It seems the biggest beef with intelligent design as science is that it "cannot be falsified" when in fact the disintegration of particle matter would falsify it altogether. How does one falsify conjectural reconstructions of history?
"Yeah. Concepts such as complexity, function, purpose, design, intelligence, etc. tend to be alien to those who adopt methodological naturalism as if it were the be-all and end-all of science."
No, they aren't alien to science. What is alien to science is supernatural phenomena, however.
"Be that as it may, morphological similarities do not constitute historical derivation."
... That combined with molecular phylogenies, comparative genomics, ERV insertions, and embryological phylogenies *does* consitute a "historical derivation."
"You know that. The evidence for evolution is circumstantial and circumscribed. Nothing more."
Are:
A) Identical ERV insertions in identical sites in the human genome and the chimp genome circumstantial?
B) Is an approximate 99.4% identical match in human and chimp genomes circumstantial?
C) Is that embryological development is similar in vertebrates circumstantial?
D) Is that the confirmation prediction of chromosomal fusion in humans to explain the lack of one pair of chromosomes in comparision to the other great apes circumstantial?
E) Is that 98.5% of our genome consisting of noncoding DNA, ERVs, and pseudogenes circumstantial?
F) Is that... et cetra.
I fail to see how evidence for evolution is "circumstantial."
"Would that you held ID to such a low standard!"
What else should I hold for pseudo-scientific theories trying to misrepresent themselves as scientific?
"Not just unconvincing, but unfalsifiable."
Here's just a list of some falsification tests on evolution that were confirmed:
A) Darwin predicted that trilobites would be found in the Pre-Siluran layer - and they were
B) Biologists predicted that since humans lacked one pair of chromosomes in comparision to other apes, chromosomal fusion must have occured - and it did, in chromosome #2
C) Biologists predicted that since other mammals have an intermaxillary bone, so must humans - and we do, and it was observed during embryonic development
D) Biologists predicted that cetacean fossils predicted that the earliest cetaceans would have lived in fresh water and would have oxygen isotope ratios similar to those found in modern dolphins - and they do
E) Et cetra...
Unfalsifiable? Hardly.
"Any and every biological entity known to man could be crammed into a supposed evolutionary tree, with no way to test whether the connections have any basis in history."
No way to test it? Forgotten morphological phylogenies, embryological phylogenies, phylogenies built on ERV insertions alone, comparative genomics, et cetra?
"What a hoot to see these guys knock themselves out to substantiate a notion spawned from their fertile imaginations. Whatever. Nothing they have done or said militates against the theory that where there is organized matter performing specific functions, intelligent design may have been involved."
CSI has never been shown and it has been shown to be both mathematically and biologically false.
"It seems the biggest beef with intelligent design as science is that it 'cannot be falsified' when in fact the disintegration of particle matter would falsify it altogether."
What do you mean by disintegration of particle matter? Do you mean particles suddenly going out of existence? That happens all the time in quantum physics - virtual particles. They flicker in and out of existence more or less IIRC. Not to also mention, but on a macro-level that entirely violates Conservation of Matter.