what is intelligent design?

@ Dr. Heinz Lycklama 1

What Is Intelligent Design?Dr. Heinz Lycklama

[email protected]

www.osta.com/messages

www.osta.com/croatia-12/WhatIsID.ppt

All truth passes through three stages:1. Ridicule 2. Violent opposition3. Self-evident acceptance.

Arthur Schopenhauer


Chance, Necessity or Design?


What Is Intelligent Design (ID)? Evolution, Creationism, ID History of “Intelligent Design” Key Movers and Shakers Irreducible Complexity Specified Complexity Testing for Complexity Dembski’s Explanatory Filter Arguments for a Designer More examples of Design Intelligent Design v. Creationism

Charles Darwin

Henry Morris

Phillip Johnson

The Meaning of Evolution1. Artificial Selection

Plant and animal breeding

2. Change Evolution of a coastline (random) Evolution of a car (designed)

3. Micro-Evolution Small variation within prescribed limits of complexity e.g., finch beaks by mutation and natural selection

4. Macro-Evolution Particles -> people

5. Molecular Evolution Origin of life – assumes a mutating replicator


Only 1, 2 and 3 have been observed

5 is impossible!

4 never observed!

Evolution Propositions Claims about living organisms:

Related through common ancestry Arose through mutations and natural selection By means of random chance processes of

nature



Scientific Creationism Propositions A sudden creation of the universe, energy and life

from nothing Mutations and natural selection lack ability to

develop all living kinds from a single organism Changes of the originally created kinds of plants

and animals occur only within fixed limits There is a separate ancestry for humans and apes Earth’s geology can be explained by catastrophism,

primarily by the occurrence of a worldwide flood Earth and living kinds had a relatively recent

beginning (6000 -> 10,000 years ago)


Intelligent Design (ID) "The theory of Intelligent Design holds that

certain features of the universe and of living things are best explained by an intelligent cause, not an undirected process such as natural selection."

Source: The Discovery Institute

The leaders in the ID movement purposely do not equate the intelligent cause with God; moreover,

they are agnostic on the issue of the age of the earth and of the universe


Intelligent Design Propositions Specified complexity and irreducible complexity

are reliable indications of design Biological systems exhibit specified complexity

and use irreducibly complex subsystems Naturalistic mechanisms or undirected causes do

not suffice to explain origin of complexity Intelligent Design constitutes the best explanation

for the origin of specified complexity and irreducible complexity in biological systems


Evidence for Design

Cosmology: evidence suggests the universe--including all matter, space, time, and energy--came suddenly into existence a finite time ago, contradicting the picture of an eternal and self-existing material cosmos

Physics: evidence has shown that the universe is "finely-tuned" for the existence of life, suggesting the work, as Astrophysicist Fred Hoyle puts it, "of a super-intellect”


More Evidence for Design Biology: the presence of complex and

functionally integrated machines has cast doubt on Darwinian mechanisms of self-assembly

Molecular biology: the presence of information encoded along the DNA molecule has suggested the activity of a prior designing intelligence

Harvard biologist Richard Lewontin urges scientists to embrace a "materialism [that] is

absolute" and to stick with "material explanations, no matter how counter intuitive."


History of Intelligent Design

Greek philosophers a few100 years before Christ

Some early church fathersin 3rd/4th centuries

William Paley, Natural Theology (1802) Watch is the product of intelligence (watchmaker),

not the result of undirected natural processes Organisms (e.g. the eye) are the

product of intelligence Purposeful design -> purposeful designer Important sign of design is complexity


Modern Intelligent Design (ID) Began with the work of Charles Thaxton,

Walter Bradley, Michael Denton, Dean Kenyon and Phillip Johnson Scientifically, Darwinism is an

inadequate framework for biology Philosophically, Darwinism is hopelessly

entangled with naturalism Michael Behe, William Dembski,

Stephen Meyer, Paul Nelson and Jonathan Wells Proposed positive research program wherein

intelligent causes become key for understanding the diversity and complexity of life


Some Influential ID Books The Mystery of Life’s Origin, Charles Thaxton

et. al. in 1984 A Theory in Crisis, Michael Denton in 1986 Darwin on Trial, Phillip Johnson in 1991 Creation Hypothesis, Dean Kenyon in 1994 Reason in the Balance, Phillip Johnson in 1995 Darwin’s Black Box, Michael Behe in 1996 The Design Inference, William Dembski in 1999 Icons of Evolution, Jonathan Wells in 2000 The Design Revolution, William Dembski in 2004


Can Evolution be Proved in a Courtroom?

