Countering Evolution: The Theory of Intelligent Design

Statement of thesis:

I believe that intelligent design holds to the same principles that make evolutionary theory a legitimate argument.

Intelligent design is the concept that states the fine tuned features of life and the universe we live in are too complex to have derived from natural selection.

The Supreme Court has already decided that creationism is to be associated with religion and therefore is not allowed into the classroom. Many see ID as an updated form of creationism.

The separation of church and state is a founding belief of our country, but is unfair to ID theory. There is relatively no emphasis on a God or any religion. Simply that we were “purposefully created”.

ID presents a credible, non-biased counter argument to evolutionary thinking. The evidence is in the name of Intelligent Design. The implications are that we were created purposefully; that we did not come to exist by chance over millions and billions of years

Why Science Falls Short:

The major problem with calculating the age of a piece of rock is that one must use assumptions about the past that cannot be proven. The starting conditions must be known, the decay rates must have always been consistent, and isotope atoms much have remained the same without being added or lost. Water can dissolve both uranium and lead atoms and transport them elsewhere. If this has occurred, the date that had been calculated would be completely wrong. Science has also determined that once something is 50,000 years old, there will no longer be any carbon-14 left. Evolutionists say the coal on earth is hundreds of millions of years old, yet they are confused as to why that all coal possessed carbon-14. This would imply that the earth can’t be more then 50,000 years old (Ekstrand).

Creationists have claimed that the state of entropy in the universe invalidates evolutionary theory because it violates the second law of thermodynamics. Entropy means that the constant state of energy being used will eventually reach its maximum. All energy in the universe as we know it is constantly being used and is heading towards diminishment. Entropy also entails a great degree of uncertainty and randomness. These conditions make up a great deal of what evolution seems to be. The second law of thermodynamics states that matter can neither be created nor destroyed; that it is only converted from one form to another. This would indicate that evolution and natural selection cannot continue to produce increasingly complex forms of life and DNA. This law actually fails because it only applies to closed systems and biological systems do not fit those criteria (Pennock). This is because life naturally continues to flourish at the cost of diminishing other resources. Life is entropic unto itself through natural selection and consumption of our natural resources.

Intelligent Designs main theories:

The challenge of irreducibly complex systems states that a complex system, even down to molecular levels, cannot function properly without all of its parts at one time. This would imply that all parts had to have started in place for an organism to function and the lack of one part would result in a non functioning organism. With Darwin’s theory of natural selection, only systems that are already fully functioning can be chosen.

The theory of a finely tuned universe states that the physics and chemistry of the universe is so precise that even the slightest alterations in many areas would cause the earth to be unsuitable for living. It also states that we live in harmony with the universe and it must support carbon based life forms. By incredible standards, if the universe had not been made with many very exacting calculations, it would not have been possible for us to come into existence.

The intelligent design concept of specified complexity was developed by mathematician, philosopher, and theologian William Dembski. Dembski states that ‘When something exhibits specified complexity (i.e., is both complex and specified, simultaneously), one can infer that it was produced by an intelligent cause (i.e., that it was designed) rather than being the result of natural processes. He provides the following examples: “A single letter of the alphabet is specified without being complex. A long sentence of random letters is complex without being specified. A Shakespearean sonnet is both complex and specified.” He states that details of living things can be similarly characterized, especially the "patterns" of molecular sequences in functional biological molecules such as DNA’.

PowerPoint presentation covering my topic:

http://freshmancomp.pbwiki.com/f/Brian%20A15.swf

Some of my strongest sources include:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/intelligent_design

http://www.godandscience.org/evolution/intelligentdegisn.html

http://www.csicop.org/intelligentdesignwatch/index.html

Please leave me tons of questions on my comments page. This page is only the surface of the issue. I am able to answer to many more issues!