(November 17, 2018 at 10:07 am)Jörmungandr Wrote:Remote Viewing and Acupuncture are testable, falsifiable hypotheses. Artificial design in nature is not. I have yet to see a case for Intelligent Design which did not involve some form of special pleading or argument from ignorance.(November 17, 2018 at 9:51 am)Gwaithmir Wrote: And you can start by proving that God exists. Without a divine designer, your entire hypothesis collapses.
In fairness, I think this may be putting the cart before the horse. The idea of proof of a designer is evidence of the existence of such a God, even if far from conclusive. It's true that having evidence or knowledge of the mechanism involved, namely an intelligent, all-powerful agent would enhance the probability that design is true, but we consider hypotheses without plausible mechanisms all the time, from acupuncture to remote viewing. The lack of a known mechanism is not in itself an absolute bar to discovery.
"The world is my country; all of humanity are my brethren; and to do good deeds is my religion." (Thomas Paine)