THE BEGINNING NOVEMBER 22, 2009 DEFINITION: Intelligent Design (ID) is a scientific theory which holds that certain features of the universe and living things are best explained by an intelligent cause and are not the result of an undirected chance-based process such as Darwinian evolution. HISTORY Plato Aristotle Early Christian writers 1980s HISTORY Hoyle Thaxton, Bradley, Olsen The Mystery of Lifes Origin Johnson Darwin on Trial Behe Darwins Black Box HOW CAN YOU TELL IF DESIGN IS PRESENT? Low probability plus pattern (specificity) High information content Cell proteins Snowflake The quick brown fox jumped over the lazy dog. The cell THE CELL Early on: cell contents protoplasm After Watson & Crick: highly complex and interrelated machinery DNA Transfer of tremendous amounts of information Specific sequencing of nucleotide bases Highly suggestive of intelligent design IRREDUCIBLE COMPLEXITY Darwin: If it could be demonstrated that any complex organ existed which could not possibly have been formed by numerous, successive, slight modifications, my theory would absolutely break down. IRREDUCIBLE COMPLEXITY Michael Behe: By irreducibly complex I mean a single system composed of several well-matched interacting parts that contribute to the basic function, wherein the removal of any one of the parts causes the system to effectively cease functioning. IRREDUCIBLE COMPLEXITY Mousetrap IRREDUCIBLE COMPLEXITY Bacterial flagellum ARGUMENTS AGAINST ID Are things really irreducibly complex? I cant conceive that (fill in the blank) Irreducible complexity can evolve