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INTELLIGENT DESIGN AS THE DEATH OF THE SCIENTIFIC PROCESS?



Yes, I think so. I just watched a program in which a proponent of intelligent design, and a professor of [biological?] sciences were debating their opposing views. I felt myself panicking slightly whenever the proponent of intelligent design spoke. He was very articulate and level-headed, but I felt uneasy whenever he posited that one has to ask oneself about the possibility of God as designer every time one sees an awesome phenomenon like tiny bugs gathering in a formation to fool predators into thinking they are flowers instead of bugs. One has to ask oneself at that point, "How do they know to communicate that information to each other?" Actually, the host said that, but he was playing devil's advocate, as hosts are wont to do. And the science dude said, "It worries me that you continually give such examples, because to me, that means that you're going after something that is as yet unexplained by the scientific process, and you throw your hands in the air and say, 'Of course, it's God!'" (Again, these aren't direct quotes, so in the interest of full disclosure....) I believe that is the crux of the matter at hand. I worry that the intelligent design theory is an excuse to stop searching, to stop seeking the knowledge behind every natural process in the universe. Perhaps the science that would continue to thrive under the intelligent design regime, if you will, is medical science, because disease will continue to exist, and even Christian fundamentalists need medical science. Also, I worry about what version of intelligent design would be dictated. Obviously, in America, it would follow the course of middle-America-Protestant-Christianity (perhaps with some allowances to Catholics). Imagine the implications of the in-fighting over whose view shall be considered supreme when it comes to what the textbooks will have to say about intelligent design. And what would those textbooks say? There is an order to the universe, an algorithm behind the design and function of each particle of matter. That algorithm was created by God. 'Nuf said. I think it is naive to think that offering intelligent design in schools as an explanation for the creation of the universe would be a benign act that is in the interest of debate and all-inclusiveness of theories. I think it would easily become an opiate of the masses' minds. People who would be implementing an intelligent design ethos in the scientific and educational institutions would have carte blanche to call into question any experimentation or inquiry that is, in his or her mind, akin to building a tower of Babel. You can't do that! Are you saying "God" isn't good enough of an answer for you? Sure, science and medicine were once the domain of priests, monks, and the Church, but the spectre of heresy loomed over everyone. That is not a fertile environment for discovery and the pursuit of pure knowledge. I'm not calling for Nazi-style, gonzo science devoid of a system of ethics and control, but I believe the separation of religion from science, particularly in the school system, is vital to the advancement of of the human race as a whole. Like, whoa.