This question is important because DNA contains information, in fact, it contains complex specific encoded information. The answer to this question depends entirely upon which type of information you are referring to. Understanding this difference is the key to understanding why a naturalistic origin of life is fundamentally unworkable and impossible.
Analog information such as what we receive through light, and sound does not necessarily need an author because among other things it has no intrinsic meaning. The information we pick up from light is focused in our eyes to form an image that is projected into our consciousness by our brains. The information that it holds is really not encoded in any way, it simply results from the patterns that the light produces after being emitted by or reflecting off of a given object. Those patterns tell us something about those objects. In fact, the information only takes on meaning when our minds interpret what we see or hear.
With digital information on the other hand the information is broken down into units that have established meaning between the sender and the receiver. While digital technically refers to numbers in a more general sense when referring to information it can include words, letters, and other symbols. The idea is that the content of the signal is broken down into individual units. This can be carried by sound, by light, by electric current, or by any other means by which these symbols can be transmitted. While statistically speaking digital information does not require any meaning, digitally encoded information by its very nature does have meaning.
Digitally encoded information by its very nature the symbols stand for something else beyond the symbols themselves. Words are the most basic form of this with writing following after that. It is with the advent of computers, however, that the characters of writing have been further represented by numerical values. Alternately the meaning of all this has to be the result of a conscious intelligent mind. There is no natural way for meaning to come about. What about artificial intelligence you may ask, after all, they had the ability to write stuff. Now while that is true, AIs are just algorithms written by the conscious intelligent mind of a human being. Furthermore, the meaning that those texts have is the result of conventions established between the conscious intelligent minds of human beings. As a result, while analog information does not require an author and can occur naturally, it only has meaning as it is interpreted by a conscious intelligent mind. Digital encoded information ultimately results from the work of a conscience intelligent mind. Now there may be intermediates involved that helped produce the information, but the ultimate source and establisher of meaning is ultimately a conscience intelligent mind.
So, until it can be confirmed otherwise, anytime we see digitally encoded information it is best to conclude that it is the result of a conscious intelligent mind. The DNA there ruins every living cell fully qualifies as digitally encoded information consequently the most reasonable and scientific conclusion based on our experience is that it too is the product of a conscious intelligent mind. The only reason for claiming otherwise is a prior rejection of God.
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