[betty boop]

My point is that from the point of view of scientists, strictly in their scientific work, it makes no difference whether such configurations are the result of design or the result of strictly natural processes.

Hello stremba!!! Thanks for the fine presentation on protein folding. I have seen this hypothesis before, and it seems reasonable to me. But I've also encountered researchers who find it inadequate, generally speaking on adequacy of information grounds. (Such folks evidently think that biological processes are intensively "informed" processes.) So I gather this vital issue is still "a work in progress."

WRT your comment above: I just don't see there is anything necessarily "unnatural" about the presence of design in nature -- especially if the natural laws themselves are the source of the design.

Thank you so much for writing!

[stremba]

I would agree that there's nothing inherently unnatural about the presence of design in nature. It is an interesting question in and of itself. However, I don't see any way to objectively test for design, and determining whether ultimately there is design or not doesn't seem to be necessary for the day-to-day success of evolutionary biology or any other scientific discipline. The question supersedes science.