Content

1. Introduction..

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2. Intelligent Design - A Scientific Concept Or A Religious Belief

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3. Conclusion

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4. Works

Cited.

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INTRODUCTION
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Intelligent design- this term may be unknown to many of you, and a question may arise what intelligent design is, and what it has to do with religion. One may think that it is something connected with technology, or they may imagine some device, which is very clever. In fact, that was the thing to emerge in my head on hearing of it for the first time. So do not be troubled trying to guess, you would barely succeed. However, there is no need to be puzzled. I came across this concept while surfing through the internet. It sounded interesting to me and I started reading the article given. The article was as interesting as its title. The most important part was that it was something new, something that I have never come across with. Therefore, I went on searching information about intelligent design. I just googled Intelligent Design, and it turned up that intelligent design is one of most discussed new topics in modern science as well as in the region. The idea of the Intelligent Design suggests the existence of some kind of higher mind, God probably, some creator , some designer, who motivated life , and set some rules according to which other processes went on, and are still going on. The idea of Intelligent Design was developed by such people as Phillip Johnson, biochemist Professor Michael Behe, mathematician Dr William Dembski, and philosopher of science Dr Stephen Meyer. Intelligent design is a concept that deals with science, or as it is claimed - with religion. In fact its hard it distinguish between those two concepts, because it deals with the two concepts. Later on, we will discuss how close intelligent design stands to any of these concepts. The aim of this paper is to explain what intelligent design is, try to find out whether it is reasonable or not and in the end to elucidate whether it is a scientific concept or a religious belief.

INTELLIGENT DESIGN - A SCIENTIFIC CONCEPT OR A RELIGIOUS BELIEF?

We can come across with the expression "intelligent design" in an 1847 publication of Scientific American, in an 1850 book by Patrick Edward Dove, and in an 1861 letter from Charles Darwin. (http://en.wikipedia.org). It is considered one of the three basic pleas regarding to the origins of life. It suggests that the life in our planet is too complex, and couldnt have begun on its own, notwithstanding the long process of evolution and mutation. Arguing the complexity of the living species and the natural selection, the theory adduces the existence of a designer, say aliens or God. The supports of this theory dont deny the evolution concept, but in the meantime they say that a life was initially designed by some force-an intelligent force or mind. Intelligent Design does not emanate merely from complexity, as the origination of complex structures often has an accidental character. The adherents of the idea of Intelligent Design or ID states that it can be found in the laws of nature and in the way the Universe is organised . It can also be seen in some features of living organisms. Now, in science there is a curious situation: although most scientists do not support the concept of ID and do not regard it as science, a growing number of academics support this idea and this is becoming more common Therefore, to be more able to have our own views let us have a very brief journey to the depth of the history of the creation of the Universe. The main theory of the origin of the Universe, from scientific point of view is evolution, and it dates back to the so-called Big Bang. According to the theory of the Big Bang , the Universe was once very dense with very high temperature ; there was a huge explosion, and a huge mass of gas spread across the space , and the universe stared too expand rapidly . In the result of rapid expansion, it started to cool down, causing some physical and chemical reactions. The first element produced was hydrogen with traces of helium and lithium. Eventually, clouds of hydrogen would join through gravity to form stars and the planets. And so it began. During billions of years, the Universe mutated, giving birth to planets and stars, and galaxies, as well as black holes etc. Our planet being once very hot gradually cooled down and in the result of some transformations , the conditions gradually became favorable for life and
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the microbes appeared ; later , as