Phillip E. JohnsonJefferson E. Peyser

Professor of LawSchool of Law

University of California, Berkeleyhttp://www.arn.org/johnson/johome.htm

A Lawyer’s Perspective

Published in 1991


Johnson’s Critique Spreads This 1994 collection

of philosophers, physicists, astronomers, chemists, biologists, and linguists critiqued Darwinism and promoted Intelligent Design


Johnson’s Influence Leads to 1996 Conference

This conference at Biola University brought scholars from around the world

The world learns of the Discovery Institute’s Center for the Renewal of Science and Culture (CRSC).


Darwin’s Black Box

Lehigh U. biochemistry professor, Mike Behe’s1996 book was reviewed in mainline science journals.

For the first time Darwinists only argued with his conclusions, not his facts.

CT’s 1996 Book of the Year.


Irreducible Complexity Mike Behe introduced the concept of

irreducible complexity in his book, Darwin’s Black Box

Something is irreducibly complex if it is composed of two or more necessary parts

Remove one part and function is not just impaired but destroyed

A mousetrap is irreducibly complex


The Mousetrap

•A mousetrap cannot be built by natural selection


“Irreducible Complexity” “By irreducibly complex I mean a single system

composed of several well-matched, interacting parts that contribute to the basic function, wherein the removal of any one of the parts causes the system to effectively cease functioning

An irreducibly complex system cannot be produced directly... by slight, successive modifications of a precursor system, because any precursor to an irreducibly complex system that is missing a part is by definition nonfunctional”

Michael Behe, Darwin’s Black Box, p. 39.


William Dembski Bill Dembski publishes

The Design Inference in 1999 with the prestigious Cambridge University Press.

Bill has earned doctorates in philosophy and mathematics and an M.Div. from Princeton.


Year 2000

Dembski publishes Intelligent Design

Major conferences at Baylor, Concordia College in Wisconsin, and Yale

Media and scientific community focus even more attention on Kansas


Year 2000


Intelligent Design Theory

Living organisms are too complicated to be the result of natural processes working independently

Based largely on the theories underlying Information Theory

Concerned with measuring the complexity of structures/information contained in structures

Generally concerned with two main concepts:1. Irreducible complexity

2. Specified complexity


Specified Complexity The following strings of characters illustrate the concept

of Specified Complexity.

Consider the following:

Complex but unspecified: “fjbn ghtur ieiod ofjkgjbn mfkritj”

Complex and specified: “The state of education in America”


Intelligent Design “Intelligent Design” (ID) takes intelligence

to be a separate principle, not reducible to chance and necessity

Targets evolution: life exhibits a special kind of order, not like that of a snowflake but like that of a meaningful message

Sophisticated anti-evolution No Bible-thumping Philosophical


ID: A Separate Principle

F Gm1m2

r122

++

Chance

Necessity

Design


“Irreducible Complexity”

1996: Michael Behe, Lehigh biochemist. Leading ID biologist. Catholic.

Common descent OK––against Darwinian mechanism. Can’t get “irreducible complexity.”


“Specified Complexity”

1998-now: William Dembski, mathematician and philosopher. Leading theorist of ID.

ID irreducible form of explanation, distinct from chance & necessity.

ID is a revolution.


