Douglas Harold, a graduate student in engineering science and mechanics concludes that humans are the product of Intelligent Design (ID) because the Sphinx obviously was a product of human ID. Seriously, I don’t make this stuff up. Harold says that anyone who looks at the Sphinx can instantly tell that it was man-made and not the result of some random process involving erosion. Furthermore he states that the first organism capable of reproducing would have been may times more complex, therefore obviously it must have been designed.
Ok, let’s go down this route and assume that there is a "designer". Then this designer must be a complex and intelligent being. Well Harold just stated that anything complex must have a designer. So by his own logic, who the hell designed the designer? Well obviously something intelligent. But who designed that designer? It can go on indefinitely. This theory lacks any form of substance and relies on the ignorance of humanity.
But to be fair, we haven’t proved how life came about, so technically it is possible that there is a designer. Then that would also mean that evolution is possible. The number of theories are infinite. What’s important is what we have learned through observation and experimentation. And that puts evolution in the lead. Until proponents of ID can show a single shred of evidence, it will always lag far behind evolution.
And remember, there is more evidence that Big Foot exists than there is of an Intelligent Designer.
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Here’s an old response to this sort of stuff. By a real philosopher!
“If we survey a ship, what an exalted idea must we form of the ingenuity of the carpenter, who framed so complicated, useful, and beautiful a machine? And what surprise must we feel, when we find him a stupid mechanic, who imitated others, and copied an art, which, through a long succession of ages, after multiplied trials, mistakes, corrections, deliberations, and controversies, had been gradually improving? Many worlds might have been botched and bungled, throughout an eternity, ere this system was struck out: much labour lost: many fruitless trials made: and a slow, but continued improvement carried on during infinite ages in the art of world-making. [David Hume: 1776]“
“The argument goes something like this: `I refuse to prove that I exist,’ says God, `for proof denies faith, and without faith I am nothing.’
So as soon as the IDers prove the existance of the designer, he will no longer exist. :)
Whoaa, that’s deep J5 ;)
The problem with using the Sphinx as evidence is that the odds of the Sphinx appearing are the same as the odds of humans suddenly appearing, which evolution DOESN’T argue for; it’s like the tornado-in-a-junkyard argument.
Yay Hithchikers Guide to the Galaxy! I love that proof. Now, if only we could find a babel fish…
J5: sounds like the argument in The Guide (Hitchhiker’s guide to the Universe).
‘and POOF! god dissapeared in a puff a logic.’
Yeees… I have had this argument with people for a LONG time…
I say, who made people?
They say, God.
I say, who made God?
They say, No one, he was just always there.
I say, but how did he GET there?
They say, He didnt, hes always been there.
Graduate student? Jeez, what an indictment of the american education system.
Some of the stupidist people I’ve ever met claim to have US “masters degrees”.
Explore the universe and I bet you will find an exact copy of the Sphinx that has been formed entirely through geology. Out of countless trillions of planets, this must happen at least once.
Earth is one of those trillions of planets. Why shouldn’t we have just happened?
And it wasn’t through a random event, except the very beginning of DNA and protein. Everything was designed after that, designed by a force called logic which simply ensured that the best-equipped bacterium outgrew the lesser bacteria, and so on until we arrived at the state of the world today.
“Ok, let’s go down this route and assume that there is a “designer”. Then this designer must be a complex and intelligent being. Well Harold just stated that anything complex must have a designer. So by his own logic, who the hell designed the designer? Well obviously something intelligent. But who designed that designer? It can go on indefinitely. This theory lacks any form of substance and relies on the ignorance of humanity.”
Well, this is a mirror of the ‘man came from nothing’ argument.
You say evolution? You are saying that man came from 0. that is zero. null. void.
From nothing, apparently the entire electromagnetic spectrum of light, xrays, radio, microwaves, gravity and the principles and behaviours of mass came about, without any explanation.
So, tell me where the color green came from… it evolved?
“So, tell me where the color green came from… it evolved?”
