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by IdeaSniper on February 28th, 2007

IdeaSniper

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Why do people call "evolution" that which has been intelligently designed? You've heard of the "evolution" of the computer or automobile. There's a new video game called "Spores: Evolution" in which everything is intelligently designed. Why the confusion?

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  • by IdeaSniper on March 2nd, 2007

    IdeaSniper

    My answer is that people intuitively recognize characteristics of design in life, but they have been trained in bio class to call that design "evolution." That they then go on to describe man-made things as “evolved” shows they recognize that the same word that describes livings things should also be used to describe designed things.

    Since the term “evolution” means only “change”, it’s ambiguity in reference to entropy means that it can be used to describe both designed things and things made naturally. That is, it describes all things. Evo via natural selection is a description of change without reference to time.

    Since the bio theory of evo can incorporate all possible outcomes(ie, it makes no testable predictions because it predicts both change and stasis, increases and decreases in complexity, and doesn’t recognize entropy) it simply means “change” and is a description of a ubiquitous process without reference to time. Hence, evolution via ns can be projected onto the living and non living, things designed and things not. It can just as easily describe finches as it can automobiles. But, it does not tell us the origin of either because it can’t differentiate a designed thing from a hole in the ground. So, people can use the term “evolution” to describe that which is designed because evolution via ns is a theory that can’t help us distinguish what is designed from what is not.

    Comments

    • You're using the rather wrong Creationist/ID interpretation of the 2nd Law Of Thermodynamics, which states, in its correct form, "in a closed system, entropy increases". Creationist/ID people incorrectly assume it applies to any system.
      .
      The Universe is a closed system, but there is no reason why all portions of it need to increase in entropy at exactly the same rate.
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      In fact, entropy is defined and calculated as "heat transfer". Heat must increase in order for entropy to increase, but this means that the area the heat transfers from must necessarily experience a decrease in entropy, a decrease in heat.
      .
      Case in point: the boiling of water. According to the Creationist/ID version of the 2nd Law of Thermodynamics, it is *impossible* to boil water, because the area immediately beneath the flame has to decrease in entropy in order to transfer the heat into the boiling water. A *decrease* in entropy occurs in the *open* system, violating a core Creationist/ID belief.

      eternal0void

      by eternal0void on June 10th, 2009

    • According to the accurate 2nd Law of Thermodynamics, entropy can decrease in an open system, or decrease in a portion of a closed system as long as entropy increases twice as fast in some other area of the closed system.
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      Thus it can be demonstrated that pseudoscience is how Creationism/ID comes up with at least one of its claims about the Universe.
      .
      Secondly, the origin of life is not essential to understanding the process by which it changes from one species into another. You're arguing against abiogenesis, and then trying to claim it is an argument against macroevolution, which is faulty reasoning.

      eternal0void

      by eternal0void on June 10th, 2009

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