makes a compelling case for purpose apparent in many of the critical properties of nature. He demonstrates that nature itself might be viewed as having the special fitness for supporting human life. Again ironically, he points out that the unique fitness of nature for human life, the human-centeredness of nature, was the prevailing expectation throughout most of history in one form or another. Then, as Denton marks it, in 1543 certain advances in scientific understanding (in cosmology and anatomy) opened the door for alternatives to anthropocentric explanations for nature. The materialistic alternatives gained influence and predominance, reaching an apex of sorts with Darwin’s theory of evolution in the nineteenth century. However, scientific understanding still was in its infancy (perhaps it still is) and unknowledgeable of so many things that are understood now. Denton takes the reader on a fascinating journey through many aspects of our natural world that once again increasingly point to a human-centered fitness throughout nature.

[Nicholas · Rating 4 out of 5]

Rather stunning

This book is somewhat repetitive however it succeeds in showing that the material world seems tailor made to support the existence not just of life, but human life. The book does not address the "why" of creation. Rather it convincingly conveys the view that credulity is strained by the notion that the exquisite balance and function in the world of matter, energy into nature just happened randomly; that it cannot plausibly be mere accident that the physical world so keenly fits and supports the chemical and biological existence of the human race. The author dances up to the edge of a belief in a divine being responsible for the design and function of the material world but leaves it to the reader to draw the ultimate and necessary inferences. The book is highly informative and quite thought provoking. Worth reading.

[Frank Peters · Rating 3 out of 5]

The book is excellent, and the overall argument is very strong given all the pieces that are assembled. The editing could have been improved: there were a few grammatical errors, as well as one page 139 “the electron transport chain (ECT)…flowing down the ETC in the mitochondria” which (perhaps irrationally) hurt my head. Some of the arguments are overstated (usually unnecessarily). My example is the eye, where the author claims that for good vision only the visible range would work. The problem was that just a few paragraphs before he had admitted that shorter wavelengths would also work, but without any further advantage due to the size of the photoreceptors in the eye. Then, as a Physicist, I found some of the biologically focussed chapters a bit boring (my fault). So again, the book is excellent, but not perfect.

[Michael Motter · Rating 5 out of 5]

Compelling

Dr. Denton has presented a plethora of teleological evidence for both man and his environment. Although Dr. Denton seldom invokes God his evidence points the reader towards God.

[James · Rating 5 out of 5]

Review to follow.