Intelligent Design, Modern Science

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Intelligent Design, Modern Science Your
Grandchildrens Future

• Will the Bible be relevant in 2050?
• Will Darwinism be relevant in 2050?

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TNPC ID Blog Current Topics

• Father Jonathan from Fox News
• Where does ID belong science or philosophy
  class?
• ID in the IEEE
• Optical design tips from a butterfly
• Send submissions to me at john.dishman_at_comcast.net
  
• PLEASE PASS THE CLIPBOARD, MARK YOUR ATTENDANCE

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Proposed Schedule
Week 7 History of science part 2 including biology physics paradigm shifts
Week 8 Difficulties with Darwinism Icons of Evolution video (51 minutes-start at 909!!)
Week 9 Answers to objections to ID
Week 10 Interpretations of Genesis Analogical Framework views
Week 11 Interpretations of Genesis Day-Age Traditional 6 Consecutive 24 Hour Day views
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Icons of Evolution Reactions

• Haeckels Embryos
• Darwins Finches
• Darwins Tree of Life
• Four-Winged Fruit Flies
• Homology in Vertebrate Limbs
• Miller-Urey Experiment

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Father Jonathan

• Example of attempts to compromise with evolution
• Believes in ID, but thinks its not science
• Highly critical of Judge Jones
• Thinks both ID neo-Darwinism should be taught
  in philosophy class, not science class
• But there are no philosophy classes in high
  school
• Buys into NAS definition of science
• Breaking news another ID defeat in Ohio
• State school board reverses itself bans
  critical thinking when it comes to evolution

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ID in the IEEE

• In the butterfly Princeps nireus, skylight is
  captured in its wings converted into blue-green
  light loved by females, through fluorescence.
• Ordinarily half the light lost goes back into
  wings
• In P. nireus, each wing scale has a 3 layer
  mirror known as a distributed Bragg reflector at
  its base
• Results in constructive interference that
  redirects outward avoiding loss
• However, some light still gets trapped at the
  surface
• To compensate for this P. nireus employs a
  photonic crystal consisting of hollow tubes
  perpendicular to the Bragg reflector

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Distributed Bragg Reflector Principles
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One-PhotonHolographic Lithography
D. N. Sharp et al., Opt. Quant. Elec. 34, 3
(2002)
10µm
huge volumes, long-range periodic, fcc
latticebackfill for high contrast
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MIT vs Princeps Nireus
Butterfly 2 MIT 1
Note the elaborate technology needed by MIT
engineers to fabricate the structure already
found in the butterfly. As the caption says it
looks like intelligent design.
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Objections to ID

• Objection 1 The design in nature appears to be
  less than optimal

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From PBS Evolution
An intelligent designer, working with the
components of this wiring, would choose the
orientation that produces the highest degree of
visual quality. No one, for example, would
suggest that the neural connections should be
placed in front of the photoreceptor cells --
thus blocking the light from reaching them --
rather than behind the retina.
Incredibly, this is exactly how the human retina
is constructed. Visual quality is degraded
because light scatters as it passes through
several layers of cellular wiring before reaching
the retina. Granted, this scattering has been
minimized because the nerve cells are nearly
transparent, but it cannot be eliminated because
of the basic design flaw. Moreover, the effects
are compounded because a network of vessels,
which is needed to supply the nerve cells with a
rich supply of blood, also sits directly in front
of the light-sensitive layer, another feature
that no engineer would propose.
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The Human Retina

• Humans rods/cones behind nerves blood vessels
• Octopus rods/cones in front of nerves blood
  vessels

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Optimization in eye design requires tradeoffs
between
resolution
sensitivity
speed
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Tradeoffs in the Design of the Eye
resolution
sensitivity
nerves in front of rods/cones
nerves in back of rods/cones
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Eye Design

• Placing transparent nerves blood vessels in
  front of rods/cones slightly reduces resolution
• But, allows the sensitivity to light to be
  greatly increased i.e., allows much better night
  vision because of the provision of oxygen from
  blood vessels in low light
• Some vertebrates with this wiring can detect a
  single incident photon

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Eye design is only a small part of an overall
systems design space

• Eye is part of the total human body design
• Human body design is part of an local ecosystem
  design
• Local ecosystem is part of the total world
  ecosystem
• There are tradeoffs to be made all the way up
  down the chain

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Suppose a King Kong really existed in an ecosystem

• Not just Fay Ray would be affected by his
  presence!!
• Note how well tuned is the overall system of
  plants, animals, geology, hydrology, etc. for
  life to thrive on earth

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Objections to ID

• Objection 1 The design in nature appears to be
  less than optimal
• Answer optimal with respect to what?

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Objections to ID

• Objection 2 A wise powerful God wouldnt have
  done it this way.

The late Stephen J. Gould Professor of Geology
Zoology Harvard University
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Says Gould

• If God had designed a beautiful machine to
  reflect his wisdom and power, surely he would not
  have used a collection of parts generally
  fashioned for other purposes..Odd arrangements
  and funny solutions are proof of evolutionpaths
  that a sensible God would never tread but that a
  natural process, constrained by history, follows
  perforce. (from the book The Pandas Thumb)

Question is Goulds statement science or
theology?
Does his audience view him as scientist or
theologian?
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Analyzing Goulds Statement

• IF God has designed a beautiful machine..
• Implication this is not a beautiful machine we
  live in, therefore no God.
• surely, he would have.
• Implication Gould knows how God would have done
  things
• Odd arrangements funny solutions.(are) paths
  a sensible God would never tread
• Trust me these arrangements, like the pandas
  thumb, are odd and non-sensible

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Example the pandas thumb

• The panda, unlike our North American bears,
  possesses a thumb that it uses to strip bamboo
  leaves off the shoots. This thumb is actually an
  extra digit made by the extension of the radial
  sesamoid bone in the wrist. Because this is not
  the typical way a thumb is formed, Gould
  concludes that, "the panda must use parts on
  hand.... The sesamoid thumb wins no prize in an
  engineer's derby" but is the best solution
  evolution can find since the "true thumb is
  committed to another role (Boblin Anderson,
  JASA, March, 1983)

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A Rebuttal (www.godandscience.org)

• A new study analyzed the giant panda's thumb
  using computed tomography, magnetic resonance
  imaging (MRI) and related techniques. Contrary to
  what evolutionists have previously expressed
  about the "bad design," the current study shows
  that the radial sesamoid bone (its "thumb") is
  "one of the most extraordinary manipulation
  systems" among mammals.

