Uncommon Descent Serving The Intelligent Design Community

Rebooted Star Trek to flirt with ID?

William Dembski
July 12, 2006
Intelligent Design
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“One thing we will discover is that buried deep within the DNA of humans, Vulcans (even Klingons) and other intelligent bi-pedal races is a mathematical code, something buried so deep and of such complexity that it could not possibly have occurred by chance.”

http://bztv.typepad.com/newsviews/files/ST2004Reboot.pdf

Comments
I had emailed this comment to Bill Dembski. See comment 7 here: https://uncommondescent.com/index.php/archives/600#comments Star Trek: The Next Generation endorsed directed (pre-programmed) evolution. This is clearest in "The Chase" (Season 6, Episode 20). http://www.startrek.com/startrek/view/series/TNG/episode/68598.html Script from http://www.twiztv.com/scripts/nextgeneration/season6/tng-620.txt —————— You are wondering who we are; why we have done this; how it has come that I stand before you, the image of a being from so long ago. Life evolved on my planet before all others in this part of the galaxy. We left our world, explored the stars, and found none like ourselves. We were alone. Our civilization thrived for ages. But what is the life of one race, compared to the vast stretches of cosmic time? We knew that someday we would be gone. And that nothing of us would survive. So we left you. Our scientists seeded the primordial oceans of many worlds, where life was in its infancy. These seed codes directed your evolution toward a physical form resembling ours — this body you see before you. Which is, of course, shaped as yours is shaped. For you are the end result. The seed codes also contained this message, which we scattered in fragments on many different worlds. It was our hope that you would have to come together in cooperation and fellowship in order to activate this message. And if you can see and hear me, our hope has been fulfilled. You are a monument. Not to our greatness, but to our existence. That was our wish. That you too would know life, and would keep alive our memory. There is something of us in each of you, and so, something of you in each other. Remember us ...Phil W
July 13, 2006
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You know, the original Star Trek had fairly a Christian world view. I remember one episdoe where Kirk et al got involved on a planet run by Romans oppressing sun worshippers who turned out to be "Son" worshippers.tribune7
July 13, 2006
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Although we could only hope to find the kind of evidence that Star Trek writers are willing to pull out of their hats, I think that a similar conclusion could be reached with what we know now. Do Judeo-Christian and Muslim gods design things differently from how an ancient civilization might? What kinds of evidence might we find that would distinguish between the two? Mostly I hear about what's wrong with Darwinism here, but I think there's far greater potential to discuss this subject than has yet been tapped.

It has been suggested that both redundancy and a lack of redundancy are characteristic of design, perhaps they are, but do they not also imply something about the designer(s) themselves?

EJ Klone
July 13, 2006
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The original series Trek also alluded repeatedly to the idea that the galaxy was seeded by advanced aliens. The episode I remember easiest had the famous line by Kirk "I am Kirok!". The Amer-Indians are going to be wiped out by an asteroid by are save by a device left behind by the aliens...blah-blah-blah. You get the idea. Sincerely, D. Greydennis grey
July 12, 2006
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Maybe you're not aware, but about two years ago, in reaction to a paper disclosing that the fertilized mice ova, from which huge sections of 'highly conserved junk-DNA' had been removed, gave rise to completely normal mice, Paul Davies wrote a short piece in New Scientist magazine saying that this HCJ-DNA might just represent a 'code' sent here from ET's letting us know they're out there. He argued that this was a much more efficient way of communicating their existence than by transmitting EM (electro-magnetic) messages, whose strength decays fairly rapidly with distance. Obviously, somebody read the issue. But, of course, from whence, and by what chemistry, did these aliens arise?PaV
July 12, 2006
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This would not be the first Star Trek episode based on scientific controversy -- a previous episode was based on the controversy over the possibility of lifeforms not based on carbon: ---The best-known example of a non–carbon-based lifeform in science fiction is the Horta in the original Star Trek episode "The Devil in the Dark". A highly intelligent silicon-based creature made almost of pure rock, they tunnel through it as easily as humans move through air.--- -- from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alternative_biochemistry#Star_TrekLarry Fafarman
July 12, 2006
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The physics of Star Trek; I wonder how Dr. Lawrence Krauss would think about the episode “Where No One Has Gone Before” in season 1? Where thoughts and reality are the same and thought has the power to alter space and time. Star Trek unlike Stargate SG-1 always had a postmodernist bent to it. It is just sci-fi, I know. Darwinists like to brag about science and how the imaginations of Star Trek has been brought into reality through science. However, for some reason they seem to avoid the issue of consciousness and the inability for materialistic science to explain the existence or the imagined power that it has.teleologist
July 12, 2006
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"Very funny Scotty. Now beam me my clothes!"Mats
July 12, 2006
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Chris, Memory does serve you correct. There was a 2 series episode in ST: The Next Generation, which IMHO was the best of the ST series, in which they found an alien race seeded DNA across the Galaxy. This was the only explanation as to why half-Klingon half Human babies could be born, or Spock both Vulcan and Human. As to the ST concerns, get decent writers in there. I found that both the Next Generation and Deep Space 9 had some of the best episodes and actors in there. Well, DS9 up until the last few seasons. There is still much to explore in the ST Universe, just like our own universe. We will never know it all. If they had the writers they suggested, a reboot would be unnecessary. They could produce a quality show that I'd even enjoy watching again.FuzzyHead
July 12, 2006
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Chris, was that the original or next generation?DaveScot
July 12, 2006
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I'd say it's more than flirting with it. It's actualizing ID by finding incontrovertable evidence of design in DNA and then making the search for the designer the main element driving the plot. It's a perfect plot to regain the interest of the first generation of Star Trek fans (speaking as a prime example of that generation). I'm not sure about the second (next) generation as ST:NG never really moved me. The recent Batman movies haven't had the same actor playing batman twice and that hasn't harmed it. James Bond has seen a few different actors without a problem. The roles have taken on a life of their own and it doesn't really matter what face is attached as long as it is played true to character. While this is very good for the idea of intelligent design it probably isn't going to go over well with the core supporters of ID. Jehovah in this replaced by an advanced civilization of some sort - a race not a deity. Not exactly copasetic with Judeo-Christian beliefs to put it mildly but perfectly acceptable to the oddball like me who isn't enamored of ID because of its metaphysical implications but rather purely because it is the best explanation for certain patterns found in nature regardless of whose philosophical, religious, or anti-relgious toes it steps on. A good tagline for this new Star Trek universe would be "Her five year mission is to follow the evidence wherever it leads". In order to increase the show's appeal I'd recommend ditching the "creator race" and making the nature of the entity that left the signature and clues in DNA ambiguous enough that it could include something approaching traditional monotheistic notions of God. In other words, make the tent bigger.DaveScot
July 12, 2006
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If memory serves on one Startrek they did find a coded signal in human DNA, when doing a comparative analysis with other species. This lead to them to discover life had been seeded by aliens.Chris Hyland
July 12, 2006
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Scott-me-up beam meeeee!vpr
July 12, 2006
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Maybe forced screenings of Startrek-rebooted will serve as part of re-education camps for stubborn PT members in the near future??lucID
July 12, 2006
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"Scotty get us outta here!!" "Aye canna do it Captain, I just don't have the pouer" [Maybe they know something in the future that we don't -or certainly that some people won't admit to- not just chance.]lucID
July 12, 2006
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Start with the three best things in the Star Trek universe. Kirk, Spock, McCoy. Ayyye. Aren'tcha fergettin someone, laddie?tribune7
July 12, 2006
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