Intelligent design
From Summa Bergania
There are two ways to know whether or not an object is designed. The first is to have historical evidence. The second is to examine the object's physical properties and identify what design theorists call a sign of intelligence, a trait that necessitates design. For example, we could know a computer is designed either by (a) having a videotape testifying to the history of the computer's assembly, or (b) analyzing the parts of the computer and recognizing that it has several instances of irreducible complexity, which (at least for inorganic objects) seems to be an empirically verified sign of intelligence.
Intelligent design is the study of this second method: investigating physical properities of objects and isolating, identifying, testing, and applying those which are considered signs of intelligence. Most of the attention is, of course, on the question of whether or not any biological organisms have signs of intelligence...
Because intelligent design is new, different, and threatening to existing paradigms, other questions and challenges have arisen for design theorists.
- What is intelligence?
- Is intelligence natural?
- Is intelligent design science?
- Does anything exist that is not natural?
- Could a designer be not-natural? (ie. supernatural)
And also some red herring.
