Intelligent Design: Did you design yourself?

[Esquilax]

Who is to say the bacteria flagellum wasn't designed? Just because a pathway was found that showed it could have evolved doesn't mean that it did evolve.

But it does mean that the sole utility of the irreducible complexity claim, the argument from ignorance that this specific feature could not have evolved, is entirely nullified. So what we're now looking at is a claim of intelligent design that is completely limp and has no evidence, or a claim of evolution, where we actually have evidence that it at least occurs.

And when your only defense is "well, it could have happened that way anyway!" which is another argument from ignorance, we don't really have to consider it. The intelligent design claim is formulated to be as vague as possible so that it "could have" happened to anything; "could have" isn't compelling when the designer you're talking about has literally no properties.

Come back with evidence, then we'll talk.

Intelligent design, as proposed, doesn't say anything about the intelligence behind the design. It is not a theory that attempts to prove anyone's God.

Tell that to all the Cdesign proponentsists from the intellient design movement.