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Hindi Rapid Communication, J Genet Disor Genet Rep Vol: 3 Issue: 2
History Versus Limits of Science: Is Solomonic Genius a Y Chromosome Phenomenon?
| F I D Konotey-Ahulu* | |
| Kwegyir Aggrey distinguished Professor of Human Genetics, University of Cape Coast, Ghana and Consultant Physician Genetic Counsellor in Sickle Cell & Other Hemoglobinopathies, 9 Harley Street Ltd., Phoenix Hospital Group, London, UK | |
| Corresponding author : Dr. F I D Konotey-Ahulu Kwegyir Aggrey distinguished Professor of Human Genetics, University of Cape Coast, Ghana and Consultant Physician Genetic Counsellor in Sickle Cell & Other Haemoglobinopathies, 9 Harley Street Ltd., Phoenix Hospital Group, London W1G 9AL, UK Tel: 4407791267311; E-mail: felix@konotey-ahulu.com |
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| Received: March 19, 2014 Accepted: May 06, 2014 Published: May 13, 2014 | |
| Citation: Konotey-Ahulu FID (2014) History Versus Limits of Science: Is Solomonic Genius a Y Chromosome Phenomenon?. J Genet Disor Genet Rep 3:2. doi:10.4172/2327-5790.1000114 |
Abstract
History Versus Limits of Science: Is Solomonic Genius a Y Chromosome Phenomenon?
At least two groups of scientific thinkers or thinking scientists will frown on this article. First, those who base their atheism on reason, and secondly anti-Semitics. My plea is that both these groups – brilliant atheists and brilliant Jew haters read carefully what I have presented here and comment. There are some historic events whose explanation defies scientific scrutiny. Yet some aspects of these events can, within limits, have scientific explanations. Nobel laureate Sir Peter Medawar is one of the few original thinkers who recognize that there are limits to Science.
Introduction |
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| At least two groups of scientific thinkers or thinking scientists will frown on this article. First, those who base their atheism on reason, and secondly anti-Semitics. My plea is that both these groups – brilliant atheists and brilliant Jew haters read carefully what I have presented here and comment. There are some historic events whose explanation defies scientific scrutiny [1]. Yet some aspects of these events can, within limits, have scientific explanations. Nobel laureate Sir Peter Medawar is one of the few original thinkers who recognize that there are limits to Science [2]. One such is origins (Ultimate questions) that are “beyond the explanatory competence of science” [2]. Medawar explains what he means by ultimate questions: “That there is indeed a limit upon science is made very likely by the existence of questions that science cannot answer and that no conceivable advance of science would empower it to answer.” [2, page 66]. Scientists can only hypothesize about origins but their theories do not change the fact that origins are historical events. The paradigm which says historical events that cannot be explained scientifically must be deemed not to have happened is contrary to Professor Medawar’s cogitations. And who am I to disagree with him? | |
History Sometimes Can Get to a Simple Truth Quicker than Science Can |
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| Although it is difficult if not impossible to use only science to prove on the spur of the moment that I was born on a Saturday, the second son of my mother, it takes just a few seconds for an illiterate Krobo tribes person in Southern Ghana to do that when told ‘Kwami’ (Saturday’s male) and ‘Tεtε’ (mother’s second male offspring) are my home names. History has thus triumphed over Science whose only contribution in this is to say I have a 14.2857142% chance of being born on a Saturday [3]. | |
The Pascal Test |
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| I once divided the greatest scientists into two groups: Those who passed the Pascal Test (like my Anatomy teacher Professor J Z Young FRS at University College London) and those who failed it. [1] “There are two excesses” says Blaise Pascal: “to exclude reason, to admit nothing but reason. The supreme achievement of reason is to realize that there is a limit to reason”. Pascal goes on [4] “Reason’s last step is the recognition that there are an infinite number of things which are beyond it. It is merely feeble if it does not go as far as to realize that”. Those who claim science or human reason can explain every historical event are yet to arrive, cerebrally that is, according to Pascal. Professor Know-All failed the Pascal test miserably when I presented him with 4 factual clinical situations [1]. Now look at someone whose history proves supra-scientific features and raises questions the depth of which science has no line to fathom and (to quote Medawar) “no conceivable advance of science would empower it to answer.” [2, page 66]. | |
King Solomon |
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| About 3230 years ago Solomon succeeded King David as monarch of all Israel. One night in Gibeon something supra-scientific occurred. God invited Solomon to request a favour. Now, before I narrate what happened further it is only fair to say that I am former undergraduate of University of London and postgraduate of 3 great UK universities [London, Liverpool, Cambridge (Christ’s College)], plus being a Fellow of 2 UK Royal Colleges of Physicians [Glasgow and London], and at no time in all my studies did I read about a scientific definition of God. Science has no tools to define God, therefore to recount what happened that night at Gibeon is, to many scientists, to recount a “fairy tale”. Scientifically God is BELIEVED to be the creation of my own brain. Atheistic scientists may not admit it, but history is far and away the better witness of truth than science. And by history I mean historical events like the Holocaust, or Nine/Eleven, or Katrina, not someone’s interpretation of what actually occurred. | |