Straw man fallacy if I’ve ever seen one… No one claims that the properties of our universe evolved. No one fully understands the nature of our universe (as in a unifying theory) yet, much less where it came from. That doesn’t mean that any religion is right, it just means we haven’t figured it out yet.
Christianity tried to explain rainbows as a sign of the covenant between man and noah after the flood, in the myth. No one could explain why there were rainbows, so they made something up, just like everything else that couldnt be explained when the bible was written.
Maybe you haven’t noticed the trend, but over time, more and more religious explanations are shown to be inconsistent or unlikely. Those who still believe religious explainations usually have to adjust their interpretation to something even sillier than the original.
You say evolution? You are saying that man came from 0. that is zero. null. void.
Evolution is leaning more towards the successional building of organic elements into something eventually considered living, and the continued modification of these beings. They don’t have to come from nothing. As for how the chemicals got there in the first place, that’s a puzzle for the physicists to work out ;)
Oh hail FSM’s noodly appendages, no one can take away my faith for which no scientist can prove wrong all his holiness.
Great discussion and I love what J5 said. They have to use faith and other things that will never be found so we can’t disprove them. Last time I check things need to be proved. No religious person throughout world history has proved anything about God or religion. It’s like the flying spaghetti monster, no one can disprove it, but does it make it even remotely believable? Religious people see earth as the only planet that can have life, and if that were true I would have to agree there’s a God. They use the argument “What are the odds of life just forming? What are the odds you get just the right oxygen level? What are the odds we have an ozone layer?” blah blah blah! BECAUSE we have all of those things we are here to talk about it. There are zillions of planets, now tell me the odds of life NOT forming??
In a universe the size of ours, the “odds” becomes a moot point, as there is more than sufficient time and space for any happening, no matter how unlikely, to happen . . . as long as the laws of the universe are not violated (since they can’t be). The “chemicals” got here as follows: up to and including carbon, nuclear fusion; past carbon, in supernovae. And Harvard has begun investigating how exactly life first formed on this planet (following the classic early experiment which demonstrated the formation of amino acids from early Earth conditions). This “graduate student” must be at one of the pseudo-universities funded by the fundies . . . or, if not, said “universities” accreditation needs to be removed yesterday.
How the hell do you work out that there is more evidence pointing out the existence of bigfoot than the “intelligent designer”i.e God? Bigfoot is a MYTH and the only evidence of his existence are forged photos and footprints either faked or belonging to other large creatures such as bears. But there is reason why everything was created. How the hell did the matter that caused the big bang come about? Was there this big vacuum and then…POOF? Bullshit. It would have had to have been put there. Created. you dont make sense. So you say life evolved. But how did the first spark of life come about? Did it just happen randomly? A strike of lightning? Fucking shit. Also would you insult the memories of people who gave their lives for their faith? Deride their sacrifice as for a myth? If you would then you’re cunts.
Hello Conor,
You evidence for this is…?
So you don’t know what was there before the Big Bang therefore God did it? Why don’t you just admit that you have no idea? There’s no reason to invent a creator.
Again you are leaning on the fallacious argument from ignorance. Lacking a natural explanation does not mean one does not exist. “I don’t know” does not equal “God did it”.
“Also would you insult the memories of people who gave their lives for their faith?”
Like the 9-11 terrorists? Yeah, I would.
There have been martyrs for every religion. Are you saying that they are all true just because people were willing to die for it?
Delightful.
Conner, My whole response to your post can be summed up quite simply.
Short answer: You’re horribly wrong.
Long answer: You’re horribly wrong and go get an education before opening your mouth to spew bullshit you ignorant moron.
In light of that education you seem to be lacking, here’s some help you probably won’t read.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ad_ignorantiam
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Big_bang
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Martyrdom
and something for your parents:
http://familydoctor.org/online/famdocen/home/children/parents/special/birth/549.html
Kurt,
In regard to comment #14 (above), if you take the time to click the link provided, read the original article & browse around the Collegiate Times website a little bit, you might notice that the “pseudo-university” that you say “needs to have its accreditation removed” is actually Virginia Tech – an internationally respected research university.
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