Why do 'intelligent design' proponents attack the evolution of life? It seems much easier to attack things that just "are" perfectly so. Like, eπi+1=0 ... There seems to be a suspicious amount of design in this system of mathematics to make such a random equation turn out so neatly. Or cosmology - why are the various physical constants "just so"?
There are two core principles of ID, "irreducible complexity" which is also known as demonstrable ignorance, and I forget the other, but I think it is also demonstrable ignorance. The real answer is that Genesis doesn't mention the cosmological constant, but it really undermines any shallow credibility the ID folks might have. Wheras not asking "how did this complex system arise" but instead "where did the framework to create this complex system come from" strikes me as alot more profound.
For example, look at genetic algorithms. The final solution can be ridiculously complex, in such a way that no one understands how they work, only that they do (for example, the GA-created cube-root function curcuit. From a certain level of ignorance that could probably be proved to be irreducibly complex.) The final product was not created by any intelligence. BUT, the *framework* to evolve the complex design WAS created by intelligence.
But no, it's always "What good is half an eye?" or "Look at the motorboat flagellum, that couldn't possibly have evolved by random chance!"
Ok, I appear to be showing my own ignorance here - the wikipedia article on intelligent design (all hail wikipedia) does make reference to this concept, calling it the "fine-tuned universe". However, I had to go looking for that. All the press reports on ID only ever mention the biology angle.
There is of course a simple explanation for this: Genesis doesn't mention the cosmological constant, relativity, complex math, or even gravity. It only explains in irrefutable form that God created all life as we know it. "But ID isn't about religion, it's real science!" they say. And it is mere coincidence that every single ID proponent is a fundamentalist
Christian, and that they all had their religious awakening before accepting ID and not the other way around.
The use of 'ID' to abbreviate 'Intelligent Design' is not in any way Freudian. Honest.
-EO
Dec 23, 2005
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