Dear Southern_Reckoner,
Sir??? I believe this somewhat boils down to what you want to believe. There is enough evidence on both sides BUT, I believe it takes someone who really wishes to understand what is going on. I am not saying that I understand everything because there is a lot to learn and I could take many years and still not learn everything.
In the future you will be seeing more of my articles like the one that apparently got you all riled up. I will be reading more information as it comes out. The book below is the next one that I want to investigate. It is coming out soon.
http://www.signatureinthecell.com/about-the-book.php
Have you read the book I recommended? "Mean Markets and Lizard Brains"
http://www.amazon.com/Mean-Markets-Lizard-Brains-Irrationality/dp/0471602450
I think the science of irrationality certainly applies to Darwinists and proponents of ID. I have seen irrational statements made from Darwinists here and there and the interesting thing is, I have seen signifigantly fewer examples of irrationality from IDers. Who do you think I am going to trust? Stephen Meyer is one of the most rational people I've seen in these debates.
It would be fair enough if you wished me to give you some examples of irrational quotes.
The Theory of Evolution fits the above requirements. The ID vs evolution controversy is a public relations problem, not a scientific problem. That is why the Discovery Institute is changing their requirements of ID from Irreducible Complexity (it failed per TTSS) to Information Theory. That is the basis of the book by Myers. Myers and the Discovery Institute is excellent in the PR, but fails miserably in the science. That is why Myers is putting the book out to the public, bypassing peer-review. I must say, Myers is persistent.
First of all, I found nobody by the name of Myers at the Discovery Institute. I believe you are referring to Stephen Meyer. Second of all, I believe you are jumping around into different subjects. In your last post you started with evolution, gravity, irreducible complexity and ended up into chaos.
When you state that Intelligent Design fails miserably in the science, I already know that. I already stated that it is not science by the way scientists define science. ID can't honestly be reviewed by scientists because science utilizes a methodology that automatically disqualifies it.
Now, we can get into the theory of evolution and its testable aspects. (Please post some examples and we can stay on that subject.) With all of the persuasive examples of evolution through the fossil record, I can ask, how do I know that it was done through natural selection acting on random mutations? Most people who haven't been reading my posts would probably think, it must be true because look at the alternative. The alternative is called creation. However, I am not a creationist.
And by the way, irreducible complexity is falsifiable but you are satisfied with the TTSS as being something that disproves it. Perhaps you don't like losing a debate. Perhaps you can't understand why a creator would give us such a small example of something that seems to be the result of design instead of something as big as a mountain. (I have credited people when they have something that I honestly think that I can't answer.) There has been very little from you that has challenged my belief system. I can listen to You Tube videos on ID vs evolution and find some much more challenging material.
Science is nothing more than a systematic, self-correcting method of understanding HOW the world works around us. It simply explores the methods of how the world works.
Agreed
It does not ask WHY does the world work like it does. That is why (smirk) it is not a belief system. A belief system is left to metaphysics, religion, and/or philosophy.
I would agree. It asks how but it does not ask why.
You claim to not be a creationist. You claim not to be a proponent of Intelligent Design.
Where did I not claim to be a proponent of Intelligent Design? Maybe this is where part of the confusion is. You see, creationism is intelligent design but intelligent design is NOT creationism. Intelligent design may have little to do with creationism. An IDist could claim that life on earth was created through guided transpermia. It could be that the universe was created by Yoda. Assemblism is something under ID but assemblism is not creationism. Now, I am not going to believe in all of these things but, they are forms of ID.
If you are still listening to me, I wrote this post before I started reading the book "Signature in the Cell". The book is not just a book, it is a project for me. It is like taking a class in school. I would have wrote this post a little bit differently now after I have read part of it. It has at least a whopping 500 pages of meaty information. It looks to me that Dr. Meyer has nuked neo-Darwinism in this book just from the complexity of the cell and the RNA world but he is too modest to say so.
Actually I would agree that ID doesn't identify the creator. ID points to a creator from various sources of evidence. The various sources of evidence may have been discovered from the assistance of the telescope and the microscope and various disciplines and theories of science.
I would recommend going to www.signatureinthecell.com and watch the hour long video of Stephen Meyer giving this talk at the Heritage Foundation.
However, you have pulled up many classical arguments from ID proponents. Then you throw in some theory of your own that makes absolutely no sense. You make up some kind of references to meta-science/chaos/irrationality. I have no idea what that means and I don't think you have a concrete idea of what that means.
I have been accused of employing non-sequiturs before and maybe I could explain my ideas with more clearly but it is also the job of those who wish to debate me to question my belief system. I will leave it to you to help me find the error of my ways. And what if I don't have a concrete idea of what chaos or irrationality is? I usually recognize irrationality when I see it. (When you read the book you will start to see it too.) If I had concrete knowledge base what irrationality and chaos is then I would be the ultimate psychologist or scientist and so my talents would be wasted here. I have read parts of James Gleick's book on chaos. It think it would help if there were some references for some illustrations in the book.
I see chaos everywhere in the natural world. I see examples of it in outer space. We see it under the microsope in some examples such as metallurgy. We take it for granted but it is there.
One of the things that occurred to me is that the Linnaeus system of classification is a pretty much a reflection of fractal chaos. It shows us that this is the case in the hierarchy of organisms. I don't think scientists wish to quickly embrace this because it has a subtle implication of design. I think they prefer some sort of random process when it comes to explaining how life evolved.
Obviously, this belief system is important to you. Obviously, Theory of Evolution causes some type of cognitive dissonance when held up to your belief system. So, I have to ask, what is your belief system and why is the methods (or hows) of biology so important to you?
If I can briefly explain it, my belief systems on life's origins are no less of a guided mix of chaos (order hidden within chaos) and at the most I am an assemblist. I am pretty much of an assemblist but there is are mysteries of how life was assembled.
I have been wondering how well "molecular assemblism" would apply in explaining how life developed. This of course is not science as it is defined by scientists. But who gave us our current definition of science? It was not handed down to us from the heavens. It is based on common sense but it loses its honesty when it automatically disqualifies any supernatural causeations. It would be honest if they stated that they really don't know and apparently some great scientists have. But then again, I do think that science really doesn't know because it doesn't totally rule out the existence of big foot and the loch ness monster.
Aside from my faith, I am trying to understand the origins of life and how life in all of its wonderful complexities were made, a daunting task indeed. I am attempting to apply honesty to my understanding. I would help you to understand what proponents of ID are stating by questioning what they believe.
I believe that Signature in the Cell will elucidate that scientists have faith just as I have faith. Their faith says that science will progress and fill in the gaps they accuse proponents of ID of holding.