we know, life stared to flourish, and now we have what we have. Some of you may say, that there is nothing extraordinary about that, let it be, of course it is hard to imagine but theoretically, it is possible. But if you look closer and go deeper you will undoubtedly ask: OK. But what was before the big bang? You will find no answer, because no one knows, there arent even any reasonable explanations. So here we stuck without any answers or considerations. The scientists tend to take the Big Bang as the starting point. (http://en.wikipedia.org). It is completely logical that the first cause had to uncaused, and therefore eternal. Something exists now, hence something has always existed undoubtedly. Then that something has to be self-existent, meaning it has to have the power of being in itself. And in view of the fact that there is no proof that a biological formula or casual chemical reactions have ever produced a self-replicating organisms having initially programmed DNA and that the expansion of the Universe is not only based on the mass factor , there really is no sound or justifiable reason to create unintelligent alternate development for the origins of life. The concept of evolution also has several meanings. In the most general sense , evolution (lat-Evolutio-disclosure) this the gradual development of something over the time(Oxford). From this prospective, the evolutionists are all who hold the concept of progressive evolution of the Universe and life. It can be creationist and supporters of intelligent design, as well as atheists. As in the case with the word creationism, very often the word evolution is used in its narrower sense. It refers to the development of life caused by random processes and undirected mutations. In this interpretation evolution is not really compatible with the concepts of creationism and intelligent design. The most outstanding person among the evolutionists is Charles Darwin. So completely rejected any outer interference, firmly standing on the idea of evolution. But when Ch. Darwin developed his theory of biological evolution, there was a lot of biology he did not know. He was familiar with some of it, but, still, there was much he never thought about. So far scientific progress has made an important understanding about the origins of life, its history and characteristics. Thanks to this progress, we now know that Darwins work contains some faults.
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Anyway, the main points Darwin suggested are sensible. Nevertheless, thousands experiments were carried out to prove the reality of the this theory. One of the most famous experiments is the UreyMiller experiment. In 1953, Stanley L. Miller and Harold C. Urey from Chicago University conducted an experiment, which would prove the scientific origin of life. They recreated all the conditions, but it did not actually show the evidence , that would be irrefutable. (http://www.chem.duke.edu) Lets pass on the second explanation describing the beginning of the life on the earth and in universe generally. So its Creationism. The term comes from the Latin creation-creation. Creationisms suggest that the life on the Earth and the Universe was created seven days worked. Hence, we have here two stereotypes completely contradicting each other. So which of these two theories is more sensible and reasonable, or maybe none is? Lets first of all start on focusing on two rational ideas: /1/ you cannot get something from nothing, and /2/ the organization of the universe is so that it requires the pre-existence of an functional intelligence to do the arrangements. The first law of thermodynamics says that the total energy of a closed system is constant; any alteration of energy must be balanced by a be consistent inflow or outflow from the system. The laws of thermodynamics (I & II) seem to be broken by Creation ex nihilo, (http://www.infidels.org) meaning creation without God. According to Einsteins formula E=mc2 (Whorton M 89), where E is energy, m is mass, and c is the speed of light in a vacuum (http://en.wikipedia.org) this is called The Energy Conservation Law (89). So, if the universe did start from "nothing," energy conservation law is contradictory, because according to natural laws the energy and matter cannot be created or destroyed on their own would seem to have been violated by the creation of matter. So some energy from outside is actually required. On the other hand, Physics now tend to take the entire energy of the universe as zero. Hence, to create the universe no energy was actually
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by the higher power, the creator-

God. Let us not go into details, because all of us know how that stuff with the

needed. (https://www.starmind.com). Speaking about the additional cause, some theists , including H. Ross, claim that we should not speak about the universe and time starting in our time dimension. Well ok, let it be not in our time dimension, lets imagine for a moment that Ross is right, and it all started from another dimension, but eventually we will come upon the same problem. Turning to that other dimension, we will have the same question, where did it start from, again from another dimension. Ok, let it be, but how long will this circle go? It cant continue entirely, can it? As we have already mentioned above, something cant come out of nothing. Besides there is a consideration that 6 billion years is extremely short time for evolution, and besides Richard Dawkins famous British ethologist, evolutionary biologist (http://en.wikipedia.org) says the that the oldest layer of rocks they have ever found dating back to 600 million years, were already in an advanced stage of evolution the moment they appeared. So this already shows some things. So what does this mean? One can arrive at the thought of God or an intelligent force, an intelligent designer. Intelligent design is a relatively new concept, introduced in the U.S at the end of the XX century. Its appearance is connected with the prohibition of teaching creationism in schools. The concept of intelligent design involves the presence of the designer only in the process of nucleation and evolution, but rejects processes associated with it. So, intelligent design is a kind of mixture of evolutionism and creationism. In other words intelligent design or ID is based on the idea that the creation of some elements of the universe and living beings can be best explained as the result of an intelligent mind, and not the random process. ID does not emanate from complexity, as complex structures often can be the result of a random process. It focuses on the types of complex structures, which in human experience are exclusively the product of a mind, comprehending and executing a plan- an intelligent mind. The adherents of the idea of intelligent design argue that it can be found in the laws of nature and the organization of the cosmos. It can also be seen in some features of living organisms.

