Intelligent Design | Page 217 | Discovery Institute

Old industrial electronics switch cupboard

^{William A. Dembski
February 20, 1997
Intelligent Design}

Intelligent Design as a Theory of Information

_{William A. Dembski
February 20, 1997
Intelligent Design}

Abstract: For the scientific community intelligent design represents creationism's latest grasp at scientific legitimacy. Accordingly, intelligent design is viewed as yet another ill-conceived attempt by creationists to straightjacket science within a religious ideology. But in fact intelligent design can be formulated as a scientific theory having empirical consequences and devoid of religious commitments. Intelligent design can be unpacked as a theory of information. Within such a theory, information becomes a reliable indicator of design as well as a proper object for scientific investigation. In my paper I shall (1) show how information can be reliably detected and measured, and (2) formulate a conservation law that governs the origin and flow of information. My broad conclusion is that information is not reducible to natural causes, and that the origin of information is best sought in intelligent causes. Intelligent design thereby becomes a theory for detecting and measuring information, explaining its origin, and tracing its flow. Read More ›

^{Richard Weikart
January 1, 1997
Intelligent Design}

The Resurgence of Evolutionary Ethics

_{Richard Weikart
January 1, 1997
Intelligent Design}

The Temptations of Evolutionary EthicsPaul Lawrence FarberBerkeley, CA: University of California Press, 1994, 210 pp. The Secret Chain: Evolution and EthicsMichael BradieNew York, NY: State University of New York Press, 1994, 198 pp. The ethical implications of evolution are receiving a remarkable amount of attention today, despite the death sentence that was pronounced on it by “nurture” enthusiasts in the Read More ›

^{Paul Nelson
January 1, 1997
Intelligent Design}

Literature Survey January 1997

_{Paul Nelson
January 1, 1997
Intelligent Design}

T.H. Huxley’s Ambivalence Sherrie L. Lyons, “Thomas Huxley: Fossils, Persistence, and the Argument from Design,” Journal of the History of Biology 26 (1993): pp. 545-569. Sherrie L. Lyons, “The Origins of T.H. Huxley’s Saltationism: History in Darwin’s Shadow,” Journal of the History of Biology 28 (1995): pp. 463-494. Since completing her doctorate on T.H. Huxley with historian Robert Richards at Read More ›

^{Erik J. Larson
January 1, 1997
Artificial Intelligence, Intelligent Design}

Looking for the Mind

_{Erik J. Larson
January 1, 1997
Artificial Intelligence, Intelligent Design}

Perhaps one of the most exciting trends in current philosophy of mind is the renewed interest in what David Chalmers calls the really hard problems of consciousness. Read More ›

Person playing poker and looking at cards

^{David Berlinski
January 1, 1997
Intelligent Design}

Full House Follies

_{David Berlinski
January 1, 1997
Intelligent Design}

This little book is intended to correct the popular impression that “progress and increasing complexity” are characteristics of life’s course on Earth. Progress has, in the twentieth century, already been punched silly; but paleontologists seem genuinely more complex than paramecia, a point that Gould concedes, if only for reasons of professional pride. His doubts arise whenever the twig of a trend Read More ›

^{David Berlinski
November 2, 1996
Intelligent Design}

Keeping an Eye on Evolution: Richard Dawkins, a Relentless Darwinian Spear Carrier, Trips Over Mount Improbable.

_{David Berlinski
November 2, 1996
Intelligent Design}

The theory of evolution is the great white elephant of contemporary thought. It is large, almost entirely useless, and the object of superstitious awe. Richard Dawkins is widely known as the theory’s uncompromising champion. Having made his case in The Blind Watchmaker and River out of Eden, Dawkins proposes to make it yet again in Climbing Mount Improbable. He is Read More ›

^{Michael J. Behe
October 29, 1996
Intelligent Design}

Darwin Under the Microscope

_{Michael J. Behe
October 29, 1996
Intelligent Design}

In his statement, the Pope was careful to point out that it is better to talk about "theories of evolution" rather than a single theory. The distinction is crucial. Indeed, until I completed my doctoral studies in biochemistry, I believed that Darwin's mechanism — random mutation paired with natural selection — was the correct explanation for the diversity of life. Yet I now find that theory incomplete. Read More ›

^{Michael J. Behe
August 10, 1996
Intelligent Design}

Evidence for Intelligent Design from Biochemistry

_{Michael J. Behe
August 10, 1996
Intelligent Design}

A Series of Eyes How do we see? In the 19th century the anatomy of the eye was known in great detail, and its sophisticated features astounded everyone who was familiar with them. Scientists of the time correctly observed that if a person were so unfortunate as to be missing one of the eye’s many integrated features, such as the Read More ›

Anonymous mask isolated on black, illegal activity, conspiracy theory, incognito

^{John G. West
July 15, 1996
CS Lewis, Faith & Science, Human Exceptionalism, Intelligent Design}

C. S. Lewis and the Materialist Menace

_{John G. West
July 15, 1996
CS Lewis, Faith & Science, Human Exceptionalism, Intelligent Design}

The following is edited from an address delivered on July 15, 1996 as part of the annual C. S. Lewis Institute at Seattle Pacific University. The author would like to thank Prof. Michael Macdonald for his encouragement and for inviting the author to present the lecture. During the summer of 1932, Oxford don C. S. Lewis traveled to Ireland to Read More ›

Businessman making hush sign, dark background

^{Stephen C. Meyer
July 4, 1996
Intelligent Design}

“Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” In Biology Instruction

_{Stephen C. Meyer
July 4, 1996
Intelligent Design}

All across the country-from Maine to California, from Virginia to Washington state-school boards, teachers and parents have begun to defy the expertise of professional science educators. Many are now insisting that students to gain access to scientific information challenging the contemporary Darwinist account of biological origins. Read More ›