Out-of-print early ID book now available as a .pdf

_{Denyse O'Leary

May 25, 2008

Intelligent Design}

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An early ID book (possibly the earliest), The Mystery of Life’s Origin by Charles Thaxton, Walter Bradley, and Roger Olson (1984), with a foreword by Dean Kenyon, has been out of print for a while, I am told. But a .pdf can be downloaded here for now.

Information theory is a special branch of mathematics that has developed a way to measure information. In brief, the information content of a structure is the minimum number of instructions required to describe or specify it, whether that structure is a rock or a rocket ship, a pile of leaves or a living organism. The more complex a structure is, the more instructions are needed to describe it. —Charles Thaxton, biochemist

Meanwhile ….

Study: Sun not special, therefore alien life should be common?

Does time’s one-way street prove that other universes exist?

The day time went backwards

Flogos: Coming soon to a clear blue sky near you …

Science and ethics: When the devil offered a no strings research post.

Nature’s IQ: Intelligent design from a Hindu perspective

Science journalist warns against the “institutionalised idolatry of science”

Expelled film pre-trashed by United Kludgies of Canada (Trashing a film you haven’t seen is way less work.)

Is everything determined by forces over which we have no control?

Chuck Colson on neural Buddhism: Do neurons get reincarnated?

Hopeful signs: Disaster causes outpouring of charity in China

On Jane Goodall, apes, human uniqueness, and God

Comments

Thanks for the answers. So fractals don't have CSI, but do they pass the EF? What happens when that's attempted (has it been?) Has anybody attempted to pass a fractal into the EF already? Would the "algorithm that imposes that necessity" give a different result if passed into the EF then the fractal image itself?Mavis Riley_{May 26, 2008
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Mavis Thanks for the thoughts on PDFs -- in my experience with reasonable filtering and firewalls PDFs remain safe. I will do a few expts to see if the d/load works. On the identity of designers issue, I note that ID is relevant to e.g. code breaking and the theory if inventive problem solving, TRIZ, as well as other things. On cosmological design, I infer -- cf remarks in the always linked --that the designer of the cosmos is personal, intelligent, powerful and int4nding to create life. That tends to support theistic as opposed to pantheistic [or materialistic] views, but is of course now a worldview level -- phil -- inference not a scientific one. I happen to be a Christian theist, but that has to do with the core warranting argument of that faith per Ac 17 [and my own life experiences etc], not the scientific discussion over design. And, GP is right: fractals have low contingency and are controlled by necessity. But the algorithm that imposes that necessity is a very different matter. [If that sounds like the discussion on the root of the fine-tuning of the mechanical necessity of our cosmos, yes it does.] GEM of TKIkairosfocus_{May 26, 2008
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Mavis: A fractal is a good example of a product of necessity. So, it does not exhibit CSI, becuase the EF has to rule out those forms of self-organization produced by necessary law. Obviously, the system which computes the fractal is a completely different thing... Moreover, I don't think that a fractal in itself has function, so it would not be functionally specified.gpuccio_{May 26, 2008
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The more complex a structure is, the more instructions are needed to describe it
What jumps out at me here is fractals. xn+1 = xn2 + c, more or less. Is there a "special" class of complexity that can be reduced to such simple "storage". Or don't fractals count in the same way that "proper" structures do? Do fractals have CSI? Do they pass the EF? Has anybody attempted to pass a fractal into the EF? Sorry for all the questions.Mavis Riley_{May 26, 2008
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Kariofocus, You should be aware that older version of programs such as Acrobat can be exploited by specially constructed files. You computer can be infected simply by opening such a file. The only way to protecct yourself is to get the latest version. Also, I realise that ID is about signs of intelligence but that does not disbar me from seeking O'Learys opinion on the matter at hand. Nonetheless, I see that the identity of the designer has been chosen by many here already, including yourself KF, at least that's the impression I get from reading your religious aplogetics website. It's not a Hindu deity now is it? :)Mavis Riley_{May 26, 2008
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Denyse: Thanks. I have a paper copy next to me as I write, 228 pp. I would appreciate the PDF version, especially if it is on a page that can be referenced from the web, not just the three online chapters that have been maintained by Mr Dolphin for years. (I am thinking here on the still relevant discussion on early atmosphere etc.) On using my Acrobat 5 I got sent to a download page but the 121 pp download is blank. Not sure if that is my fault for being a real cheapskate and insisting on getting more years out of an old version of the full Acrobat than maybe I should expect. (I am still using Office 97 too, uncle Bill over in Redmond . . .] Any advice? Thanks in advance! GEM of TKI PS: Mavis, pardon: ID is about signs of intelligence in the first and main instance. Identity of designer is a later question, to be addressed through contextual cues, similar to the forensic question, whodunit. What's been "dun" is prior to who. [As in "Accident, suicide or murder" before "who is the murderer."]kairosfocus_{May 26, 2008
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Do I take it would be ok by you if the "intelligent designer" turned out to be a Hindu deity then O'Leary?
I would like to see what a Hindu would make of the evident design of life.
I wonder if there will be a "Dover" for the Hindu's too.Mavis Riley_{May 26, 2008
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