Books, Books, More Books

• Dembski has 3 books, 4+ edited books on ID

• Not just biology but physics, AI, theology, morality, law, …

• Broad, “information-theoretic” objections to naturalistic evolution


Dembski’s claims Both designed artifacts and organisms

exhibit special order: specified complexity Chance and necessity cannot generate

Specified Complexity, or information Intelligence is a separate principle Blind mechanisms (like those of Darwinian

evolution) cannot explain life Artificial Intelligence is impossible


How To Detect Specified Complexity

Contingency: No physical constraint; all sorts of strings can appear on the paper

Complexity: Improbable to obtain by pure chance

Specification: Can’t read it, but fits properties of a language, priorly known DNA also a code…

Günaydinlar! Bugün hava iyi,ancak yarin dahakötü olacak gibi.Bulut çok, ama neyapar, belli degil.


Testing for Design

Günaydinlar!

Bugün hava iyi,

ancak yarin daha

kötü olacak gibi.

Bulut çok, ama ne

yapar, belli degil.F G

m1m2

r12

contingency

contingency

complexity

specifi-

cation


NoNo

ChanceChance

NoNo

Specified/Small probability?

Specified/Small probability?

NoNo

Intermediateprobability?Intermediateprobability?

Highlyprobable?

Highlyprobable?

William Dembski’sExplanatory Filter

From Mere Creation: Science, Faith and Intelligent Design. William A. Dembski Ed. Downers Grove,

Illinois: InterVarsity Press, 1998. P99.

StartStart

LawLawYesYes

YesYes ChanceChance

YesYes DesignDesign


Is The Pattern Random Or Designed?Probability:

=2-256

=8.6 x 10-78

=0.0000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000086


Arguments for a DesignerOrganisms look designed for at least three reasons: Redundancy - A Designer can engineer redundancy into a

system, but chance is unlikely to do this. An example of this is the presence of degeneracy in the genetic code and other features that minimize or negate the effects of many point mutations

Excess potential - Organisms have potential that may never be used. For example, Wallace, co-discoverer of natural selection, pointed out that primitive people have the capacity to do calculus when trained. Natural selection is unlikely to select for capacity that is not used

Complexity - Life exhibits a kind of complexity that it is hard to produce by processes involving chance


The Likely and the Unlikely Arguments for a Designer frequently revolve

around probability. Meaningful complexity is unlikely to result from random events. Organisms are meaningfully complex. Some claim that natural selection overcomes much of this problem as, while change may be random, selection is not

Science is about predicting whatis likely and what is unlikely. Everyone is in agreement that the events leading to production of living organisms are unlikely


In a Long Time and Big Universe It has been argued that given massive lengths of time and a

universe to work in, the unlikely becomes likely: “Given infinite time, or infinite opportunities, anything is possible.

The large numbers proverbially furnished by astronomy, and the large time spans characteristic of geology, combine to turn topsy-turvy our everyday estimates of what is expected and what is miraculous.” Richard Dawkins (1989) The Blind Watchmaker: Why the evidence of evolution reveals a universe without design. W. W. Norton and Co. New York. p139.

Dawkins says that while life looks designed, the designer was not God, but massive chance coupled with natural selection. Nature was the designer

In The Panda’s Thumb, Stephen J. Gould argues that life does not look designed


More Examples of Design Necessity/law/order

Snowflake Crystal

Design – irreducible/specified complexity Animal cell Molecular motors Human eye Bombardier beetle


Molecular Machines Behe showed that the

cell, Darwin’s Black Box, is filled with irreducibly complex molecular machines that could not be built by natural selection

David Hume criticized Paley’s watchmaker argument because it was not an exact enough analogy


Molecular Machines (cont’d)

Over 100 molecular motors are now known to exist inside the cell with very specific analogies to human designed motors.


