Re: supernatural observation & faith def.

Glenn Morton (GRMorton@gnn.com)
Wed, 18 Sep 1996 20:37:09

Brian Harper wrote:
>At 01:45 PM 9/15/96 -0700, Neal Roys wrote:
>
>>Hey guys:
>>
>>>No one here since I've been reading this listserve has provided any
>>>criteria _at all_ to tell if something is designed just by looking at
>>>it.
>>
>>Are you guys aware of Hubert Yockey's(reference at end) contribution to
>>this from the science of Information theory. He provides the criteria:
>>There is an intelligible difference between _order with low complexity_,
>>which either non-ID or ID can produce, and _order with high complexity_,
>>which only ID can produce.
>>
>
>Just thought I would point out that Yockey provides no such criteria,
>sorry. In fact _order with high complexity_ is a contridiction in
>terms, at least in the sense that Yockey defines order and complexity.
>
>BTW, Neal, I have Yockey's book right here. Could you tell me on
>what page he discusses using information theory to identify whether
>something is intelligently designed?
>

I agree with Brian here. Yockey not only doesn't provide a mechanisim for
determining this, he says that it is impossible to tell a highly complex
sequence from a random one.

"Thus it is fundamentally undecidable whether a given sequence is random or
not."~Hubert Yockey, Information Theory and Molecular Systems, (Cambridge:
Cambridge University Press, 1992), p. 81.

and further,

"Thus both random sequences and highly organized sequences are complex because
a long algorithm is needed to describe each one. Information theory shows
that it is fundamentally undecidable whether a given sequence has been
generated by a stochastic process or by a highly organized process. This is
in contrast with the classical law of the excluded middle (tertium non datur),
that is, the doctrine that a statement or theorem must be either true or
false. Algorithmic information theory shows that truth or validity may also
be indeterminate or fundamentally undecidable."~Hubert Yockey, Information
Theory and Molecular Systems, (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1992),
p. 82.

To Yockey, a highly organized sequence is one which contains information in
the colloquial sense of that term. What this last quotation says, that you
can not possibly tell if a sequence is designed or caused by a random process.
The result of these two processes look alike.

glenn

Foundation,Fall and Flood
http://members.gnn.com/GRMorton/dmd.htm