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trishran
Skeptic Friend
USA
196 Posts |
 Posted - 09/26/2005 : 15:46:11
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Watching the Evolution/Schmevolution series on The Daily Show the week of 9/19-22, I heard a very interesting remark from Intelligent Design proponent William Dembski, during the panel discussion on 9/22. He said that Intelligent Design does not mean that everything in the world is intelligently designed, but that if there are some things in the world that look to him like they show "some sign of being designed", that would be enough evidence for Dembski that Intelligent Design is true.
Dembski made no mention of how he defines "some signs of being designed", and how one would distinguish the difference between what is actually designed, and what merely appears to have been designed.
Another point about Intelligence and Design: Way back in catechism classes in childhood, I remember being told that the Devil was smart and sneaky, and could set up traps for humans. If Intelligent Design theory does not specify that God was the creator, is it not just as possible that the intelligence doing the designing was an evil one? Could it be SAAATTANNNN? Perhaps, in the long run, ID won't be the most effective way of injecting the Christian God into public schools.
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trish |
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Dave W.
Info Junkie
USA
26022 Posts |
Posted - 09/26/2005 : 18:06:52 [Permalink]
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quote:
Originally posted by trishran
Dembski made no mention of how he defines "some signs of being designed", and how one would distinguish the difference between what is actually designed, and what merely appears to have been designed.
There wasn't nearly enough time for him to explain his Explanatory Filter. This is a Filter which, if it never provided a false positive (a "this is designed" answer for something known to not be designed), might work.
Too bad for Dembski that he's already admitted that false positives are possible with his Filter (not that he's ever applied his Filter to any biological organism), and that as far as we know, the only way to detect design with 100% surety is to have knowledge of the designer. For Dembski and other IDists, that's a horror, since the only way for them to get around "ID is religion" is by claiming that they don't know who the designer is.
Of course, they only make that claim to scientists. If they're talking to a bunch of conservative Christians, they don't hesitate to tell them that ID's designer is none other than the Christian God. |
- Dave W. (Private Msg, EMail)
Evidently, I rock!
Why not question something for a change?
Visit Dave's Psoriasis Info, too. |
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Hawks
SFN Regular
Canada
1383 Posts |
Posted - 09/26/2005 : 18:31:18 [Permalink]
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| That's actually an interesting idea. Promoting belsebub as the designer. How would we find evidence that lucifer is the designer in question? Well, we could look for the presence of things that look evil. Fangs, whose only real use is to tear up the flesh of innocent victims have to have been designed by satan. The various species of Plasmodium that infect humans (and other mammals), invading and destroying their red blood cells, causing malaria are clearly evil. Claviceps purpurea (a fungus) can, if ingested, cause convulsions, gangrene and death - definitely evil. Various Campylobacter cause anything from diarrhea to neuropathies - eeevil. Finding 666 examples of these things should not be difficult. |
METHINKS IT IS LIKE A WEASEL
It's a small, off-duty czechoslovakian traffic warden! |
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