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Rebuttal Continued

• Evolutionists say that the design of the
  Panda's thumb is bad compared to that of the
  primate opposable thumb. However, the opposable
  thumb is not designed for continuous grasping.
  Such kind of usage can result in carpal tunnel
  syndrome (just ask any laboratory technician who
  has been pipetting for many years). Being a
  herbivore, the Giant Panda spends nearly all of
  its waking hours eating. It collects bamboo
  leaves by grasping and stripping leaves from the
  stalks. Contrary to what the evolutionists say,
  the opposable thumb would be a bad design for the
  Panda, since it could not function under the
  stress of continuous use. The Panda's hand, with
  its "thumb" bound to the metacarpals, is a much
  stronger design able to withstand continuous use.

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Pandas Thumb Conclusion

• The radial sesamoid bone and the accessory carpal
  bone form a double pincer-like apparatus enabling
  the panda to manipulate objects with great
  dexterity.
• The authors concluded their study with the
  following statement
• "We have shown that the hand of the giant panda
  has a much more refined grasping mechanism than
  has been suggested in previous morphological
  models."
• Endo, H., Yamagiwa, D., Hayashi, Y. H.,
  Koie, H., Yamaya, Y., and Kimura, J. 1999. Nature
  397 309-310.

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Other Examples

• To see how recent research has found deeper
  engineering design principles in structures
  criticized by evolutionists as beneath a
  sensible Designer, see
• http//godandscience.org/evolution/designgonebad.h
  tml
• a web site by Richard Deems associated with the
  Hugh Ross ministry Reasons to Believe

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Pauls view of how God would have done it

• Oh, the depth of the riches and wisdom and
  knowledge of God! How unsearchable are his
  judgments and how inscrutable his ways!
• "For who has known the mind of the Lord,
• or who has been his counselor?"
• "Or who has given a gift to him
• that he might be repaid?
• For from him and through him and to him are all
  things. To him be glory forever. Amen.
• Rom. 1133-36

Rembrandts Apostle Paul
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Or putting it another way. ASLAN
IS NOT A TAME LION!!
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Objections to ID

• Objection 2 A wise powerful God wouldnt have
  done it this way.

• Answer Says who?

The late Stephen J. Gould Professor of Geology
Zoology Harvard University
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Objections to ID

• Objection 3 ID is not science since it cant
  make predictions or be a basis for research,
  whereas Darwinism can

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Ernst Mayer evolutionary biologist
The theory of natural selection can describe and
explain phenomena with considerable precision,
but it cannot make reliable predictions, except
through such trivial and meaningless circular
statements as, for instance The fitter
individuals will on the average leave more
offspring." Toward a New Philosophy of Biology
(1988) pp.31-32
In other words, Darwinism has no predictive power
either!
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Dembskis Research Themes

• Improving methods of detecting design
• Determine the nature of biological information
• What are the constraints on matter to handle
  biological information
• What empirical grounds are there to show
  intelligence is indispensable for information
• What is the minimal complexity required for
  functionality in biological systems
• Some evolution exists. How much can be allowed
  before intelligence is required?

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FootnoteJames Shapiro, opponent of ID

• There are not detailed Darwinian accounts for
  the evolution of any fundamental biochemical or
  cellular system, only a variety of wishful
  speculations. It is remarkable that Darwinism is
  accepted as a satisfactory explanation for such a
  vast subjectevolutionwith so little rigorous
  examination of how well its basic theses work in
  illuminating specific instances of biological
  adaptation or diversity.

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More Dembski Research Themes

• Understand complex biological structures from an
  engineering perspective looking not only at
  functionality but also reliability,
  repairability, manufacturability, economy, etc
• Apply the study of human technological evolution
  (using a tool called TRIZ) to biological systems
• Was the intelligent designer programming the
  future of biological invention to be revealed
  over time, including for example the rise fall
  of dinosaurs?
• Was the intelligent designer overcoming negative
  forces in his design program, for example, as a
  result of the Fall?

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More Dembski Research Themes

• Evolutionary computation.
• The immune system runs an algorithmic program
  that detects, tracks, attacks invaders. Is
  such a program designed, or could it have evolved
  along with the environment? Simulation is
  needed.
• Handling discontinuities.
• Are the missing links (intermediates) in the
  fossil record real or imaginary. If real, the
  observed complexity in the biosphere requires
  huge coordination of matter information. How
  much it requires intelligent how much could be
  explained by natural forces?

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Finally steganography hidden messages

• Is there a user manual embedded in biological
  information? For example to tell proteins how to
  fold.
• 1st order useful to the organism
• 2nd order useful to the scientific researcher
  implanted by the designer to be discovered at the
  appropriate time to confirm intelligent design

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Is steganography over the top?

• The Old Testament prophets saw hidden, the day
  when the WORD would be incarnate and be The Way,
  showing men how to live
• Perhaps a similar, but lesser, word lies at the
  heart of biological information.