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The entry on "Intelligent Design" in the Wikipedia online encyclopedia includes the following definition: "Proponents of intelligent design look for evidence of what they term ‘signs of intelligence’: physical properties of an object that point to a designer.... For example, if an archeologist finds a statue made of stone in a field, he may, ID proponents argue, justifiably conclude that the statue was designed and then reasonably seek to identify the statue's designer. He would not, however, be justified in making the same claim if he found an irregularly shaped boulder of the same size. The most commonly cited ‘signs of intelligence’ include irreducible complexity, information mechanisms, and specified complexity. Design proponents argue that living systems show one or more of these, from which they infer that some aspects of life have been designed." |
INTELLIGENT DESIGN |
Telling the difference between things which have been designed and things that are the result of chance, natural processes is simply a matter of logic. We all recognise design when we see it. When it comes to the world of nature, however, many people’s logic seems to fly out of the window. They look at things which are much more complex than anything humans ever designed, and claim they are the result of mindless evolution! The evidence for design in nature is so strong that biologists often have to deny what they really feel. The late Dr Francis Crick wrote: “Biologists must constantly keep in mind that what they see was not designed, but rather evolved.” (What Mad Pursuit, New York: Basic Books (1988). |
You don't need a science degree to decide that the faces of four American presidents, carved into the rock face at Mount Rushmore, South Dakota (above, left), are the work of an intelligent sculptor. The same applies to the Egyptian Sphinx (centre). When western explorers first saw it, their first reaction would not have been to ask whether it was the product of intelligence, but to wonder who the designers were. Natural forces, such as wind, rain and frost, could never produce these patterns, but would, in time, erase them, as is the case with the Sphinx. By contrast, the photo on the right shows what is clearly a natural formation. |
How we recognise design |
Atheist Dr Richard Dawkins admitted that “Biology is the study of complicated things that give the appearance of having been designed for a purpose.” (The Blind Watchmaker, 1986.) Like the two quoted, many biologists have already decided that there is no Creator. They then have to ignore or try to explain away all the evidence for intelligent design. The world is full of things which defy an evolutionary explanation, and appear to be wonderfully designed. Why not apply the same logic that we do to things designed by humans: if it looks designed then it makes sense to believe it was! Real science suerly doesn’t rule out any explanation, but accepts that the most logical explanation is likely to be the right one. No wonder more and more scientists are moving away from evolution and accepting intelligent design. More than 600 doctoral scientists — including 154 biologists — have signed a public statement expressing their scepticism about the contemporary theory of Darwinian evolution. It reads: "We are sceptical of claims for the ability of random mutation and natural selection to account for the complexity of life. Careful examination of the evidence for Darwinian theory should be encouraged." (www.dissentfromdarwin.org) |
When Darwin wrote his Origin little was known about the complexity of a living cell (left). The invention of powerful electron microscopes has revealed a hitherto hidden world that Darwin could never have dreamed of. We now know that cells are not just blobs of jelly, but amazing molecular machines. Inside the cell are some amazing parts, such as the ATP synthase motors, so small that 200,000 would fit on to a pinhead. Discovered in 1994 by Drs Paul Boyer and John Walker (for which they were awarded the Nobel Prize) these motors capture and transfer chemical energy in the bodies of living organisms, |
including ourselves. Embedded in the mitochondria of the cell, they rotate 6000 times a minute, and there are trillions in your body. No evolutionist has even attempted to explain how such an intricate mechanism could have evolved gradually. Such examples have convinced many scientists that there is such a thing as irreducible complexity — things which could never have been arrived at step by step, Darwinian fashion. One of the most prominent of these scientists is biochemist Dr Michael Behe, who expounded his views in his book Darwin's Black Box. |
All that we know about information suggests it can never be generated randomly. This surely must include the coded information in DNA. Dr Werner Gitt (left), specialist in information science at the German Federal Institute of Physics, has written, "There can be no code and no information without an intelligent source of this information.... We inevitably come to the conclusion that an intelligent designer must be behind it all." (In the Beginning was Information) Click here for a downloadable copy |
Graphic from Science vs. Evolution by Malcolm Bowden. |
—G.C. |
