Is there a supreme being?
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Evolution: The Divine Mechanism?25% Voted for by DAG, Crusader318.
Firstly, I should state that I do believe in the existence of a god. Not necessarily the Christian or Muslim or Jewish or any other faith's description of god, but god none-the-less. Secondly, I also must admit to being pretty firmly committed to science and the scientific process.
That being said, I've always thought that Intelligent Design was a poor reflection of god in any sense. As a scientific theory, it seems something of a cop out. It predicts that what exists will exist because god wanted it to exist. The fossils that evolution points to as part of a well ordered progression from less complex, or at least different, forms of life to the forms of life we see today can be explained in the context of intelligent design as just parts of god's creation that he put there for some purpose we have yet to definitively fathom.
The theory of intelligent design does not dove well with my conception of god. Looking at, for instance, the laws of physics, it is a wonder to me that we should be able to write down any laws of physics at all, none-the-less explain so much of the universe with such laws, as we can today. There is no reason why this must be the case. There is no reason why the universe must make sense. And yet, it does in its own way. The theme of our exploration of the universe is that the most complex interactions and results can be explained by relatively simple, and subjectively elegant, laws and theories.
The theory of intelligent design does not seem to have this elegance. It says life is the way it is because god said so. Yet nothing else in the universe really works that way. There are simple mechanisms which are able to explain the vast catalogue of phenomena in the universe. Newton's Law of Gravitation explained both the motions of falling apples and the Moon, Earth, and other planets. In time, we found that it explained the motions of all the stars and even the galaxies (though of course, Newton's theory of gravity has since been superseded by Einstein's). The Moon goes around the Earth not because god willed it but because there is a simple mechanism which causes it to do so.
The theory of evolution is based on the simplest of mechanisms. Humanity, in some sense, long ago harnessed similar mechanisms when we used breeding to domesticate many of the wild animals and plants we found around us. If you think about the mechanism of evolution, natural selection, it makes sense that some kind of evolution should occur. Those animals which have traits which help them survive and reproduce will survive more often, and reproduce in greater numbers than those who have less useful traits. A strong lion will be less likely to starve and more likely to reproduce than a weak one, and if some part of that lion's strength should be genetic, then that lion's descendants will inherit some of that strength and will thus have an advantage.
It is an elegant process I think, much less crude in action than intelligent design. I also do not believe this detracts at all from god's power in the slightest. After all, an all-powerful, all-knowing being could easily create starting conditions which when acted upon by the mechanism of evolution by natural selection would produce exactly what he wanted, and do so in a very elegant, natural way.
So, in short, god could have chosen either mechanism, either evolution or intelligent design. I believe god chose evolution because it is a much more beautiful, elegant, and awesomely powerful mechanism than intelligent design.
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Intelligent Design is25% Voted for by TeChNoWC, likewhatitis100.
As much a theory as evolution is. If it's all science, and trying to prove itself rather than issue belief, then good luck. Not much proving is evident of yet.
I think Intelligent Design assumes results via inferences, and so does evolution. Evolution assumes that because it is evident that things can change in lineage, then massive changes can occur, and then these massive changes must have occured via evolution, and then therefore we have all come from the same common ancestry.
Intelligent Design merely shows that:
a ) Evolution assumes too much and
b ) Evolution aside, there needs to be an initial creator, or even more so, evolution cannot alleviate the problem of cell complexity.
And so therefore, the assumption is made that an intelligent being created the world.
Both are theories. Both are beliefs. Both need faith and/or deception, assumption and conviction,to be adhered to.
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Or ticks likeVoted for by grant.
a time bomb. So, by your argument, it must be an intelligent time bomb.
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...Yes.Voted for by Crusader318.
This entire universe ticks like a clock... I cannot believe anyone who said it all happened by chance...
So yeah. Add your own opinions, I'd much rather read right now that write...
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January 28, 2007
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i like this for one main reason
unlike a majority of the world who try to use science to "disprove God", you actually understand that it isn't how we got here...it only matters that we did, and for a purpose.Please register or login to comment! It's totally free