Intelligent Design

I liked these two Letters to the Editor in today's Sacramento Bee:

Intelligent aliens?
When I read arguments about Intelligent Design, I'm reminded of the writings of Eric Von Daniken, who in the 1970s wrote bestselling books such as "Chariots of the Gods" that contend that inexplicable advances in human technology were caused by the influence of advanced space creatures. His premise: Advances we can't explain must be the work of a superior intelligence.

Although this thinking was accepted by some people at the time, especially with the popularity of science fiction films such as "Close Encounters of the Third Kind," most people eventually rejected this line of reasoning. It seemed presumptuous to believe that the only explanation for not being able to determine the cause of something was because a superior intelligence was involved. The notion of us simply not being smart enough to figure it out, based on the information at hand, was ignored.

ID seems to follow the same line of reasoning, except it deals with mathematics instead of archeology. It uses the fact that there is no mathematical model to account for evolution as proof that intelligence must be involved.

So why should ID be taken more seriously than Von Daniken's aliens?
- Richard Siegel, Auburn

Intelligent design of weather?
Although Intelligent Design proponents claim to offer science, ID is not much more than an argument from its rival idea's supposed shortfalls and one's own failure to understand the history of life through evolution alone.

Because ID proponents misunderstand the basic concepts of evolution, they make assertions like "nothing produces everything" and "nonlife produces life" that have no relevance to the theory (contrary to widespread misinformation, evolution doesn't address the origin of life). In addition to this, they work backward. They start with a conclusion and look for evidence to support their idea.

Instead of being consistent and demanding equal time for ID in other branches of science, such as medicine, physics and meteorology, IDists accept that no intelligence is required, no gods are necessary for weather, holding the solar system together or causing illness.
- Elizabeth Redford, Sacramento