RE: Dinosaur tail found preserved in amber!
December 16, 2016 at 1:51 pm
(This post was last modified: December 16, 2016 at 1:51 pm by Tonus.)
The scientific method begins with observations. "That appears to be the result of an applied intellect" could come from an observation, I suppose. The next step is to determine ways to confirm and falsify that hypothesis. This means testing and experimenting and researching so as to find a positive explanation for or against. Claiming "irreducible complexity," for example, is not how you do that. That's an attempt to shut the door on further research and learning.
If your hypothesis is that something is designed by a conscious intellect, then you confirm the hypothesis by finding that conscious intellect. If you do not find him, you should keep looking even if some smartass tells you that perhaps it's an example of "irreducible simplicity." What you cannot do is claim that it exists until such time as you confirm that. Or, in creationist terms, it's "just a theory."
If your hypothesis is that something is designed by a conscious intellect, then you confirm the hypothesis by finding that conscious intellect. If you do not find him, you should keep looking even if some smartass tells you that perhaps it's an example of "irreducible simplicity." What you cannot do is claim that it exists until such time as you confirm that. Or, in creationist terms, it's "just a theory."
"Well, evolution is a theory. It is also a fact. And facts and theories are different things, not rungs in a hierarchy of increasing certainty. Facts are the world's data. Theories are structures of ideas that explain and interpret facts. Facts don't go away when scientists debate rival theories to explain them. Einstein's theory of gravitation replaced Newton's in this century, but apples didn't suspend themselves in midair, pending the outcome. And humans evolved from ape- like ancestors whether they did so by Darwin's proposed mechanism or by some other yet to be discovered."
-Stephen Jay Gould
-Stephen Jay Gould
