Wednesday 28 October 2015

Intelligent Design is not science.

Let's say we accept Intelligent Design.

OK, so no need to ponder how evolution led to features of the various species we see. God did it. Debate over.

Great! That works quite neatly. Why stop at evolution?



Intelligent Medicine.

Why do people die in middle age? God does it as a judgement for their sins. No need to go trying to comprehend, no need to look for solutions. Debate over.

Why do children die of cot death? God chooses to take some children to be angels. Debate over.

Why do people suffer from fits? They are possessed by demons, call the priest to exorcise them, if that fails burn them at the stake.

Intelligent Meteorology.

Why do we have seasons? God smiles on us in the summer and allows us to grow crops by his grace, in winter he tests us with cold so that we can appreciate the grace of God's bounty in the spring and summer. Debate over.

What causes the savagery of storms that wreck communities and kill people? It is God's judgement for their sins, no point in trying to predict or mitigate. Debate over.

What causes lightning? God is angry. Debate over.

Intelligent Engineering.

Why did the signal fail killing people in a train crash. God did it to punish the wicked, no need to investigate and seek to avoid a repeat of the catastrophe. Debate over.

Why is that factory able to turn out ball bearings that are more perfectly round than their competitors? God has done it, they are more devout than their competitors, no need to try to figure it out and work for improvement. Debate over.

****

Intelligent Design is not scientific. It is anti-scientific. It is a clarion of gross ignorance that calls against the progress we have attained through great struggle, a call that beckons us back to the Dark Ages. It is a bastardisation of reason that has no place in our technologically advanced civilisation.

3 comments:

WwoofBum said...

Why do some people believe in "intellegent design"?

God has blessed them with the "truth." Debate over. No need to try to convince them otherwise.

Anonymous said...

Why does the world exist?

..debate over?

Chris Reynolds said...

WwoofBum,

Yes, it is a total waste of time. But keeping ID out of state education is still a fight worth fighting.

Anonymous,

Yes, debate over. One need only go back to the formation of the solar system to answer the question why the world exists, and that is pretty well understood. Regarding life, the overall pattern since the inception of life (probably during or shortly after the Late Heavy Bombardment) fits evolution. Life is explicable, even if some of the details remain unsettled.