What is Intelligent Design
If your have been in science or philosophy classes you may have heard the term intelligent design? But just what is intelligent design? What do people who support intelligent design actually believe? This post will answer that question.
What is intelligent design?
The entire science of intelligent design is actually very simple. People who support this theory hold the view that certain things in the universe (planets, stars etc) and living things (plants, animals, humans etc) are too complex and well designed to appear by chance. Therefore, a creator must have created the universe and everything in it. People have differing views on who this designer may be. Most believe it to be the God of Christianity.
Contrary to what many believe, those who believe in intelligent design also believe in natural selection. This is an observable scientific fact and all scientists believe that species change and adapt to their conditions. However, intelligent design states that there are ‘limits’ or ‘boundaries’ to natural selection. Therefore, a dog could never become a monkey as they are created differently. Many evolutionary scientists use proof of natural selection (such as antibiotic resistance) to disprove intelligent design. However, this actually supports the theory of intelligent design as the bacteria always remain bacteria.
Isn’t evolution proven?
No. Few scientists will tell you this but it is impossible to prove evolution. There is no way we can prove the big bang happened. We cannot go back in time to determine how the universe started. All scientists, evolutionists and intelligent designers, make assumptions about the past from the objective scientific data we have available today. They have different assumptions and, therefore, arrive at different conclusions. Both sides have very good arguments based on the evidence available.
Intelligent design is not real science, is it?
The arguments against intelligent design is that it is not science as it is is impossible to disprove. Something is said to be a scientific theory only if it can be disproved. As you cannot rule out a creator, intelligent design can never be disproved. However, evolution is in the same boat! Evolutionists look at the evidence totally ruling out an intelligent designer. They hold to the belief that the universe is billions of years old and interpret the evidence to support the theory. Those who support intelligent design hold to the belief that the universe is created and interpret the evidence to support their theory. Therefore, the supporters of intelligent design argue that if intelligent design is not real science then neither is evolution as it is virtually impossible to disprove both. It is important to remember that all scientists change and modify theories based on new available evidence. However, assumptions must be made about the past and the existence of a creator.
Is this just creationism?
Not exactly. While many ‘intelligent designers’ do believe in God, others believe the intelligent creator could be some other form of gods or even aliens who put the first cell on earth (they believe in evolution, but do not believe the first cell spontaneously originated on earth).
Disclaimer: I believe in a literal six-day creation as stated in the Christian Bible. For more information on this see Creation.com
Other Scientific Posts
I moderate all comments and reserve all right to delete or edit them as I see fit. If you leave a comment, make it civil! Respect all beliefs.
gary mulholland
Evolution can be disproved. As eminenet British scientist J.B.S. Haldane remarked when asked what would constitute evidence against evolution “fossil rabbits in the precambrian (rocks).
Also, If all animals had unrelated DNA sequences, or used molecules other than DNA/RNA to carry genetic information, that would disprove evolution. The earth being too young (thousands and not millions/billions of years old) would disprove evolution as descent from a common ancestor to all the species we see today would need that amount of time.
However, we haven`t as yet found mammals in the precambrian rocks, all fauna use DNA/RNA, various dating methods consistently give the age of the earth as millions/billions of years. Either the worlds living things have evolved or they were created by something that made them in such a way as to give the illusion of evolution.
Want to know it
Thanks for the comment Gary. Have you ever seen the evidence for a young earth? Here is a link- http://creation.com/age-of-the-earth