Intelligent Design

The Center for Science and Culture

Correspondence with Science Journals

I. Introduction Much of the material shown posted as “responses to critics” on this website was originally submitted to several science journals for consideration for publication. In every case it was turned down. Below I have included the correspondence between the journals and myself. Names of journals and individuals have been omitted. The take-home lesson I have learned is that, Read More ›

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Virtualization of Understanding

Philosophical Objections to Intelligent Design

I. Is Intelligent Design Falsifiable? Some reviewers of Darwin’s Black Box (Behe 1996) have raised philosophical objections to intelligent design. I will discuss several of these over the next few sections, beginning with the question of falsifiability. To decide whether, or by what evidence, it is falsifiable, one first has to be sure what is meant by “intelligent design.” By Read More ›

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View of red, blood-like liquid patterns
Photo by Cassi Josh on Unsplash

In Defense of the Irreducibility of the Blood Clotting Cascade

In Darwin's Black Box: The Biochemical Challenge to Evolution I devoted a chapter to the mechanism of blood clotting, arguing that it is irreducibly complex and therefore a big problem for Darwinian evolution. Since my book came out, as far as I am aware there have been no papers published in the scientific literature giving a detailed scenario or experiments to show how natural selection could have built the system. However three scientists publishing outside science journals have attempted to respond. Read More ›
Litmus test strip for measurement of acidity in glassware on a blurred background of test tubes in a tripod.

“A True Acid Test”

In this essay I reply to what I consider to be the most important claim made by any critic of intelligent design: that direct experimental evidence has shown that evolution can indeed generate irreducibly complex biochemical systems. As I will show below, the claim is false. Read More ›
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Stack of documents with paper clips on office table. Space for text

Irreducible Complexity and the Evolutionary Literature

Although several persons have cited numerous references from the scientific literature purporting to show that the problem of irreducible complexity I pointed out in Darwin's Black Box is being seriously addressed, the references show no such thing. Read More ›
yellow background with a mousetrap and a piece of cheese
minimalistic yellow background with a mousetrap and a piece of tasty cheese

A Mousetrap Defended

In Darwin's Black Box: The Biochemical Challenge to Evolution I coined the term "irreducible complexity" in order to point out an apparent problem for the Darwinian evolution of some biochemical and cellular systems. In brief, an irreducibly complex system is one that needs several well-matched parts, all working together, to perform its function. Read More ›
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White vinyl fence

Fences for Tearing Down

Suppose you woke up tomorrow morning to find that your neighbor had moved his chain-link fence all the way across your yard—right up against your door. So you call him on the phone. "What's up with the fence?" you ask. Read More ›

Science Friday, Scopes Trial 75th Anniversary, part 2

To hear in Real Audio go to “http://www.sciencefriday.com/” Correction: This published transcript incorrectly attributes some remarks to Ed Larson that were actually said by Ken Miller. End correction FLATOW: Now joining me to talk some more about the theory of evolution and maybe how it should be taught in schools are my next guests. Kenneth Miller is a cell biologist Read More ›

Miller and Behe on Origins

Ken Miller is a scientist who has been taking the lead as a critic of ID. Thus, I took a look at his review of Behe’s book, Darwin’s Black Box, found at http://biomed.brown.edu/Faculty/M/Miller/Behe.html There is really nothing in this review that I have not already replied to in [the ARN] forum. But there is one thing worth exploring in more Read More ›

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Francis Collins, M.D., Ph.D., now director of the NIH, stands to the right of then-President Bill Clinton (J. Craig Ventner, Ph.D., left) at the announcement that an international consortuim had completed the first

Genome Project Raises Fears, Hopes

Two rival groups of scientists have announced that the race to decode the human genome has ended-in a tie. J. Craig Venter, president of Celera Genomics, and Francis S. Collins, director of the National Human Genome Research Institute, joined in a White House ceremony on June 26 to announce that they’ve deciphered the human hereditary script. The two organizations had Read More ›