What's Wrong with This Statement?

Read the following statement from the Wikipedia article on the Genetic Code.

... the genetic code used by all known forms of life is nearly universal with few minor variations. This suggests that a single evolutionary history underlies the origin of the genetic code.

What wrong with this statement? Cornelius Hunter says that the statement "... is false—at least from a scientific perspective" [Here is Why the DNA Code is a Problem]. Can you guess why this IDiot would make such a claim?

In contrast, an anonymous source at Uncommon Descent asks, "Does the Genetic Code Bear A Signature of Intelligence?." He/she posts the following abstract ...

It has been repeatedly proposed to expand the scope for SETI, and one of the suggested alternatives to radio is the biological media. Genomic DNA is already used on Earth to store non-biological information. Though smaller in capacity, but stronger in noise immunity is the genetic code. The code is a flexible mapping between codons and amino acids, and this flexibility allows modifying the code artificially. But once fixed, the code might stay unchanged over cosmological timescales; in fact, it is the most durable construct known. Therefore it represents an exceptionally reliable storage for an intelligent signature, if that conforms to biological and thermodynamic requirements. As the actual scenario for the origin of terrestrial life is far from being settled, the proposal that it might have been seeded intentionally cannot be ruled out. A statistically strong intelligent-like “signal” in the genetic code is then a testable consequence of such scenario. Here we show that the terrestrial code displays a thorough precision-type orderliness matching the criteria to be considered an informational signal. Simple arrangements of the code reveal an ensemble of arithmetical and ideographical patterns of the same symbolic language. Accurate and systematic, these underlying patterns appear as a product of precision logic and nontrivial computing rather than of stochastic processes (the null hypothesis that they are due to chance coupled with presumable evolutionary pathways is rejected with P-value < 10–13). The patterns display readily recognizable hallmarks of artificiality, among which are the symbol of zero, the privileged decimal syntax and semantical symmetries. Besides, extraction of the signal involves logically straightforward but abstract operations, making the patterns essentially irreducible to natural origin. Plausible ways of embedding the signal into the code and possible interpretation of its content are discussed. Overall, while the code is nearly optimized biologically, its limited capacity is used extremely efficiently to pass non-biological information.

According to Uncommon Descent, the article is written by two scientists. They turn out to be two mathematicians from the Republic of Kazakhstan [The “Wow! signal” of the terrestrial genetic code].

Can you guess why the IDiots would believe such a ridiculous claim?

I wonder if Cornelius Hunter thinks this is science?

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Posted in: Evolutionary Biology, Rationalism v Superstition