" Change whether to where. "
No. The world has patterns and processes whether there is an intelligence to recognize it or not. There could be no intelligent being and the universe would still be what it is.
"2500 years ago the sun went around the earth, but it wasn't the sun as we know it. "
No, it didn't. People were wrong. The world existed as it is whether we knew it or not.
"You are right the world has patterns and processes, but in addition we create this world in our minds, and no two minds agree completely. Nor should they says Emerson."
The universe cares not what we think. It is.
" For a bad idea, Paley's metaphor sure has stuck around."
That is not evidence it is right. Lot's of false ideas persist.
The old place just wouldn't be the same without us.
Astrology has been around longer than Paley.