Intelligent Design

The Center for Science and Culture

Reply To Kenneth Miller On The Genetic Code

On Tuesday, September 25, 2001, Professor Kenneth Miller of Brown University issued a press release entitled “A ‘Dying Theory’ Fails Again,” available here: www.ncseweb.org/resources/articles/3071_km-3.pdf In this document, Miller claims that the Discovery Institute (DI) tried to “smear” PBS’s Evolution series when the DI charged that program with making a false statement about the universality of the genetic code. Miller also Read More ›

Darwin’s Black Box: A Review by Ray Bohlin

What do mouse traps, molecular biology, blood clotting, Rube Goldberg machines, and irreducible complexity have to do with each other? At first glance they seem to have little if anything to do with each other. However, they are all part of a recent book by Free Press titled, Darwin’s Black Box: The Biochemical Challenge to Evolution by Michael Behe. Michael Behe is Read More ›

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Science and Evidence for Design in the Universe

As progress in science continues to reveal unimagined complexities, three scientists revisit the difficult and compelling question of the origin of our universe. As mathematician, biochemist, and philosopher of science, they explore the possibility of developing a reliable method for detecting an intelligent cause and evidence for design at the origin of life. In the process, they present a strong Read More ›

How Intelligent Is Intelligent Design?

Stephen C. Meyer’s article “DNA and Other Designs” captures the heart of the scientific case against the materialist ideology that rules biology. Neither physical laws nor chance can write meaningful text (complex specified information). Chance produces only meaningless disorder, and law produces only simple repetition. That is why no one has ever observed natural selection or any other natural process creating new genetic information by a combination of law and chance; it is every bit as impossible as a perpetual motion machine. Professor Meyer’s article will produce angry and baffled responses not because there is any real objection to the logic, but because the aim of biology in the era of Darwin has been to support a materialist worldview rather than to investigate the data impartially. Thanks to Stephen Meyer and to First Things for helping to bring that era to a close. Read More ›
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Hallstatt square in Austria Alps mountain
Hallstatt Town Square, Licensed via Adobe Stock

A New Foundation for Positive Cultural Change

Pinker argues that the fundamental premise of ethics has been disproved by science. "Ethical theory," he writes, "requires idealizations like free, sentient, rational, equivalent agents whose behavior is uncaused." Yet, "the world, as seen by science, does not really have uncaused events." Read More ›
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Self-Organization and Irreducibly Complex Systems

Some biochemical systems require multiple, well-matched parts in order to function, and the removal of any of the parts eliminates the function. I have previously labeled such systems "irreducibly complex," and argued that they are stumbling blocks for Darwinian theory. Instead I proposed that they are best explained as the result of deliberate intelligent design. In a recent article Shanks and Joplin analyze and find wanting the use of irreducible complexity as a marker for intelligent design. Their primary counter-example is the Belousov-Zhabotinsky reaction, a self-organizing system in which competing reaction pathways result in a chemical oscillator. In place of irreducible complexity they offer the idea of "redundant complexity," meaning that biochemical pathways overlap so that a loss of one or even several components can be accommodated without complete loss of function. Here I note that complexity is a quantitative property, so that conclusions we draw will be affected by how well-matched the components of a system are. I also show that not all biochemical systems are redundant. The origin of non-redundant systems requires a different explanation than redundant ones. Read More ›
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3D rendering of abstract blocks of mathematical formulas located in the virtual space

A Mathematician’s View of Evolution

When Dr. Behe was at the University of Texas El Paso in May of 1997 to give an invited talk, I told him that I thought he would find more support for his ideas in mathematics, physics and computer science departments than in his own field. I know a good many mathematicians, physicists and computer scientists who, like me, are appalled that Darwin's explanation for the development of life is so widely accepted in the life sciences. Read More ›
biology-textbooks-shelves

An Evaluation of Ten Recent Biology Textbooks And Their Use of Selected Icons of Evolution Evaluated

An evaluation of ten textbooks. In general, an "A" requires full disclosure of the truth, discussion of relevant scientific controversies, and a recognition that Darwin's theory — like all scientific theories — might have to be revised or discarded if it doesn't fit the facts. An "F" indicates that the textbook uncritically relies on logical fallacy, dogmatically treats a theory as an unquestionable fact, or blatantly misrepresents published scientific evidence. Read More ›
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Rhea County Courthouse in Dayton, Ohio

Scopes Trial Symbolism Holds Today

If a deeply entrenched academic truth is challenged by new scientific insights and discoveries, should authorities allow classroom discussion of such challenges? That was the question many people believe was placed on the national stage by the famous Scopes Trial in Dayton, Tennessee in 1925. This week is the 75th anniversary of the famous trial over the freedom of a Read More ›

Analytical Science at the Center of Chemistry and Beyond its Frontier

Award Address American Chemical Society Division of Analytical Chemistry Award for Distinguished Service in the Advancement of Analytical Chemistry, Sponsored by Waters Corporation (Appendix on Natural Selection and References added September 26, 2000) Roland F. Hirsch, Medical Sciences Division, SC-73Office of Biological & Environmental ResearchOffice of ScienceU.S. Department of EnergyGermantown, Maryland 20874-1290 U.S.A. Introduction In accepting this award I would Read More ›