Posted on 08/26/2005 8:57:58 AM PDT by wallcrawlr
My mother says she is a Darwinist. Im not sure of all the things that could or should imply. I take it to mean the she does not believe that the Cosmos and all that it contains is the result of the will of a Supreme Being. Nature just exists and that is all there is to it. Asking what is the purpose of human existence is a nonsense question. It has no meaning. As we have no conscious origin, we have no conscious destination. Hence no purpose.
This idea is quite troubling to many humans as we are quite reluctant to attach no meaning to the thoughts and desires coursing through the synapses of our brains. And so, for most of human existence, the idea that there was no God was a heresy to be condemned, punished, reviled, tortured and even burned at the stake.
When our social institutions evolved to the point where asking such a question wasnt as quite as painful or harmful to ones health, science, in the sense that we use today, began to blossom. And it bloomed because of its explanatory power, its predictive power. If you combine A, B, and C bingo! you get D. And no one had ever seen, heard or thought of D before!
One of the best and most widely known examples of this is Einsteins famous equation, E = mc^2. Exactly what this means is not, for the purposes of this discussion, important. What is important is that this conclusion results from a very simple postulate. Namely, that the speed of light is constant relative to an observer hence the term relativity theory. The other postulate is that we are only dealing with non-accelerated frames of reference. That means constant velocities and no gravitational fields. Hence the term special relativity. General relativity, dealing with accelerated frames of reference, is, both conceptually and mathematically, a great deal more abstract and difficult. And, unfortunately, Im not one of those privy to its secrets.
We still believe, given compliance with the postulates, that the mass-energy equivalence equation is an accurate description of physical reality. For someone with an undergraduates knowledge of physics and fair skill with the calculus, it isnt even very difficult to derive. But that is not the reason for its endurance. Our faith in this equation is borne out by innumerable observations, experiments and even a couple of unfortunate events in Japan that took place just about sixty years ago. Though the details of specific processes may, to some extent, still elude us, we have an explanation for the enormous energy levels and extreme duration of the power generated by stars. It was this question that stumped some of the greatest scientific minds of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Einsteins answer still has no competing theory and it does not leave unanswered questions as to its validity lying about unaddressed.
The same cannot be said of evolutionary theory. There are unanswered questions. Evidence that does not fit. Facts that have proven illusive or false. Fabricated evidence. Explanations that are logically incomplete. Jerry-rigged computer models oops! sorry, thats global warming. Result? A competing theory, Intelligent Design or ID, has been proposed as an alternative to Darwins rumination. Is this unscientific as many wail and gnash in their haste to keep God out of science? No. Its an alternative hypothesis. A competing theory. Not religion. Not superstition. Not a conspiracy by those pesky right-wing, Christian fundamentalist fundamentalist Christians, if you prefer. A proposed theory. This is how science advances. If one never questions, there are no answers to be had.
If you would like to bone-up on the fundamentals of ID, I suggest that you read Dan Petersons piece in the American Spectator, The Little Engine That Could...Undo Darwinism. He gives a rundown of the main players in the ID debate along with their academic backgrounds and achievements as well as the main arguments supporting their positions. For an opposing view by a man of science in the field of evolutionary theory, read Jerry Coynes offering in the New Republic Online, The Case Against Intelligent Design. This was at one time linkable without a subscription as I have a copy saved. But alas, one now seems mandatory.
Based on my brief acquaintance with the subject, there seems to be two fundamental lines of argument used by ID theorists. The first is that which asserts the probability of the complex molecules that form our DNA occurring by chance is infinitesimally small and therefore unlikely to have ever happened by chance. This is the argument put forth by the mathematician and physicist William Dembski.
Michael Behe, who popularized the flagellar motor found in e. coli and other bacterium as an example of intelligent design, is a professor of biochemistry at Lehigh University in Pennsylvania. His arguments are based on the concept of irreducibly complex processes or structures as opposed to those that are cumulatively complex. Those that are irreducibly complex do not lend themselves without great difficulty to explanation by a theory of evolution. For Darwin himself stated that if one could show that a blind, incremental process could not explain a natural phenomenon, his theory would fall apart.
Darwins theories are being questioned, but here we are not talking about religious zealots making the inquiry. Were talking about real, live, grown-up scientists, who, because of our advancing knowledge of the molecular basis of life, and not just bible stories, are asking legitimate and profound questions that are undermining the basis of Darwinism. And theyre not doing so with the desire nor intention of substituting scripture for textbooks. God, as the Jews or Christians or even Muslims perceive Him, is not being offered in place of Darwin.
What is? Good question. Ill ask my mom. She always had the answers.
Figure 3. Eubacterial phylogenetic tree. Adapted from [8]
Since the last detectable flagellum most likely contained these 21 genes (22, if we split FliG; 23 if we separate FliM and FliN), we can finally turn to the hypothesis of gradual CCAF to understand why it is so unconvincing.
It was intelligently designed and thats the point --- ID does not need to be supernatural.
Unsourced. I take it that is an excerpt from some creatinists' website and not a peer-reviewed article.
Space aliens?
Why cant the founder of DNA be correct in his assumption that we were seeded here especially since we are currently looking for intelligent life?
Do you have proof that our material consciousness ultimately comes from mindlessness?
What have you retreated to? Materialism?
I think it is a sin to hide your mind, like the buried talent, rather than invest it in understanding the Word of God. Creation is the Word and Breath of God, and those who dishonor creation by believing it is flawed or fallen, dishonor God.
If that makes me a materialist, then so be it.
You have invoked scripture in a scientific discussion. Are you a believer in God?
You missed the thread where a poster said that Mendel invented DNA and that he was an ID'er.
Sorry to interrupt. I just thought your question was ironic.
Why? Where is this evidence
IA comes from intelligence. Your intelligence comes from mindlessness and you have evidence? Do tell
I do not accept scripture as a final authority, if that's what you are asking. Creation itself is untranslated and equally available for all to study.
I hope you knew that I meant A.I. (Artificial Intelligence)
But I am curious about how your theory allows material intelligence to become a subset of mindlessness
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