Intelligent Design

 Max Karl Ernst Ludwig, the founder of quantum theory, won the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1918.   Here are some quotes from Wikiquote:  As a man who has devoted his whole life to the most clear headed science, to the study of matter, I can tell you as a result of my research about atoms this much: There is no matter as such. All matter originates and exists only by virtue of a force which brings the particle of an atom to vibration and holds this most minute solar system of the atom together. We must assume behind this force the existence of a conscious and intelligent mind. This mind is the matrix of all matter. Das Wesen der Materie Read More ›

In a recent comment KN wrote: Where we really disagree, though, is about how to conceive of the relation between norm-governed practices and principles. On your view, I take it, the principles have some sort of priority, and the practices are justified (or not) in light of those principles. On my view, the principles are just explications of what is already implicitly at work within the epistemic and moral practices themselves. So we can appeal to various principles as tools for articulating what it is that we are committed to, and hence they are valuable tools for critically reflecting on and revising those practices, but they cannot endow our practices with any more authority than those practices already and implicitly Read More ›

In a recent thread by Dr Sewell, AF raised again the Shallit-Elsberry list of eight challenges to design theory from a decade ago: 14 Alan FoxApril 15, 2013 at 12:56 am Unlike Profesor Hunt, Barry and Eric think design detection is well established. How about having a go at this list then. It’s been published for quite a while now. I responded a few hours later: ______________ >>* 16 kairosfocus April 15, 2013 at 2:13 am AF: I note on points re your list of eight challenges. This gets tiresomely repetitive, in a pattern of refusal to be answerable to adequate evidence, on the part of too many objectors to design theory: >>1 Publish a mathematically rigorous definition of CSI>> Read More ›

Sorry if I return on a topic several times treated here. Imagine an extraterrestrial spaceship landing exactly before Mount Rushmore. An alien gets off the spaceship and sees the faces of the four US Presidents carved on the rock. The ET has of course a knowledge of the natural forces and the physical laws at least deep as humans (otherwise he couldn’t have designed his spaceship). While to recognize the patterns is easy for us because we see human faces everywhere, how can the alien infer design if he never saw a human being? In the following I will explain why, in my opinion, the ET concludes that the figuration he sees on the mountain cannot be due to long-term Read More ›

As most people are aware, Michael Behe championed the design-inspired ID Theory hypothesis of Irreducible Complexity.  Michael Behe testified as an expert witness in Kitzmiller v. Dover (2005). Transcripts of all the testimony and proceedings of the Dover trial are available here.  While under oath, he testified that his argument was: “[T]hat the [scientific] literature has no detailed rigorous explanations for how complex biochemical systems could arise by a random mutation or natural selection.” Behe was specifically referencing origin of life, molecular and cellular machinery. The cases in point were specifically the bacterial flagellum, cilia, blood-clotting cascade, and the immune system because that’s what Behe wrote about in his book, “Darwin’s Black Box” (1996). The attorneys piled up a stack Read More ›

As predicted in these pages, The whole global warming house of cards really is starting to collapse.

Update:  When I saw the quote originally posted here, I researched it and found an attribution to a source.  (The Birth Control Review of 1933-34).  It turns out that attribution was mistaken.  For posting an inaccurate quotation I apologize.  That said, the general views expressed in the quotation were in fact held by Margaret Sanger.  I replace the original post with this from Jonah Goldberg’s “Liberal Fascism”:   Margaret Sanger, whose American Birth Control League became Planned Parenthood, was the founding mother of the birth-control movement. She is today considered a liberal saint, a founder of modern feminism, and one of the leading lights of the Progressive pantheon. Gloria Feldt of Planned Parenthood proclaims, “I stand by Margaret Sanger’s side,” Read More ›