Behe’s Insight Michael Behe contends that when we look at the protein

machines that run cells, there is a point at which no parts can be removed and still have a functioning machine. He called these machines “irreducibly complex” (IC)

We encounter irreducibly complex devices in everyday life. A simple mouse trap is an example of an irreducibly complex device:

Board

HammerSpring

Trigger

Bait holder

CheeseStaple


Evolution of Complex Organs The Origin of Species

Chapter VI "Difficultiesof the Theory"

Organs of Extreme Perfectionand Complication “To suppose that the eye with all its inimitable

contrivances for adjusting the focus to different distances, for admitting different amounts of light, and for the correcting of spherical and chromatic aberration, could have been formed by natural selection, seems, I freely confess, absurd in the highest degree.”


Evolution of the Eye To go from nothing to an eye would be a

very big jump Darwin proposed a series of what appeared

to be relatively small steps (they are still gigantic leaps) that might be able to produce an eye


Intelligent Design (ID) Uses an “explanatory filter”

Necessity – did it have to happen? Chance – did it happen by accident? Design – did an intelligent agent cause it to

happen? ID theory focuses on what is designed

without answering the questions of who, when, why and how


Some ID Observations ID confronts naturalistic philosophical

underpinnings of evolutionary thinking ID identifies presuppositions of naturalism ID is supported by science ID does not assume young universe ID is not Creationism ID does not mention the Fall


Issues with Intelligent Design ID does not attempt to explain all designs

Only certain features are designed Does not rule out evolutionary processes

ID does not oppose an old age for the earth ID does not acknowledge God as redeemer ID distances itself from the problem of evil ID movement does not identify Designer/Creator ID divorces the Creator from creation


Closing Thoughts on ID

Alternative theory to Darwinian Evolution? Alternative to Creationism? Should it be taught in public schools?

Critical thinking is needed Presuppositions must be stated Church-state issue? Academic freedom is at stake


Thank you for your

attention!

Dr. Heinz Lycklama

[email protected]

www.osta.com


Creation Organizations ICR – Institute for Creation Research

www.icr.org Books by Henry Morris (founder), e.g.

The Genesis Flood The Genesis Record The Modern Creation Trilogy

Acts and Facts articles on Creation Answers in Genesis

www.answersingenesis.org Founded by Ken Ham Books, seminars, articles on Creation


Creation Organizations - 2 Creation Evidence Museum

www.creationevidence.org Dinosaurs and human tracks

Creation Moments www.creationmoments.com Radio spots

Creation Research Society www.creationresearch.org Publication of peer-reviewed creation articles


Creation Organizations - 3 Center For Scientific Creation

www.creationscience.com “In The Beginning” Book by Walt Brown, Ph.D.

Creation Science Evangelism www.drdino.com Videos, seminars

Discovery Institute www.discovery.org Intelligent Design “Think Tank”


Important Books The Genesis Record, Dr. Henry Morris The Genesis Flood, Dr. John Whitcomb & Dr. Henry Morris The Collapse of Evolution, Scott Huse The Lie: Evolution, Ken Ham Refuting Evolution, Dr. Jonathan Sarfati Evolution: The Fossils Still Say No!, Dr. Duane Gish Scientific Creationism, Dr. Henry Morris Dinosaurs by Design, Dr. Duane Gish Genetic Entropy & the Mystery of the Genome, Dr. J.C.

Sanford


More Important Books The Young Earth, Dr. John Morris Science and the Bible, Dr. Henry Morris Tornado in a Junkyard, James Perloff In The Beginning, Dr. Walt Brown Evolution: A Theory in Crisis, Michael Denton Darwin on Trial, Dr. Phillip Johnson Darwin’s Black Box, Dr. Michael Behe Design Inference, Dr. William Dembski Icons of Evolution, Dr. Jonathan Wells


Yet More Important Books The Battle for the Beginning, Dr. John MacArthur Total Truth, Nancy Pearcey The Design Revolution, Dr. William Demski The Origin of Species Revisited, W. R. Bird It Matters What We Believe, Mike Riddle The Evolution of a Creationist, Jobe Martin Grand Canyon (a different view), Tom Vail In Six Days, Dr. John Ashton Starlight and Time, Dr. Russell Humphreys Starlight, Time and the New Physics, De. John Hartnett

what is intelligent design?

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