| Interpretations (scientific or otherwise) may be accurate, but may also be falsified [5] as the Queensland University confession last year proved – falsified history. It is also the case that something that actually occurred (like my being born on a Saturday) must not be denied merely because scientists have no “scientific” way of proving it [3]. Vice versa, scientists have no right to proclaim to the world that something that has not occurred has occurred, like when they blamed AIDS on the African green monkey [6]. Holocaust deniers abound. We do not use Science to prove them wrong. History does it all. | |
The History and Geography of Gibeon |
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| Now, let us go back to what happened at Gibeon which deniers of God’s existence dismiss as myth. Rejecting what happened at Gibeon does not make the slightest difference to the historicity of it. It actually came to pass that Solomon responded by asking God to give him wisdom, and God endowed him copiously with “a wise and an understanding heart” (1 Kings, chapter 3 verse 12). Solomon demonstrated his extraordinary wisdom for all to see, to the extent that people travelled from all over the world to meet him and learn. Supra-scientifically (and this is the meat of my thesis that carries a health warning for anti-Semitics and atheists) – Solomon’s wisdom became lodged by Divine Fiat on one or more of his chromosomes, certainly not on his Y chromosome. Why not? Before I answer that let us look at the mathematical coefficient I invented for African anthropogenetics which applies also to other populations. | |
Male Procreative Superiority Index (MPSI) |
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| I invented a Genetic Index, the Male Procreative Superiority Index (MPSI) to show how some special genes can be proliferated by males beyond what females (thanks to the menopause) are capable of [7,8]. King Solomon “had seven hundred wives, princesses, and three hundred concubines” [1 Kings chapter 11, verse 3]. His MPSI was enormous, with consequent proliferation of genes of genius. This is sheer history. Leaving aside achievements by the offspring of King Solomon in Music, Law, Mathematics, Physics, Economics, Industry, Chemistry, Biology, Literature, Linguistics, Espionage & Martial Strategy, Astronomy, Engineering, Technology, Agriculture, Anthropology, Sociology, Chess, Philosophy, Space Exploration, Climatology, Oratory & Debate, Fine Arts and Theatre, Computer Science and Informatics, Architecture, Genetics, plus other intellectual disciplines I concentrate on Nobel Prizes for ‘Medicine or Physiology’. | |
Nobel Prizes among King Solomon’s Progeny |
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| Since 1901 Nobel Prizes have been awarded to more than 800 individuals of whom at least 180 (22%) have been recipients of genes from King Solomon. For a people of less than 15 million (equating to one-twenty-fourth of one percent of total world population) to harvest more than 1 in every 5 Nobel Prizes it is important to look for some anthropogenetic explanations. In Medicine/Physiology the proportion of Jewish male Nobel Prize winners is fast approaching 1 in 3, which is more than one hundred fold overrepresentation of genius. My mentioning the Y chromosome phenomenon does not imply that the solomonic gene or gene cluster is on that chromosome. Why not? ANSWER: Because the ratio of female Jewish Nobel Prize winners among the world’s females is even higher than that of the males – a whopping 38%. The Y chromosome’s contribution is not that solomonic genius resides in it, but that the Y chromosome allows many, many more offspring than the female [7-9] as can easily be demonstrated in male/female twins with the same phenotype of any gene variant. Females have lower biological fitness – menopause makes sure the female twin passes on less of her unique genes to the next generation than her brother does. Check this anywhere worldwide. | |
Alternative Hypotheses |
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| Of alternative hypotheses that atheists might be tempted to use to explain Hebrew achievement Darwinian Evolution would be front runner, but it completely failed to satisfy me whom they would describe as “incredibly superstitious”. But I ask: What would be the role of Natural Selection here? Was there a polymorphism to be balanced to make King Solomon’s progeny this brilliant? I stick to my thesis. God haters (nay, God deniers) who nevertheless elevate Science to deity are challenged to explain what I call solomonic genius with careful, scientific reasoning. Can they do it? The problem is not with Science, it is with scientists who are embarrassed by the likes of Blaise Pascal and Peter Medawar. I once described some of them in the British Medical Journal as “whistling in the dark to keep their scientific courage up” [1]. Science clearly has limits [1], and scientists who claim that certain historical phenomena have not occurred because science could not, cannot, and will not be able to authenticate them must prove that they are brighter than Peter Medawar. They have failed my Pascal Test. | |
Competing Interests |
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| I am a believer in The Lord Jesus Christ. My initial ‘I’ stands for Israel. | |
References |
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