Besides Intelligent Design supporters argue that natural selection cannot fully explain the origin of life nor the emergence of highly complex life forms. Very often, intelligent design is confused with religious belief. While creationism derives its conclusions principally from religious sources, intelligent design reasons from observations, taken of the natural world. An intelligibly designed principle of the universe was the conclusion of many of the great advocates of contemporary science. In an area such as this, where we cannot state for sure what happened exactly, a justifiable scientific approach is to make an implication to the best explanation. In this case, it must have an intelligent source. It should also be mentioned that one cannot ask What happened before the big bang? for obvious reasons. Scientists take the Big Bang as the starting point, because the entire notion of time before the Big Bang is simply meaningless and according to general theory of relativity, there was no time before there was a universe. Steve Fuller, a professor of sociology at the University of Warwick, said that the theory - which maintains that life on Earth was designed by an unidentified intelligent force - is a valid scientific one because it has been used to describe biological phenomena. http://www.guardian.co.uk). There is also a common mistake that the course of evolution is in some way random and God has nothing to do with it. Mutation of genes is random, but there is nothing random about the process of natural selection - if an organism doesnt suit the aim, it doesn't survive. So why do intelligent people believe in intelligent design? Well, fist of all intelligent design does share a number of similarities with creationism, and the phrase appears in several examples of creationist literature. They both argue that evolution is unable to account for the vast selection of species, and both sponsor the concept of a designer. But there are also differences. First, intelligent design accepts that the earth is millions of years old, not adhering to the creationist, claiming that the earth was created some 6,000 years ago.
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Intelligent design acknowledges that species do go through small amounts of change, whereas creationists believe that all forms of life were created in their current form at the time of the earth's creation. However, intelligent design declares that these changes are the outcome of a guiding hand, not the result of random genetic mutations and natural selection. There two arguments in favour intelligent design. Firstly evolutionary theory doesn't fully explain the origin and development of life on Earth, secondly life on Earth and generally in the universe displays so much arrangement, purpose and design that there must have been a designer. So it is quite reasonable to think that there was some third force that put the seed into the ground. James Randerson, a Guardian science correspondent, says that in nature there are some complex organisms and phenomena that look as if they have been designed- intelligently designed . Knowing this, Darwin constructed his theory so that it explains how complexity can come to pass without design. He also says: ID, by comparison, explains nothing. It is an intellectual dead end marked: "The designer did it." Why bother trying to understand the natural world when there is the cosy God-explanation in alltoo-easy reach?/ (http://www.guardian.co.uk). James Randerson another Guardian science correspondent, thinks that: Intelligent design is just creationism in disguise, he says. (http://www.guardian.co.uk). And here J. Randersn argues that ID derives his conclusions from scientific observations, and is based on science rather than on religion. It does not rely upon the Bible, the Qur'an, or any religious authority or tradition - only on scientific evidence. When a religious person advocates teaching ID in science without identification of the designer, there is no dishonesty or "Trojan horse", just realism about the limitations of the scientific method. If certain Darwinists also had the intellectual honesty to distinguish between science and their religious beliefs, the public understanding of science would be much enhanced., he claims. (http://www.guardian.co.uk).

Conlusion
So bringing all the threads together, we see that ID is a concept, created relatively recently, which claims that everything being was initially designed by some power, maybe God. For its defense, it reasons the scientific explanation of evolution, as no scientific theory can fully explain the complexity of things. Taking into consideration all the facts observed, we can make the following conclusions: firstly ID is a term used to explain the complexity of natural things, claiming that there is some designer who encoded every cell and molecule existing in the universe. Secondly, we have the question whether ID is reasonable or not. Well , yes, it is reasonable, because since science cant explain where all this started, then this is the only reasonable explanation given. And, eventually observing all pros and cons, we can conclude that ID is not a religious belief , it is a scientific concept , because it is based on scientific observations and theories , that is evolution. And it gives answers to the questions to which scientists have no answers.

Works Cited
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Bibliography
1. Whorton M., Robertspages H., Holman Quick Source Guide to Understanding Creation ,

Nashville , Tennessee , B&H Publishing Group ,2008, p. 89-90 2. Oxford Students Dictionary , Oxford University Press, 2007, p. 253

Internet sources

1. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Big_Bang 2. http://www.infidels.org/library/modern/mark_vuletic/vacuum.html 3. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mass%E2%80%93energy_equivalence 4. https://www.starmind.com/en/question/14871/there-was-infinite-amount-of-energy-and-

no-matter-in-the-universe-before-the-big-bang-please-prove-otherwise5. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Intelligent_design 6. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_Dawkins 7. http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/2005/oct/25/schoolsworldwide.usnews 8. http://www.chem.duke.edu/~jds/cruise_chem/Exobiology/miller.html 9. http://www.newworldencyclopedia.org/entry/Intelligent_design 10. http://curiosity.discovery.com/question/what-is-intelligent-design 11. http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2007/jan/09/schools.religion?

INTCMP=SRCH
12. http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2006/dec/13/comment.science

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