Intelligent Design Creationists are really upset that their views aren't taken seriously by real scientists. They want to claim that Intelligent Design Creationism is science. So far they haven't succeeded but that doesn't stop them from trying again and again.The latest attempt by DaveScot has just been posted on Uncommon Descent [P. falciparum - No Black Swan Observed]. Let's look at this stunning example of creationist logic.
DaveScot says that scientific statements have to be capable of falsification in order to qualify as science. That's one view of what science is all about (Popperian) but it's not the only one. Nevertheless, let's run with this definition and see where it takes us.
DaveScot gives us an example of a falsifiable statement, "All swans are white." The discovery of a single black swan would falsify that statement. That's correct. Now he goes on to make a statement about intelligent design, "All complex biological systems are generated by intelligent agents."
Hmmm .... that's an interesting statement isn't it? There are no known examples of complex biological systems that have been generated by intelligent agents. From a logical perspective, it's like saying that Pluto is made of green cheese. But, what the heck, let's see where he's going with this.
What we don’t know is whether any non-intelligent means can generate complex biological systems. A single observation of a complex biological system generated by a non-intelligent cause will falsify the biological ID hypothesis.Now I see the logic. All the evidence for the natural evolution of complex biological systems doesn't count for a damned thing. You have to actually see something like that evolve with your own eyes before you can believe it. If you don't actually witness the thing then it's logical to assume that it doesn't exist. Right?
What's the data? Well, according to DaveScot, scientists have given it their best shot and no complex biological system sprang into being. The experiment was performed with Plasmodium falciparum the protozoan that causes malaria [Plasmodium falciparum Causes Malaria].
P.falciparum replicating billions of trillions of times in the past few decades represents the largest search to date for a “black swan”. This is orders of magnitude more replications than took place in the evolution of reptiles to mammals wherein there are many exceedingly complex biological systems that separate them. If P. falciparum had been seen generating any complex biological systems such as those that distinguish mammals from reptiles then it would have falsified the ID hypothesis. None were observed. This doesn’t prove ID but it certainly lends strong support to it. All perfectly scientific.Don't you just love creationist logic? Just because we haven't seen any complex biological systems spring naturally into existence in Plasmodium falicparum it follows that it's impossible for such thing to happen. Therefore Intelligent Design Creationism is strongly supported. QED.1.
WARNING!!!
This experiment could be harmful to your brain. Don't try this at home.
Let's try using this logic ourselves. P. falciparum has replicated trillions of times and not once did we see an Intelligent Designer making anything. This scientific observation lends strong support to the idea that Intelligent Designers don't make complex biological systems, right? It means that evolution is correct.
Furthermore, after hundreds of years of observation involving billions of people, we haven't got a single documented case of anyone actually seing God. This doesn't prove the non-existence of God but it certainly lends strong support to it. All perfectly scientific. At least that's what DaveScot would say, I assume.
1. The argument would make some sense if evolution predicted that complex biological systems should evolve in protozoa every few hundred years. Since evolution predicts no such thing then nothing has been demonstrated except that Intelligent Design Creationists are IDiots. But we already knew that.
[Photo Credit: photo by Graham Stephinson at canberabirds]
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