Moorad Alexanian wrote:
[...]
> I am toying with the notion that a genuine scientific search
> for answers becomes so fruitless that it leads to belief.
[...]
Several years ago I posted just that thesis on the Calvin
evolution list and possibly even here. I called it:
"Ironic Design".
Only an intelligent, active agent with a fine sense of irony
would create a world in which the evidence for natural evolution
or creation would always remain inconclusive (at least for some
transitions). Further, and unlike other supposedly "creator-
neutral" formulations of design, my notion incorporates
information about the nature of the potential ID creator to
generate potentially testable hypotheses about the nature of
the creation that we might observe. Specifically, if a world was
created by an Ironic Designer, it follows that the creations
would embody a great deal of humor, for an Ironic Designer
must necessarily have a wicked sense of comedy (both light
and dark).
Although an objective measurement of "funny" remains a work
in progress, I think that subjective experience lends
support to Ironic Design. Currently, we're trying to tackle
the measurement problem using tools from information theory.
Preliminary work (aside: Avoid disappointment by never
publishing anything but preliminary results) suggests these
tools have great potential. For example, in info theory, a
truely random signal has the greatest information content.
What could be more ironic than that?
Publications?
I'm still working at adding a few more footnotes to enhance
the illusion of legitimacy and careful thought to the
manuscript. [Personally, I find it rather difficult to
insert ellipses in quoted material to make the quote appear
to support my theory. I may have to hire someone more
experienced to help -- Does anyone have Ken Ham's phone
number?] Then it's off to Zygon for a review.
Regards,
Tim Ikeda
tikeda@sprintmail.com (address is changing)
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