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Thursday, January 31, 2008

Intelligent Design Challenge

 
Calling all IDiots! This is your big chance to put your money where your mouth is. Take the Intelligent Design Challenge! on The Panda's Thumb and show us you can distinguish natural DNA from intelligently designed DNA.

If a real genuine IDiot wins the challenge, then in addition to the book prize I'll promise to stop using the word "IDiot" for one week!!


9 comments :

Doppelganger said...

They will say that they have to know what it does before they can comment on whether or not it was designed.

Which, of course, sort of seems to put the fritz on their claims that ID allows them to predict anything....

Anonymous said...

The obvious problem with this challenge is that natural DNA sequences ARE intelligently designed! :)

Evolved Rationalist said...

The IDiot response:

ID DOES NOT DEAL WITH THAT!!! WAAAAAHHHHH WE CANNOT UNDERSTAND GOD'S, I MEAN, THE DESIGNER'S WAYS!!!!!!!!!!!!11!! OH NOES!!11!!!

Anonymous said...

George in Oregon

I understand the value. But the only way to detect human design over natural processes, is to find a clear distingushing characteristic (or set there of) of human designs not present in natural ones. Such may or may not exist, if it does, that could change as humans changes their designs?

Anonymous said...

George in Oregon

I have decided that the answer is sequence #6 based on a 5 minute analysis. I have no idea what this sequence would do whatever.

be interesting to see if that is correct?

lee_merrill said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
lee_merrill said...

> the only way to detect human design over natural processes, is to find a clear distingushing characteristic (or set there of) of human designs not present in natural ones. Such may or may not exist ...

Quite so, why should the ID view entail the conclusion that human designs are always distinguishable?

Artists design a sculpted rock, so you can distinguish such? Well, no.

So this is a silly challenge, base it on the ID view, please. I suppose the same challenge could be made to the naturalists!

Here are five sequences, which one(s) were designed? Since the naturalists don't claim you can always distinguish such, you know.

Anonymous said...

Your "challenge" begs a question:

"Take the Intelligent Design Challenge! on The Panda's Thumb and show us you can distinguish natural DNA from intelligently designed DNA."

Wait a minute! What is "natural DNA"? Is it DNA that you assume had no Designer? But that is the question at hand.

Unknown said...

Funny how later comments are unable to engage doppelganger's and evolved's observation, which of course is the whole point.