Intelligent Design

HughHewitt.com ^ | December 26, 2004 | Hugh Hewitt

[guitarist]

Bombs Away.

[guitarist]

The evo's feel that their side is "fact", and anything non-Darwinistic (doubts, contrary evidence, creationism or intelligent design) is pure fiction. Therefore they feel that they couldn't possibly be unfair to the other side, no matter how lopsidedly things are presented.

Just to clarify...

[GSlob]

Well, some people have obviously been designed (or implemented) less than intelligently. But that's all for the better, I guess. "The poor (and also the unintelligent) ye will always have with you"...

[WaspAmongRoses]

And the one who warned that the poor we would always have with us was?

[G.Mason]

Sam Spade enters his office to find "Fingers" Finagle, a reformed safecracker, standing in front of his open safe holding the priceless artifact the Cretan Sparrow that Spade was looking after for a client.

"Fingers" insists he did not crack the safe, but merely spun the combination dial a few times idly, and it opened by itself.

Spade knows from the promotional literature that came with the safe when he bought it at the Chump end-of-season sale that is has over 10 billion (1010) possible combinations, and that only one of these will open it.

Moreover, he knows that the dial must be turned in alternating directions, not - as "Fingers" claims he did - in the same direction repeatedly.

What does Spade know about this situation? Is the safe open by design, or by accident?

[GSlob]

"And the one who warned that the poor we would always have with us was?"
He has not been designed, IIRC, just revealed and manifested. Thus the argument is not applicable there.

[december12]

As a non-believer, I cannot accept the idea that Intelligent Design is the alternative to Evolution. The Theory of Evolution may be incomlete and wrong in some respects. It's just one of many things in this world for which science has no certain explanation. So what? These exmples merely illustratesthat science has limitations. They don't prove that the system was designed by some higher being's intelligence. Intelligent design is essentially creationism, which should be left to the churches, but not taught in schools.

[PatrickHenry]

Ping list candidate? Lemme know.

[19th LA Inf]

'I was asked if I was a liberal or conservative, and if I was a child abuser,' recalled Rehm, who was known as an outspoken opponent of intelligent design."

A teacher was applying for a position at a one-room school in the backwoods of Arkansas. He was asked by the school board president whether the world was round or flat. After a moment's thought, he replied "I can teach it either way".

[carlr]

I don`t wish creation taught as fact either because it can`t be proven, it can only be believed.Your statement shows that the same applies to evolution.

Not wishing to argue,just stating my opinion and happy to civilly disagree.

[Ichneumon]

The evo's feel that their side is "fact", and anything non-Darwinistic (doubts, contrary evidence, creationism or intelligent design) is pure fiction.

No we don't, but thanks *so* much for cartoonishly stereotyping us...

Therefore they feel that they couldn't possibly be unfair to the other side, no matter how lopsidedly things are presented.

Your conclusion is faulty.

Just to clarify...

That would be refreshing, please do.

[BJungNan]

The words of Patrick Henry

"Bad men cannot make good citizens. It is impossible that a nation of infidels or idolaters should be a nation of free men. It is when a people forget God that tyrants forge their chains. A vitiated state of morals, a corrupted public conscience, are incompatible with freedom."

Patrick Henry ·1736-1799·
Virginia House of Burgesses
Born: May 29, 1736 in: Hanover County, Virginia.
Education: (Lawyer, Politician)
Work: Elected to Virginia House of Burgesses, 1765;
Admitted to the Bar of the General Court in Virginia, 1769;
Elected to the Continental Congress, 1774; Virginia Militia Leader, 1775; Governor of Virginia, 1776-1778, 1784.
Died: June 6, 1799.

And how now has this nation evolved?

[Ichneumon]

What does Spade know about this situation? Is the safe open by design, or by accident?

False dichotomy -- it could have been already open when "Fingers" entered the room, or the safe could be faulty, among other possibilities.

And this is a very poor analogy for evolution, since evolutionary processes are not constrained to brute force solutions or randomly tripping over a single one-in-ten-million workable solution.

For example, see my earlier FreeRepublic post:

Mathematical analysis of a case where simple evolutionary principles provide a speedup over random chance by a factor of 1,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000

With that kind of multiplicative factor at work, one-in-ten-million events would be a piece of cake.

[Ichneumon]

And this has what exactly to do with science education, please?

[BJungNan]

And this has what exactly to do with science education, please?

For some, nothing at all.

[Cicero]

Those who have read the work being done in this field understand that these are scientific questions, not religious questions. Which theory best fits the facts?

As a Catholic, I have no particular stake in whether or not evolutionary theory is true. But as a student of science, the more I look at evolutionary theory, the more it fails to explain the facts on the ground.

This is NOT the same thing as "creationism," which was religious disguised as science, and which arose mainly because the courts declared that religion could not be taught in the schools. (Otherwise, the logical thing would have been to teach schoolkids that materialists believe this, Christians believe this, and Jews believe this, or something of that sort.)

Intelligent design theory doesn't say anything about God, Jesus, or the Bible. What it says is that analysis of the facts and the probabilities suggests that intelligent design is a much likelier explanation for the way things are than random chance. It doesn't say who the designer or designers might be.

[guitarist]

Don't you read NY Times, the Guardian, Wash. Post, Time Magazine, BBC, NPR, etc.? Constantly you hear "experts" telling us that evolution is an already-established fact, and that it is a waste of time--and counter-productive--to entertain doubts. The cartoonishness is not my invention.

As far as saying that lopsided presentations are justified since evolution is "fact" and other ideas are fiction--haven't you been reading these threads here for the past five years?

[lawdude]

"And this has what exactly to do with science education, please?"

As a physicist and inquisitive non-religious person, I can see no necessary conflict with either THEORY. I can support either or both but cannot prove or disprove either!

[G.Mason]

"False dichotomy -- it could have been already open when "Fingers" entered the room, or the safe could be faulty, among other possibilities."

Oh please, professor Dudley Do Right.

It was meant for humor!

[sevry]

The evo's feel that their side is "fact",

Exactly. And what do we call such axiomatic faith but - religion? or at least base superstition.

This 'fact' apparently amounts to admitting of cross-breeding, the creation of lap dogs and war horses, and the like. That's evolution. So - you see - everyone's always believed in evolution, they say. But that's not what they mean. And when pressed for a definition beyond this general area of 'micro-evolution', I doubt more than a few could ever agree with each other over notions of chance, environment, mutation, and the rest.

So the 'fact' is trite. And no theory is forthcoming. But we must BELIEVE - you shall, BALIIIEEVEE, I SAY! YESS-A!