Detecting design or intent in nature

[The Grand Nudger]

which is why we don't see computers spontaneously appearing in thin air

A leaf has a small pool of water running down the middle of the vein. If a single drop of water lands on the top right side of the leaf nothing happens. If two drops of water land on the leaf, one on the top right, one the bottom left - the balance off the leaf is shifted -the water pooling along the vein will spill. Voila, computers appearing out of thin air. That's an and gate with a single bit of memory. Now imagine that there are a bunch of leafs all piled around each other (you know..like in a tree) - voila.... robust cpus and memory appearing out of thin air. Also, there are some good jokes to be had here about memory leaks.

We -do- see computers appearing out of thin air, and without intellect, for the same reasons that we see evolutionary systems appearing "out of thin air" and without intellect (and for the same reasons that we see intellects building computers - and simulations of evolutionary systems within them). There's no reason to give Heywood an inch. PST.....chinese whispers is in the same camp. What we have here is an idiot who sees something that he doesn't understand, and is so impressed by his own ignorance and the magic before him, his mind immediately wanders off to "god". No explanation of what he sees will be sufficient, no matter how accurate - because it doesn't yield the answer he wants.