Three geologists stand at the foot of Mt. Rushmore. The first geologist says, “This mountain depicts perfectly the faces of four US presidents, it must be the work of a master sculptor.” The second says, “You are a geologist, you should know that all mountains were created by natural forces, such as volcanos and plate movements, the details were then sculpted by erosion from water and wind. How could you possibly think this was the work of an intelligent sculptor? Only a person completely ignorant of geophysics could think those faces were designed.” The third geologist says to himself, “I don’t want to be seen as ignorant, but the faces in this mountain sure do look like they were designed.” Read More ›

Sometimes, we run across a sleeper that just begs to be headlined here at UD. EA’s short primer on ID, drawn up in Sept 2003, is such a sleeper. Let’s observe: __________ >> Brief Primer on Intelligent Design   Having read a fair amount of material on intelligent design and having been involved in various discussions on the topic, I decided to prepare this brief primer that I trust will be useful in clarifying the central issues and in helping those less familiar with intelligent design understand its basic propositions. This is not intended to be a comprehensive analysis of intelligent design, nor is it intended to respond to criticisms.  Rather, this represents my modest attempt to avoid the side Read More ›

Peter J. Leithart notices Lee Smolin’s The Trouble With Physics: The Rise of String Theory, The Fall of a Science, and What Comes Next And string theory has achieved this dominance without experimental confirmation. Smolin says that if string theory turns out to be right, “string theorists will turn out to be the greatest heroes in the history of science.” But if they are wrong and all those dimensions and symmetries don’t exist, “then we will count string theorists among science’s greatest failures” (xvii). Physicists have worked out an unfortunate “premature consensus” and “despite the absence of experimental support and precise formulation” some believe in string theory “with a certainty that seems emotional rather than rational” (xx). As a result, Read More ›

On a sun-scorched plateau known as Racetrack Playa in Death Valley, California, rocks of all sizes glide across the desert floor.  Some of the rocks accompany each other in pairs, which creates parallel trails even when turning corners so that the tracks left behind resemble those of an automobile.  Other rocks travel solo the distance of hundreds of meters back and forth along the same track.  Sometimes these paths lead to its stone vehicle, while other trails lead to nowhere, as the marking instrument has vanished.  Some of these rocks weigh several hundred pounds. That makes the question: “How do they move?” a very challenging one.  The truth is no one knows just exactly how these rocks move.   No Read More ›

Once again the “settled science” of climate change turns out to be far from settled.  See here.  

An article in Ecology letters, entitled: “Eco-evolutionary Dynamics in Response to Selection on Life-history,” deals with research conducted on “soil mites that were collected from the wild and then raised in 18 glass tubes.” The researchers found significant genetically transmitted changes in laboratory populations of soil mites in just 15 generations, leading to a doubling of the age at which the mites reached adulthood and large changes in population size. At Phys.Org, they write: Although previous research has implied a link between short-term changes in animal species’ physical characteristics and evolution, the Leeds-led study is the first to prove a causal relationship between rapid genetic evolution and animal population dynamics in a controlled experimental setting. Further, lead author Tom Cameron Read More ›

In Darwin’s Black Box, Michael Behe writes: Imagine a room in which a body lies crushed, flat as a pancake. A dozen detectives crawl around, examining the floor with magnifying glasses for any clue to the identity of the perpetrator. In the middle of the room, next to the body, stands a large, gray elephant. The detectives carefully avoid bumping into the pachyderm’s legs as they crawl, and never even glance at it. Over time the detectives get frustrated with their lack of progress but resolutely press on, looking even more closely at the floor. You see, textbooks say detectives must “get their man,” so they never even consider elephants. There is an elephant in the roomful of scientists who Read More ›

(previous, here) There has been a recent flurry of web commentary on design theory concepts linked to the concept of functionally specific, complex organisation and/or associated information (FSCO/I) introduced across the 1970’s into the 1980’s  by Orgel and Wicken et al. (As is documented here.) This flurry seems to be connected to the announcement of an upcoming book by Meyer — it looks like attempts are being made to dismiss it before it comes out, through what has recently been tagged, “noviews.” (Criticising, usually harshly, what one has not read, by way of a substitute for a genuine book review.) It will help to focus for a moment on the just linked ENV article, in which ID thinker William Dembski Read More ›