No Free Lunch

^{William A. Dembski
February 1, 2007
Intelligent Design}

No Free Lunch

_{William A. Dembski
February 1, 2007
Intelligent Design}

No Free Lunch, the sequel to mathematician and philosopher William Dembski's Cambridge University Press book The Design Inference, explores key questions about the origin of specified complexity. Dembski explains that the Darwinian search mechanism of random mutation coupled with natural selection is incapable of generating novel complex, specified information (CSI).

This observation translates into "No Free Lunch" (NFL) theorems, which Dembski explains are inherent constraints upon natural systems. Natural Darwinian mechanisms can shuffle this information around, but only intelligence can generate novel CSI. In other words, when it comes to generating truly novel biological complexity, Darwin can have no free lunch...

Naturalism’s Argument from Invincible Ignorance

_{William A. Dembski
September 9, 2002
Intelligent Design}

Howard Van Till’s review of my book No Free Lunch exemplifies perfectly why theistic evolution remains intelligent design’s most implacable foe. Not only does theistic evolution sign off on the naturalism that pervades so much of contemporary science, but it justifies that naturalism theologically — as though it were unworthy of God to create by any means other than an evolutionary process that carefully conceals God’s tracks. Read More ›

^{William A. Dembski
August 9, 2002
Intelligent Design}

Addicted to Caricatures

_{William A. Dembski
August 9, 2002
Intelligent Design}

(The journal Nature had Brian Charlesworth review my book No Free Lunch in its 11 July 2002 issue. I would repeat the entire article, but copyright restrictions prevent me. The article is available at nature.com to subscribers for free and to nonsubscribers for a fee. I respond to the article here.) One prominent evolutionist I know confided in me that Read More ›

^{William A. Dembski
May 13, 2002
Intelligent Design}

Obsessively Criticized but Scarcely Refuted

_{William A. Dembski
May 13, 2002
Intelligent Design}

1. Preamble

I have many critics. Some are measured and calm. Others are obsessive. Richard Wein is perhaps the most obsessive. His critique of my book No Free Lunch (hereafter NFL) weighs in at 37,000 words and purports to provide the most thorough refutation of my work to date. It certainly is long. But is it thorough and does it succeed in actually refuting my ideas? In fact, the critique fails as a refutation and skirts key issues at every opportunity. It is therefore neither thorough nor a refutation.

Refuted Yet Again!

_{William A. Dembski
January 25, 2002
Intelligent Design}

This article is written in response to Matt Young’s “How to Evolve Specified Complexity by Natural Means” which appeared in Metanexus. The mathematician George Polya used to quip that if you can’t solve a problem, find an easier problem and solve it. Matt Young seems to have taken Polya’s advice to heart. Young has taken Shannon’s tried-and-true theory of information Read More ›

^{March 2, 2001
Intelligent Design}

Ohio School Board Debates Teaching ‘Intelligent Design’

_{March 2, 2001
Intelligent Design}

Stakes were high Monday at a meeting of an Ohio Board of Education panel. Up for discussion: whether high school biology students should be told about potential problems with Darwinism and evidence that life on Earth was planned. About 1,500 parents, teachers and students showed up for the meeting, which was moved to an auditorium to accommodate the crowd. They Read More ›