iDesign @ UCI

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Mission Statement

FAQ

Organization


MISSION STATEMENT:

iDesign Club at UCI seeks to foster scientific discussions regarding the origins of life and the universe. Theories such as Darwinian evolution, intelligent design, and creationism will be critically analyzed.


FAQ:

Q: WHAT IS THIS CLUB ABOUT?

Origins! We are interested in discussing alternative theories to the origins of biological structures. While the current mainstream theory in academia is Darwinian evolution, we would also like to discuss other viable ideas, such as intelligent design.

Q: WHO CAN BE A MEMBER OF THIS CLUB?

Anybody! Students of Biology, Chemistry, Physics, Mathematics, Computer Science, Engineering, Anthropology, and Philosophy may especially find this club intriguing. However, you do not need to have a science background to be an effective member of this club.

Q: WHEN AND WHERE ARE CLUB MEETINGS?

Please check blog entries for time and place.

Q: WHAT IS THE MEMBERSHIP FEE?

Nothing! There are no membership dues.

Q: IS THIS CLUB BIASED TOWARDS ONE SPECIFIC THEORY OF ORIGINS?

Perhaps. Ponder the name of this club. This club is ideologically the mirror of another club at UCI, the Students for Science and Skepticism. However, our main goal is to give a balanced view of the controversy regarding the origins of life so that students can come to an informed conclusion themselves.

Q: WHAT DOES THE LETTER "i" STAND FOR IN iDESIGN?

Good question -- the answer is intelligent.

Q: WHERE IS THE CLUB CONSTITUTION?

We adhere to the minimum constitution that was provided by the Dean of Students. In the future, we plan to draft a comprehensive constitution and bylaws.

Q: IS iDESIGN AFFILIATED WITH ANY ORGANIZATION?

No. However, we are friends with the IDEA Center


ORGANIZATION:

PRESIDENT:
Arthur
Information and Computer Science

VICE PRESIDENT:
Brian
Biology / English

DIRECTOR:
Andrew
English / Economics



Monday, March 06, 2006

Cosmological Design Implies Biological Design

Is the concept of cosmological design independent from biological intelligent design, or does one phenomenon increase the probability of the other?

By the law of total probability, we can formulate the probability of biological intelligent design, P (BID), as a sum of conditional probabilities weighted by the probability of cosmological intelligent design, P (CID). Here is the equation:

P (BID) = P (BID | CID) * P (CID) + P (BID | not CID) * P (not CID)

From arguments invoking fine-tuning and other orderly aspects of the universe (and even the Privileged Planet Hypothesis), it is reasonable to think that P (CID) is not low. I get the feeling that the notion of cosmological intelligent design is generally more accepted than biological intelligent design.

The next probability to consider is P (BID | CID). How likely is biological intelligent design given that cosmological intelligent design is true? If the universe were designed in such a way to make life possible, would not the design extend to the biological realm? After all, it seems like the end goal of the cosmological design is life. In other words, if the universe's constants were designed for life, then it would also make sense for life itself to be designed, rather than letting life arise by abiogenesis through purely natural stochastic processes. Thus, P (BID | CID) is indeed quite high. It is quite probable for design at the cosmological scale to cascade down to design at the biological realm.

I will not analze the other term in the summation, for that term can only increase P (BID):

P (BID) > P (BID | CID) * P (CID)

The two probabilities on the right hand side are quite high, by the reasoning in the previous paragraphs:

P (BID) > "sufficiently high probability" * "sufficiently high probability"

The product of two sufficiently high probabilities is still a pretty reasonable probability (e.g. 0.6 * 0.6 = 0.36). Therefore, biological intelligent design has at least a reasonable probability:

P (BID) > "reasonable probability"

Posted by Art at 10:12 AM

6 Comments:

Blogger Wedge said...
If the universe were designed in such a way to make life possible, would not the design extend to the biological realm? After all, it seems like the end goal of the cosmological design is life. In other words, if the universe's constants were designed for life, then it would also make sense for life itself to be designed, rather than letting life arise by abiogenesis through purely natural stochastic processes.

