UK Centre For Intelligent Design Claims It Will Focus On Science, Not Religion

_{Clive Hayden
October 1, 2010

Culture, Darwinism, Evolution, Intelligent Design, Science

1}_{Categories
Culture
Darwinism
Evolution
Intelligent Design
Science}

Share: Facebook; Twitter/X; LinkedIn; Flipboard; Print; Email

Dr Alastair Noble, director of the Center for Intelligent Design in Glasgow, says ID is ‘consistently misrepresented as a religious position’ and he’s ready to engage the debate on the grounds of actual evidence, according to this article at the UK’s Guardian.

Comments

Peepul:
However, any designer, would according to ID, itself be designed.
That isn't according to ID. ID doesn't say anything about the designer. The only possible way to make any scientific determination about the designer(s)- in the absence of direct observation or designer input- is by studying the design in question. That is how it is done in archaeology and that is how it is done with forensics. If SETI ever picks up a signal they may be able to tell us something about who sent it. They could at least make some educated inferences about the technology used to send the signal. But that is how it is- study the design to get to the designers- however ID is about studying the design so that we can understand and properly interact with the design. Any questions?Joseph_{October 2, 2010
October
10
Oct
2
02
2010
04:55 PM
4
04
55
PM
PDT}

Peepul, To falsify ID on the basis of the origin of the designer would seem to be self defeating. If I understand the argument correctly, you agree that there is a designer, but that because he either arose without a cause, or is eternal, ID is either falsified or not science. Either way, the argument requires a designer, which means we were designed. The evidence that a designer exists is that we were designed. The evidence that the designer has actually done some design is that he designed us. Did the designer always exist? That question can be answered with this anecdote: my friend’s father stopped in Indio, CA to get gas, and remarked to the attendant that it sure was windy everytime he went through there. He asked if it always blew there. The attendant answered “I don’t know, I’ve only been here 28 years”. So the answer is, the designer existed as long as he needed to to design us.jpg564_{October 2, 2010
October
10
Oct
2
02
2010
01:18 PM
1
01
18
PM
PDT}

Peepul: However, any designer, would according to ID, itself be designed. That is a strange statement. According to what in ID? Designers are defines as conscious intelligent beings capable of designed outputs. It is not life that, according to ID, is designed, but the complex specified structures that we find in living beings. We have no clue about the nature of consciousness and intelligence. Therefore we cannot in any way say if all conscious intelligence must be designed. Eternity has nothing to do with all that.gpuccio_{October 2, 2010
October
10
Oct
2
02
2010
12:42 PM
12
12
42
PM
PDT}

It is possible that life is designed. However, any designer, would according to ID, itself be designed. if we follow this chain backwards, we must either find - a designer who arose naturally or without cause (in which case ID is falsified) -or a designer who is eternal I don't see how the last option can be treated as a scientific theory, without evidence that such a designer exists, has always existed, and has actually done some design. Can it be, and if so, how? Are there other options for the origin of the designer?Peepul_{October 2, 2010
October
10
Oct
2
02
2010
09:54 AM
9
09
54
AM
PDT}

Notice the oh-so-very predictable know-nothing responses from the Guardian howler monkey club to Noble's article. Tiresome, but to be expected. Nothing but misinformed responses, straw-men and pathetic ad hominems predicated on laughable stereotypes. If this is all they have in their arsenal.. The Guardian and its general readership is representative of a fanatically and extremely secular worldview that is seriously threatened by the implications of real science ie ID (although they tend to have a soft spot re apologetics and whitewashing for Islamic extremism but that's a whole other thing). This irrational and incoherent knee-jerk hostility to ID is symptomatic of a deeper cultural malaise in the UK and the West. It's great to see this Center up and running (it's about bloody time!) in the UK, and we need to see similar projects in Europe (I have no idea on the translation efforts of ID and ID friendly literature and books into European langauges but it's something that needs to be pushed in a big way. The demand is there!) We should look even further afield to the East, Japan, S Korea, Taiwan, Thailand, India (where there is a natural hospitability to ID), even China. And let's not forget Latin America, Brazil and Argentina should be a focus. Yes I know Stephen Meyer was recently in Sao Paulo for an ID conference or symposium, good to see.. The point I am making is ID needs to go international in a big way, and beyond the English language community.zephyr_{October 2, 2010
October
10
Oct
2
02
2010
02:08 AM
2
02
08
AM
PDT}

Notice the clever redirection employed by Michael Reiss when commenting about the Centre, that there is no controversy about the age of the earth or that life is descended from a simpler common ancestor. ID takes no position regarding those issues. I suspect he's well aware of that and knows the Centre is not either, but it's always easier to win against a straw man.jpg564_{October 1, 2010
October
10
Oct
1
01
2010
01:39 PM
1
01
39
PM
PDT}

I wrote Dr Noble a few days ago and received an message back this morning. A pleasant 'ole bloke I would say. :) I wish him well.Upright BiPed_{October 1, 2010
October
10
Oct
1
01
2010
12:18 PM
12
12
18
PM
PDT}

What's interesting about this is that the Darwinists thought their year of Darwin was going to culminate in a glorious worldwide acceptance of Darwinism. In fact, it did just the opposite; it opened up new inquiry into ID that they can't seem to get a handle on.CannuckianYankee_{October 1, 2010
October
10
Oct
1
01
2010
11:58 AM
11
11
58
AM
PDT}

Prev 1 2