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The question of causation turns on whether the characteristics of a given pattern or effect are within the capacity of the cause to which it may be attributable. Do unintelligent material causes have the ability or capacity to account for the occurrence of a replicating cell? Does Darwinism's unintelligent material causes, consisting of random variation and natural selection, have the capacity to account for the diversity of life once it gets started? To start the analysis, one should first compare and contrast the capacities of intelligent causes and unintelligent material causes and the kinds of patterns those capacities produce.
The question of causation turns on whether the characteristics of a given pattern or effect are within the capacity of the cause to which it may be attributable. Do unintelligent material causes have the ability or capacity to account for the occurrence of a replicating cell? Does Darwinism's unintelligent material causes, consisting of random variation and natural selection, have the capacity to account for the diversity of life once it gets started? To start the analysis, one should first compare and contrast the capacities of intelligent causes and unintelligent material causes and the kinds of patterns those capacities produce.
====Inferring design====
Design is often inferred intuitively. However, there are formal ways to establish design. For example, logical and/or mathematical assessment of both ''small probabilities'' and ''specifications'' on any phenomenon or event, and the resulting elimination of chance as a viable explanation for the phenomenon or event.<ref>William Dembski and Winston Ewert. 2023. The Design Inference: Eliminating Chance through Small Probabilities (2nd edition). Discovery Institute. ISBN 9781637120347. Page 70</ref>
''Chance'' can occur as a side effect of design (e.g. car accidents occur even when cars, controls, and roads are designed). Chance can also be a an unguided natural phenomenon (e.g. earthquake, landslide, etc).<ref>William Dembski and Winston Ewert. 2023. The Design Inference: Eliminating Chance through Small Probabilities (2nd edition). Discovery Institute. ISBN 9781637120347. Page 75-85</ref> In order to narrow down if something is designed or natural, specifications should be present.
''Specifications'' "are patterns that identify events and that have short or simple descriptions. But descriptions can be represented in bits." Also, "Design inferences engage in a balancing act between the complexity of events and the simplicity of descriptions."<ref>William Dembski and Winston Ewert. 2023. The Design Inference: Eliminating Chance through Small Probabilities (2nd edition). Discovery Institute. ISBN 9781637120347. pages 132-133</ref>
The term "'''specified complexity'''" is term used and endorsed by eminent scientists such as Francis Crick, Paul Davies, Leslie Orgel, and even Richard Dawkins, sometimes using the very term and at other times using "complexity" and "specification" in the same breath. The actual term "specified complexity" goes back to biologist Leslie Orgel in 1973 in connection to origin of life research.<ref>William Dembski and Winston Ewert. 2023. The Design Inference: Eliminating Chance through Small Probabilities (2nd edition). Discovery Institute. ISBN 9781637120347. page 258-266</ref
===The Capacity of Unintelligent Material Causes ===
===The Capacity of Unintelligent Material Causes ===