Why Intelligent Design Fails

Summary

Title: Why Intelligent Design Fails: A Scientific Critique of the New Creationism,
Author: edited by Matt Young, Taner Edis
Publisher: Rutgers University Press
ISBN: 081353433X

Pro:
•  Detailed scientific analysis of “Intelligent” Design not found in most critiques
•  Makes it clear that ID claims are mostly bunk and have little value

Con:
•  Not for the average, general reader
•  On the somewhat expensive side

Description:
•  Analysis of “Intelligent” Design theories
•  Description of how evolution works but “Intelligent” Design doesn’t
•  Argues for the importance of real science

Book Review

When asked about Intelligent Design, working scientists are much more likely to scoff than they are to show scientific interest. The reason isn’t very hard to figure out: when evaluating the project by any rigorous standards, it completely fails to qualify as “scientific” in the first place. If it’s not a science, there’s no reason to take it seriously as any sort of alternative to evolution. Understanding this answer — understanding how and why Intelligent Design isn’t a science — is a bit more complicated, however.

In order to answer this question Matt Young and Taner Edis have edited a collection of papers in a volume titled Why Intelligent Design Fails: A Scientific Critique of the New Creationism. They bring together twelve scholars in such fields as physics, engineering, zoology, paleontology, computer science, mathematics, molecular pharmacology, anthropology, astronomy, and philosophy.

Each of the authors addresses some specific aspect of ID beliefs and arguments, frequently even just an argument made by a particular author (Behe, Dembski, Johnson), revealing all of the errors and faults. They write about information theory, irreducible complexity, forensic archaeology, intelligence, thermodynamics, self-organization, and more.

Obviously, this is not a general interest book that was created with the average reader in mind. The authors do a good job at making the material reasonably accessible, but a person without any prior experience with science — especially biology and the debates over evolution — is likely to get lost in many of the articles. I wouldn’t say that they couldn’t get anything at all out of it, but I do think that this isn’t the best place to get started on such topics.

While this may not be the best choice for the uninitiated, it is definitely a good choice for those who want more details on how and why Intelligent Design is anything but scientific and is a complete failure in terms of undermining evolutionary theory. Other books on this do exist, but most tend to adopt a philosophical approach to the subject. Here, however, we are presented very squarely with the complex scientific case against Intelligent Design and for evolution.

Some might argue that such a rebuttal unjustifiably lends the religious mountebanks an air of scientific respectability, but the authors reasonably deny this:

“The integrity of science eduction is best supported by presenting the successes of actual science rather than highlighting philosophical attempts to defend the boundaries of proper science. Intelligent design, like older versions of creationism, is not practiced as science. Its advocates act more like a political pressure group than like researchers entering an academic debate.”

Why Intelligent Design Fails: A Scientific Critique of the New Creationism

“They seem more interested in affirming their prior religious commitments than in putting real hypotheses to the test. They treat successful scientific approaches — for example, a preference for naturalistic explanations — as mere prejudices to be discarded on a metaphysical whim.”

Purely philosophical critiques certainly have their place because they can help elucidate what science is and is not. Relying on them totally, however, can give the impression that Intelligent Design is wrong because it fails philosophical tests when in reality it is rejected because it is a scientific failure. Design theorists complain that there are things that cannot naturally happen that we know happen. Design theorists complain that evolution cannot explain things that are explained. Design theorists complain that certain events are impossible which have been proven possible. In short, Intelligent Design is religious creationism primped up for prime time and church debates.

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