The vacuity of Intelligent Design

Others have already shown how Intelligent Design is a vacuous concept but it is always nice to hear ID proponents themselves show supporting evidence. Here we hear how Dembski describes how Intelligent Design fails as a science.

It is not only we critics who point out that ID fails to qualify as science in this regard. In his Biola speech, Dembski mentioned one sympathetic geneticist who was intrigued with ID, but who felt pessimistic about its prospects, writing: "If I knew how to scientifically approach the question you pose, I would quit all that I am doing right now, and devote the rest of my career in pursuit of its answer. The fact that I have no idea how to begin gathering scientific data that would engage the scientific community is the very reason that I don't share your optimism that this approach will work" (Dembski 2002). Dembski told his audience that he himself remained optimistic that ID had research potential, but, tellingly, he admitted that he had no specific research proposals to offer, just some possible "research themes."

Source: DNA by Design? Stephen Meyer and the Return of the God Hypothesis by Pennock

Plenty of scientists are intrigued with intelligent design but for now don't see how they can usefully contribute to it. I recently had an exchange with one such scientist (a geneticist). I asked him, "What sort of real work needs to go forward before you felt comfortable with ID?" His response was revealing:

If I knew how to scientifically approach the question you pose, I would quit all that I am doing right now, and devote the rest of my career in pursuit of its answer. The fact that I have no idea how to begin gathering scientific data that would engage the scientific community is the very reason that I don't share your optimism that this approach will work.

Becoming a Disciplined Science: Prospects, Pitfalls, and Reality Check for ID by William Dembski

Read more!