Religion & Law

The Best They Can Do

By John Pieret

The Discovery Institute has announced in a press release (where else?) a new animation of the interior working of a cell -- in particular the copying of DNA and protein synthesis -- that supposedly "dramatically illustrates the evidence for intelligent design within DNA, as described in Stephen C. Meyer's book, Signature in the Cell: DNA and the Evidence for Intelligent Design." One has to wonder how original the video is.

More importantly, how well does it live up to this hype?

"This video is going to make things worse for critics of intelligent design," Dr. Meyer explains. "They will have more difficulty convincing the public that their eyes are deceiving them when the evidence for design literally unfolds before them in this animation."

See what evidence? It shows some interesting chemistry but there is no evidence of design pointed out. At most, those members of the public uneducated in science may look at it and go "gee whiz, that sure looks complex so I guess it must be designed." Is that the sum and "substance" of Meyer's book? ... Just an appeal to ignorance?
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Full post as published by Thoughts in a Haystack on August 10, 2009 (boomark / email).