Difference between revisions of "Intelligent Design"
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'''Intelligent Design''' (aka "incompetent design" aka "[[Creationism]] in a clown suit"<ref>[http://www.creationtheory.org/Essays/Phrases.xhtml Fundie Phrase Dictionary]</ref>) claims to be a scientific alternative to [[Evolution]] for explaining how life came be on Earth. In reality, it is nothing more than a dishonest attempt to evade separation of church and state laws in the [[United States]] after teaching [[Creationism]] in public schools was ruled a violation of them. Several creationist books suddenly changed their terminology after this ruling. "Creation" changed to "ID", "God" changed to "intelligent cause/agent", etc. | |||
== | == Content == | ||
ID proposes that some features of living organisms are too complex to have evolved naturally. Therefore some higher power must have intervened to specifically create those features, which the "theory" describes as "irreducibly complex". In other words, it is a colossal [[Logical fallacy|appeal to ignorance fallacy]]. | |||
The primary argument is that removing part of an "irreducibly complex" structure causes it to not function. However, this claim is misleading at best. | |||
*Numerous features described by ID proponents as "irreducibly complex" have turned out not to be upon serious study. | |||
*While the components of such a structure don't perform its particular function, they do often perform other useful functions of their own, showing that dependency on the combined structure developed after the separate components. | |||
*While a given species might be unable to survive without one of its "irreducibly complex" features, ancestors and even modern relatives of that species can be found that survive(d) quite well without it. | |||
The "theory" of Intelligent Design describes no mechanism and makes no predictions, making it useless and untestable. | |||
The | ==Intelligent Design in Star Trek== | ||
The TNG episode "The Chase" shows that Intelligent Design is a reality in the Star Trek universe, at least in regard to [[humanoid]] life. A humanoid race that evolved very early in the history of the [[Milky Way]] distributed specialized [[DNA]] code to planets throughout the galaxy that would cause humanoid species to evolve there by design. The idea is scientifically preposterous, but it is a Star Trek reality that explains why there are so many humanoid species. | |||
==References== | ==References== | ||
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[[Category:Creationism vs Science]] | [[Category:Creationism vs Science]] | ||
[[Category:Stupidity]] | |||
Latest revision as of 20:55, 25 March 2013
Intelligent Design (aka "incompetent design" aka "Creationism in a clown suit"[1]) claims to be a scientific alternative to Evolution for explaining how life came be on Earth. In reality, it is nothing more than a dishonest attempt to evade separation of church and state laws in the United States after teaching Creationism in public schools was ruled a violation of them. Several creationist books suddenly changed their terminology after this ruling. "Creation" changed to "ID", "God" changed to "intelligent cause/agent", etc.
Content
ID proposes that some features of living organisms are too complex to have evolved naturally. Therefore some higher power must have intervened to specifically create those features, which the "theory" describes as "irreducibly complex". In other words, it is a colossal appeal to ignorance fallacy.
The primary argument is that removing part of an "irreducibly complex" structure causes it to not function. However, this claim is misleading at best.
- Numerous features described by ID proponents as "irreducibly complex" have turned out not to be upon serious study.
- While the components of such a structure don't perform its particular function, they do often perform other useful functions of their own, showing that dependency on the combined structure developed after the separate components.
- While a given species might be unable to survive without one of its "irreducibly complex" features, ancestors and even modern relatives of that species can be found that survive(d) quite well without it.
The "theory" of Intelligent Design describes no mechanism and makes no predictions, making it useless and untestable.
Intelligent Design in Star Trek
The TNG episode "The Chase" shows that Intelligent Design is a reality in the Star Trek universe, at least in regard to humanoid life. A humanoid race that evolved very early in the history of the Milky Way distributed specialized DNA code to planets throughout the galaxy that would cause humanoid species to evolve there by design. The idea is scientifically preposterous, but it is a Star Trek reality that explains why there are so many humanoid species.