By Design: Science and the Search for God

Rating:
Summary: Evenhanded and very interesting.
Review: Early in his career, award winning science writer Larry Witham examined the (sometimes ponderous and often dogmatic) ideas of the positivistic-leaning old school of "normal science" -- to borrow Kuhn's characterization. Although an entrenched orthodoxy, science underwritten by a rigid philosophical materialism has been encountering increased difficulty in verifying its more important predictions and its assumed creed, the so-called Mediocrity Principle (the doctrine that our universe, Earth, life, and humankind are not special). Witham seems to have now carved himself an important niche, writing about the issues at the interface of science and religion. He continues to interview the 'old school' of course, and presents those (often virulently anti-theistic) arguments honestly and evenhandedly, but more scientists are now recognizing the difficulties of materialism's mediocrity doctrine than the standing paradigm would have the nonscientific community believe. In a modest 200 pages, Witham gives us a considerable range of interviews and arguments from most of the major voices in this dialog today. The result is a very engaging discourse on the history of the ID hypothesis, beginning with MP Schutzenberger's mathematical dismissal of the neo-Darwinian "synthesis" in the very midst of Darwinism's would-be victory celebration in Chicago in 1959. I had a hard time putting the book down. Everyone knows where Steven Weinberg stands, and where William Dempski stands (and one could fill out a list in both categories), but what do we hear from such interested 'bystanders' as Alan Sandage, George Ellis, Paul Davies, Simon Conway Morris, and others? You might be surprised. The reader who assumes Weinberg's view -- that the dialog is inherently 'wrong' and should not be permitted a hearing -- may not care for this volume. And that's too bad, Witham is no dogmatist (most theist's wouldn't subtitle their book "the Search for God"), he's a dispassionate journalist intent on giving both general views a fair hearing. He does exactly that, restricting a philosophical battle that goes back at least to the ancient Greeks (Epicurus versus Plato, we might say), to the scientific developments of the past four decades, although reaching back to Hubble's 1929 discovery for foundation. If you are interested only in one pole's case against the other, this may not be the volume you're looking for. There will be certain materialists who will derisively call Witham a fundamentalist merely because he allows ID scientists their view. If you are one who can approach these issues with an honest curiosity, you will greatly enjoy this book.

Rating:
Summary: ...by design, and arguments thereof...
Review: I am not a member of this fan club but I snoop on the Intelligent Design movement, and this book came with the territory. As an independently funded Darwin critic I found this book interesting reading and, whatever one's views, the history of an attempt to assault the Darwinian paradigm bastions is a lesson of its own in the nature of knowledge, and the strange case of contemporary science. From the Templeton foundation to Philip Johnson and the crystallization of the ID movement the tale is brisk and insightful. The book also has an insider/outsider take with some details not normally promulgated in official circles. The sad part is that that secular culture cannot manage any such critique, and that the ID movement probably, despite considerable effort, still cannot penetrate the marionette minds of those fixated by Darwinism. I was interested in one quote from P. Johnson, who notes the way science and academia are able to make their own rules, and break those who don't conform. And they know full well there is a problem. That's the best way to stiffle debate. Exude faint cynicism, 'you are wasting your breath'. It is getting to be a silly business that will end in the great embarassment in the history of science, as the obsession continues to attempt to invade all fields like a plague of locusts. But I think sometime soon someone will start to realize they are sacrificing the intelligence of their dumbed-down meritocracy. Then perhaps finally panic will set in.

Rating:
Summary: Prying Open Closed Minds
Review: I'll be honest, because you're seriously trying to consider whether to buy this book, aren't you? By Design leaves me with that pesky taste of the more misleading proponents of conservatively partisan economics: it's not insincere in what it propounds, but it certainly mixes impressively blinkered methodology and the distinct flavor that someone more technically competent really should have written the thing.

Case in point: The anthropic principle argues that the universe was designed with human life as its intended goal? Hmm, I seem to remember something a little different in Stephen Hawking's 'A Brief History of Time'... Rather than giving substance to the idea of intelligent design, the anthropic principle argues that even if this universe that so amazingly bears us turns out to be improbable compared to all possible permutations, we are proof that luck (NOT God) was on this universe's side. In other words, it is the statistical law of insufficiently small samples applied to our universe, which for the sake of the anthropic principle, is treated as one sample (which any statistician knows has infinite variance).

