Paradigm Dawning - Inferences of design in biology
From ResearchID.org
- Find out how one might begin to investigate evidence of design in the living world.
By far, the most contested application of intelligent design concepts is in the realm of biology. When approaching biology, the scientific concept of intelligent design uses observation, and the scientific principles of causality, induction, and uniformity. These scientific principles will be addressed as they arise in this essay.
Let us consider two realities found in all living organisms: information and machines.
When applying ID to biology, it is observed that all living cells necessarily use the purposeful information found in DNA.
Causality is the study of the cause and effect structure of the universe. Considering the principle of causality ID asks, “What causes the effect of information?” In all cases where we know the source of new and independent information that performs a function, especially information that is not derived directly from other bits of information, it always originates from an intelligent cause. Additionally, there are no verified cases of new and independent functional information arising by chance or by non-intelligent natural processes, nor by the cooperation of the two.
The principle of uniformity proposes that different instances of an effect have the same cause. This is often the case whether we are certain of the origin of the effect or not. For example, if you see a rabbit in the woods, but you did not witness its birth, it is safe to assume that it came from other rabbits because of the principle of uniformity. This is a type of inductive reasoning, which takes knowledge of specifics and applies this knowledge to form general principles.
Employing the principle of uniformity, ID proposes that all new and independent functional information uniformly originates from intelligence, even the functional information of DNA.
Like any other truly scientific endeavor, ID proceeds from current verified knowledge into new knowledge. To speculate or accept a non-intelligent source for the functional information of DNA is to deny the verified scientific evidence.
Another application of intelligent design to biology is the observation that all living cells necessarily utilize proteins that function as biomolecular machines. These machines are proteins that do many tasks within the cell, including helping in DNA transcription, carrying messages between parts of the cell, transporting non-motile molecular machines, and folding other proteins into functional shapes, and many other complex tasks.
To see how this relates to ID, consider that the Oxford English Dictionary defines a machine as “an apparatus using mechanical power and having several parts, each with a definite function and together performing a particular task.”
Then, considering the principle of causality, an ID scholar asks, “What is the cause of new functional machines?” In all cases where we know the source of a functional machine (not derived from or by other machines), they always originate from an intelligent cause. Additionally, there are no verified cases of new and independent, functional machines arising by chance or by non-intelligent natural processes, nor by the cooperation of the two.
Employing the principle of uniformity, ID proposes that all new and independent, functional machines uniformly originate from intelligence, even many of the functional machines in the cell.
Again, like any other truly scientific endeavor, ID proceeds from current verified knowledge into new knowledge. To speculate or accept a non-intelligent source for new and independent functional machines in the cell is to deny the verified scientific evidence.
Now note at this point that the living world is twice confirmed as resulting from intelligent design. Biological organisms have both the purposeful information of DNA and the functional machinery of proteins, and both validate the inference to the intelligent design of life.
It is often asserted that, "Extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence." Yet, what is actually necessary is relevant evidence. If one claims that inanimate matter spontaneously generated the information and machinery of life through purely mindless means, or that microbes mutated through a blind process into Mozart, one should provide hard and direct evidence. Yet, those who would like to claim that a mindless process caused life offer armchair philosophy and imaginative stories that are void of evidence.
In other essays we explore how intelligent design then seeks the types of new data, concepts, and experiments that result from proposing intelligence as the cause of functional information and machinery.
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