Stephen Jones:
>ID is not formulated so that it will be detected no matter what the
>outcome. In the case of the origin of life, ID is always falsifiable if
>naturalists can show that life arose from non-living chemicals.
no, that would only prove that we could do what the designer did.
>But if naturalists cannot show that (and they have been trying for nearly 50
>years), and ID *can* show that experimentally that life can arise from non-
>living chemicals by the intervention of intelligent human design, then ID
>would be established as the only experimentally verifiable explanation to
>date.
but that would not *falsify* ID. Scientific theories must have concievable
conditions under which they could be proved untrue. For example if we *did*
find a reliably dated fossil of a human in cambrian strata, that would
prove evolution to be untrue.
So what would prove ID to be untrue?
>However, if it is found that even a human level intelligence is not
>sufficient
>to create life from non-living chemicals, and naturalists still cannot show
>that life arose from non-living chemicals, then ID theories that require a
>higher than human level intelligence are still viable.
all that means is that it hasn't been done *yet* or there are perfectly
natural means that can't be reproduced. But the original question is what
could conceivably prove ID false.
>This does not mean that
>the Christian God has to be the Designer, but it does mean that some other
>higher-level designer is possible. For example, it could still be some super-
>human extraterrestrial or advanced human time-traveller, etc.
yeah, yeah, yeah, nobody in the audience believes for an instant that that
is the designer you expect.
>The real problem for atheists like Richard is that they seem to be unable to
>even *imagine* that materialism-naturalism could be false. Therefore they
>rush in on the slightest pretext claiming that ID has either been
>falsified or
>is unfalsifiable. It never seems to occur to Richard that ID cannot be
>*both* falsified and unfalsifiable!
I'm sure we will hear from Richard on this point, but I think that ID is
outside of science on account of it being religion. It's an assertion. It
can't be proved or falsified, it must simply be believed--or not.
Susan
----------
The most important human endeavor is the striving for morality in our
actions. Our inner balance and even our very existence depend on it. Only
morality in our actions can give beauty and dignity to life.
--Albert Einstein
http://www.telepath.com/susanb/
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