Ironically, another one of the books unfortunate additions might be able to be cured by the REAL anthropic principle (maybe his ailment was a symptom of his apparent belief in the perverse version of anthrop-acy). You see, the poor scientist couldn't seem to believe his eyes at human phenomena like blood-clotting, and his intellectual laziness made him easy prey for the christian scientist cult. But wait! What if some (admittedly impressive) seemingly providence-inspired phenomena could be explained by the anthropic principle too?

It turns out this isn't necessary -- Herr Doctor can still go do a google search on the biochemistry, organic biology, simple physics, or even the sheer probability of molecular hemomorphing (blood clotting).

As for you, chèr reader, I suggest you turn to Hawking's already classic updates on contemporary science ('A Brief History of Time' or more recently 'The Universe in a Nutshell') for a more informative treatment to satisfy your spiritual curiosity.

Rating:
Summary: A wonderful read: Check out the index.
Review: Simply put, a wonderful read. Check out the index for the wide variety of persons and movements that he covers.

Rating:
Summary: A wonderful read: Check out the index.
Review: Simply put, a wonderful read. Check out the index for the wide variety of persons and movements that he covers.

Rating:
Summary: What a Marvelous Book!
Review: This is a fantastic book for anyone looking to begin investigation of the Intelligent Design Movement. Most sections are well-written, and the technical detail is held to a minimum for the beginning reader on the topic. Much of the content from the book comes from interviews with the major players on both sides of the intelligent design-creation/evoltuion divide (although this particular book does not deal much with young earth creationists).

The book's strength is its readibility and its author's creativity in expositing the key elements in the current debate in just a little over 200 pages (no mean feat, there). Not limited to the biological realm, the book also discusses the design debate in the cosmological and physics contexts as well-a real positive.

An excellent item for the semi-sophisticated person who wants to start out with a broad overview on this topic. There is a sufficient source list at the end of the book for those who wish to explore Witham's sources further.

Rating:
Summary: What a Marvelous Book!
Review: This is a fantastic book for anyone looking to begin investigation of the Intelligent Design Movement. Most sections are well-written, and the technical detail is held to a minimum for the beginning reader on the topic. Much of the content from the book comes from interviews with the major players on both sides of the intelligent design-creation/evoltuion divide (although this particular book does not deal much with young earth creationists).

The book's strength is its readibility and its author's creativity in expositing the key elements in the current debate in just a little over 200 pages (no mean feat, there). Not limited to the biological realm, the book also discusses the design debate in the cosmological and physics contexts as well-a real positive.

An excellent item for the semi-sophisticated person who wants to start out with a broad overview on this topic. There is a sufficient source list at the end of the book for those who wish to explore Witham's sources further.

Rating:
Summary: An excellent book
Review: When I started reading this book I was a little disappointed because it focused on the development of the Intelligent Design(ID) movement, and did not cover much of the science behind Intelligent Design. Nevertheless, after finishing the book I was very surprised and pleased with the content of the book. Beginning with the Darwinian centennial of 1959, Witham begins by showing how science exuded confidence and hubris over the fact that science was apparently on the verge of solving the mystery of life's origins. Yet, even before the centennial celebration cracks in Darwinian theory were already beginning to appear; From Francis Crick's discovery of the complex double helix structure of DNA, to new findings in molecular biology, to the anthropic principle in astronomy, new discoveries seem to be casting doubt on the principle that we live in a purposeless universe and that man is nothing more than a cosmic accident residing in a backwater location in the universe. Moreover, Witham covers the growth and development of the ID movement from the Templeton foundation to various academic establishments attempting to break into mainstream science. All of the major players are mentioned including: Behe, Johnson, Dembski, Polkinhorne and others. It is quite sad that these men remain on the outside looking in in regards to the scientific establishment because they have a lot to say and raise some interesting questions. Yet, as Witham notes the scientific establishment gets to make it's own rules and disregard anyone who doesn't abide by their rules, and the Darwinian majority seems to be wed to Darwinian theory because they are afraid or unwilling to consider purposeful design. They are like the medieval astronomers who continued to accept Ptolemaic astronomy even though it had developed into a great monster. Hopefully, the ID movement will continue to press on and make inroads into mainstream science where their theories and ideas can be evaluated critically and not rejected outright as fundamentalist creationism.