In the comments section, a physicist and ID critic asserted the following:

I think what you're about to say know is something like "but if ID is a matter of fact then I'd need to talk about it even if it can be exploited". Well, my stance on this is: If you'd really try to approach ID like any science does approach any idea then you'd have to ask who the designer is.

Critics commonly insist that ID focus on identifying the designer. They do so because they think the refusal to take this step is motivated purely by political considerations. While I have shown the error in this demand, there is another way to appreciate such demands are themselves motivated by politics and not logic or science.

Read the rest of this entry »

Nature 438, 504-507 (24 November 2005) doi:10.1038/nature04228

Design principles of a bacterial signalling network

Markus Kollmann1, Linda Løvdok2, Kilian Bartholomé1, Jens Timmer1,3 and Victor Sourjik2

Abstract Cellular biochemical networks have to function in a noisy environment using imperfect components. In particular, networks involved in gene regulation or signal transduction allow only for small output tolerances, and the underlying network structures can be expected to have undergone evolution for inherent robustness against perturbations. Here we combine theoretical and experimental analyses to investigate an optimal design for the signalling network of bacterial chemotaxis, one of the most thoroughly studied signalling networks in biology.

[bipod: The "evolution of robustness against perturbations" is a worthy research project, don't ya think. ]

Professor Paul Mirecki, from Kansas University, is planning to teach a new course entitled, "Special Topics in Religion: Intelligent Design, Creationism and other Religious Mythologies." That got me to wondering. Might the syllabus for the course contain this?

UPDATE: The professor could, of course, upgrade:

Behe gets interviewed on C-Span

Do you remember the ACME Label Maker? Are you still increasingly worried about that coming theocracy? Do you hear the barbarians at the gate? Thanks to the new Warning Label Generator, you no longer have to stand by and watch as your children's minds become corrupted.

Check a few boxes, craft some alarmist rhetoric, and you're ready to warn others that the sky is falling:

With the Warning Label Generator, you too can say, "I'm doing my part!"

Many critics are downright confused about the distinction between intelligent design and creationism. Let me provide a nice example that should help clarify this distinction for those who have open minds. I'll do so by considering the basic argument (as I see it) of Stephen Meyer's paper, The Origin of Biological Information and the Higher Taxonomic Categories.

Before I begin the analysis, let me make it clear that I am not defending any argument nor am I suggesting the Cambrian explosion is associated with ID. Anyone who has read and tried to understand my web page and posts on ARN (over the last five years) knows I have not made an issue about the Cambrian explosion as this is an area I have not looked into. I am simply going to use the paper/argument as a type of case study to help people see the distinction between ID and creationism.
Read the rest of this entry »

The other day I was watching the wonderful movie about the bacterial flagellum put out by the Nanotechnology Researchers Network Center of Japan and as a machine designer I began to ponder what would be involved in designing such a wondrous machine. I've designed many machines over my career, and as I watched how this machine worked and is assembled, I was struck by the tremendous number of analyses and decisions that would have to be made to design it. Of course, in the back of my mind I'm asking is it possible that all the choices necessary for this device to work could have come about by chance or is a design inference unavoidable?

Read the rest of this entry >>

Over 150 faculty at the University of Iowa have signed The Decree started by Hector Avalos, the associate professor of religious studies at ISU. The Decree is filled with some rather muddled thinking, although it is interesting to note how it has been evolving. Yet the Tribune article offers one factoid that is most interesting.
Read the rest of this entry »

Ed Brayton passes on this beer commercial (if you have trouble viewing it, try going here). It depicts the history of life in fast backwards motion, going from a bar to a primordial pond. Who knew the apex of creation was a frosty one?

Scott Adams' recent blogs about ID were very insightful in the way they generated so much anger and wrath from some of the ID critics. Adams point was very clear, and in fact, he made it so clear it is somewhat strange that many critics continued to miss it:

Let me say very clearly here that I'm not denying the EXISTENCE of slam-dunk credible evidence for evolution. What I'm denying is the existence of credible PEOPLE to inform me of this evidence.

Unfortunately, since so many critics come to this debate with the intellectual sophistication of the knee-jerk reflex, they didn't see this while putting on their Battle Gear.
Read the rest of this entry »