The watchmaker analogy

[RobbyPants]

Doesn't he notice the watch exactly because it's so out of place? Isn't it the intelligent design of the watch that makes it unnatural?

The biggest problem with the watchmaker argument is that it is lazy induction that nicely matches the patterns that the creationist sees. It takes particular qualities of a watch that exist in the universe, and then assume that other qualities of a watch somehow apply to the universe.

So, basically:

• A watch is complex.
  
• The universe is complex.
  
• A watch is designed.
  
• Therefore, the universe is designed.
  

That looks all well, and good on the surface (especially when it plays right into your world view), but really, what links the properties of "being complex" with "being designed", apart from the creationists a priori assumptions? What if we link other properties of the watch to its property of "being complex"?
So, basically:

• A watch is complex.
  
• The universe is complex.
  
• A watch fits in my pocket.
  
• Therefore, the universe fits in my pocket.
  

It's obvious, unmitigated bullshit. The creationist will say that my second example is absurd because there is no link between those qualities, but they cannot prove a link between the qualities of complexity and design. At all. The best they will do is give you a very long list of other things that are both complex and designed, hoping that the length of the list will trick you into missing that they're still relying on induction and haven't actually proven that link. Just because I can find you a thousand white swans doesn't mean that black swans don't exist.

Unnatural as in not a result of a natural process. Humans are the result of nature, but the human mind is something of an anomaly.

I'm not sure I agree with this definition.