Examining P(BID|CID) is a really interesting idea, in fact it fits in with something I've been thinking about lately that I may post about.

However, I'm not sure that your argument for P(BID|CID) is very strong. That depends on what counts as "design", though. Is it biological design if the designer creates the universe in such a way that complex life arises as a result of its laws (Michael Denton argues for something like this in his book Nature's Destiny)? This seems perfectly consistent with CID, but differs from the direct-intervention design that (I think) you were suggesting for BID.
3/06/2006 1:21 PM
Blogger Art said...
Is it biological design if the designer creates the universe in such a way that complex life arises as a result of its laws (Michael Denton argues for something like this in his book Nature's Destiny)?

I guess that's more of an indirect biological design. I agree that P (BID | CID) needs some more justification. The reason why I feel this probability is not low is because the major objection of intelligent design is removed if one accepts CID -- namely that intelligent design can be a valid scientific cause.

Another issue to consider is Ockham's razor. If the laws were fine-tuned for the existence of life, it would be more direct if that life were directly designed. That's why I think that CID is a valid slippery slope that leads to BID.

Where evolutionists would probably have a problem with my argument is with the prior P (CID).
3/07/2006 9:56 PM
Blogger Antoine Vekris said...
You are right!

There is a problem with CID. It's just an hypothesis without evidence and you attribute it a probability!

For the moment P(CID) = 0
3/08/2006 7:08 AM
Blogger Art said...
Hi oldcola,

I think ID proponents would be glad to shift the debate to the cosmological realm. Cosmological ID is generally more accepted than biological ID.

Feel free to read my article on fine-tuning.
3/08/2006 5:22 PM
Blogger Antoine Vekris said...
Hi Art,
CID you say, is "more accepted" :-)
But there isn't more evidence about fine tuning or the anthropic evidence then for BID.

"From the current amount of scientific evidence, we can reliably infer that cosmological intelligent design is the most rational explanation for fine-tuning in the universe. Let’s be grateful, for without fine-tuning, we would not exist.", your words, my emphasis.

You are using the term "reliably" in a quite particular way. Relying on what? The will to consider something as "made"?
3/12/2006 8:57 AM
Blogger Endoplasmic Messenger said...
If the universe were designed in such a way to make life possible, would not the design extend to the biological realm?

The probability of cosmological intelligent design is a function of natural laws and the natural processes that arise from them. Specifically, if the universal constants embedded in them were to be varied by a small amount, the universe as we know it would not be possible. In many cases, all that would remain is a universe of hydrogen and helium atoms.

The probability of biological intelligent design is a completely different question. It has to do fundamentally with the existence of non-material biological information. Although this information is embedded in material substances (like DNA), the information itself is completely unrelated to the substance that it is embedded in.

This non-material biological information has the interesting property of being unrelated to the material it is embedded in, yet contains the blueprint of virtually all the material that supports the functioning of the cell it is in. Further, this non-material biological information also has the capability of not-only supporting the life-activity of the cell which immediately surrounds it, but also of clusters of (trillions of) cells which for a coherent subsystem known as an organ, even something as complex as the human brain. Furthermore, this non-material biological information also supports the interdependent operation of clusters of organs, known as organisms, even something as complex as a human being.

There is a profound disconnect, an unbridgeable discontinuity, between the cosmological and biological forms of design. To say that “the end goal of the cosmological design is life” is naïve and does not follow. The cosmological form of design certainly allows for life and makes it possible. The actual emergence of life, however, does not follow from cosmological design.

A completely different and unrelated set of rules and laws involving non-material biological information are required to “explain” the emergence of life.

Although cosmological design is necessary for biological design, it is not sufficient. Assigning a probability to this futile. It is either zero or one.
3/19/2006 6:16 AM

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