The State of Intelligent Design
Tuesday, January 1st, 2008Two recently produced resources are very insightful to help us understand the current state of the conflict between evolutionists and those that identify themselves with Intelligent Design. One, Nova’s Intelligent Design on Trial has a complete program and other resources that focus on a case in Pennsylvania where Intelligent Design was tested. Two, ActionBioscience.org released a special report with overview arguments from the Intelligent Design community and rebuttals from proponents of evolution.
I find Ken Miller’s closing statement to be particularly good:
“If Behe wishes to suggest that the intricacies of nature, life, and the universe reveal a world of meaning and purpose consistent with a divine intelligence, his point is philosophical, not scientific. It is a philosophical point of view, incidentally, that I share. However, to support that view, one should not find it necessary to pretend that we know less than we really do about the evolution of living systems. In the final analysis, the biochemical hypothesis of intelligent design fails not because the scientific community is closed to it but rather for the most basic of reasons — because it is overwhelmingly contradicted by the scientific evidence.”
My own summary (for now): The role of “Intelligent Design Theory” is to attack a theory to advance a particular philosophical/religious worldview. It’s not completely unreasonable to attack a theory without providing a testable alternative, and in fact, it seems that the attacks (or, more gently, “identification of difficulties with the theory”) have led to the strengthening of the theory of evolution.
Case in point: http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=JVRsWAjvQSg