Literature

A discussion of ID-related Reading

Post details: Adaptations and complexity "in the light of evolution"

05/11/07

by David Tyler 05:32:02 pm, Categories: Literature - Articles, 476 words

Adaptations and complexity "in the light of evolution"

Last December, a colloquium was held in Irvine, CA, with the general title "In the light of evolution". This choice of words is an allusion to Dobzhansky's oft-quoted statement that "nothing in biology makes sense except in the light of evolution". A series of colloquia are planned, all seeking to "interpret phenomena in various areas of biology through the lens of evolution". The December event was the first and it took as its theme "Adaptation and Complexity".
The organisers were very aware that this is "a time of resurgent societal interest in supernatural explanations for biological complexity. Especially in the United States, proponents of intelligent design (ID)-the latest reincarnation of religious creationism - argue that biotic complexity can only be the product of a supreme intelligence (i.e., God)." Of course, this is not how the ID community sees the issue. ID arguments major on the rationale for making design inferences. The options for causal explanations are extended from 'Law + Chance' to 'Law + Chance + Design'. This approach is perceived as important for truth and for the integrity of science, because otherwise science gets moulded by the philosophy of naturalism (nature is all there is). This threat to science is neither perceived nor addressed by the organisers.
There is an easy way to show that design inferences are inappropriate - and that is to show the superiority of the explanations based on Law and Chance. However, the failure of the evolutionary community to deliver on this is one of the most important factors behind the sustained interest in ID. The authors of the introductory essay recognise that they do not bring strong, mature arguments to support their claims: "150 years after Darwin the challenge of understanding nature's complexity remains in many regards in its infancy." They go on to refer to new tools to help understand this complexity, but do not acknowledge that the data uncovered by these tools have influenced many in the direction of ID.
The papers are currently in the Early Edition of the PNAS website, all open access. Selected papers will be the subject of further comment on this blog.

In the light of evolution I: Adaptation and complex design
John C. Avise and Francisco J. Ayala
Published online before print May 9, 2007
Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA, 10.1073/pnas.0702066104

Abstract: This paper serves as an introduction to this PNAS supplement, which resulted from the Arthur M. Sackler Colloquium of the National Academy of Sciences, "In the Light of Evolution I: Adaptation and Complex Design," held December 1-2, 2006, at the Arnold and Mabel Beckman Center of the National Academies of Sciences and Engineering in Irvine, CA. It is the first in a planned series of colloquia under the umbrella title "In the Light of Evolution" (see Box 1). The complete program is available on the NAS web site at www.nasonline.org/adaptation_and_complex_design.

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Links - Groups and Organizations

Access Research Network
Discovery Institute
Evolution News Blog
Evolution has become a favorite topic of the news media recently, but for some reason, they never seem to get the story straight. The staff at Discovery Institute's Center for Science and Culture started this Blog to set the record straight and make sure you knew "the rest of the story".
Intelligent Design Network (IDNet)
Intelligent Design Undergraduate Research Center
Intelligent Reasoning
A blogger from New England offers his intelligent reasoning.
International Society for Complexity, Information, and Design (ISCID)
Telic Thoughts
We are a group of individuals, coming from diverse backgrounds and not speaking for any organization, who have found common ground around teleological concepts, including intelligent design. We think these concepts have real potential to generate insights about our reality that are being drowned out by political advocacy from both sides. We hope this blog will provide a small voice that helps rectify this situation.
The Design Inference - The Writings of William A. Dembski
The Intelligent Design and Evolution Awareness Center (IDEA)
www.themonkeytrial.com
Website dedicated to comparing scenes from the "Inherit the Wind" movie with factual information from actual Scopes Trial. View 37 clips from the movie and decide for yourself if this movie is more fact or fiction.

Links - Of General Interest

A Brief View of Time and Those That Live There
Don Cicchetti blogs on: Culture, Music, Faith, Intelligent Design, Guitar, Audio
A Quick Guide to Sequenced Genomes
ARN Related Web Links
Creation/Evolution Quotes
Australian biologist Stephen E. Jones maintains one of the best origins "quote" databases around. He is meticulous about accuracy and working from original sources.
CreationEvolutionDesign
Most guys going through midlife crisis buy a convertible. Austrialian Stephen E. Jones went back to college to get a biology degree and is now a proponent of ID and common ancestry.
Darwinian Fairytales by David Stove
Complete zipped downloadable pdf copy of David Stove's devastating, and yet hard-to-find, critique of neo-Darwinism entitled "Darwinian Fairytales"
ID The Future
Intelligent Design The Future is a multiple contributor weblog whose participants include the nation's leading design scientists and theorists: biochemist Michael Behe, mathematician William Dembski, astronomer Guillermo Gonzalez, philosophers of science Stephen Meyer, and Jay Richards, philosopher of biology Paul Nelson, molecular biologist Jonathan Wells, and science writer Jonathan Witt. Posts will focus primarily on the intellectual issues at stake in the debate over intelligent design, rather than its implications for education or public policy.
John Mark Reynolds Blog
A Philosopher's Journey: Political and cultural reflections of John Mark N. Reynolds. Dr. Reynolds is Director of the Torrey Honors Institute at
Biola University.
NASA Astronomy Picture of the Day